Alrighty, now exactly where did we leave off last time? Oh, yeah! Wedding day! It was time to finally put all our plans into motion and create a beautiful setting. Everyone had been praying for good weather and God provided just that. After days of triple digit heat, a front blew through Kansas City late Saturday during the picnic and we woke up to temps in the high 50's on Sunday morning. It was pretty breezy with gusts up to 20 mph which could pose a problem for the paper lanterns we were planning on hanging from the trees, but we figured we'd deal with it and just enjoy our good fortune.
The groom, Drew, and his groomsmen all showed up early and made short work of setting up 140 chairs with only minor adjustments made to accommodate the aisle runner.
Ashley and Vicki set up the silver painted shephard's crooks that Lynn had painted. More on those later.
Ashley works with Lynn and generously gave up her Sunday morning to come help us for a few hours. And Vicki flew in from Miami Friday night to be a fellow "worker bee". Vicki also used to live in Kansas City and she and Lynn have stayed in touch over the years.
Vicki, myself, Lynn and Lee take 30 seconds to pose for the camera.......then it's back to work.
Lynn and cousin Linda (from Seattle) were oohing and aahing over how pretty the flower cones turned out. Vicki had just swagged frothy white tulle from each shephard's crook along the aisle side of the rows of chairs.
Linda and Aunt Kay were the "flower arrangers" and they did such a beautiful job, don't you think? The cones (which were purchased at Joann's) started life in my kitchen where I used Joel's 1/2" drill bit to ream out the styrofoam that was glued to the top third of the cone. The bottom half of the cones had plaster of Paris in them which gave them some weight. Lynn and Laura choose teal sparkled paper that matched the bridesmaids dresses and shipped it to me. All I had to do was cover the cones with the paper, punch holes in the sides and run silver ribbon through the holes to hang the cones. Wrap in tissue paper, lay carefully in large plastic bin and repeat.....22 more times......that's why I did all this at home long before the wedding.
I tried to figure out how to cut the florist's oasis, the green stuff used for fresh flowers that soaks up water and holds it like a sponge, and make it easier for us to wedge it into the cone shape. That's when the idea came to me to use my 2" biscuit cutter! It was exactly the diameter of the top of the cones and cramming the oasis into the cone once cut would ensure it was wedged in nice and tight and not fall out with the weight of the flowers. Worked like a charm.....whew!
What do you think, Aunt Kay?
We commandered Lynn's brother Gordy and tasked him with slinging white net lights over the arbor entrance to the backyard wonderland while his smiling wife, Sue, pitched in wiping down chairs. At this stage, there's plenty of work for everyone! And the clock is ticking way too fast.....only a few hours to go.
Soooooooo, exactly how do you get paper lanterns to hang from branches 25-30 feet up in the air? Well, you ask Drew to throw the heavy dog chew toy over the branch.......while it has fishing line attached to it.....and pray it doesn't come down and clunk someone on the head while doing it! Then, the line is tied to the lantern, and run thru the bottom of the lantern, and secured to the ground with a garden stake so the lantern won't blow at a 45 degree angle in the gale.....er, ummmm, I mean breeze. Get it? Ok, good!
Thank goodness he had really good aim. It didn't take as many tries as you would think to get them all hung.
Are you starting to get the picture? These trees have white lights wrapped around the trunks and the lower limbs. Even though the wedding is at sunset, the lights provided just enough "glitter" to make the garden sing.
Now how is this for a getaway car? The bride and groom were going to leave the ceremony in Lee's red Corvette, but Lee called in a favor and one of his buddies showed up with this beauty! The guys made a trade for the day, the Corvette for the antique TEAL Chevy. Seriously? Are you kidding me? It matches the bridesmaids dresses exactly!
I don't know who found this sticker, but what a perfect addition to a perfect getaway car.
Tomorrow, the actual ceremony,
Deb
