Archive for January, 2009

They Make Place Card Holders For Everything

Friday, January 30th, 2009

   Our daughter was getting married and I, as mother of the bride, was helping her plan her ceremony and reception. We spent quite a bit of time in bridal shops picking out dresses for the bridesmaids, flower girl and of course the bride herself.  We had already made arrangements for the church and reception. Believe it or not, they are having their reception in a barn on a friends farm.  I couldn’t believe my ears when she told me they were planning a country style reception, with barn dancing, barbecue and country western attire. They even had someone to call out dance instructions for line dancing. At least I got them to agree to have the ceremony in a church. That’s the least a girl can do for her mother. I’ve always dreamed of the day my little girl would walk down the aisle of our church and our minister would perform the ceremony.

   As you can tell, I wasn’t too thrilled with this hoedown happening, but the more we got into decorating and planning the more excited I got. There are quite a few ideas for a country western reception. Apparently they make cake toppers, place card holders, wedding guest books and a whole lot more in a western motif. Speaking of country western motif, part of the décor for this shindig was about 15 bales of hay to be placed around the reception area. Our daughter also informed me that it was casual attire and that she wanted us to go all country for this event. I told her that was fine with me, but I’m not wearing something that looks like an Ellie Mae Clampett party dress. I was relieved when she told me that blue jeans were fine. She did order cowboy hats for the parents of the bride and groom.

   As we were setting up the “barn” I was really impressed with the way things were starting to come together. The tables were really nice and she had the most adorable frontier cake topper on their gorgeous wedding cake. There were canning jars for glasses, and checkered table cloths with centerpieces that were little metal milk pails filled with wild flowers. She was really going all out on this. She also found some adorable place card favors for all of her guests. Little western place card holders that also serve as the perfect wedding favors.

   The day of the wedding turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, and the ceremony was so beautiful. I got to see my baby walk down the aisle on her fathers arm, just like I’ve always dreamed of. They said their vows to each other, lit the unity candle and before I knew it my daughter was a married woman. Where did the time go? Now they were off to get ready for the reception and so were we. We had to go home and change into our “DUDS” and get out to the farmhouse.

   I have to admit, at first I wasn’t too crazy about this country western reception, but we had a fantastic time. Everyone loved what we did with the decorations and refreshments, and a big barbecue was right on the mark. The food was wonderful, the music so full of life and we all had a marvelous time. The guests really liked their little wedding place card favors they got as thank you gifts, and she got a lot of compliments. As far as me and my husband, we’re thinking about taking up line dancing now.  I guess there is a little Clampett in all of us.

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So Many Choices Of Wedding Cake Toppers

Monday, January 26th, 2009

   The invitations were so gorgeous, with pretty silver rings on the front. Even though I was sitting there and filling them out to mail, I could hardly believe I was really about to get married. But here I am, inviting people to my ceremony and reception. It was like a dream, and that’s what I wanted my wedding to be, like a dream come true.

   I thought for a long time on a theme for my wedding, but I really couldn’t decide if I wanted a storybook wedding, a seasonal theme or just the traditional style.  There is a lot to be said for traditional. I pictured us in all three scenarios and we looked good in all of them.  But even so, I knew I had to pick just one of them. I asked my fiance what he thought, but you know men, he left all the details up to me. So, he had me take care of planning everything from the decorations  to wedding cake toppers.

   Since it was to be in July, I thought a beautiful beach wedding would be the thing. So now that I had my theme, I was on a roll.  I looked at everything that had to do with a beach wedding and even got a few tips from the internet. Great ideas for a ceremony by the ocean, and the thought of a beach party reception sounded just perfect. So I went with it.

   I couldn’t believe how many choices there were for beach wedding decorations. This ceremony is going to be even better than I imagined. I chose the flower arrangements and odered some lovely floating candles, and do you know they even had unity candles with a beach theme to them.  Everything was just falling in place almost as if it were meant to be. I even found a beautiful wedding guest book for beach ceremonies.

   I finally had everything ready for the ceremony and now I could start on the reception. I knew the reception would probably last into the night, since it wasn’t scheduled to start until 4.  So I ordered some tiki torches to light up the beach area and adorable candles for each reception table. We had crystal champagne flutes for everyone, for the toast to the bride and groom, sea shells and starfish to help with the décor and I chose seafoods, salads of all kinds, chicken and steaks for those that don’t care for seafood, and I even ordered a few trays of sushi. There was lots of food choices, I wanted to have something everyone would like. As far as drinks, there was champagne, wine and other ligours, but I also made sure I had plenty of soft drinks for those who preferred non alcoholic beverages.

   Our cake was so gorgeous with its towering three layers of white cake with a whipped cream cheese frosting. On top was one of the cutest beach wedding cake toppers I could find. So many of the guests committed on how adorable it was. They asked me where I found these wedding beach supplies with matching bride cake toppers. You could tell by looking at the bride and groom, on top of the cake, that they were by the ocean. It really was the perfect topper.

   It really was a fantastic wedding and reception, and we have lots of pictures to prove it. Everyone had a great time on the beach that evening, and they also commented on the beach wedding favors we had for them as little thank you gifts, and our wedding did turn into a dream come true, just like I had hoped.

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It Was A Spectacular Storybook Fairy Wedding

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

  I attended the most fabulous storybook wedding and reception last week end. I’ve never been to one of those types of weddings before, but I was really impressed. Even their invitations looked like that of a royal family.  They were absolutely exquisite. When I read this invitation, I couldn’t wait to RSVP.  This was a wedding I was determined to attend. Not only is the bride and groom close friends of ours, but I was anxious to see just what a storybook fairy wedding was all about.

   Well, it was about the most fantastic and beautiful ceremony I’ve ever seen. I wish I could go back in time and redo my wedding and reception, because it would definitely be in a storybook motif.  It was so romantic and elegant that you really felt like you were in the middle of a storybook love affair, like cinderella and prince charming. Everything at the ceremony was beautiful and the flower arrangements were so elegant, with red and white roses everywhere. The bride was simply beautiful and her gown was of pure white with pearls and silver sequins woven into the material.  She had a very long train which was outshined only by her exquisite tiara. She was definitely a vision of lovliness. The groom looked very handsome in his tux, very regal as he stood at the altar watching his bride walk towards him. It was really quite a breath taking scene.

   The reception seemed just as impressive as the ceremony had been. With table settings of crystal champagne flutes, wine glasses and these adorable little coach place card holders with each of our names written out in a stylish manner. There were also exquisite little storybook favor boxes as packaging for our lovely fairy tale favors. The centerpieces were fantastic too, with red and white roses, just like in the ceremony. There were also candles in very fancy candle holders on all of the tables and the wedding table itself, for the bride and groom was really unbelievable. The wedding cake was a tower of absolute gorgeous, with a little castle cake topper to add to it’s perfection.

   This is definitely an experience I will never forget. One of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever seen in my life. It really did feel like it was right out of a book. I thought maybe she hired a wedding planner to plan such an elaborate event as this, but I found out that she did this all herself. She did a super job in setting all of this up.  She took care of every detail, she didn’t miss a thing. I’ve never seen a wedding and reception go so perfectly well as this one did, and to handle everything from invitations to the adorable fairy wedding favors was just unbelievable.

   The part that really amazed me was actually at the end of the wedding, when the bride and groom were leaving the church. We were all given silk rose petals to throw at the couples feet as they fled down the aisle and follow them outside. But instead of getting into a long limosine, the happy couple had a horse drawn carriage awaiting them with a driver all dressed up in some fancy old fashioned clothes that looked like they came from the wardrobe of a showing of Camelot. It was such an awesome scene, and I’ve got all the pictures to prove it.

  I wonder if we have a renewal wedding for our anniversary if I could get her to plan my storybook wedding. Because this time, I’d really like to do it up in style.

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He Has To Pick Out The Groomsmen Gifts

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

   With all that I have to do, he will have to take care of the gifts for his groomsmen and his best man on his own. He wanted to know if I would do it for him, he’s not really too good at picking out gifts, but I’ve got so much to take care of myself, that I just don’t know if I can find the time. I’m doing all the planning and the invitations, then there is the decorations, table settings, and wedding favors to take care off.  If he wants his friends to have groomsmen gifts, he’ll have to just do the best he can and take care of it himself.

   Today I’m going in for a fitting for my gown and my bridesmaids are suppose to be there for their fittings too, but one of them called me and she’s sick, so she’ll have to have her’s done later. So that’s got me in a tizzy. After the fittings I have to check on caterers for the food and our of course, our wedding cake. I’ve been running around ragged for what seems like a decade trying to find everything I need for my ceremony and reception, and I’m just about ran out.

   My sister suggested I try online shopping for all of my wedding accessories and supplies. I’ve never really been a fan of online shopping before, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try it out.  Or at least, give it a look. So I did, and I was really surprised. They have a lot of really nice wedding and reception items to choose from. There are even discounts on some of the accessories and wedding favors. I started checking out everything they had to offer, and low and behold there they were: gifts for groomsmen. There was some pretty awesome gifts in there for groomsmen and the best man.  There are even some nice little things for his Dad and mine.  So, I sat down with my fiance and we went through it all together.  There were some great mugs we thought about giving them, then we ran across super looking T-shirt transfers for the best man and groomsman. Now that he has so much to choose from, he can’t make up his mind.  We did decide on gifts for our Dads though. I know they will love what we got them and they will get some use out of them. There was so many wedding accessories, gifts and other wonderful items to look at. I found the perfect gifts for my bridesmaids, maid of honor and our moms. I also found the perfect cake topper that really suits our personalities, and I know everyone will get a kick out of. It’s a little whimsical, but it’s really the perfect topper for us. Even my fiance agrees with me on that one.

   So, after checking all of this out, I’ve gotten almost everything I need for my ceremony and reception. From flower girl basket to crystal champagne flutes for our traditional toast to the bride and groom. After putting a lot of thought into it, my fiance actually made a decision on what he’s going to do about the wedding groomsmen gifts. He’s decided on the glass mugs, but he was to have their names printed on each one. I think that’s a pretty neat idea, and knowing his friends like I do, those mugs will get plenty of use.    Well, my fiance has learned that picking out gifts isn’t all that hard, and I’ve learned that online shopping can make things a lot easier and more enjoyable.  

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