The Wedding Part VII: The Aftermath

Well, after all the planning, worrying, stressing, spending, getting teary eyed and having a blast the wedding was over! We went back to the hotel and went to bed and it took me two hours to get to sleep!

The next morning we left pretty quickly. Shauna and Brad wanted to have brunch together later so we headed home. We did get a chance to say hi and bye to Rich's sister Judy and her daughters, as they would be leaving for South Carolina on Monday.

Got home and took a shower and washed all of the product out of my hair! Put everything away and then went and met Shauna, Brad and Brad's parents for brunch. It was nice to relax and talk about everything with them.

Later in the afternoon, I went to the grocery store and just as I was pulling into the parking lot, the blues hit me like I knew they would! It's always a little depressing the let down after a big event. So I sat in my car and cried for a few minutes and when I felt better I went inside and did my grocery shopping for the week!

I had taken Monday and Tuesday off of work just because I knew I would not feel like going back to work right away. Shauna and Brad left early in the morning for their honeymoon in Punta Cana and she sent me pictures when they arrived

They look so happy and excited, don't they?

We still had two buckets of flowers and seeing as I can't really have them in my house because the cats will eat them, I did the next best thing!

Took them to my mom. And probably gave a feast to the deer later that evening!

I spent the week looking after Stash while Shauna and Brad were away. He hates when they leave him and he was letting me know!

Then late Sunday we picked Shauna and Brad up from the airport . They had a fantastic time and it was back to work for them the next day!

It was such a wonderful experience and I will cherish the memories for a long time to come!!

Until the next time......

The Wedding Part VI: The Reception

After the ceremony was over everyone walked into the banquet room where there was hors d'oeuvres (definitely had to look that word up!)  to eat and an open bar to utilize as the guests waited for the bridal party and others to have pictures taken.

Right after they were introduced they had their first dance

Then dinner was served. Someone took this picture of the whole room during dinner. I love it!

Now you can see the head table. It was decorated with flowers in vases on both ends, and in the middle were vases of water that the bridesmaids put their flowers in after they came in the room! I thought that was an excellent idea! Towards the middle of the table you can see the wine box that was part of the ceremony!

After dinner Shauna and Brad cut the cake.

And then visited with everyone at the individual tables.

Then Shauna danced with Rich and Brad danced with his mom and soon everyone was on the dance floor and the party started!

I won't bore you with a bunch of dancing pictures but the music was good, the drinks were flowing and everyone had a wonderful time!

Then in the blink of an eye it was over and we were cleaning up the hall and heading to the hotel and bed!

Next: The Wedding Part VII: The Aftermath

The Wedding Part V: The Ceremony

Due to the ongoing rain, and the fact that there was thunder and lightening 1/2 hour before the ceremony was to begin, we had to have it on the patio instead of the lawn. So much for that beautiful view but really, who needed it because the ceremony was beautiful!

Here are the only pictures I have of the procession down the aisle. Sorry everything is so dark but it was cloudy and rainy and not very bright out!

Me being escorted by Chris.

Shauna being walked down the aisle by her dad.

Chris and Brad watching Shauna and Rich.

Shaking Brads hand.

My son Chris was the officiant! When I first found out a year ago that they were planning this I was a little skeptical! He had never done anything like that before! I just couldn't see him taking it seriously! But he went online and got a certificate as an ordained minister and that made it legal for him to perform weddings in the state of Michigan. He wanted to do that for his sister and Shauna and Brad were thrilled, to say the least!

He did an excellent job!

We did a wine box ceremony where Shauna and Brad wrote letters to each other,  me and Sandy wrote letters to them and we put them all in a wine box with a bottle of wine.  This is to be opened if they hit a rough spot or to celebrate their 5th anniversary.

Then Chris pronounced them husband and wife! And they kissed!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the wedding because it was a very nice first kiss as husband and wife and Chris looks so happy! It was actually kind of funny because Shauna and Brad are not much for PDA's but that kiss was a good one!

Chris introduced them and they walked back down the aisle as a newly wed couple!

The whole thing was only about 15 minutes long but it was sweet and beautiful!

Next: The Wedding Part VI The Reception

The Wedding Part IV: The Venue and Decorating

The wedding was booked at a golf club called the Links of Novi. Its a beautiful place and it was perfect for this wedding. Not too big with a maximum capacity of 150 people. Windows all around the room overlooking the golf course, a pond and willow trees.

On the day of the wedding they had a golf event scheduled in the morning. We were assured that everything would be done and we could get in there and start setting up at 4:00. The ceremony was scheduled for 6:00.

Due to the lovely storms that we had earlier and the continued rain off and on all day, the golf event was delayed, so when we arrived at 4:00 there was still people in the banquet room and they were still handing out awards!

The centerpieces for the tables we planned were 5 small vases with one or two flowers in each and some votive candles.

So in a room across the hall from the banquet room we set up the vases, filled them with water and the cut flowers and got them ready to go. Finally the awards ceremony was done, the golfers left and they put the linens on the tables so we could begin to set up the centerpieces.

We also had to decorate the cake table. This is a picture of it after the ceremony with Shauna's bouquet that she made from silk flowers and brooches! Small but very pretty and she can keep it forever!

 This was the table with the escort cards. They were little cardboard chairs with a Hershey's hug and a kiss inside with a sign saying "A hug and a kiss from the new Mr. and Mrs. Please take your seat" One for each guest; the female guests with a mint ribbon and grey for the men!

We also decorated the head table with a mint green table runner, vases of flowers and candles. I'll show you a picture in the next post!

Last we put the favors at each place setting.

 It's an Italian tradition in my family called bombineers. We used small green and white bags with 5 candy coated almonds inside and tied with string. Each almond means health, wealth, happiness, children and longevity! We've had them at family weddings as long as I can remember!

We were running around like crazy people but we managed to get mostly ready. I had one brief Momzilla moment when we were trying to get 90 some odd vases into the room and people (mostly the men!) were just standing around getting in the way. Not that we needed their help but we did need them to get out of the way! So I had to yell at them! I think they forgave me, though!

Then we couldn't find the boutonniere for Brad and we were running around looking for that. It was found in some random box!

Finally we got Shauna into her dress and her jewelry on and were taking a few pictures just as people started arriving!


Next thing we knew it was time for the ceremony!  And the rain kept pouring down!

Next time: The Wedding Part V: The Ceremony and Reception

The Wedding Part III: Stormy Weather

Saturday dawned party cloudy warm and slightly humid.

We woke up fairly early and started to get things together to bring to the venue before our hair and make up appointments.

Shauna made me a surprise Mother of the Bride Survival Kit.

It had water, a small bottle of wine, Pepto Bismol, Aleve, kleenex, hand sanitizer, munchies, mints, lotion and some chocolate bars.

Then it was time to leave to take everything to the venue. We hauled all the flowers, several boxes of vases and another big box of decorations there so it would all be ready to go when we got back. The venue was a golf club and they were having a golf outing that day, so we would not be able to start decorating until 4:00.

As we were driving from there to the salon the storm clouds were moving in, and the air was getting more and more sticky! Crap!

In the three hours we were getting our hair and make up done it stormed and rained the whole time. Guess the ceremony was not going to be outside after all!

While that was  happening, Rich and Brad were checking into hotel rooms not too far away from the golf club. We reserved them to have somewhere to wait before we could go to the venue and to not have to worry about driving home afterwards. Also Rich's sister Judy was in from South Carolina and her and her kids had rooms booked there for the night.

So we hung out in the rooms, Shauna on one end of the hotel in our room and Brad on the other end in the suite that they got. I hated the make up job that they gave me so I had to take a lot of it off and kind of re-do it. Luckily I had my make up with me and was able to fix it! I guess that the make up girl did not realize that when you cake foundation on an old lady it just enhances all those wrinkles! Yuck! I looked awful!! But I was able to fix it!

Then I got dressed and put on my jewelry.

All the jewelry that I wore, with the exception of my own wedding rings, belong to my mom! The rhinestone earrings and bracelet and her wedding band. It was my way of having her there with us.

She would have been so happy and excited for Shauna!

Next: The Wedding Part IV; Setting Up The Venue

The Wedding Part II Fingers, Toes and Flowers

Friday dawned party sunny and warm.

I spend the morning cleaning Shauna's old bedroom for her to spend the night in. It has become that room that all the extra stuff gets thrown into, and I was literally putting away Christmas wrapping and decorations!

In the afternoon we all had appointments to get manicures and pedicures!

But first we went to lunch at Chili's. Me, Shauna, her bridesmaids Abby and Sandy, Marissa, and my sister-in-law Linda.

And then on to the salon. Can I mention here that I hate having my feet touched? I've had three pedicures in my life and they have all been torture! But  I managed to get through this one and the one for Shauna's shower! I do like soaking my feet in the warm, bubbling water, though! That was heaven!

After the manis and pedis, we walked a few doors down to Home Goods so Shauna could see if she could find a table to use at the ceremony. She had ordered one on Am@zon that was supposed to arrive on Friday but it was not going to arrive until Saturday! Too late!!

She also wanted to find something to put the wedding cards in. She had a box but wasn't satisfied with it anymore!

We did manage to find a small sofa table that would work perfect for the ceremony, and could be used in her house afterwards but finding the perfect box for the cards was a little harder. With all of us with her giving her suggestions and showing her stuff, she had had enough, said forget it and we left without finding anything.

Later she went back by herself and bought a cute basket with lace on it! It was perfect! Sometimes brides have to do that!

I didn't take a single picture the whole time!

After we all went home and Shauna spent a few hours with Brad she came back to spend the night in her old room.

Brad dropped her off and they brought a lot of the vases and decorations for the wedding along with three buckets of flowers that she had ordered online and had been sitting in water for a few days.

The first thing we did was press her dress and get it ready to go! It sure looked pretty hanging there in her old room!

We then went to Meijer's grocery store to buy even more flowers and some snack foods to take to the hotel on Saturday.

We wanted to make three wrist corsages, five boutonnieres and three bridesmaids bouquets.

It took us a while to figure out how to make the wrist corsages. We looked on line but still couldn't figure it out. We were almost ready to give up but I figured we at least had to try, so I got my trusty hot glue gun and did the best I could

 I have to say they came out pretty good! And I actually had fun making them!

We made three of them. One for me, one for Sandy, Brads mom,  and one for Brads grandma!

While I was doing that Shauna was making the boutineers.

She put them together and we wrapped them with mint ribbon. She did a fantastic job. They were so cute!!

We spritzed them all with water, put them in little boxes and then in the refrigerator for the next day.

Next Shauna made the three bouquets for her bridesmaids. We bought four bunches of these flowers and arranged them in three vases. When she got them the way she wanted them we took them out, rubber banded them, cut the stems and put them in water to wait for the next day.

Here is all the flowers in buckets in the basement bedroom where is was cool.

We pretty much got everything done by 11:00 and because we wanted to be rested for the next day, we all went to sleep, or at least tried to sleep!

We had a big day the next day!

Next: The Wedding Part III; A Stormy Wedding Day

The Wedding Part I-Thursday May 28th

On Thursday before the wedding we all gathered at the venue to have a rehearsal.

It was a beautiful evening. sunny, warm and breezy.

Shauna and Brad wanted the ceremony to be right on the grass outside of the patio attached to the venue.

They had a few chairs set up in rows for us to practice in.

We gathered in a room and Sarah, who is the event coordinator there,  helped us figure out how we were going to do everything.

Line up here, walk here, sit here! We went through it a few times.

 It was a beautiful, sunny evening!

 Breezy and warm.

Chris and Brad standing in position.

It didn't take us long to get it just the way Shauna and Brad wanted it.

Then we left and went to dinner at Champs, which was graciously hosted by Brads mom and dad.

Brad made a little speech.

And then him and I took a selfie!

I take terrible selfies! I always look like I'm looking into one of those round, Christmas ornaments, know what I mean?

Shauna and Brad handed out gifts to all their attendants. I wish I would have got a picture of the pretty necklaces she gave her girls. It was a CZ surrounded by smaller stones in the shape of a knot, with a little card saying "Thanks for helping us tie the knot". Very pretty!

And she gave us this beautiful frame and candle.

It was a fun night!

Coming up-Fingers, toes and flowers!