Lesson I Learned From Planning a Wedding

(warning, long post ahead, but worth the trip)

Let me begin by saying how thankful I am that I am NOT planning a big event this Fall.
 I am so looking forward to enjoying this Fall season without all the pressure.

Last year, about this time, I was running around, half crazy, planning my oldest daughter's wedding.
Now, don't get me wrong,
I loved every minute of it, but I have found new respect for the people who plan weddings for a living!
With that said,  

I learned quite a bit about saving money, making memories, and creating a beautiful setting for my daughter to celebrate marrying the love of her life.
 

To start, I must give credit where it is due...
 I am blessed with a close friend who just exudes "good taste". She is the one I give the most credit  for reminding me of the basics and for helping me to know that I could do this. 


Thank you Tiffany for sharing your gift with me!
Before we get into anything, know this...
Wedding planning is a huge Industry.

You know what that means...

It is expensive and everyone wants to make money on your event!
Since we didn't want to spend a lot of money, we had to get creative.

 

Lesson #1: Enjoy All of It.
 

 Don't over stress in the details. Remember, even though this is a very important day,
 in the big scheme of things it is only one or two hours out of a lifetime.
 Learn to laugh at the things that aren't perfect and appreciate the things that do go as planned.
This will help in every aspect from planning to the actual event.

When we began, I called a friend just to inquire about a venue she had used for her daughter's wedding. This person (who is a very detailed OCD person) went on for about 30 minutes about everything that had gone wrong at her daughter's wedding. As much as I appreciated the warning, it made me realize that she didn't have wonderful sweet memories of her daughter's wedding, just regrets and wishes of perfection.
After hanging up the phone, I made my daughter make a promise... no matter what happened at her wedding, even if the cake fell on the floor, we would laugh about it and have wonderful memories of her special day!
This is a promise we both kept!
(and no, the cake did not fall on the floor)
 

 

Lesson #2: Use what you have
 

 Our church, like most churches, have an abundance of dishware,
 table clothes, and urns that are just sitting in storage waiting to be used.
Take advantage of anything and everything you can find that is free.

 That is exactly what we did.

 I would guess that we saved at least $1000 just by doing this.

The table, table cloths, chairs, and chargers all belong to our church. We only had to add the clear plastic plates and personalized napkins.
To quote the
  "The Nester"
"It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful" 

Lesson #3: Less is more and Natural is always better than fake

In the sanctuary, we let the room stand on it's own. We simply added a few ferns on stage and Hydrangea with ribbon on the pews.
I love that is was a Fall wedding. It made it so much easier for me. 
I think everything in the Fall is beautiful, but we didn't want to go with the usual orange and red color scheme.
We chose burlap, white pumpkins and ferns for our decor.
Simple and clean with lots of texture.
Pair those textures with classic silver platters and servers
 and it gives a very formal feel.
We borrowed most of the silver but did have to rent a few pieces.

I love the garden burlap from Lowe's garden department.

 It was a lot cheaper, and has a larger weave.

 

Sometimes when dealing with a church venue, there are those things that are "church things" that just won't fit in with your decor....Bulletin Boards.

 Most of the time, the church won't allow you to remove them so,

 here is how we handled this problem with minimal cost.

In our church we had several boards, so instead of fabric, we used brown paper and book pages cut in leaf patterns.

Inexpensive and beautiful!

I borrowed this idea from the Nester...

How to Decorate With Book Pages

I Just  love her stuff!!

We also incorporated it into the back drop for the cake.

Now, my sister gets full credit for this next one!
In most church fellowship halls there are not Basketball goals,
 but there are in our church.
 We really wanted to cover them, but I didn't have clue how to do it.
Here is what my sister came up with and it
  was pure Genius!
 She covered the two basketball goals in brown paper and burlap.
 She added a fern and there you have it. 

I loved it! 

 

Simple, I know,  but it worked for us and we have wonderful memories of a

 very special day!  

 

 



 

Camping Christmas Cards

 

Who knew???

 

If you are a friend of mine, you might just get one of these from us this Christmas!

I love these!!

 

I found a few of them

Here

 

And this one, with the Fifth Wheel...

I found Here! 

French Chair Project

On the day our grand-daughter was born, my husband and I stumbled onto a new junk shop on our way home from the hospital. Doesn't everyone go antiquing on their way home from the hospital? I know, we are "a peculiar people".

Anyway,

we had been searching for a rocker for our house because

every grandmother needs one, right?

 

Well, when we walked in,

 there it was....

the perfect rocker for my house!

 

I love it! I can't wait for the many hours I will spend rocking this sweet baby in that rocker.

 

 

While we were looking around this new little store, we found a chair that really spoke to me.

 

I know it looks rough, but I know I can make it into something beautiful.

 

The best part about this story is the deal we were able work on the price. 

We have been watching "American Pickers" a lot lately, and my husband suggested we bundle the two items. I asked the lady at the counter if she would consider a deal, and to my surprise, it worked.

She basicly gave us the chair free for paying full price for the rocker!

Score!

 

I will post pictures when this project is finished!

I can't wait to get started.



I'm a Honey and Now I Can Make Eggrolls

I am officially a grandmother.

Meet my sweet little grand baby, Aly Grace!

 

To say that I am in love, is an under-statement.

 

I decided that I am too young to be called Granny, Nana, or even grandmother, so, after much thought I decided on "Honey".

Doesn't that just sound like someone you want to spend a lot time with!

That's what I thought too and I plan to spend as much time with this sweet little face as possible.

 

 

Today was her first visit to our house, and this is what she looked like when she arrived.

Are those not the sweetest little toes you have ever seen?

 

 

I can't tell you how excited I was to know she and her momma were going to

spend a whole day with me at my house.

I don't think I quit smiling for the first 5 hours she was here!

 

She is one week old and she is the easiest baby I have ever seen.

We had so much fun just playing baby!

 

Of course I had to give her a bath...

 

I just love baby girls!!

 

 

Don't you just love those days when there is no clear plan or schedule?...

 just lots of time, food to fix, and time with your favorite people in this world.

 

Today, I decided I would try my hand at making eggs rolls.

 I knew we would have to eat something. Since

we would be together all day,

 I thought it would be a good time to try

 something really different and new.

 

 

They were a success, and I am shocked at how easy they were!

If you want the recipe, you can find it

 Here

At Everyday Manna with Lisa

 

Lisa Smith is one of my cooking hero's.

I have tried several of her recipes and have never been disappointed!

 

 

 

 

This has been a wonderul day and I am so blessed and thankful!

I just don't think it gets any better than this!