The Wedding

     It finally arrived--the wedding day!

     Bear in mind that as the mother of the bride, I was too busy to take pictures. So I'm dependent on other people's photography to get pictures of how the yard looked for the wedding. I've had a couple of people send me photos, and I'll post some of them here. If I get more later that show the yard well, I'll do a "The Wedding--Part 2" post.

    

     I'll start off with a picture of my whole clan. It was a wonderful day of celebration, and all of my children and grandchildren were there. Between that and the gorgeous weather we had--not the norm for the past few weeks--I felt very blessed!

 

 

 

     The actual wedding took place in the LDS temple in Idaho Falls. It was followed by a lovely luncheon hosted by the groom's parents. Later that evening the festivities in our yard started with a ring ceremony followed by the reception.

 

     Here is my husband getting things set up for the ring ceremony. Some of the pots I worked to keep looking fresh all summer added just the right touch to the French door backdrop for the ring ceremony. These French doors and pots were moved after the ring ceremony and were the backdrop for the receiving line where guests were greeted.

 

           Here is what it looked like during the ring ceremony.

 



         Guests for the reception came in through the west side yard. This is a big area. The back part was where the ring ceremony and some of the tables were set up. But I didn't want guests to enter the reception there. Instead I wanted them to enter through an arbor. To direct them to the arbor, I used a line of large pots to divide the side yard into two areas.

 

     To help reinforce the idea of a wall being created by these pots, we placed a balloon bouquet in each of them. You can see them in the background of this picture of some of my darling granddaughters.

 

 

     Between this "wall" and the guest book table set by the arbor, guests could tell where they are supposed to enter the party. Note that more pots were used to brighten up the area around the guest book table. In fact, pots of flowers added color spots all over the yard, so it was well worth the work we went through moving some of them into the garage and covering the rest to protect them from the frost that came two nights before the wedding!

 

     By the way, the picture below, as well as many of the rest of these, was taken while we were still setting up. The guest book table was decorated with a candelabra and bouquet, which aren't there yet in this photo.

 

 

     The acid stained concrete made a great floor for under the tent we rented. We set up the refreshment table and drink station at one end of the tent, and the rest of the area served as the dance floor. (Note--again, this first photo was taken while we were still setting up. During the reception the platters actually had food on them.)



Behind my cute granddaughter and her dad and great grandpa, you can see how the refreshment and drink tables were situated in the tent.



 

The beautiful bride dancing with her dad



     One side of the new paver patio we installed served as the area for the cake. We placed a set of hinged doors behind the cake table to act as a backdrop for it.

          We set up a display area for gifts on the other side of the paver patio. Notice the cute sign my niece "chalked" for us to use here.

     It's cute enough it deserves a close-up just of it!

     She also made this cute sign to put at the front of the house and direct guests to the entrance of the party.

     In addition to having tables for guests to eat at, we set up conversation areas throughout the yard using an eclectic mix of furniture. This gave guests places to sit and visit.

     Besides being the mother of the bride and the wedding planner, I took on the job of florist as well. That was not a good idea. The day before the wedding while I was trying to make flower arrangements and corsages, I kept getting interrupted by people asking where things should go and what needed to be done. Fortunately, I had my daughter, a daughter-in-law, and two friends helping me with the flowers. I completed a couple of samples of what we were going for, and they got the job done.
    These arrangements turned out beautifully and worked with the pots to add splashes of color.

          Here are a few more shots to give you an idea of the layout of the area. Notice how green and lush the lawn appears. The turf in this area was part of the grass that was damaged by being driven over repeatedly while we were doing construction projects. It has recovered beautifully--turf can be very forgiving.

      The yard was lovely. The day was beautiful. And in the end, I gained a wonderful new son-in-law. I can't think of a happier ending than that!