So Pretty!

Sorry, but I can't resist showing a few more photo's of my daughter's wedding last month. Everything looked so pretty!

The head table.

The appetizer and beverage buffet.

The wedding party and the dinner buffet.

The dinner buffet.

Guests at the appetizer buffet.

Nothing says "I love you" like matching sneakers!

Their first dance as husband and wife ...
and his first dance ever.

Cakes and Cupcakes

This was my second attempt at a cake topper.
The first attempt was atrocious, but I was pleased with this one.

The cupcakes and cake topper.
I think they look very pretty.

Each flavor of cupcake had a different color flower ... all painted by hand. I could have colored the fondant and saved a lot of work, but once you color fondant, you can't uncolor it, and I didn't want to run out of fondant in the middle of the project. Painting them by hand gave the flowers more depth, too, so even though it was a lot of work, I think it was worth it!

The bride and groom, eating one of the snickerdoodle cupcakes.

Me, posing by the cake and cupcakes.
I think everything turned out quite lovely.

I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist, and am hypercritical of myself and my efforts, I probably did a lot of unnecessary stressing, but I wanted everything to be perfect, and it was pretty close! My kids rolled their eyes at all my spreadsheets and diagrams and obsessive labeling of boxes, but I think the results speak for themselves ... and prove that being a nerd pays off :)

The Goldfish Centerpieces Were a BIG Hit!

It Was Perfect

At the church.

Entering their reception.

When her fiance (now husband) saw her for the first time, he reacted precisely as I had predicted. His reaction was exactly what Hollywood strives to manufacture ... but his reaction was genuine.

When she appeared in the doorway, he was overcome with emotion and unable to choke back the tears. She looked radiant, and I'm sure he could not believe this beautiful creature had a agreed to be his wife ... but she had ... and she did ... quite happily! My daughter was just as emotional when repeating her promises and vows. More than once, she had to stop, wipe away the tears and compose herself before she could continue. She spent the ceremony looking at him, beaming with love and pride and happiness.

I think her day was about as close to perfect as anyone could hope for. The church was picturesque, the reception hall was beautiful and filled with delicious food, the bride was gorgeous, and the groom was handsome. And best of all, everyone had a great time.

And now they begin their happily ever after ...

Am I Crazy?

My sister, painting the flower cupcake toppers.

My cupcake-obsessed daughter wants cupcakes at her wedding rather than a traditional tiered cake. I'm having a professional bake them, and we'll pick them up Friday ... but we'll have to ice them. The Chef would have iced them had I asked, but I wanted something not only beautiful, but unique, so I came upon the idea of making a fondant flower to adorn each cupcake. Thing 1 also loves Gerber daisies, so I decided to put a flower on each one ... a different color for each flavor. I knew it would be labor intensive, and that paying someone to make them would be cost-prohibitive ... so I decided I'd just have to make them myself.

Yesterday my sister and I spent the afternoon making (some of) the cupcake toppers. She can ice cakes with fancy swirls and shells and make flowers out of royal icing, but she had never made anything with fondant ... so before we began, I gave her a crash-course in fondant.

After class, I rolled out the fondant and cut out the flowers while she painted the center of each daisy brown. After the center was painted, she painted the petals. I stopped cutting out daisies after making enough for two flavors of the cupcakes, and helped her paint the flowers. One. By. One. ... Petal. By. Petal.

Both of my daughters and my best friend have watched me make so many of the things for the wedding and are just amazed at how talented I am! Ha ... if only they knew! It's all smoke and mirrors. What they don't know is that I have no idea how I'm going to accomplish most of the tasks I give myself ... or what it's going to look like when I'm done. Through trial and error, however, I usually hit upon a plan that will work and produce the desired results.

Today, our first task will be to make the flowers for the other two flavors of cupcakes ... which will take us several hours ... then we'll move on to conquer other things on the To-Do list. This week has been nothing but non-stop, tedious, time-consuming chores ... and my sister has shown up every day to help without complaint. Luckily (for me), she and her husband really love my daughter! I am so grateful for her help.

When I look at the results of our work, I am quite pleased and my daughter is tickled pink ... which only spawns more ideas that force me to figure out how to do something else I have no idea how to do!! So I guess my question, "Am I crazy?",  is really rhetorical.  I think we all know the answer. Yes ... I am crazy! This is all for my daughter's wedding. I'm kind of obligated to do this stuff ... so I guess the question I should be asking is, "Is my sister crazy?" Actually, that's a rhetorical question too.  Yes, she is!

Boutonnieres, Corsages, and Bows

The groom's boutonniere

The wedding countdown is in full gear, but I think I'm ready and have a handle on everything. When it comes to planning, I'm freakishly nerdy. I think I've thought of everything ... think being the keyword here.

My sister from Georgia and her husband came to town on Sunday. She reported to duty here at Headquarters bright-eyed and bushy-tailed yesterday morning. I showed her my spreadsheets and printouts, complete with diagrams and instructions for both the overall layout and each individual table. After surveying the mountain of meticulously labeled boxes filled with carefully bubble-wrapped items, we went over the To-Do list, then got to work.

The first things we did was make the pew bows for the church and the bows to adorn the tables at the reception (some of which are pictured below). It took a while, but we finished. (If you heard angels singing yesterday afternoon ... that's why!)

My sister, posing with SOME of the bows for the church and reception.

I had already made the boutonnieres with the roses my daughter had bought, but I thought the flowers were too big. My daughters both thought they were just fine, but I didn't. I showed them to my son and my boyfriend.

"They're too big, aren't they?" I asked.

They both replied "They're fine" (in a tone that suggested they were terrified I was going to continue to talk about the wedding ... or make them look at my spreadsheets and diagrams!).

I didn't believe any of them. They looked pretty ... but they were too big!! Unable to find anyone to tell me what I already knew, I showed them to my sister.

"They're too big, aren't they?"

"Yup," she replied. "They are." Finally!

We ran to the craft store for rosebuds, but couldn't find any that didn't cost more than it would cost to order boutonnieres from a florist. We did, however, find some tea roses that were a suitable replacement. We meandered around the store for a while, stopping to make fun of ugly things and pointing out things we liked, then headed back to my house.

We played around with the various arrangements for the boutonnieres and corsages, then settled on a design. Before we could begin an assembly line, my sister had to leave to visit her sweet granddaughters. (Her son and his wife have four of the prettiest blue-eyed, blondes you will ever see!) After she left, I started on the boutonnieres. Five hours, twelve boutonnieres, and three corsages later, I was able to mark that task of my To-Do list! (So if you heard angels singing in the wee hours of the night, that's why!)

It's been a very stressful journey, but in the end, it will be worth it ... my sweet little girl will marry a man who loves her as much as she loves him. She'll have the wedding of her dreams to begin her happily ever-after.

I Tom Sawyer'd My Daughter

The wedding mints.

Thing 1 has, surprisingly, let me make quite a lot of decisions regarding her wedding. She trusts my judgement and taste, so she pretty much let me have free reign. With very little input from her, I picked out all of the decorations for the reception and church! After each purchase, I would text her pictures of what I had bought, and she would always reply back with "Yea! You're awesome!!" or some variation thereof.

Last winter and spring I was pretty gung-ho on the planning and preparations ... nine months into this, I'm getting wedding burn-out!

At first I suggested mints of different colors in the shape of fall leaves. but as the wedding drew nearer, I was exhausted from the work I had already done and grew tired just thinking of all the things yet to do. Generic, store-bought mints were sounding like a good idea to me! But, my daughter almost cried at the suggestion, so I met her at the cake/candy supply store to pick up what we needed to make them.

I got there first, so I already had everything picked out, but I waited for her to give me the thumbs up before finalizing the purchase. Her fiance came and looked to be about as comfortable as he would in a lingerie department! For someone whose waking hours revolve around cars, engines, and tools, a cake supply shop was about as interesting as a symposium on "The History of Quilting" or "How to Write Chick-Lit"! Still, he loves my daughter, so he drove her over and patiently waited for us to discuss the intricacies of making mints in the shape of maple leaves.

A few days later, she and I went to get our dresses for the wedding altered. When we got back to my house, she suggested we start making the mints. She didn't know how, so she watched me make the first batch. In true Tom Sawyer fashion, I did my best to make it look really, really fun!

"Can I do some?" she asked.

"I guess," I replied, trying to sound like I was having too much fun to stop.

She happily made mints for the next hour or so, humming sweetly as she worked. When she left, I sent her home with the mint-making supplies so that she could finish at her leisure. She smiled and thanked me for showing her how to make mints. She hurried home, delighted and thrilled that I trusted her with this delicate task.

A few days later, she called and said "I spent six hours making mints yesterday, and I'm not done yet! Bridesmaid 1 is coming over tomorrow to help so that we can finish making these stupid things!"

I don't remember if I laughed (out loud) or not! Out of the many hundreds of mints that were made for the wedding, I only made 14. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it's done!