The Wedding is OVER!

Well, my daughter is married and we are home from the wedding. The cars are all unloaded and the suitcases are empty, but we will be recovering for at least a week.  I will be washing tablecloths until summer.

The wedding ceremony and reception were beautiful and I can’t wait to show you the photos.  I will be sharing pictures soon, but we decided to wait until we got the pictures from the photographer.  So until then I can share details of before the ceremony.  I’ll be doing a whole series on the cost, the details and how we pulled it all together.  Our budget was significantly lower than the average wedding, but that meant doing most of the work ourselves.  It was definitely put together with blood, sweat and tears.

While the day of the wedding was wonderful, the days leading up to it were rough.   There were many small challenges, but three things really made it hard.

1. Death. One of our daughter’s boyfriend died suddenly on Thursday morning.  It was shocking and devastating.  As a mom I was torn between wanting to go be with her and being there for my daughter who was getting married.  As we set up the church and reception I kept crying.  People around me who didn’t know the situation thought it was because of the wedding, but it wasn’t.  It was my heart breaking for my other daughter and this young man’s family.
2. No power. The electricity was out in the area of the church where we were setting up.  There was no power for the entire 2 days we were working.  We had to iron the linens on the other side of the building, we couldn’t use the kitchen and couldn’t do many of the things I had planned for setting up.  We just kept plugging away despite the issue.  I mean, what else can you do?!  On Friday night before the wedding the power came back on.  What a relief!
3. Illness.  Our family got really sick the Monday before the wedding and when it was time to leave on Wednesday my husband and one son had to stay behind to try to rest an extra day.  I oiled us all up and used every supplement and trick in my bag and miraculously we made it through the wedding without the hacking coughing we had been doing all week.

So that was the hard stuff, but there was also a whole lotta great things that I have to mention too.

1. Friends.  Oh my stars, I was amazed by the help and love that my friends brought.  Some came for the entire time we were setting up and their older kids helped iron and carry tablecloths from one side of the building to the other.  Other friends came to serve for the wedding and they worked their hearts out all day long.  They all protected me from any trouble and didn’t let me lift a thing in the kitchen.  Another 2 friends who couldn’t be there were home praying and texting me Bible verses and praise songs just when I needed it.  I couldn’t have done it without each of them!
2. Working with my family.  My kids and I spent 10 days before the wedding working all day long every day on wedding prep.  When we got there, they never stopped working.  I got to spend one-on-one time with each of them as we ironed (there was a LOT of ironing), set up tables, ran to the store….so many little ways we got to talk and work together.  That was probably my favorite part.
3. God’s goodness.  The entire time it was plain to see that God was right there taking care of everything.  Sure, we had issues to deal with, but He always made a way around them.  The power outage meant it was quiet in the gym where we were setting up because most of the helpers were on the other side of the building.  They were having a great time with their music and laughing and it was so cute.  But where I was stayed quiet and calm, which I needed.  I have a thousand other stories like that, where God took a hard thing and made it a blessing!

The above photo is the reception area before it was completely finished.  We added more chair bows and more color, but this was the layout.  I got the idea to build a wall to reduce the size of the room and it turned out great.  I wasn’t sure, it was just something we dreamed up and had no way to test it beforehand.  But it was perfect.  It really made the reception more intimate and lovely.  I’ll be sharing how we made it soon!

Now back to normal life….and I can’t wait!!!