“I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man—the
immortal part, because it has no beginning. Suppose you cut it in two;
then it has a beginning and an end; but join it again, and it continues
one eternal round. So with the spirit of man.”- Joseph Smith Jr.
More Wedding Reflections:
6. Make Lists and More Lists! I had timeline lists and supply lists and volunteer lists and errands lists. I went over my lists daily to see what I could cross off, what to accomplish that day, what was accomplished the day before, what needed to be added to the list, etc. My lists saved me! The week before the big day, I had the following lists:
* Things to accomplish each day
* Timeline for the last two days - hour by hour (Seriously!!! It even said what time to take a shower after setting up Thursday morning and what time to start doing the girl's hair)
* List of EVERYTHING that needed to be taken to the church to setup on Wednesday (This included safety pins, duck tape, screwdrivers, hammer, scissors, needle and thread, glue gun, tacks, jute, floral tape, rope... you name it!)
* List of EVERYTHING needed on the day of (hair dryer, combs, hair spray, bridesmaids flowers, boutonnieres, pins, sharpies, ziploc bags, wedding book, pens, photos, straightener, etc, etc, etc)
I was amazed that we virtually had no glitches on the wedding day. Because I had prepared so much in advance, the day went by smoothly and fairly stress-free.
7. Pick the top things that are the most important and try to accommodate. One of my daughter's most important requests was no real flowers. She works with older people as a care giver and the scent of real flowers reminds her too much of death and funerals. So she showed me a photo of a brooch bouquet and fabric flowers. I didn't have any idea how to create such beauty. Good thing for You Tube! I took it on as a challenge to create the most beautiful fabric flower/brooch bouquet I could. I watched video after video, tried making flower after flower, searched out details of how to attach the stem to the flower, how to make boutonnieres, corsages, pins, etc. It was a huge job but the outcome was amazing! Now my daughter has a gorgeous bouquet that will last forever and she really knows how much her Mama cares!
8. Don't stress about the little things...they will end up being funny memories in the future.
Oh, little things like the groom forgetting the ring! AHHHHHH! You hear about that happening in the movies, but it really did happen. Or, the cheesecake/brownie wedding cake totally flopping. Yah, the bride and groom were making it the day of. I probably should have insisted on someone else making it. But in the end, one of the bridesmaids came to the rescue and with my amazing floral toppers, it turned out pretty decent. The fabric ceiling was quite stressful...that wasn't a little thing. That was a BIG thing. All the stars aligned with that one, though. Actually finding someone with the key to unlock the ladder and then having a really tall friend who was willing to go up and thread the rope through the middle eye...created a gorgeous dropped ceiling. I cannot thank those enough that shared in that endeavor. (This was another thing that was very important to the bride...to create a beautiful ambiance in an otherwise unattractive church gym.)
9. FOOD! I had so many conversations with friends who have gone through the wedding adventure already. After hearing so many different opinions, we finally decided to create a meal, rather than a lot of expensive finger foods and desserts. We had an Italian dinner with two choices of sauce, Caesar salad, french bread and a brownie dessert - enough to feed 300 people - for not much more than $500. Oh, and I can't forget the Baer Family Wedding Punch! Of course, I had the most brilliant friend who prepared the food and orchestrated the undertaking. Without her, we probably would have been serving pre-ordered mini eclairs and cream puffs. The end result was most delicious and classy. We even had menus at each table and darling servers. What a blessing to have so many people to call upon!
10. Enjoy the Moment - Don't worry about, "I'm losing my daughter" or "This is costing me so much money" or " I'm stressed beyond belief" or "The in-laws this, in-laws that" or "would the groom just stay out of it!" or "I hope there's enough food" or "The punch needs to be filled" ...enjoy every moment. The friends and family that were put in charge of this event were so capable. Everything was in good hands and I didn't have to worry. I was able to enjoy visiting with friends as they came through the line, actually eating some of the yummy Italian dinner, watching my husband dance with our daughter, enjoy the cutting of the cake, experience the throwing of the bouquet, watch the beautiful couple - happy and content. It was thrilling to take it all in. I didn't worry about taking photos or running out of cups, or filling up the mints, or where are my little children? The assignments had been made and it was time to have trust in their abilities and enjoy such a beautiful day. What an amazing wedding day it was! I'm so happy that my daughter has found her true love. I'm thrilled for their joy and rejoice in their happiness.
More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!
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