Every couple of days I'm reminded our daughter's wedding is looming closer and closer. Her frequent "it's this many days til..." on SpaceBook, the long list of things to do and of course the calendar, are all right there in my face, reminding me. All of it so loud even closing the door to the guest bedroom, aka wedding central, doesn't help. It's just time to do something about it.
I've ordered yet another pair of dresses... after returning dress #2, finding lingerie for dress #1, still feeling like I was wearing someone else's clothes and returning dress #1. My sister and I "shopped" together online looking for suitable dresses for a wedding on a beach, in September; suitable for weather we have absolutely NO idea what's going to happen; suitable for a bride in a long, white dress, groom and groomsmen in dress slacks, dress shirt and ties, bridesmaids in cocktail dresses and Dad's who will be sporting cargo shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. Where does that put the MOB? Thus my problem. I haven't been able to wrap my head around what I should wear. I really want to look nice after all it's my only shot at MOB. And I need to stop asking other people what they think because the differing opinions mess with my half century old brain. Not to mention I need to do something with this HAIR and find shoes too!
We've passed the RSVP NLT date so will give the stragglers another week and call to update our numbers with our DIL Debbie, who is catering the reception food. Our original figures were around 50 - last count we were 72. I've heard thru the grapevine the bride and groom blame part of it on us because we wanted to include more names on the invitation list, yet the guest list is mostly their friends. I'm thrilled they have so many good friends who are willing to make the journey to share in the special day. It just proves to us how dear this couple are to folks they know.
We want to have a couple of additional things to go with the catered food so I made banana and pumpkin loaves. Also made a few dozen muffins for breakfast when everyone is around. Baking is not my strong suit. I discovered while mixing the first loaf I only had one loaf pan. Mike wanted to run a quick errand and I needed to do too, so put the single loaf in the oven to bake while we were gone. Bought a couple more pans while we were out and returned to discover the oven had flashed some warning code, started beeping and turned itself off. We restarted the oven and I started another batch of banana bread for the new pans - realizing I never added sugar to the first batch. We tossed the banana flavored unsweetened loaf into the trash, baked the next two loaves and eventually 3 loaves of pumpkin bread (where I ran out of sugar and was 1 cup of flour short which put me back in the car for a second trip to the store) and raisin bran muffins. I know the problem really isn't my skill level but the working areas in my kitchen - that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Chris' mom has got the Rehearsal dinner planned and menu choices are being taken from the wedding party and family who will be with us already. The menu has a definite Pacific Northwest flare.
For use on the beach during the ceremony, we re-purposed a small table that had no job. Mike primed and is painting it white - perfect for holding the unity vase and sand.
The flower girl had her final fitting. When you are dealing with a growing 3 year old you wait until the end of the month. Erin is sending the dress home (via Krieg) to me for alterations this weekend. We will pick up Chris' ring this week too.
Grandma Denie made a perfect blue garter for the Bride and it arrived this week. It will be her something blue. Something old will be my grandmother's cameo.
I printed out the labels for the wine Mike made earlier this spring. We used favorite pictures from previous visits to Kalaloch. We also started printing the wedding program. Britnee is painting a water color Kalaloch scene which we will scan for the cover. It's truly a family affair.
Our only glitch was discovered last week. We had extended family coming to perform the ceremony. They recently relocated for jobs. They weren't sure they could come but would let us know. We completely understood where they were coming from - the move expenses were adding up. The new job was piling on.
Mike spent two days on the phone calling around to find a justice of the peace. On Thursday a Supreme Court Judge said he was busy that day but recommended another. On Friday the second penciled us onto his calendar. Meanwhile Erin and Chris have a good friend who has known both, since before they were a couple, and is an ordained minister. He was planning to come and was looking for lodging. Erin put a call in to him and on Sunday she got an enthusiastic yes. We believe that God had a plan for Erin and Chris' ceremony from the beginning and we are back making forward progress!
