The wedding week was filled with appointments, beauty treatments, deliveries, phone calls, check writing, trips to the airport, last minute notes, preparing for a Bridesmaid Brunch, making final decisions on shoes, undergarments, hair clips, purses, and jewelry. It was also filled with anticipation, joy, surprises, sleeplessness, emotion, prayers, and laughter. I think the wedding week was everything I had thought it might be....and more.
Madeline has some amazing friends. They flew in from Maryland, LA, Philadelphia, Oregon, Rhode Island, Mississippi, South Carolina, Knoxville, Texas, New York and D.C. They drove from Gainesville, Tampa, Gulf Breeze, St. Augustine, Jacksonville, St. Petersburg, Orlando, and Ellenton. Some of her bridesmaids came early (and even surprised her) so that they could help out, have fun and offer moral support. I know that they had a wonderful time reminiscing and getting reacquainted. There were lots of tears of joy mixed in with the ever-present smiles and laughter.
I guess the official kick-off was the Bridesmaid Brunch that we had at my house. I, too, have amazing friends and a couple of them came to help me with the brunch. They were great at getting the food out and cleaning up, allowing me time to socialize and just be the hostess. It's wonderful when you have friends that you can comfortably ask, "hey, would you come over to my house and wash dishes?" (Thanks Liz and Anita!)
The brunch was a success and there were several highlights in addition to the food and beverages. I had read about an old Victorian tradition of cake charms. It was incorporated specifically for bridal luncheons and gatherings. None of the people in attendance at the brunch had heard of this, so it was particularly fun. Since Madeline had a bit of a seaside theme to her wedding, I chose charms that were fitting for this. Each charm has a specific meaning, so I not only had to choose the object that I wanted, but also the meaning that went with it. I wanted to keep them sort of generic since you don't know who will choose which charm. We had one married gal in the bunch, one about to be married, a couple single girls and a couple girls with boyfriends.
I took the charms to Chef Nelson, this amazing baker who was doing the wedding cake. He said he hadn't made a charm cake in many years, but he was excited to do it for me. He is the kind of guy that gets very enthusiastic and he sort of tells you what you want rather than vice versa (with the exception of the wedding cake, which we knew exactly and had a picture and everything!) I trust this man, so I gave him a copy of the invitation for the brunch, the charms with ribbons attached and the go ahead to 'do his thing!' The result was an amazing 2 tiered cake the exact color of invitation with some simple hydrangea icing flowers and of course the charms and ribbons. It was a hit....not only beautiful, but delicious.
I gave everyone a gift bag of goodies, but Madeline and her bridesmaid got an additional gift. They were hand painted, personalized tumblers with lids and straws. There was a note attached that said "No spilling on the dress while getting ready." They used them the rest of the weekend.
Madeline gave her bridesmaids their long awaited gifts. She was anxious to give them to the girls. She first gave them each a handkerchief that had embroidered on it: No Ugly Crying. They were adorable and so appropriate. I was afraid Megan might wear hers out before the big day!
Madeline's special gift to each of her bridesmaids was a handmade scrapbook made just for them! The bridesmaids loved them and spent quite some time looking at theirs and each other's. I know they appreciated all the time and effort Madeline put into them for months.
Trina brought a cute poem to the brunch and read it to Madeline. She had Alicia help her pull things out of the bag as she said the word. The poem was filled with words that correlated with a cleaning supply....such as All, Resolve, etc. It was really cute and it made me laugh extra hard because Madeline had told me just a few days before that she had gone to Wal-Mart and spent $133.00 on cleaning supplies for their new townhouse! So not only was it a cute game, it was also very practical.
Of course, Thursday night was a bachelorette party that I didn't attend. The girls all took care of all the details. They stayed at the hotel which is what Madeline wanted to do. After a nice dinner at City Fish, they went back to the hotel and played games, hung out, and had a good old-fashioned sleepover!
The next day I had my very first facial bright and early in the morning. It was fantastic and now I am afraid I have been spoiled and will want to continue this luxury. After my morning of pampering, Jim and I picked Bob and Porter up at the hotel and went with them to lunch at Rumba's. It was nice because we knew we wouldn't get any alone time with them the rest of the weekend. We had a great lunch and some interesting conversation.
That afternoon we went to the church for the rehearsal. The pastor of the student ministry was the officiant. Madeline and Eric had that as number one on their list when they got engaged. They were determined to have him marry them. He saw their romance grow, falter, endure long distance, and mature into 2 people very much in love and ready to share their lives together. Besides being an amazing pastor, speaker, counselor and friend, Tim is very funny. He made the rehearsal light and carefree and entirely enjoyable. Madeline carried her garish practice bouquet made from the ribbons and paper from her bridal shower. Grace did a great job of putting it together. It was funny.....it was so big and gaudy. The sight of it really suited Madeline. We got a kick out of this.
After the rehearsal, we sat in the pews of the church and Eric's Mom gave a tearfully endearing talk about her journey as Eric's mother. She said she had always prayed for the right girl to come along and steal his heart away. I think we all agreed that Madeline and Eric are the answer to 2 mother's prayers. Trina had put together an amazing slide show set to a song called "A Mother's Prayer." There were photos of Eric and Madeline throughout their lives. It was lovely and I heard a lot of sniffling in the church.
We left the church and went to Bon Appetit for a wonderful rehearsal dinner. God ordered up an amazing Florida sunset. Our view over the water, complete with playful dolphins, was spectacular. The food was good, the conversation stimulating, and the toasts to the bride and groom funny and heartfelt. Madeline was the calmest bride ever in history and the only tears I saw her shed were when Porter toasted her at this dinner. I know how much I love my cousins, and I am so happy that Madeline and Porter have that wonderful 'cousin bond' as well.
A bunch of young women (and a few old ones....ha ha!) all swarmed into Shear Perfections Salon for a morning of beauty. The beauticians were amazing. Every one's hair and make-up looked fantastic and we had a great time doing it. Our photographer also came and hopefully got some great shots. Each bridesmaid had a different hairstyle and each was unique and beautiful. I don't think there could have been a prettier bridal party!
We went to the church to get ready and had a lot of good behind-the scenes-shots from the photographer. Marley was a creative and fun person to have around. I learned that of all the wedding vendors, I think she worked the hardest. For 9+ hours she was on ladders, on the floor, carrying equipment, testing light, fixing a train and a bustle, adjusting boutonnieres, and was just amazing with her creative eye. I can hardly wait to see the end product!
The wedding was magical. My husband has mentioned every day since that he will never shake the look on Eric's face when he first saw Madeline. It was really special. Jimmy said to me at the reception that he hadn't thought much about the wedding until he saw Eric at that moment. Jimmy admitted to getting teary eyed himself. He said to me: "he really loves her, doesn't he?" To which I said yes and also told him I only wish he could find love like that someday. Someone once said that to love and be loved is the greatest existence on earth. It is hard to argue with that sentiment.
And now it is After the Wedding. My to-do list for this time frame seems to have grown longer than the one before the wedding. I am so anxious to tackle it! I am going to re-do Madeline's room. I plan to sort of recreate my room from my childhood. I have the twin beds that were my first ever beds after my crib. I brought them from Mom's when she moved here. I am going to paint the walls the palest pink ever and I am going to re-carpet the room with a mauve carpet. I am excited to get started on that project.
I am going to clean out a lot of drawers and closets and will finally have extra space. I will have Madeline's whole room and her entire closet. I will also have closet space in the guest room closet where she had been storing a lot of her things she moved from Philadelphia.
Jim and I are going to finally clean out the garage and possibly be able to fit my car back in there. It has been 2 years since I have had my car in the garage! We are going to hopefully be able to get rid of the storage unit that we have had for several months.
I have been itching to paint again, and my list of arts and crafts has grown so long I won't know where to begin.
I have another long list of books that I have been wanting to read.
I am anxious to get back into cooking every day and making all sorts of good, healthy foods. We have been so busy and on the go that my daily cooking routine has not been what it used to be.
I hope to have more time to go to lunch, movies and shopping with my friends. I haven't done those things nearly enough lately.
I want to plan a trip to Shelby to visit friends, cousins, and mainly to attend Porter's graduation!
I want to plan to do some entertaining.....summer time cookouts, family birthday parties, and pool parties.
I told Madeline I will probably be thinner, tanner, and healthier after the wedding since I will have more "me" time to go to the beach and the gym.
I have some small home improvement projects to tackle and Jim and I have some large ones we are saving for....like re-doing our pool and lanai. That is where we spend so much of our time. It will be nice to transform and upgrade that area.
A couple of years ago I took apart all of my photo albums and decided to file all of my photos in photo boxes. I put it on the back burner and never finished. Now that it is after the wedding, I can tackle that huge project.
I want to learn origami with my daughter-in-law. She wants to learn it, so since I enjoy spending craft days with her, I am willing to learn a new craft!
I want to have all my VHS tapes transferred to DVDs before I lose them. I need to take time to go through them and take them to the camera store to have them done.
I want to learn how to operate my Nikon camera better. I need to take time to read the manual and practice with the settings.
I want to have painting days with Pat. We can sit on her deck and over look the water while we paint. I not only love the painting, but I love our conversations about everything from butterflies to family dynamics. There is nothing more special than to spend time with a good friend like this.
I have a pile of mending that needs to be done and I want to re-vamp my entire wardrobe. I know Anita is my shopper friend, so I will be calling her to go with me to TJ Maxx, Marshall's and Steinmart!
I need to update my address book and organize my art supplies. I would like to start soon on my Christmas crafts so I am not scrambling in November and December to get them done.
I have a stack of things that I have frames for that need framing and then once they are framed, I need to find homes for them.
The recipes that I started going through, throwing out and organizing are all just sitting in a drawer. I never finished. Now that it's after the wedding, I may be able to do that.
I started Madeline's recipe book To My Daughter and gave it to her for Christmas. I asked her to give it back to me so that I can continue with it. There are still a lot of blank pages just awaiting some yummy recipes!
I have a list of about a dozen blogs that are in my head that need to be put into writing.
I need to finish the scrapbooks I have started and I need to start the ones I have planned.
I want to visit Mom more and maybe take time to go for short walks with her, get her to go shopping or out for an occasional lunch.
I want to put my husband back on the top of my list. He has taken a bit of a backseat to the wedding, but he has done so graciously and happily. He knows that I will come around. I think he is excited to have me back and he has a list of things he wants to do as well. I hope we can sneak off for a little weekend trip one of these days, or at least have time to explore this wonderful county that we call home.
Until the wedding to after the wedding. It has been a long time and an amazing journey. But just as Madeline and Eric are anxious to get on with their lives as a married couple, I am anxious to get on with my life after the wedding. Who knows.....maybe there will be grandchildren on the horizon. Then my time measurement will change yet again.
The ebb and flow of all of the moments, great and small, keep us aware, on our toes, feeling, and anticipating the subsequent chapters of our lives.
And memories are made of this.
CHEERS!
