Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I'm Making the WHAT? (or Wedding Part I)

So here we come at last to the wedding!

(Finally, most of you say!)

I was very fortunate to be able to go to Orange County the last weekend in July to attend the wedding of a friend I've known since the fourth grade when we started Girl Scouts together.

Growing up, Heatherly was usually one step ahead of us.  When my dad led a Girl Scout camp out in our backyard and convinced everyone we were hunting for Naugas (three-legged creatures you were supposed to trip with a stick and put in your pillowcase), Heatherly was the only one to get the joke and throw stones into the bushes along with my dad to make the rest of us scurry into the darkness wielding our sticks.

Here's a typical gathering in our elementary school years...

In case you can't read my awful photo shop scribble...the H is Heatherly, the C is Chelsea and the J is my bro...

When Junior High and High School rolled around we developed our own code names so we could write notes to each other during class. I was Madame Butterfly (not sure of the reasoning there other than I liked butterflies), and she was Lord Vader. Notes often included stick figure cartoon strips involving Lord of the Rings.

I found this picture looking through some old photos and couldn't resist putting it in...Heatherly had a birthday party a that was a life size Clue game. Each invitation included the character you were supposed to come as (I was Cleopatra), and throughout the course of the night we played the game and took Polaroids along the way...still one of the best birthday parties ever!



So when she finally decided to say yes to Chaz, you can imagine how much I wanted to be there!  With air fares the way they were it was looking doubtful I would get to go, but last minute everything managed to work out.

After my parents picked me up at the airport, my mom filled me in on the flower situation. Yvonne had not felt comfortable making the bridal bouquet, so my mom volunteered me.

Uhhh...ok...but I've never made a bouquet....I guess its like an arrangement but smaller...hmmm...I agreed and shrugged it off.

Saturday morning we arrived at Mayesh to pick up the flowers. I love seeing the evolution from these tight rosebuds all encased in cardboard into arrangements.
















We loaded everything ever so carefully into the cars and were on our way!






We took everything to Yvonne's and set up the stations. There were four different types of centerpieces, each with its own name, and we sorted the flowers accordingly. I was completely selfish and took all the prettiest flowers for the bride's bouquet.

I had learned Heatherly wanted her flowers in a nosegay - a really awful name for a pretty thing that holds a wet oasis that you can stick flowers into. I'm not a huge fan of the wrapped stem look anyways, and I knew how to work with an oasis.

Only problem was...no one could find the nosegay! We finally sent the bride's mother off to get one, and three hours later she returned triumphant.  It was only after she left and I tried to soak it in water that I realized it was a nosegay for dried flowers...it wouldn't hold any water. Which meant on a hot day in Yorba Linda, the bouquet would look like a wilted mess.

What to do?

We worked on the centerpieces all day, and slowly things began to take shape.















when we ran out of greens we improvised and used some bougainvillea from Yvonne's backyard. 




Then we spied a tree in the neighbors yard with gorgeous foliage! Hmmm...Bridget, being nimble, shimmied her way over and got us some more greenery!




We made quite a mess of things...too...




All day long it was in the back of my head: how am I gonna make this thing? Its kinda important!

Then I would shrug it off and say to myself, "You'll manage!"

But then people kept dropping hints about what a big deal it was...how it needed to photograph well...not fall apart...how this will be what she sees in pictures for the next 50 years! YIKES!

We were running out of time, so we loaded up all the bridal bouquet flowers into the car and headed back to the Spangruds. I'd figure it out there.

By the time I had stuffed my face with Karli's amazing spaghetti and meatballs and we got home from seeing Inception, it was late and the creative juices were just not there.

Not to mention by this point I was getting nervous. I knew I could work with an oasis, but making one of those stick-thing bouquets look good is harder than you think!

Around midnight that night I pulled out the nosegay and tried to pry off the top of the cage. Darn thing.

Then Mark the Magic Man asked to take a crack at it. I sleepily climbed the stairs and left him hacking away at it with a knife.

The next morning I was woken up with the news that there was coffee and a bouquet waiting to be made downstairs.

Whaddya know? Mark had pried off the top of the cage, carved a wet oasis in a shape to fit into it and popped the cage back on--I could use the nosegay! HALLELUJAH!
I got to work...





And you know...by the grace of God I think it turned out pretty decent!











I have to say I LOVED her wedding colors! So vibrant and summery!







We headed off to Yvonne's to pack up the flowers for the trip to the wedding site...and walking into Yvonne's house was like walking into a florist's shop!








Over 20 centerpieces of all types filled her downstairs! Leave it to Mark and my Super Dad to pack them all safely and snugly in the truck! The ladies made the rounds doing touch ups and spraying everything with finishing spray.


Julie's best friend, Bea, was a powerhouse!

SuperDads #1 and #2



They wedged those puppies in there so good we could have gone through a tornado and those things would have stayed put!



Once at the wedding site we found there was another wedding going on in the ballroom...yikes!  We were about to freak out on them because our flowes (well-wedged as they may have been) were sitting in the HEAT and all our hard work would have gone to waste!

Luckily they let us inload into a back room with air conditioning and we didn't have to go all crazy on them!

That's it for Part 1...Part 2 you'll get to see the finished result! But before I go let me leave you with my favorite moment from the day.

The best part of the wedding for me was right before the ceremony began. 

The entrance to the ceremony area was a long winding staircase which made for a grand entrance for the bridal party, but in order to enter at the right time my mom and I coordinated with the on-site coordinator for the entrance timing.  This had me at the base of the stairs with the bridal party, and as they were beginning to file out Heatherly came around the corner...and took my breath away!



She was stunning! More stunning than any makeup/hair/jewelry or dress could make her but absolutely brilliant with light from the inside out. And I started crying.

Then she pointed to her bouquet and put a hand over her heart and mouthed "thank you" and I was totally gone.

Bye Bye Kaitlynn's eye makeup gone.

4 comments:

  1. Ok - two questions and a comment ... 1) I have three daughters - can you please do the flowers for their weddings (I'm sure we can work the timing out - the youngest is just 13!) 2) How do you play life-sized Clue??? It is our favorite board game and I would LOVE to do a party like that for aforementioned daughters. Comment - I don't know the bride from Adam's housecat and *I* cried for heavens sakes!! She was stunning and her mouthing "thank you" had me in a puddle. Your bouquet was gorgeous!!

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  2. Chaz and I were just sitting here reading this, and I know I've aired it all over facebook, but I am so grateful and blessed you came. The bouquet was stunning, I was overwhelmed by it. Complete strangers have been asking where it came from and who made it.

    I'm not going to lie, I got misty eyed reading this. We had some good times!
    Seeing you so happy for me before I walked down the aisle made me *really* start crying. I recall it as one of my favorite moments of the whole day. Regardless of time and distance between us, I felt really loved.

    Anyhoo, all that to say, thank you for the blog post and for your presence on one of the most meaningful days of my life <3

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  3. (Btw, live Clue is played just like the board game! Bring the cards, sans the characters, those you replace with pictures/polaroids of the guests in their "guise". I told them what/who to come as with a little input from them. Instead of standard characters, I made it a masquerade ball.

    You divide a large room into sections labled "library", "dining room", etc. and have mocks of the weapons. I brought real items wherever I could. Guests are the pawns. You have a set number of "steps" between the rooms, as well. The most fun was accusing one another and looking shocked at such affronts ;-) What can I say? I was a quirky kid haha)

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  4. What a lovely thing you did for my daughter, the flowers of course and all your help that day, and now I read this blog, the time you spent doing it and sweet things you said about the bride.
    I remember the first time I saw you and your family. it was at family camp, your parents were singing and you and Jeremy were singing too. It was in the outdoor ampha theater at Twin Peaks. Your parents were givng a pro life message and sharing. I don't recall if we all spoke and met one another that night, but you were very young, maybe the summer between kindergaren and first grade for you.
    I started up a girl scout troop for Heatherly hoping for her to connect with some of the other girls at school, later your mom got involved with leading the troop and eventually I think she took over. It was a very sweet time, we sure did a lot of things together as a troop. Your mom and I went to Girl sout leader camp together......wow, the memories. We have always been interwined in one way or the other.
    I helped with the flowers at your wedding, stripped leaves off some roses and cut up a lot of lemons...just a worker bee with no talent, but it was thriling to be a part of it. Then, going to YOUR wedding, what a beautiful day. TO HAVE YOU be such a huge part of Heatherly's day! I am all misty eyed myself. The circle of friends. Lovely lovely lovely. Thank you again dear Kaitynn, (I knew you when you were called Brittany..how long ago was that?!) Oh yes, and the photos you took, just as lovely, some even more beautiful than the professional we hired...you are a girl of many many talents.
    So happy you are in my daughters, and my life!
    God Bless you and thank you again dear sweet Kaitlynn

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