Preparing for the wedding - an overview

So the weeks before the wedding are all kind of blurred together but even though it was a tad stressful, I had few complaints although I clearly must have been showing signs cause my honey sent me for a massage at the Crescent called Lavender Dreams and sent roses to the office (for ME).  Gorgeous roses that smelled wonderful.  His comment, take the time to smell the Roses and he’d call periodically and ask me if I’d smell them.  So SWEET!  The massage was wonderful and I arrived home feeling like jello.

So what did we do the weeks before the wedding…we prepared.  Mind you there are things we did that are not covered in this blog…as mentioned, the days ran together and I’m sure some of my dates and times have been confused and everyone who helped may not have been mentioned but…to everyone who helped… thank you, thank you so much…

• I worked on the guest list receiving responses and planning a seating chart. 
• I started my thank you cards for all the wonderful gifts from the bridal showers and for our wedding. 
• We spent hours running down a babysitter only to find out one wasn’t needed.  At least we had one on hold in case of emergency.
• I wrapped gifts for the people who were part of our wedding, the fathers and groomsmen and ring bearer received mugs with their names on them, the mothers received framed pictures of the bride, all of the parents received a double picture frame of our wedding invitation and our engagement picture, the bridesmaids and flower girl received heart shaped necklaces and earrings, and aprons with their designations on them that were actually ironed on by me, the readers and others either received heart picture frames, jewelry or bubba mugs.  All were wrapped and ready to give out to everyone in these huge costco bags with “Don’t mess with texas bags full of touristy stuff like maps and coupons (I’m thinking they were like regular shopping bags but they were leaf bags huge enough to fit a little boy!)
• Mom, Don, Shea and I all took dance lessons
• For the memorial tables at the church, I found and placed in frames pictures of Shea’s Mom and our grand parents who passed.  Enjoyed picking out the pictures and remembering.
• Mom removed the collar from Grandma Anderson’s wedding dress so that it could be used to wrap my bridal bouquet.  It was my something old.
• I practiced making Kransekake at the shower and one other time but never got to practice making the cornecopia
• I went to Walmart and Costco to buy food for the hords and order food for the day of the wedding and I went to Taste of Italy and ordered food for brunch the day after the wedding
• Shea spent an entire day cleaning out the garage.  We hid large items at my Rowlett house and took his mower over to our next door neighbors (awesome neighbors!)  We filled the closets (and attic) with junk and warned visitors to enter at their own risk
• We borrowed Mom and Don’s window air conditioner and plugged our window unit into the garage to see if they would cool the garage (and later the tent).  We discovered they couldn’t so Shea found (and rented) a 3 ton air conditioner to cool the tent and we kept his window unit in the garage.  Last minute fix!
• Mom and Don picked up nuts at vendor nut company in Fort Worth for the cookies
• Shea and I cleaned the house, made up the beds and put the Rehearsal gifts and clean towels on the beds for our first visitors Kathy, John, Jimmy, Jake, Bill(Dad), and Shawn
• Shea and I cleaned the Rowlett house (kinda) made up the beds and put the Rehearsal gifts and clean towels on the master bed for my Grandpa, Aunt Diane, Uncle Olaf and cousin Jada.  I drug my fridg from work so they’d have something cold to drink and I had the air conditioner worked on so it was actually running when they arrived.  Two pipes hit each other and all the freon was gone.  Very expensive repair.  Ouch and right before the wedding.  Then I quickly (in my work dress) mowed the lawn at the Rowlett house while the air conditioner guy was fixing the unit
• Mom and Don removed red wraps and replaced them with purple wraps on the heart shaped chocolates for the tables
• Shea and I got our marriage license and met with the 3^rd priest.  He was wonderful
• Shea and I met with the photographers and gave them our list of pictures
• Shea and I met with the DJ/MC and gave him our list of songs
• I met with the florist for the final flower arrangement list
• Mom and I met with the Linens lady to get the purple table cloths and green napkins
• I drove over to the Hyatt and gave Holly our final list (but forgot to give her a copy of the seating chart
• I actually talked on the phone with most of the vendors multiple times getting everything in order (ON THE PHONE).
• Then things ramped up the week before the wedding.  Stay tooned...sorry that this didn't happen before the wedding but I needed sleep lol



Shea and I put together the favor boxes, hotglued the ribbon and hearts onto them sometimes leaving burnt flesh behind

 

I made bride and groom heart shaped cookies for the favors.

Mom made the Goose’s wedding dress.  My favorite part is the lace on her butt feathers.  I loved it.



The goose and her attendents all dress up



Liane made the number cards, table menus and name cards for the reception and pre-reception.



Prince liked his "Don't let the Dogs Out" cookie jar more then the goose!



Shea spent hours and days working in the yard making sure it stayed green until the wedding, not that you can tell now that we've stopped watering the lawn





Don worked on sanding down, replacing pieces and making pretty two rocking chairs for the porch.



Shea and I created the wedding programs with help from the church, I printed them out at the office and then Lita, Lori, Mom, Rose and I put 200 of them together.  After that fun project, we removed the wrappings of heart shaped chocolates for my wedding version of peanut butter blossom cookies while we all watched the Princess Bride.  Still love that movie.



I put the conversation hearts and chocolates in the candy dishes and boxed them up for the reception



Shea spent hours and days working in the yard making sure it stayed green until the wedding, not that you can tell now that we've stopped watering the lawn

 

Shea and I worked on the program words; I printed and then Lita, Lori, Mom and Rose all helped put them together



Liane made the number cards, table menus and name cards for the reception and pre-reception.



Mom made the table runners for 3 entry tables at the church.



The lawn was green for the wedding but water restrictions happened and you can see the results.  We've lost 3 bushes so far.



The table numbers that my step-mom Liane prepared; aren't they awesome!

I put together recipe books for our out of town guests, pre-reception hostesses and attendants as a thank you gift and also burned a copy of the cookies cookbook and bars cookbook onto a cd and then I wrapped the rehearsal dinner gifts in gift bags that I decorated with hearts and stamped rodeo pictures.  The girls got the cookbooks, the guys got shot glasses with “Shea and Julie” written on them and the kiddos got stuffed armadillos with “Don’t Mess with Texas” written on them.

The recipes initially came from my Grandma Anderson's loose recipes.  She would write a recipe on anything!



I made up the mixes and marinades for the hanky pankies, chicken breast ramaki and cream cheese mints and Mom, Rose and I very industriously made the mints and put together the hanky pankies and ramaki.  It was like a 12+ hour marathon…lots of food that was frozen before the event.

 

I did my bridal pictures at the Arboretum with George and Lydia Troup, our photographers.  They were wonderful.  After, Mom took a few pictures of me but it was hot and I had to get back to work so we didn’t stick around.  After the session, I was completely enamered with our photographers.  They were great, picking places and moving me so that I’d look my best.  It was really nice knowing before the wedding how professional they were.  It was also nice to know that my dress would hold up to a drive across town.  And, I got to wear it one more day! ha.



Shea and I finally brought over the goose and Shea put together the new glider that Tammy, Kenneth and family gave us for our wedding gift





Shea and I planted flowers and bushes (and broke/bent Shea’s back)

 

Mom made the flower arrangements for the church sign in table and memorial tables



Shea and I stocked up our liquor cabinet, bought beer, pop, juice and wine for the hords.



I wrapped empty boxes to display wedding pictures at the sign in table at the reception and I put pictures of the parents, grand parents and great grand parents into frames for the sign in table at the reception



The armadillows wre a big hit.



Don refinished the photo room divider for the living room and we put childhood pictures in it.



Mom made the seat covers for the benches that Shea and I sat on during the ceremony



I made the rehearsal dinner invitations and decorated the rehearsal dinner envelopes with Rodeo stamps





I finished putting together the emergency kits for the bride and groom and I finished putting together bathroom baskets for the guests in case of emergency and stocked our downstairs closet with guest items



Mom and I had a makeup test



testing makeup and hair; it was fun.



• Mom made the flower arrangements and candle arrangements for the house party