Happily Ever After

The first Saturday in August was a special day.  Our oldest nephew on my husband's side of the family got married!  Many relatives traveled to Memphis, TN, for the special occassion.

The wedding colors were various shades of green and gray.  It was a vintage sort of theme, using mason jars and chalkboards that are very popular right now.

The groom's two nephews and one niece were a part of the wedding, so it was fun watching them.  This was a sweet picture of one of them getting all ready with help from his daddy.

This big family picture is our side of the family, plus the groom's dad's side.  It's big, but that's only about half of everyone!  And all but a few of these people traveled from SW Oklahoma!

The expression's on K's face were so funny! He was having a great time at the wedding and rehearsal.

After her flower girl duties, T was excited to get "Elsa and Anna" rings from her dad. As the best man, he had tried to pass them on to the groom for the wedding rings, but it didn't work!

The reception was beautifully decorated! 

 I loved all of the special touches the bride (along with her mom and aunt) had planned and made for the special day.

 The three individual wedding cakes were so sweet.  Extra cake servings were brought out from the kitchen.  That was a great idea for someone wanting a smaller wedding cake look.

 Each table had a Chevron green/ivory runner (or gray polka dot print below), a tree stump, and a mason jar filled with fresh flowers.

 Also, there was a little bird figurine on each tree stump and cookies from a favorite bakery.  (Answer to the question from my sis-in-law in the comments: The cookies were favors for the guests, and the tongue depressors were for writing a "date night" idea to give the couple.) So sweet!

 My mother-in-law made the groom's cake.  The chocolate covered strawberries (in addition to her chocolate cake) were a huge hit, of course!

 The food buffet was delicious. See the strawberry topiary?  It was beautiful!

 The buffet table featured burlap, fresh flowers and bird houses.

This was my favorite part of the reception area.  The bride was from Florida. The groom from Oklahoma. But they met in Memphis.  "I'm so happy we both showed up here."  God worked this all out!

 There was an Oklahoma side, a Florida side, then the Tennessee in the middle.  Love it!

 The bride and groom as they entered the reception.  Happily ever after!

 Before the cake cutting.....

 The groom's "new" sisters were junior bridesmaids.  If you read "Shine Like Stars" regularly, you may remember reading about their adoption last year.  It was so special for them to get to be in this wedding!  Love their smiles!

 The cousins got together and worked out a plan for the "getaway car"!  This play on words was pretty clever, since the groom's name is Justin and the bride's is Mary!

 Leaving the reception as bubbles were blown...

Yes - "How Sweet It Is".

Probably the sweetest thing about the whole wedding was after the groom did his vows and slipped the ring on her finger. He sang to her, "I Love You With the Love of the Lord".  She was already teary-eyed, but by the end of the song, both of them were - and many of us were or were close.

We wish for you many "Happily Ever After" years together. We're thankful that God worked this whole thing out and that you both ended up in Memphis, TN - right where He directed your paths.  We love you, J and M.E.!

25 Years Ago.....

...our life together was just beginning!  I had planned my wedding date for six years.  I wanted to be married on June 18th, after attending a wedding on that date in 1982!  At that time I was 13 years old! Who would have thought that those plans would really come true six years later!

Not a lot changed about my wedding details from the time I was 13 until the time I was 19.  My 13 year old plans had colors of ivory and pink and gray. But one very big thing did change:  THE GROOM!!!  That's a pretty major change and my original "groom" would have been a very, very big mistake!  Thankfully my more mature (well, more mature than 13, anyway) choice was a very, very great choice!

Our lives have been blessed.  We've laughed and cried together.  We've had ups and downs.  We've had disagreements and make-ups.  We've grown closer to God and closer to each other. We're committed to each other and believe that marriage should be a life-long commitment. We love each other, and look forward to many more years of marriage together.

The fruit of our marriage would be, of course, the births' of our four children.  Those would be the four most important days in our marriage, other than our wedding day.  The day we lost our little boy to stillbirth would also be an important day in our marriage, but not a happy day, at all....just relevant to our marriage.

I've included some of my very favorite wedding photos and photos of special things from our wedding and engagement. This picture with my dad putting a penny in my shoe is one of my very favorites. I love the look on his face! :)

 This is our wedding invitation.  The little phrase was on several things at our wedding.  I still like it a lot!

Here's a little poem from one of our showers written by a sweet sister-in-Christ.

These little papers were given as favors, rolled up and secured with a gold ring. (The inexpensive ones that come in bulk.)

I didn't take a picture of it, but I had a schedule all written out for our wedding party.....to the detail....and there were several (okay, many!) details!  Two songs that were led by Joe's uncle - congregational singing - then 13 songs (yes, you read that correctly!!!!!) sung by Joe's twin brothers and their wives.  Hard songs.  All acapella.  All very beautiful!  They did such a great job!  We have it on tape, but 25 years ago things weren't as clear as they are now.  

This is a very special picture for us.  My grandpa is on the left and did part of our wedding. He wasn't too sure about it, at first, but he did a great job! I didn't know for a long time that he was really sick and running fever that day!  And Joe's dad did the wedding vows and lesson for the wedding.  He was a preacher, so used to speaking.  Both of these special men have passed away now. We're thankful they had a wonderful part of our wedding day!

On this GRATITUESDAY, it's pretty easy to see what I am grateful for, isn't it?  And looking forward to many more years! To see what others are grateful for, visit HeavenlyHomemakers.com.

 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’^[b]? ⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Matthew 19:5-6

Navy, Orange, and Camo Wedding Shower

Navy and orange for the bride......some camo for the groom (although the bride likes it, too!)  What a fun and unique shower to decorate for a sweet bride and groom!  

A friend and I decorated together for this shower, so it made it a lot more fun!  The bride-to-be provided the antlers and pheasant feathers and we gathered up the other supplies.

Tree stumps added an extra-special natural feel and a navy chevron printed burlap ribbon and orange deco-mesh provided a modern touch to the other decorations.

My friend and I enjoy using lamps when we decorate.  She had some beautiful ones to bring for just the right touch for this shower!

My youngest son asked why we called a wedding shower a "shower".  Good question!  Because we "shower" the couple with gifts!  These are just a part of the gifts that were opened during the wonderful shower!

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Beautiful corsages for the bride-to-be, the mother of the bride and the groom-to-be's mom.  So pretty!

Centerpieces were squares of camouflage burlap which had been fringed at the edges, topped with orange buckets of marigolds.

Best wishes, Jeremy and Harli!  May God bless you in your marriage and may you have many years together and in service to Him!

(Note: We have so many wonderful examples of Christian couples in our church family.  On Sunday....the day of this shower.....one couple was celebrating their 76th wedding anniversary!  Isn't that wonderful?!)

A Surprise Wedding!

December 21 was my maternal grandparents anniversary date.  If they were both still living, this year they would be celebrating their 72nd anniversary.  They did have 51 years together, which was a blessing. Actually, all of our children's great-grandparents were married around 50 years.  Only death kept them from reaching more years.

Grandpa Gene and Grandma Sibyl had an interested wedding, that I thought you might enjoy hearing about.  They were engaged to be married on January 14, 1940,  but the town of Hollis, Oklahoma, was hosting a special event to pick a surprise couple to be married on December 21, 1939.  My grandparents were selected as the winning couple! 

Here's part of the newspaper article about my grandparents' special day: (Notice how many people were at their wedding!)

Nearly 6,000 residents of the Hollis trade territory jammed city streets Thursday night for the climaxing even of a Christmas season packed "to the brim" - a secret wedding, which became a secret no more when Eugene Francis and Sibyl Nell were revealed as the bridegroom and bride.

The couple first appeared before the crowd in masks.  Exclamations of surprise burst from the audience, indicating the "secret" had been well kept by the few persons handling arrangements for the event.  Vows were read publicly by A.D. Tweedy, minister of the church of Christ at Hollis.

The couple "set sail" on their marital cruise with the blessing of the entire throng, and with $200 worth of household supplies, provided by twenty-nine city merchants, tucked away among their presents.

My grandpa wrote a letter to his oldest sister about the wedding on December 17, 1939.  Here's part of it:

Dear Myrl:

     I thought I would write & tell you that me & Sibyl are going to get married on the street Thursday nite at 9 o'clock thought maybe you & Sam would like to see it.  It will take a lot of nerve but I can stand anything for $200.00 worth of stuff.  I don't have to pay for nothing, not even a ring.  It is supposed to be kept secret but I thought I would tell you all.

     Well, I will close, so if you want to see me faint Thursday nite be sure & come.

                                                                                                           Love, Eugene

***** (I can hear my grandpa's voice as I read that letter!!)

I love weddings and everything about them.....the decorations, the colors, the photographs....everything.  Wouldn't it be neat to have a surprise wedding in your town???!!  Maybe I should plan one for someone :).

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Matthew 19:4-6

Black, White, and Robin's Egg Blue Wedding Shower

I've been super-excited to write this post and share these pictures with you!  Have I mentioned that one of my favorite things to do is decorate for weddings and showers????  (Probably every time I do a post like this, huh?? :)  This one was especially fun because I did it with a friend what has very elegant taste and also happened to have a lot of the decorative items in her home that worked with the color theme we were doing.

The bride and groom, Krystin and Cesar, are actually only using black and white for their wedding colors, but Linda decided to add a third color to the mix.  It definitely made this shower "pop" by adding in the third color for accent. (I'm a huge black and white fan, though.  My school's colors were black and white!)

The "C" and "K" initial wall hangings were clear, but not showing up too well on the table.  Linda had picked up some scrapbook paper in the robin's egg/black design and I cut it and backed the initials.  I also used a scrapbook frame I had at home to make the black/white photo of the couple match the decor, using the paper as a background and some scrunched up tulle in the bottom.

As a guest register, I took the scrapbook paper, attached it to a piece of cardboard, then topped it with an accent black sheet of paper and a printed piece of lined paper designed on the computer.  To hold it all together, I punched holes and tied a tulle bow.

We didn't have a square white tablecloth for this table, so each corner was tied with tulle.  It made it seem fancier than it was!

I enjoyed working with Linda because she thinks of things I wouldn't have.  For example, I wouldn't have added a new, different color with the fresh flowers.  I would have wanted everything to "match".  She suggested that I buy a different color - something that would stand out.  My children and I went to Wichita Falls and Sam's Club there had a beautiful selection of flowers.  I took her advice and went out on a limb with these orange flowers (though I did buy some white ones....just in case we needed them :).  The orange was BEAUTIFUL and she taught me a lesson in decor!

The white flowers did get used.  A few went for corsages, but the majority went in this black iron tiered basket (I got this on sale at Hobby Lobby the afternoon I went to Wichita Falls...$14.00!)  Cute!

After I got back from Wichita Falls, I walked in and Linda had arranged the gifts and made up a mock bed - just like they do in department stores!  It was sooooo neat!!

The bedding was a gift from the hostesses.  I wondered if the bedding would fit back in the bag after the shower.  It did!!

The shower was in the morning so brunch-type food was served.  Isn't cheesecake a brunch food??? :)  Yum!

I'm not pointing out the cheesecake again, but the pretty serving dishes Linda has in her collection.  Every serving dish was beautiful! 

Some of the serving pieces are in our fellowship building.  They are used for various church events.

As we were working on the shower Friday night, I thought of something that would be really neat for the coffee.  I have an antique silver and glass carafe with a candle warmer that was my grandma Sibyl's.  The only problem was that it was "mine" technically, but it was stored at my parents - in Altus - 30 minutes away.

I called my husband and told him I wanted to go get the carafe.  Guess what?? He volunteered to go get it for me!  Wasn't that sweet??!  It hadn't been used in over 20 years, so it needed some polishing.

One of the other hostesses cleaned it before the shower.  Isn't it beautiful?!  I was so excited to use it.  I remember being at my grandma's house and her having her extension club parties - using the carafe.  I thought it was the neatest thing and it was the one thing I told her I wanted some day.  She passed away in 1990 and wrote that the carafe was to be mine.  I'll be storing it here at home from now on.  I've made room for it and want to use it more in the future.

I made these little filo shell sausage and egg appetizers.  Here is the recipe (on my family recipe blog).

Linda ordered the black and white checked tablecloths.  Aren't they cute?  For showers she and I both like to put two long tables together.  It gives more decorating room.  One just isn't enough to do a whole lot!  Linda had the two lamps from her bedroom.  We both like to use a lot of boxes to make different levels for the decorations.

This wasn't a planned thing, but when I went home late Friday night after decorating, I decided to make this "Blessing Ring".  I had the ring in my craft closet and just happened to have a lot of black and white ribbon.  Each ribbon is looped onto the ring.  If the ribbon is a fraying-type, just knot the ends.  I "stole" these pictures off of the bride-to-be's Facebook page and copied them off...tying them to the ribbons.

This little note was attached to the ring.  I bought the ring at Walmart in the sewing section.  I'm not sure what it's actually for, but I bought it a long time ago with the intention of having my daughter make one of these for the county fair.  Oh, well, this worked out even better! Cards, pictures, and other items can be attached to the ring itself or to the ribbons.  The bride and groom (to be) mentioned taking it to their wedding reception.  I suggested that little blank notes be left on the tables and guests could write blessings for the couple, which could be added to the ring.

My photo of the tables where the guests were seated turned out blurry, but we used these glass vases and placed white candles in each one.  Black tulle bows were tied around the middle sections of the vases.  Each table had a white cloth, two pieces of paper (black and the same robin's egg blue/black print we used throughout the decorations) in the center, topped with the vases holding the candles.

Best wishes, Krystin and Cesar!  May God bless your upcoming marriage!