So Friday Mark and I got up really early to pick flowers. First there was the queen Anne's Lace behind where I live. Next large hosta leaves (from undisclosed location). Then Daliahs and gladiolas from Irene's plot. Next wildflowers, irish bells, clome, and sunflowers from my garden. Lastly hardy fern, white lilies, and small baby's breath from two local Copps stores. All this cutting took about three hours and then we were on the road to the wedding.
We only got lost once, which was fine since I was holding the map and naping most of the way. It really is very beautiful in Southwestern Wisconsin. And fortunately the entire weekend was without rain. Anyway, when we got there, we unloaded with the help of Ian's favorite Aunt. Next was planning the room. Mark and I talked through the setup and figured out a very spacious table placement. After approval from Ian, we got to work planning the layout of the tables. We came up with table patterns similar to our wedding, but fitting for rectangular tables (we had round tables). The base was cream table plastic, then since the tables were so narrow, we made diamonds out of the green plastic for the centers of the tables. On each diamond when three african violets (with at least the center one blooming). Lastly on the break between each joined table we placed a vase of flowers. The head tables were a little bit different- a bit smaller, using two green diamonds.
After setting up a sample and getting Ian to approve, we got to work on duplicating. I couldn't have done it without Sean (from the AI dept), Maleeha, and Mark's help. Fortunately we got most of the work done before the majority of the guests arrived for the evening. The last part was setting up the cake table, the drink table and the lights. On the cake table went the "baby" pictures and the photo memory book I made. Around the windows went folded crep paper (look like accordians) with red and white on the back two windows and green and white on the front two windows. For the front two windows done by Mark and Sean while the wedding party was outside practicing. The windows had white Christmas lights covered in dark green and sparkling cream toollie. There was an issue with electrical outlets not working, but that got smoothed out with our extension cord.
For the rehersal dinner, anyone at the park could enjoy rice noodles and thai sauce with greens and pasta salad. After eating the bridal party made boquets, corsages, and boutonnieres. Fortunately one of Irene's friends had made butonnieres for her wedding- we couldn't have done it without her. I had to leave occationally for an organizer meeting with Ian and to answer questions. Right around 10pm we were almost done, and Ian wanted the dishes set up in the room. Grabbing all of the people I could, I got everyone to place the dishes in the classical setting. Fortunately everything fit well! Around 11pm, Irene decided that she wanted to label the tables for everyone to sit. For the next hour, I sat with her and planned out the table arrangements- just after midnight I was spent and passed on the writting of names to Maleeha and happily went to bed. Meanwhile Mark and several other guys were playing boardgames in the other room. Starting with Ticket to Ride, they quickly moved on to Pit and finally a long game of Carcassonne.
Saturday morning we were all up at 8am. Emily and Amanda got a wonderful breakfast for everyone while Maleeha and I did our hair- letting Irene sleep in a bit. Then I did Irene's hair. This was only the second time that I practiced this pattern and It definately took longer than the first time- lack of sleep might have had something to do with it- or the many people who kept coming in... But I did it without hairspray and with one package of bobby pins. The key was making it immobile by crossing the bobby pins in an X shape. Using three ponny tails, it turned out very well. The addition of pearls on bobby pins that Maleeha and I made earlier helped to tuck in some of the stray hairs. In the mean time, the other bridesmaids were passing out the corsages and boutonnieres. Afterwards Irene passed out the bridal gifts. A handmade necklace, truffles and small handbag. After her make-up was applied by Min, we headed to the reception location to "hide-out" until the music started playing.
Unfortunately, the sound system didn't work as planned. But fortunately Mark's keyboard worked wonderfully turned on high. The ceremony went smoothly and the reception as well. Then there were pictures. Next were the toasts and then bread and cheese with salmon patte. For the main course I had a wonderful zuchini lasagna, pork with mushroom sauce and steamed greenbeans. Next was the cheesecake- three different flavors of key lime, chocolate, and plain with choices of three berry sauces. Mark and I waited for ours since we were replacing the empty trays of cheesecake with new trays. Then there was the group picture.
After that I was exhausted, after a quick change we took a nice 2 hour nap until we heard music playing. Mark and I both got to hear the last four or five songs from Ian's bluegrass band- an undiscovered love of ours. While we were away most of the reception room was cleaned up so Mark and I took a short retreat to see a waterfall in the woods by the cabins.
When we got back we organized what was left of the supplies and started packing the car for tomorrow's trip home. Dinner was shredded pork, hamburgers, baked beans, pasta salad and greens with Jaime's homemade ice cream for desert- I had one scoop of each of coffee (amazing with Johnny's roasted beans from Africa), rasberry, vanilla and chocolate. After dinner we gazed up at the stars for a bit and saw some of our favorites before heading down to the campfire where everyone was enjoying smores and songs. Around midnight I had to go to sleep- and a very nice sound sleep at that, while Mark stayed up to play Gene Pool with Rich, Joe and Sean.
On the way home it was nice to reflect, but I fell asleep quickly and woke just to go up the stairs to our apartment and went back to sleep. Weddings are always fun and exciting, but also exhausting and stressful.
