Hoping for update from @zeebamom.
Really hoping all went well.
2 Likes
To recap, the happy couple had the marriage itself on sunny Wednesday. The reception/party was held in our backyard on Saturday.
In preparation, the Husband decided to redo a good portion of our deck and the fencing attached to the back, the planters, and to extend it about 8 ft, all to great success. He also worked on the lawn, which started well, but ended up looking like summer lawns often do in the PNW - kind of brown in spots, green in others.
The B&G decided in a small reception, family on our side and the rest their friends. We would do the cocktail hour & apps and the meal would be a taco bar catered by a place they enjoy. Younger D baked & decorated the cakes.
Flowers were ordered from a wholesale place & D and a couple of her friends arranged them. We had canopies put up and rented tables, chairs, linens, dishes, glasses, and silverware. Music was via a Spotify playlist.
The reception went really well. The weather was so-so, no drizzle after early morning, but cloudy and upper 60s throughout.
Apps - charcuterie, cheese, shrimp, crackers, etc. were well-received. Unfortunately, the caterers arrived about an hour early, so there was a rapid clean-up (and lots of leftovers).
Dinner was delicious. Perfect for the group and fit well with their casual group.
Two cakes, one vanilla cake with blackberry buttercream filling & frosting. The other had one tier Lemon with raspberry filling, the top tier strawberry cake with vanilla buttercream, all iced with vanilla buttercream and decorated with strawberries and raspberries. Our daughter is a fantastic baker and these were her best creations yet.
Plenty of music, conversation, some yard games. There had been a threat of Magic card games breaking out, but fortunately unrealized. 
More than enough food and drink. I definitely should have cut back in the apps. They could have done with 2 small kegs (sixtels) instead of a pony and a sixtel. Pimmās Cup & margaritas, hard and soft seltzers, hard cider, and soft drinks for the non-beer drinkers.
I underestimated just how exhausted Iād get doing this. H & the girls & SIL certainly did their share, but I did waaaay too much food prep. By the time I realized what I was getting myself into, it was too late to order from someone. (I think I expected my siblings to offer to help somewhat, but theyāve been odd this past year with my scans and diagnoses & surgeries. I hadnāt seen any of them in 3+ months, which is a long time for us.)
Sooooo. Wonderful wedding and reception. Bride and groom were lovely. Venue was nicely decorated. Food - delicious. Company - great. One Covid exposed person who fortunately stayed away.
If #2D marries her long term BF, I expect full catering in a venue not my house & yard. 
21 Likes
One of the weddings we attended in July - the MD and wife have 4 sons and a daughter. They did a $60K back yard and deck/screen area addition last year for S1ās wedding. We attended S3ās wedding, and S2 was getting married 3 weeks later. Fortunate with perfect weather. The lawn was as lush as I have ever been on - it was very vast (and the back edge abuts a green area/wildlife preserve). No weeds; the kind to really feel terrific bare footed. Only the ceremony there - dinner reception a short distance away.
1 Like
Sounds lovely, @zeebamom ! Well done!
1 Like
Congrats!!! 
Iād take 70 degrees and no rain over 85 and no cloud cover.
And no 2 story-high wavesā¦ 
I saw this - horrid!!
What a great summary of what sounds like a lovely event with all their family and friends footprint on it!
I have to say, the cakes sounds AMAZING!!
5 Likes
Wow @BunsenBurner! That swell was on the Kona side of the Big Island. It sure looked powerful! Significant property damage was shown in the video!
Wow sounds wonderful! Upper 60ās is preferred. We had 103 yesterday. That would melt the cake and makeup!
2 Likes
Wedding happened! 
News at 11.
23 Likes
@BunsenBurner - congratulations to the happy couple. Canāt wait to hear all about it.
Congratulations! Iām sure you all looked fabulous. What did you end up wearing?
One of our daughterās wedding is next weekend! The wedding is near where the nearlyweds live and not near us or other parents (hundreds of miles from both). We feel we have planned (both DD and I are planners) and worked ahead and there is not a lot to do still. We did make it easier by using a wedding spot that provides place, food, bar, tables and chairs and linens and getting ready rooms, and a hotel that provides bus shuttles. We have most of the tips figured out. Price of wedding/reception spot and meals includes gratuity and tax. Does anyone know if and how much we should tip the venue rep assigned to us who supervises the wait staff and bar staff, organizes timing, and helps with rehearsal and day-of needs? (Rocky Mountain area, not resort town). Thanks!
4 Likes
Iām so exhausted from the weekend activities and the millennial houseguests that stayed a bit too long (and all the āhelicopter take offs and landingsā we made this Sunday to save said millennials some angst and $$). I promise I will post a recap, but tonight Iām going to crash early. 
(In between performing āmillennial rescue operations,ā I already washed all dishes and silverware and 1/2 of all glasses and coffee mugs. 
)
13 Likes
Wedding weekend recap!
Bad things first. 
With Omicron raging, anticipated that someone would come down with Covid just before the wedding. And it did happen: in both groomās and brideās party one person tested positive for Covid the day before the wedding, so they did not attend. Luckily, both b&g and the officiant have had Covid recently, so the party went on! Some folks could not attend because they also got sick, so we had about 60 people (out of 80 confirmed) and 2 dogs total (the humans were mostly adults, but some toddlers, too).
Now, the event. B&G picked an outdoor venue because back in November 2021, no one knew what kind of Covid situation there will be by July 2022. It turned out o be a great choice. The venue exceeded my expectations. It is a fairly remote farm converted into a wedding venue, about 3 hour drive from the city. Half of the guests decided to stay at surrounding AirBNBs, half drove the day of the event. My husband and I had a ton of loose ends to take care of the day before so chose to drive to the venue in the morning. It was a wise decision because kid dumped a couple of houseguests on usā¦ and let me tell you, some millennials are not low maintenance. Iāll spare you the details.
We opted to not rent the eclectic glassware at the venue and brought our own. The venue owner was skeptical that what weād bring would be good enough but actually complemented our choice. I shopped all possible sales and all possible locations (Macys, Amazon, IKEA, even the Dollar Tree (they should rename it Dollar and a Quarter Tree, lol). The collection cost less than 3/4 of the rental fees, and we plan to donate it to folks in need of dishes. I also decided to play the florist. I did not have the time to source the greenery from the place recommended by @zeebamom, so I placed a Costco order of lovely fresh garlands. The day before the wedding I made a flower run to source roses and stuff for centerpieces. Chopped those up in appropriate chunks and stored in a water-filled crate in the bed of our truck praying that no pest would eat the flowers (deer here are ferociously hungry).
The morning of the wedding we loaded everything into our truck filling the bed up completely, left a key to the house in the possession of our millennial houseguests who by the agreement had to fetch a ride with someone. And off we went! We picked up the flowers for the wedding party at the local grocery storeā¦ I ordered them sight unseen to be picked up on the wedding day, so was a bit worried, but when the bride saw them, she almost cried. The florist asked me to email her some example pics and wedding colors, and the flowers came out gorgeous!! And did I tell you that I carried the wedding cake on my lap periodically telling Mr. B to drive gently? Lol.
The ride also included a tarp fixing episode, but everything and everyone made it to the venue safely.
Now, the big unload! The venue peeps did a fabulous job!! At first, the coordinator (also the owner) was very skeptical that Mr. and I could get the table (a long run of farm tables) decorated with those Costco garlands, but by the time we were done, she was ready to hire me as her florist! Mr. added fairy lights wherever he could, I threw some ācultural artifactsā around the cake, made some centerpieces for the lawn tables, and still had plenty of time to dress and even paint my face a tiny bit. Oh, and we also inherited a garden arbor adorned with a Costco garland from the wedding that happened the day before. We stuck some flowers into it for a pop of color, and it looked decent enough.
The weather! Oh my. That was our big lucky strike. It was just perfect: mid seventies and light overcast. No one fried or got chilly.
The ceremony went without a snag and was beautiful! Then the guests had cocktails and wine and nibbled on a beautifully arranged charcuterie spread before sitting down for dinner. The caterer did a fantastic job with the food. My now SIL is a carnivore, and he complimented the beef he had. It did taste better than the same stuff we tried at the food tasting. Then the dancing commenced! Folks also had a lot of fun with the lawn games and made sāmores (two firepits were lit up for them).
The guests said it was a great party, and I definitely think so.
24 Likes
@BunsenBurner - it sounds like a fantastic wedding and I think my D and her fiance are looking for the same kind of venue and vibe that you D went with!
2 Likes
It was definitely not a very formal setting but it was gorgeous!
Here is the farm table my husband and I decorated (venue helpers assisted with place settings):
It was not the most formal looking but who cares! 
27 Likes
I love the table! I really think this is what D1 is envisioning for her wedding.
2 Likes
@BunsenBurner that table is beautiful! You did a fabulous job.
4 Likes
I am very impressed with your table!
Sounds like it was a lovely event.
Too bad people had to cancel at the last minute, but better safe than sorry.
3 Likes