THE BIG DAY...

Wedding day! - Everyone in the house knew we were loading the cars with wedding decor at 7:30 a.m.  The venue would be open at 8:00 a.m.  Our contract said that the manager would be there early to open up, turn on lights and heat, etc., but that we should not ask to come in early.  We started unloading stuff onto the sidewalk at 7:40 a.m., and the manager came out and said we could come in early!  We were so thankful.  A small army of family helped us unload decorations, set up tables and chairs, decorate the stage in the theater, the reception area, and all the tables.
Thirty minutes into it, I needed to change into my dress, and the groom and bride arrived.  So did the photographer and a "first look" and other picture-taking began.  The caterers arrived, then the  donuts and coffee arrived, being picked up by the groom's family.  Everyone - both sides of the family - really helped make it happen!  I did make one boo-boo.  I didn't make a boutonniere for the groom's step-father.  I had just thought in my mind that the groom's father wouldn't be there, so no boutonniere needed.  When asked about it I apologized and told them I had made the minister one and wasn't sure if I was supposed to, so maybe they could take his?  Everything worked out!  A friend of mine asked me about 10 minutes before the ceremony if I was okay and I said, yes, and she asked if she could pray with me.  I said, "sure!" and we prayed a quick prayer right there.  That reminded me that I wanted to do that with my daughter, so I got the photographer, and we went and prayed with the bride and her bridesmaids just before we all went down the aisle.

Selfie right before I was escorted into the theater!

Candid shot from the audience

The ceremony - I knew nothing.  They would not tell me and I wasn't sure I wanted to know.  About 10 minutes before the wedding I asked a friend who was serving as "Day-of-coordinator" how would I know when to stand up for the bride.  What song?  She told me it was "You're the Inspiration" by Chicago.  Sweet!  I don't know what else to tell you about the rest, except I laughed a lot.  They chose fun songs they liked that reminded them of movies.  (We were in a theater, remember?)  I think I walked down to the Star Wars theme.  My husband said a prayer, right after he gave our daughter away, and asked the family on the first row to come surround them.  Their vows were in rhyme, kind of like a Dr. Seuss book.  His uncle officiated and said lots of sweet things about them and pronounced them husband and wife.  It's all really a blur.  I know there were lots of smiles and laughter.  Hopefully some of it was caught on video!

The reception - We had a breakfast burrito bar, fruit, and sweetbreads baked by the three grandmothers.  The wedding cake wasn't a cake at all, but a donut tower, flanked by two donut hole cones.  We also had gourmet coffee, hot chocolate, orange juice, and water.  The donut tower was a hit!  D & C fed each other a donut to initiate the serving of those.  We also had a short video of the couple playing in the reception area that we had watched at the rehearsal dinner.  You can see it in the background of this pic.

After some more pictures and lots of visiting, the minister announced it would be a few more minutes before limericks.  I think having limericks read was the groom's idea when we talked about having a toast at the reception and they didn't want that.  They decided they would let anyone write a limerick and they would read them.  So we had a limerick challenge on the back of the wedding program and some blank lines for people to write there.  (The Hubs and I let some friends know before-hand since we thought it might be hard to write a limerick in just a few minutes)  It was hilarious!  The bride and groom took turns reading them.  Some were sweet and some were, well let's just say, rated PG.  Again, we laughed so much!!!

After that the bouquet was tossed and the garter was thrown.  One more picture of the whole wedding party in the theater and it was about time to go.  They had decided to exit the wedding via a "soccer tunnel" since they had both been soccer players in their youth.  So everyone lined up opposite their partner and made a tunnel with our hands held high.

Their car had been filled with gold balloons and had a few funny signs on it - I had brought some of this and asked my nephew to make sure the car had something fun done to it - then they left!  They did come back still in wedding clothes unbeknownst to me (I was cleaning) and took a few couple pictures outside the building with the wedding photographer.

The guests left with a piece of gold foil-wrapped fruit, a pear.  We decided we wanted to do this when my husband received a Harry & David basket in November from his office.  In it were some gold wrapped pears.  We thought they were so neat so he suggested that be our wedding favor.  The couple loved the idea, so that's what we did.  To us, it was a symbol of health and to be fruitful in the NEW YEAR!

The clean up went quickly and we went back to our house and crashed.  It was a pretty great day in our books! For me, the planner, it could have been easier to have it in OK, and maybe I would have liked more time but in all reality, pulling it all together with the help of family and friends on the wedding day was a lot of fun.  The fact that she wore my wedding dress made it special.  All the things I thought were so different - having it on New Year's morning, having donuts and coffee as the "wedding cake", the limericks, and the surprise elements in the ceremony, were just all part of this fun new couple in our lives.  I do really love how weddings nowadays reflect the personality of the couple.  We love them very much!