And they lived Happily Ever After....

Because if I don't do it now, it might not ever get done!


 Here are a few some pictures from Leah and Wesley's Wedding and Reception- It was truly a day every bride hopes and prays for. It was supposed to rain, even forcasted it that very day. It was a glorious day. Absolutely the perfect temperature. Just beautiful. The Wedding was held in Donaldsonville, Georgia, at the Groom's grandparent's church, and the Reception here in Dothan, at the Stokes Activity Barn inside Landmark Park. Some of these pictures are just down right awful, but if I am in a hurry and it's not on my "click it as I am running through the room" mode, then it will be blurred and no way of it making it worthy of even trying to spruce it up with editing. In fact, for the sake of time, none of these are edited...it is what it is...

For those of you just tuning in, Leah was my faithful, beloved employee for almost 4 years. Our families have known each other quite some time. Her cousin Marie (and photographer for Leah's Wedding- can't wait to see her pics!), was my maid of honor.Not to mention, her mom has been cutting and highlighting my hair for the last 10 years. Including a new summer do I'm sporting she did Monday.......

 Leah loved our family well, and we were so happy to bless she and Wesley in anyway when it came to helping with their special day.

























There were probably just a couple of rooms in my home without flowers in them the week of the wedding. I do love to decorate and arrange things. Arranging flowers is something I didn't know I even enjoyed or could do until several years ago. Leah gave me many inspirational pictures of what she liked. I have a wholesale license locally, but we also used Sam's Club for many of the beauties.






















 I had ordered from there before if you remember last year, so I was WAY MORE comfortable this time around with what to expect. When dealing with so many flowers, knowing the bloom, and the delicacies, and temperament can be tricky. Forcing blooms open, stopping the bloom, and even bringing them back to life ,after the heat from being Fedex(ed), can be completely nerve racking when it comes to the fact that it is a girl's day that most have dreamt about since age 4. Tim was awesome at calming me when I would get a little overwhelmed by assuring me that he believed that if anyone could give Leah what she had envisioned, it would be me. That sounds more like pressure, but it was actually encouraging when I had my doubts.

I love a barn reception! When looking for something to do with the exterior, Leah gave me a picture of a letter covered in flowers for inspiration. The letter size we wanted, was truly not available anywhere we could find in the USA, and even overseas her Uncle couldn't find it that size. Tim assured me it was no pro-blem-o for him to create if I just drew the letters on plywood, he would take care of the rest of the form. I do love him :)

 Some of you asked about this garland back at Christmas. We decided to get Carroll's Nursery here locally to make us a 22ft boxwood garland for the church and 4ft wreath for the barn. I stuffed them with flowers before hanging.  Then the week of the wedding (because that's how my brain works best) decided to outline the dance floor with boxwoods to bring it all together. Did you know that most Local Nursery's rent out such a thing for events??? Pretty awesome info, so store that for your future events.......unless, you're landscaping your yard ;)





The Families worked their patootie's off and were an absolute blast to work with. I think Tim thought I might go insane the late night at the church if Leah's Uncle Chad, had not been side by side with me on doing this event.


Enough said, now time for your eyes to enjoy! Hope this provides some inspiration for your next party!


Enjoy-

Hi

I'm stuck again. I have so much I want to blog about, but little time to squeeze it in. If only I could type a million words a minute, and upload all my pictures in a nice order, instead of picking and choosing from my camera. I feel like crashing at night, the time I used to get so much done. Why does my body require sleep????? A mother could get so much more done during those hours ;)




I leave you with a few pics from our spring break....details later....maybe....

 And when I have more then 10mins to blog, I promise to pump out the summertime recipes....if I don't soon, I will forget how I made them! Below is going to be a family favorite....

Hope you all have a beautiful day!

Weekend Recap.......

a couple weeks ago, I had a thought; one of my most precious friends and favorite people in life, is about to take off for a new adventure Down Under as she and her family take permanent residence in Australia. I blogged back in January about our visit with them then, you can read that here.


Her time in the states are coming to a close and I really thought it necessary for us to take some time, just the two of us, for a girl's weekend. Atlanta was the perfect place, as it provides almost a half way travel point for us both.




Natalie, is next in line to my Hubs as truly knowing me. I can go to her with anything and she will know my heart in the matter. She has a gift of friendship. She is by far the pursuer in our relationship, in which, I would think about calling her, she would call, I would think about sending an encouraging card, she sends the card, I would think about visiting her, she would visit. That's how we roll. We are total opposites, but yet, totally alike......

I would pack numerous pairs of shoes (another red flat pair was in the car) and she would think I was crazy. She would pack two pairs and I would think the same about her....



 I would introduce her to places like Anthropologie, and she would show me that it's ok to rock a frock from Walmart....

I would still argue that I take delight in even the packaging from such a place...... Walmart you've got nothing on this one.

Enjoying a cup of joe and conversing with one another in our beloved pajama addiction is by far, our most favorite thing to do together; so it only seemed most fitting to mark our weekend with these, oh so fun, initial mugs so our memory of each other will greet us every morning as we are separated by thousands of miles between us ...


We would also make it a point, that we would hold each other to doing things on this trip that otherwise are extremely difficult to accomplish in the everyday with children under our feet, like....

1.) cleaning out our purses
2.) painting our fingernails
3.) plucking our eyebrows


I am happy to say, I succeeded with all three and might have even plucked a couple of hairs from my face that were nowhere near my eyes.....maybe ;)

(pic from January 2012)

 I really hope you have a Natalie in your life; a friend that will challenge you, cherish you, pray for you, weep with you, rebuke you, serve you, honor you and love you.


She is the Sister I never had, and I hers. I hope that through even our friendship, my girls see how special it is to be sisters. I absolutely adore my brothers, but know that there has to be a bond like no other with a sister. All you have to do is walk down a card aisle at Hallmark and know that even the world knows there is something special and cherishing about that relationship.



The girls are on Spring Break this week and I am planning lots of sister time for them. They seemed to have started already as they gather wisteria and pine for our yard and wrapping them in cheese cloth for sachet's as we speak.....I love their little minds.


I'm off to enjoy this beautiful spring day, hope you do too!