Friday, January 16, 2015

Wedding: Part 2

Orange Chucks, already to party!


This wedding could not have gotten off the ground without several people, first and foremost my amazing hubby John, he provided the funds. My daughter's bridesmaids, Desi, Megan, and Melissa who helped everywhere they could and told her if she wanted them to wear polka dots and clown noses they were there for her.  My friends Cheryl, her husband Brad, her daughter Lacey, and Helle who would call me and offer to help out with what ever I needed. And of course the day of the wedding, Cheryl, Lacey,Brad, Sara, Wendy, Mindy, Helle, Sara's husband Phil, Megan's parents, Carla who dropped off 3 large rolls of orange and green ribbon and especially my boys, they were amazing, the list goes on.

Starting in August, I went to work on the bridesmaid dresses and my dress, I had also started a side project with my own wedding dress. We purchased the bride's gown in Downtown LA in May.  It was gorgeous. Here's a close up of the detail on the gown:

For the bridesmaids, Ashton wanted navy blue originally, her grandma tried to talk her into purple but my daughter tends to avoid girly colors. Plus grandma said she didn't look good in orange, I told my Mother-in-law that this was going to be an informal wedding, no receiving line (yuck), a food truck ( we kept that secret for a long time) and cupcakes instead of a large cake. I really don't think she understood me. So back to the bridesmaids.  Later Ashton decided that emerald green would work better until we got to the fabric store and put the orange and green together. It wasn't pretty, we ended up finding a gorgeous sage green taffeta that was iridescent it had an orange sheen in certain lights! That same day we found orange shoes in Santee Alley that were a perfect match, the girls bought flats for the reception. The fabric ran the girls $45.00 each and the shoes were on clearance 3 pairs for $24.00 so their entire outfit was $53.00 each. The fabric on the dresses was the same but each girl picked her own pattern. 
Left to right: Megan, Ashton, Melissa and Desi. 
I love that they all chose a cute modest styles. 

Desi's dress in progress: 

Melissa's dress in progress: 

And being silly at a fitting: 

My dress: I found this amazing vintage pattern and this gorgeous raw silk in the garment district: 
I also found the sunglasses earlier that summer at the OC Swapmeet, they were a perfect match!

The sewing for me was pretty straight forward. But there were other things that were done for the wedding, it involved burlap and lace table runners, Lacey and Cheryl made all of them. And burlap and lace silverware holders, the bridesmaid's made those and some signage. 

Here's a few photos of the purchases made for the decor: 


The hubby and #1 son helping me shop:

The easiest part of all of this was finding pumpkins, since we were shopping in August the stores were fully stocked with fall decor. 
So for the rest of this post I will just post photos with captions. 

Brad made a copy of this stand, the bridesmaids painted it white and it held all the old timey sodas at the reception. 



Invitations, finally ordered in July and sent in August

The headboard benches that Brad made and the stenciled burlap pillows that Helle made for me and of course the pumpkins. The paintings are Ashton's grandmothers work. 

The flower haul, the result of an early morning trip to the DTLA flower mart
Megan and her mom, Shari, created the boutonnières and bouquets for the girls, amazing! That's my petticoat in the foreground.


In-n-Out truck arriving! 
In-n-Out truck set up:
And finally food:
We had Ambrosia Fine Foods do the fries since the In-n-Out truck doesn't do them, we had regular and sweet potato with different dipping sauces. 

Menu board, bridesmaid Desi did all the signs, freehand I might add: 

The cake: 
We also had cupcakes provided by Bubba Sweets, yummy! My Mother-in-Law left the reception carrying and eating two of them. 

Sign the frame: 

A couple of the angels that showed up the morning of the wedding to help set up: 
Sara, Wendy and Sara's daughter Kate

Here are some more angels that helped out 
 Lacey and her husband Dan
Megan and her parents, her mom Shari helped with the bouquets and they stayed behind to help clean up! 
Cheryl and her husband Brad who did all the woodwork I needed.

I don't have pictures of everybody but seriously, I am blessed with amazing friends who showed up early and stayed late. I can never thank them enough. 

As you can see there was a photo booth at the reception and it captured some fun moments mostly it captured Russell.  To view those photos click here and enjoy.

I love the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" and the quote, "no man is poor who has friends" on this day we felt like the richest family in town. 
Terri

A few more: 

Just before the ceremony:

Yay! We made it!

My boys:


First Dance:

Proud Parents:

Handsome groom:

Across the street from the reception the kids found this railroad yard so they headed over with the photographer and got some amazing pictures: 






















Thursday, January 15, 2015

Wedding Day: Part 1

So in September of 2012 Matt proposed to Ashton.  I remember him asking for our blessing and his plan to wait until September to ask her. My biggest fear was that she would insist on an October wedding and I would only have a minute to pull it all together.

She did insist on an October wedding but October of the following year. The only instruction the bride gave me was, I want pumpkins. Slowly, other plans were added, she wanted it in Orange County because that would make it easier for all the guests, food trucks instead of a catered meal, the color orange. I should make mention that the groom is not a member of our church so that changes things. Normally an engaged couple who are members of our church would marry in one of our Temples, am I upset that my daughter married a nonmember? No, my husband married a nonmember and I'd say it's worked out pretty well. ;)

So back to the wedding, location.  Since my daughter wanted the In-n-Out food truck for the reception that limited the places to have the reception. Matt isn't religious so he was uncomfortable with having the wedding in an LDS church building, this was a conumdrum. I tried the usual places, Huntington Library, Nixon Library, restaurants with banquet halls and hotels were out. Then one day my husband threw out a sarcastic remark to me and Ashton and it triggered a memory. I had not been to Knott's Berry Farm in years, but I remembered the Church of the Reflections on the property.


Sure enough after checking the website I learned that it was a nondenominational church and available for weddings! In fact they do an entire package but since we wanted something different we chose to go with just the church. For an extra fee, we could have Snoopy and the gang attend the wedding.  That just left finding a reception venue that could accommodate the In-n-Out truck. Finally we hit on a solution that had been staring me in the face and when we thought of it we couldn't believe how simple it was. Fairmont Private Schools in Anaheim, their Preparatory Academy is housed in the Stanton Hacienda and has a beautiful courtyard! The truck could be easily be accommodated once the location and food had been decided it was easier to continue. 

Fairmont Preparatory Academy:

And the courtyard:

So that's it for now, I have an Elsa gown to make. Coming soon, the rest of the preparations. 

Terri




Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Life Moves Pretty Quickly

A very smart friend said to me one day, "as fast as kids arrive in your home, that's how fast they leave". I figure she knows what's she's talking about considering she have birth to 10 kids and was blessed to raise 9 to adulthood.  

When I started this blog I had one child living in New Caledonia, serving a mission for our church and the rest living at home.  Since then our oldest and only daughter has married and moved on, our missionary has returned home and after living with his grandparents for a year is finishing up his schooling at BYUi in Rexburg, Idaho, our middle son is now serving a mission in Xalapa, Mexico and my second to youngest will be leaving home next month for the MTC to learn French then he will be off to serve his mission in Paris, France. If you're keeping count, that leaves one child at home, a situation I experienced last in 1991.  I get asked (criticized) by people not of my faith quite a bit on how I can send my kids out on the world and not see them for 2 years. I tell them it's easy and truly it is.  I love The Lord, I believe in his gospel. I know that if you believe and have faith in Him then you will be blessed by following Him and sharing His gospel. My boys feel the same way and know that the 2 years they serve will bless our family and their lives in countless ways that will manifest throughout their lives. In the grand scheme of eternity, 2 years isn't even a blip. 

The best part about them serving a mission? I can't speak for others but this moment is pretty good,
this is all of them together again after 2 years, this is the day we picked Andrew up at the airport.  The extra kid in the back is Megan, I consider her one of mine too. 

Also it didn't bother me to trip over these well worn ugly sandals the next morning! 
All of this happened in June of 2012, it seems like yesterday, but the son I got back was the same yet different. For one thing he was no longer a boy, he was a man. He had been refined by the experiences he had living in a different culture than the one he was used to. He learned that even though we're not rich, he had it better than most. He learned to love the people he served, he learned to turn the other cheek, he learned how to catch, prepare, cook and eat a bat! He also came home with a thorough knowledge of French and can speak the island language of Bislama. These are experiences money can't buy.  

In October of 2013 our daughter Ashton married. I'll post more about her wedding later. 
My new son-in-law is geeky in a cool way. This was a day filled with love and laughter.  For example, the wedding selfie:

And the photo booth: 
But most importantly, family.


I can't stress the importance of family. I was telling my husband the other day that I was so grateful to a God in Heaven that is so much smarter than me and knew although I was happy with my two oldest kids, He knew I needed more in my life so He gave me as I called them for much too long, the little boys. Never mind that they all tower over me now. Without those three our lives would not be as joyous as they've been these last 20 years. 

Born in February of 1995 was Jordan, Jojo to the family. He is now serving a mission in Mexico and like his brother before him, went off a boy. He's had to learn a new language, then teach in that language, learn that plumbing isn't always reliable and that in Mexico they use more of the chicken than his mom does and corn tortillas come with every meal, every meal. The best part for me is knowing that when he returns he will be a better version of himself after all those experiences. Here he is just before baptizing this lovely lady, she's 101 years old, can you imagine the joy this brings? 

I look forward to his return eagerly, I can't wait to have him speak to the Mexican side of our family! Again this is something no amount of money can buy, these experiences are priceless! 

Then there's our second to youngest, Cameron, he's 19 months younger than Jojo. Cammy as I call him, has been called to serve in Paris, France. His mission encompasses the area that his grandmother is from the Alsace-Lorraine region. What are the chances that I would have 2 sons that serve French speaking missions? No chance at all because truly there is a God in Heaven that knows better than me. 

Cameron making a face because I insisted on photographing him:
So very soon, he will be off on his own adventure and he will have those experiences that will enhance and enrich his life in untold ways. And as for me, I will write him and his brother every week and look forward to Christmas and Mother's Day when I will get to skype with them. The house will be a little quieter and a little neater because only the youngest will be home. But soon, very soon Jordan will return and then Jonathan, Bubba to you and me, will graduate and be off and we will be empty-nesters. It happened in the blink of an eye. 

Taken in February of 2014. Left to right: youngest to oldest, the last picture of them all together for 5 years. 

Is it worth it? You bet! 
Terri