Monday, January 12, 2015

Spread the Love-Wedding Post 2

Getting to the wedding locale was, like most things we do, not simple. There were four of us humans plus Daughter2's long legged greyhound, along with various and assorted boxes containing the ingredients for our welcome bags, gifts for the bridesmaids, sparklers for the sendoff, luggage, a bunch of other 'stuff', as well as all the printed material-aka place cards, menus, and crossword puzzles custom designed by the bride herself.

Yes, crossword puzzles


We hosted a breakfast the day after and you need a crossword puzzle to go with your Sunday morning coffee, don't you? Anyway, suffice it to say we were overloaded. We rented one car instead of driving two of our own so hubs and I could make the long trek home together. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that we also had the wedding dress, which had previously traveled from D.C. to NJ. and was now making its way to South Carolina with a four day pit stop in Tennessee. 

Don't try to make sense of it...just keep reading. 

Daughter2 and I rode in our car with her very agreeable pup. We talked non-stop the entire route from NJ to Tennessee. 699.85 miles give or take a few for meals, petrol, and dog walking. At one point hubs had Daughter1 call and ask if we were bickering because he could see our hands waving. Ha! No we weren't bickering...that's just how we talk. 

Hubs and the bride were in the rental car up front, the pace car so to speak, which only made him a little bit crazy. Every so often he would have Daughter1(in his car) phone Daughter2 (in my car) with a message for me-

'Why is your mother so far back? Tell her she needs to go faster.' 
'Why is she on my bumper?! Is she going to run into me?!!'
'Tell her to turn on her fog lights so I know which car is hers." 
'It's hard to drive when I have to worry about what's in front of me, 
and also worry about your mom behind me." 

Chalk it up to the steady drizzle and all day fog, or maybe to all those giving-away-his-daughter nerves, but whatever we made it to my sister-in-law's cabin in Tennessee late Sunday night. The girls and the greyhound departed for SC the following afternoon because most of the wedding party and assorted friends were arriving in town early to ring in the new year with the soon-to-be-marrieds. 


Before they ducked out we set up an assembly line with the favors. My mother-in-law makes cranberry jelly every December, and she
was enlisted offered to make enough for us to give our guests as favors. There was a whole lotta jelly goin' on. 


Grandma spent the weeks before the wedding waiting for just the right weather conditions (not too humid), and managed to have them all ready to go by the time we arrived to load up and deliver. The bride designed adorable stickers with her 'logo' and a 'spread the love' graphic to add to the lids and they were just too cute.

I must insert here that the bride did all the wedding graphics and design herself. Everything from the invitations to the menus to the labels for the water bottles tucked inside the welcome bags, and she did an absolutely beautiful job. No small detail was too small to escape her artistic eye. Seriously it was so impressive. She kept her color scheme and font uniform, and incorporated the pinecone and evergreen in just the right proportion. She and I share a love of paper, pretty fonts, and lovely graphic design so we were really pleased with the end result.

The final touch added to the jam jars was tying gold glitter twine around the rim to complete the package. Yes gold glitter twine is so a thing. Listen, there's a little something out there called the Internet and if you can imagine it you can order it. Etsy and Amazon Fire were our friends, and the UPS delivery man might join us for Thanksgiving dinner next year. 


Also, you should know that whole tying the twine around a jar thing is a lot harder than it looks.  


But totally worth it.  Here's a peek at the favor station in the reception venue. I borrowed this shot from a friend's Facebook page, which I hope is fine. Hi Deb! The wooden jam spoons in the basket beside the jars were also hand crafted, made with love by the groom's mom and her close friend. They were absolutely fabulous, and every couple left with a spoon and jar of jam. 

When I started writing this post I intended to talk about the day and evening before the wedding. Somehow I ended up here though, and it feels like a good place to stop. I asked my daughter last night if she minded me posting about some of her special, personalized-by-her details, and she said sure. She'll be posting more about the creative side of her event, but was still working out how she wanted to order her posts. I told her my strategy was something called 'free flowing', which essentially means I start writing and see where I land. Hey, it works for me.

And you should definitely hop over and read all her thoughts and feels about her wedding and newly married life. (Click here to visit the bride's blog)

In conclusion-

My daughter is awesome.
The small touches she designed were my favorite.
Love and your grandma's jam. The world needs more of both. 

16 comments:

  1. What a fun time and I love the idea of the breakfast. The crossword puzzle and jelly were amazing ideas, may have to steal those one day for our daughter.
    Anyhow, lovely post, almost feels like I was there!

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  2. I am so enjoying reading about the wedding and plans, etc. Keep it coming.

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  3. What fun! And I get those kind of comments from my husband when we're caravanning too. : ) Can't wait to hear more!

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  4. I love the crossword puzzle idea!

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  5. Brilliant. For anyone planning a wedding soon, they should print these posts and use them to get everything just right. Wow!!

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  6. Your daughter has done an excellent job with her talents. I love the spread the love idea with the jam. What a nice gift! My daughter and granddaughter are working on her May wedding now.

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  7. What a fun post, Joyce! I loved the mental image of the drive. I would have been crazy from driving in fog! What a great chat time though! Everything sounds beautiful and carefully coordinated. And I do know how hard it is to tie twine around a jar. You need an extra arm and fingers!

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  8. I laughed out loud about the UPS man might be joining you for Thanksgiving dinner next year! You crack me up. And can I just say that my husband HATES to be the pace car because I never keep pace?! I've had to tell him that I'd keep pace better if I weren't interrupted by his interrogatives.

    The spoons were handcrafted? Seriously? Oh, how impressive. And the jam is a very sweet (ha) idea. And a whole lotta work. Kudoes to your MIL for all that planning and execution. Love the font.

    Did your own pup miss out on all the excitement? Gladly?? LOL Can't wait to read the crossword puzzle maker bride's perspective on this wedding. Keep yours a'coming. Loving the free flowing!:)

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  9. Oh, all the special touches are just awesome! I've never seen or heard of jam and jam knives as favors, but oh, so, so cleaver and I would love to have been on the receiving end of both.

    I, too, laughed out loud over the UPS man and Thanksgiving. It reminds me of my relationship with our UPS man. We know each other on a first name basis and I think he thinks I do more internet shopping than any woman on his route. Gotta love our UPS men!

    I look forward to the next wedding post and I'm so enjoying Shannon's posts as well. I love picturing it all in my mind's eye. Such fun!

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  10. Oh I almost missed this....and I am soo enjoying it. Your travel to the wedding reminded me of our travels to New Mexico to move Mel in after the honeymoon. Her new hubby lead the way in his truck loaded to the hilt. Melody followed in her car. Then there was my hubby who was driving a LARGE moving truck with furniture, wedding presents and all of Melody's earthly belongs, and finally me bringing up the rear in our car to drive us back home in after we finally got there. And I was fighting one of the worst colds of my life after the wedding. Maybe the "mother of the bride" finally gives in and gets sick once it's all over, lol. Your party favors were PERFECT. What a wonderful gift. And yes, what we ever all do without the internet and all that shopping. Looking forward to how this unravels.

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  11. Wow, what creativity. All those little extra special touches went a long ways, I'm sure, to making that day a memorable one. Thanks for sharing ... I'm enjoying your recaps.

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  12. What a perfect gift... so beautiful & personal ...
    I'm going to love all these wedding recap posts!

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  13. "Spread the love", I absolutely love that! I'm enjoying your attention to the details, which makes reading these wedding posts so enjoyable!
    I especially "got a kick" out of your husband's messages to you, during the day of travel :) Ha! Gotta' love 'em.

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  14. Love the crossword puzzle. It is never fun following someone to a destination. Love the favors! Really enjoying your detailed posts.....

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  15. I love the puzzle idea for the morning after...some folks might need some quiet time and a cup of coffee before conversation!! ~Natalie

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