10.1.11 Part 1: Preparations

I’m married! But before we get to all that, we have to start at the beginning. By that, I mean September 28th.

Wednesday Septemeber 28th-Friday September 30th

Wednesday was Josh and my last day of work before we headed to Ohio to tie up loose ends before “the big day.” I was schedule to work all day, but my nerves about getting everything done before we left for Ohio were through the roof. I left at 1pm and then ran around town getting the last things we needed and then headed home to finish packing. Josh got off work and ran around and did a few more things. Finally, we were both home, loading the cars and making sure the house was safe to leave alone for more than a week.

It was kind of strange, leaving. Right before we left (at 10PM), I said to him, that when we got back everything would be different. I had a moment of “OMGOSH, THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING!” Then, we left and made it to Ohio around midnight:30.

The following couple of days we ran around tying up the loose ends. We got our centerpieces ready, as well as the name places. We created a lot of our decorations. For the centerpieces, we bought dozens of ball jars. Inside each we had wheat seed, with wheat sticking out. We later put fresh flowers in them. In the small ball jars, we had wheat seed with a small candle.

We wanted to capture a harvest, autumn feel.  With the name cards, which went on the head and family tables, we took some heavier paper and burnt the edges and hand wrote the names. They ended up looking very cool. With the chaos of that week, Josh and I had quiet time to make those name cards. It was almost therapeutic to just stand there with him and burn the paper.

One of my bridesmaids (and long time friend) Sylva, arrived on Thursday. She and I filled the jars with the wheat seed. She quite loved it out at Josh’s parents, which is hard to not do. When you have 4 golden retrievers, vying for your affection, a gorgeous sunset and rolling fields around you, it’s like going on vacation. What was most fantastic about Thursday night, was the double rainbow behind the house. The top rainbow, was a perfect rainbow, bright and we could see where it started and ended. It was just absolutely beautiful.

Some people take limosines or horse drawn carriages, but after our wedding, we decided we’d take a hay wagon, drawn by truck, chauffered by Andy (a great friend). When he brought the wagon over, in order for the wedding party to wrap in plastic (to protect by wind) and decorate with signs, it his me even more that we were really getting married. As tradition goes, Harold (Josh’s dad), hung a rosary on the tree. Once a rosary is hung on the tree, it won’t rain on your wedding day. (It did rain early in the morning, but no rain whatsoever during the day). That evening, we spent working on the slideshow we were going to show at the reception. Sylva made amazing progress on it and if it weren’t for her, we may not have ever gotten to a finished project.

On Friday, everything got rolling even more. We met at the reception hall at 8AM to begin decorating. We set the tables and chairs up, cut up the wheat and flowers, set up the gift and favor table, decorated the sign in table, the list goes on.  It was all completed by 12:30 or so. At 11:00, I went to get my nails done. They were overpriced and broke Sunday morning, but they got the job done. Kayleigh arrived midday. There wasn’t much left to do and we spent some time hanging out. We ran a few more things over to the hall and then it was time for the rehearsal.

The rehearsal dinner, wedding and honeymoon await your eyes on a different blog.

Photo Credit: 1&2: Cloustudio,  3-me, 4-Bobbie Steinhauer

Moments I’d Relive, Part 1

I was thinking the other day about reliving some moments in my life. There are some that are so taking, they hold on even years later. When I was young, I imagined that when I reached Heaven, God would have a bunch of VHS tapes waiting for me to watch containing all the special moments of my life. Along with this, I’ve always wanted to start writing down memories that come across me from time to time. I believe it was Donald Miller who spoke about how little we actually remember. He had a friend that tried to write down as much as he could. This is part one in what may turn out to be series of memories. Feel free to share some of your memories, I’d love to hear them.

I’ve been thinking about my grandma a lot lately. I think it’s partially because I’d spend so much of my summer at her place when I was younger. The way the season is starting to change, particularly in the mornings and evenings remind me of sitting on her front porch with her, reading or chatting. The sun would be sitting and the smallest chill would sit in. It also marked the end of summer and the start of school.

Today Josh bought a newspaper. I started reading the Sunday comics a long time ago when I was at Grandma’s house, way out in the country. She got the paper every day, it just became a ritual to read them every Sunday. For the Sundays I wasn’t at her house, she’d save them. She did this for years, up until her death. She’d always pull them out, place them in a special spot and the next time I visited, they’d be waiting.

I love how strongly scent can stir memory. Often times, it’s not even a specific memory, just a stir of some distant something. Cigarette smoke or just the stain of the smell on someone’es clothes often brings Grandma back to me.

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I wrote that top portion months ago.  I will try to continue with more posts about moments I’d relive. But for now, I’ll end it.

What are some moments you’d relive?