Wedding Week Wedding Prep

So many details falling into place! Monday began with a few job-related errands for Graysen, but after that, the day was devoted to prepping for the wedding! Not all of these pictures took place on that day, but since this is a break in the busyness of the week, it seems like a good place to share a mashup of pre-wedding wonders :)

Gabby took a run at spray-painting her swirly, twirly vases for the wedding tables--the paint didn't stick so well on the first go, but we liked the color! She also worked on the lengthy task of tying the painted hearts on the linen napkins.

Here's how the classroom/guestroom looked FOUR DAYS before my mother-in-law was due to call it home for a week! Good thing we decided to take a two week Fall break from school. I'm not sure what teaching could have been done in there . . . parkour? :)

I spent a relaxing afternoon ignoring the adjoining room while watching HGTV and putting fairy lights in jars :) The openings for the wee vases Gabby wanted to hang from the arch were so tiny, that we had to glue dot these clever cork bottle top lights on top.

On the next sunny day, Caelan and I decided to start from scratch . . . no pun intended . . . but we did spend a long while scratching the vases with sandpaper until all the green came off, subsequently adding a little more texture for the paint to stick to. A second round of lovely green, and they are still looking marvelous! (Anyone need some swirly, twirly green plastic vases that still look great?)

While the boys were NFL-ing, the girls and I worked on lots of things--flower arranging, dishes washing, arch draping, vase filling, and just in the nick of time . . . guestroom cleaning!

It wasn't long before we put our guest to work--handwashing 65 place-settings! It's like when we used to joke with the kids that if they forgot their wallets at the restaurant they'd have to go back and do dishes--during wedding week, everyone earns their keep around here, lol! But actually, it was soooo nice to have this task taken care of! I just didn't trust the dishwasher when we were working with exactly what we needed to set the tables, so I trusted this Dish Washer, instead :)

While the bride-to-be was over, Buck brought out the special cuff links we bought him for the wedding--they are tiny sunflowers heat-etched into little wooden circles. Gabby and Grandma J approve!

That same day, Caelan's cello-case sized box of fresh eucalyptus arrived :) I couldn't believe it as she snipped stems and filled not only a giant bucket, but also our biggest noodle pot! We also learned that eucalyptus is poisonous to dogs and, yes, Olive is still in a diaper--this was Day 18. It is hard to depict the scale of those bushes of plants in our kitchen. We had to have a system to walk around and for the coffee drinkers to access their caffeine. My NGF said it looked like the perfect amount and she absolutely approved! Caelan learned that this is the best greenery from her, so they are on the same page when it comes to arrangement filler :)

Scarlet camped out by Grandma J while Caelan was busy with the hot glue and flowers :) Such a lanky pup! Caelan calls her kangaroo because when she jumps (off of stairs, etc.) it is all back legs and pure flight of motion!

So glad we found vases like Gabby imagined! But not nearly as excited as her husband-to-be, who had a few other woodworking projects going at the farm while we were taking care of our business at the house--and at all the stores :)

We went to Costco twice, two days in a row. The first day they didn't have any watermelon, so we went to a local grocery store and bought two puny ones. One had a drilled hole under the sticker! (eye roll) But when we went back to Costco the next day (to pick up cakes and bread and fruit and etc.) the watermelons were back! We SHOULD have gotten two of them like Buck said and given the other (more expensive, tiny, bland) ones to the chickens.

And here is my final installment of "tell me you're having a wedding, without telling me you're having a wedding." Good thing we have big fridges with flexible spaces! It's all fun, though--people kept asking what I am going to do when the weddings are done this summer. I guess the answer is . . . write about them! :)