Wedding Week Prep... Last Wednesday

Wednesday morning, we were all at the church, putting together the decorations for the stage and the aisle. I realize it doesn't look like much in these photos, I'm only sharing the bare bones with you now... I'll save the final product for the wedding pictures... but I can tell you that this "look" was in the works for months. Many, many hours of planning and dreaming went into the church. Those trees came from a ditch that my parents drove by for months, on their way to Church. They called the city and asked if they could cut some down, and for several months, 4 trees have been laying on the back patio, just waiting to be used. That arch is just a metal arch that we rented, but the grapevine is real. My Mom was telling one of her patients about the plans for the wedding and she excitedly showed my Mom all the grapevine in her back yard and then offered to get some ready for us. Each week when my Mom went to her house to check on her, she had more grapevine bundled up for us and ready to go. Isn't that sweet? So, on Wednesday, while we were figuring out how we were going to do this, we realized that not only was the grapevine perfect, we had exactly enough to cover the whole thing and not a stick more! I spent several hours on a ladder, wiring and taping grapevine, while our friend Joan and Jennie's mother-in-law, Wendy, helped. My Dad and Jesse did lots of hauling and cleaning, Stacie and Jennie worked on lots of other details, and my Mom too. My parents' friend Jeff, did lots of sawing and engineering to get those trees straight and sturdy in those pots. When we left the church, we were all very, very happy with how it turned out and incredibly excited to see it all pulled together Friday night. Without letting you see the final "look", let me just tell you that it was breath-taking and absolutely gorgeous...