The Beautiful, Blushing Bride...

Wedding Day Hair Appointments!!

And the Panic Sets In... The Rehearsal

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So, Thursday was a stressful day. Most weddings that I've been in or experienced, always have a day that is just downright crazy. For us, this was Thursday. The madness actually began Wednesday night, when in the process of Dave moving from North Liberty to Waterloo, his U-haul broke down, in the parking lot of a Fazolli's, with all his earthly belongings. That little detail, set a million new details into motion and after lots of phone calls and lots of waiting, the poor groom did not arrive in town until much, much later than he had planned. His unpacking turned into more of a "throw everything off the truck into the new house" and Jennie didn't get to spend much time seeing him until it was very, very late. Travis also arrived that night, actually Thursday morning, around 1:30am, after driving through some horrible Iowa storms. We all went to bed very late, knowing we were going to be running from the minute we woke up Thursday morning to the minute we went to bed Thursday night. I remember falling asleep Wednesday night thinking, "Wow, it's really raining hard outside...hope everything's ok." But I somehow managed to roll over and fall asleep. Little did I know that as it turned out, everything was not ok.

One of my favorite things about Thursday morning, was that I was going to get to see my little Olivia again! For those of you who are new to my blog, Olivia is the little sweetie I nannied for in North Carolina, while Travis was in Seminary. She was 4 months old when I started and 2 1/2 when I left. She is PRECIOUS to Travis and I, as well as to our whole family. Her parents are dear, sweet friends of ours and when Jennie called to ask if Olivia wanted to be her flower girl, they graciously agreed to come to Iowa for the big day. We couldn't wait to see them!! Unfortunately, when we woke up, the day quickly began to unravel.

Because of the nasty storms Iowa is currently plagued with, the hard rains once again, flooded my parent's basement. Thankfully not as bad as last time, but enough to keep my parents busy early in the morning, sucking water off the floor. That morning the guys were all supposed to play golf, but when my Dad called the golf course to make sure they could still play, he found out that all the courses in the area were so saturated, that they weren't allowing play until much later in the day and they weren't allowing carts either. Then the bad news came. I called Charlie and Annette (Olivia's parents), who were supposed to land in Waterloo at 11:30 pm on Wednesday night, to make sure they'd made it, and much to our dismay, they had not. Apparently, because the storm was so bad, they made it to Waterloo, but couldn't land, so they circled for an hour and then had to fly back to Minneapolis. They didn't get to their hotel until 3 am and they wouldn't be arriving in Waterloo until 3pm that day...just hours before the rehearsal. We were so sad for them, what a horrible and traumatic flight experience and that sent all of us over the edge. We sort of had to have a re-grouping and then we just made a new plan for the day. Everything turned out fine, they made it and we were able to see them for a little bit before the rehearsal. The rehearsal went well, Travis and another Pastor Ben, were tag-teaming the ceremony, so I was a little stressed about that, but we got through it and we were able to go to the dinner and just relax. The day ended well and Jennie and Dave were officially thrilled to be spending their last night alone!! We all fell into bed that night, praying for good weather and God's blessing on the next big day.

A Date with Our Dad

Most Fathers of the bride are responsible for one big thing: paying the bills! My poor (literally) Dad has now paid for three gorgeous weddings in five years! He has been the best Dad, letting my Mom dream with each one of us and plan the wedding we wanted. He has graciously allowed us to choose what we loved, never complaining about how much this was costing him or making us feel like we owed him. Because he's so sweet like that, all three of us would do anything for our Dad. ANYTHING. Aside from his love for the Lord, our Mom, and our family, there is one thing that brings my Dad lots of joy: golf. He loves golf and he raised us to love it too. We've all taken lessons since we were little and we spent much time riding in the cart while my Dad golfed with us or with his friends. When I was in junior high, my Dad started a golf program at our school. We were a small Christian school, with no money for golf, but he sacrificed his time and a paycheck to start a program, often buying and giving his own clubs for girls and guys who couldn't afford to buy them. As a little school, we played against all the public schools in our conference, as well as the big, powerhouse, public schools in our city. I'm proud to say that my Dad led multiple teams to conference championships, had several of us make the all-metro and all-conference teams, and even took golfers to the state tournament. But my Dad would say his favorite thing about all of that was that all three of his girls played for him.

We have so many fun memories of hours at the driving range and hours spent playing golf courses all over Iowa with him. We've won and we've lost with my Dad, but the best thing we did was just spend lots of time with him. All of our teammates loved him and many girls still call him "Coach Ferguson" and love to share their favorite golf memories with him every time they see him. He doesn't coach golf anymore, but he sure left a legacy at our school. So, in honor of all his daughters being home again, my Dad's one request for the week, was to play a round of golf with his three girls. We prayed for nice weather, carved out a few hours, and did it! And we had a blast!! We laughed like crazy at how bad we've gotten since high school, then cheered when we each nailed a great shot or a long putt. And because we are all competitive, we kept score too...but I'll spare you the scores!! Let's just say it wasn't pretty! We had a perfect afternoon and it was definately fun to spend that time with our Dad. I know it meant a lot to him but really, it meant a lot to all of us too. Wednesday was a fun memory for all of us!

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...

Wedding Week Prep... Last Tuesday

On Tuesday night, Stacie and I threw Jennie a lingerie shower with her girlfriends. It was lots of fun and she got some really cute things for her honeymoon. However, with every day, the reality of what was coming began sinking in. Our little Jennie, the baby of our family, was getting married! She was soaking it all in of course, enjoying the limelight and getting more excited with every event. It was so great to be home again all week, with both of my sisters. We laughed all day and night with each other and caught up on what we've missed since we saw each other last. But the best part was seeing how happy our parents were, having their girls home together again... these are sweet days for our family.

Wedding Week Prep...Last Monday

So when I arrived in Iowa last Monday morning, there was much to do! Stacie and I had our final fittings for our dresses right away, which fit perfectly, and then we just did as we were told! On the agenda that evening, was tying bows for the wedding programs. The ivory inserts weren't ready yet, so we just worked on the brown jackets and the bows. Jennie's future mother-in-law and sister-in-laws came over, along with her best friend and we worked, laughed, and drank coffee!! The boys, Jesse and my Dad, were busy too...playing Mario Kart on our wii! I decided to bring it with me for the week, and we all had lots of fun playing all the games. It was a good stress relief at the beginning of the week! Towards the end of the week however, it went untouched! Priorities, priorties, priorities!!


I believe we've done this twice before! This was step one, of a two step program assembly.


The bow-tying crew! We tied, and tied, and tied some more to get those programs ready!


We designed the programs to look just like the invitations...they were very pretty!


The blushing bride, getting more excited by the minute!!


These two were doing the wedding thing exactly one year ago, on June 1st


Happy Anniversary Jesse and Stacie! One year down, many more to go!!!