Two weeks!!
My mom and I went to the ranch this weekend for the next to last trip before the wedding. We had tons of work to do, but we've done tons. I think everything is going to go perfectly.
Almost all of my DIY projects are done. I have:
In addition, my dad has grown about 60 flowering plants in little aluminum pots to put on each table. My mom has done tons and tons of gardening. I have weeded and mulched and pruned. My mom has also totally redone a house on the property, including rehabbing old furniture and gardening.
This weekend, my mom and I moved furniture, spent time in the garden, and came up with the final list of things we need to do before the wedding. Between now and then, I think there is only three days that people won't be up there getting ready. My parents are going up for Easter on Thursday, and my mom will stay until after the wedding. I'm driving up on Friday, coming back on Sunday, and then going back on Wednesday. Graham is going up tomorrow with the drinks and the lighting.
I also started stressing about the weather. There are 15 day forecasts available on Accuweather. On Saturday, it said it'd rain a little on my wedding day. On Sunday, it said clouds but cool. Today it says sunny. I'm hoping the progression is towards what will happen instead of just a hodgepodge of weather predictions. If today's forecast turns out to be the true one, I'll be very happy indeed. We could move things inside if we absolutely had to, but it'd be so much better to be outside.
My photographer is my cousin, and she called last week to confirm everything. I'm terribly excited about the pictures, and I think that she has a very good idea of what we want for the wedding. Also, I arranged for a photo shoot with our good friend Pixie, who is going to be shooting a belly dance convention in Austin two months after the wedding. It will sort of be a reverse engagement shoot. She did an amazing photo shoot of us three years ago, so I know it'll be awesome.
So this is what guests see when they first walk into the gate. My mom painted the goat purple just for the wedding. I love my mom. About six weeks ago, all of the roses were viciously attacked by a beaver, and we were convinced they had been killed. Turns out it was just a more rigorous pruning than we had anticipated, and the roses are looking great!
This is currently what the ceremony site looks like. I'm actually going to keep it pretty plain. I'm draping the sari fabric in the trees, but other than that, I'm letting nature take it's course. I'll pretty much walk a straight path directly to the trees. Chairs on the right, and blankets and people standing on the left. I want it as casual as possible.
This is more or less where the ceremony will take place. The foliage has come in beautifully on the trees. The sari fabric will hang from two of the branches sticking out. Will look lovely.
The ceremony is right next to a small pond. And beyond the pond is a bigger lake. One of the minor concerns is that one of the ceremony dogs will decide to jump in the pond. My wedding party (who are my siblings) are in charge of making sure that doesn't happen.
This is looking back at the house from the ceremony site. The tables for dinner will be set in the lawn on the other side of the road.
A wedding party member posing on the dock. He is not likely to jump in. However, the dog of honor/ring bearer/best dog walked right on in when we were walking around. Of course, she hunted down algae to make her smell particularly ripe. I commented that she'll probably try to do it while she has the rings on her collar.
This is the house from the opposite side of the ceremony site. We'll throw blankets on the lawn and set up a croquet set and bocce balls. The after ceremony reception will take place here. Two months ago, a tornado came through and ripped out a big tree, but the house wasn't damaged at all.
Two members of the wedding party testing the hammock. The little one on top is the one that reeked of pond. She redeems herself by being cute, but she'll be under tight orders that the pond is a no-go spot from now until after the wedding. She'll not be happy about that instruction.
Of course, I forgot to take pictures of all of the gardens, but it looks like every flower under the sun is slated to be blooming by the time the wedding rolls around. I chose to make all the paper flowers for the tables so we didn't have to pick any from the gardens. But there will be thousands of flowers in the gardens. The iris is blooming. My favorite rose (white meidiland) is about to take off. Most of the other roses are cocked and ready to go. The penstemons are blooming. Peach, plumb, pear and citrus trees have blossoms. There are hundreds of thousands of wildflowers in full bloom all over the place. Even the mesquites are covered with pretty flowers.
My list of things to do is still pretty long, but it's not overwhelming, and the closer I get to the wedding the more help I'll have. I'm almost to the point of this thing having its own momentum.
Right now, the weekend of the wedding is slated to be slightly cooler than it was this weekend. If that happens, I'll be overjoyed. It was lovely this weekend, though a little warm.
I'm getting really excited!!
Almost all of my DIY projects are done. I have:
- Folded 1130 pieces of origami paper to make 226 Kusudama flowers and arranged them into 38 clusters
- Made well over 700 paper roses
- Made about 200 feather sprays
- Made two light boxes and two signs
- Cut six saris into 30 squares to cover tables
- Wired dozens of brooches for my brooch bouquet (which can't be finished until the day before because I am putting real flowers in it too).
- Made about 20 paper pompoms.
- Sewn three saris together to make the arch that I'm going to be married under.
- Made 53 yards of banners
In addition, my dad has grown about 60 flowering plants in little aluminum pots to put on each table. My mom has done tons and tons of gardening. I have weeded and mulched and pruned. My mom has also totally redone a house on the property, including rehabbing old furniture and gardening.
This weekend, my mom and I moved furniture, spent time in the garden, and came up with the final list of things we need to do before the wedding. Between now and then, I think there is only three days that people won't be up there getting ready. My parents are going up for Easter on Thursday, and my mom will stay until after the wedding. I'm driving up on Friday, coming back on Sunday, and then going back on Wednesday. Graham is going up tomorrow with the drinks and the lighting.
I also started stressing about the weather. There are 15 day forecasts available on Accuweather. On Saturday, it said it'd rain a little on my wedding day. On Sunday, it said clouds but cool. Today it says sunny. I'm hoping the progression is towards what will happen instead of just a hodgepodge of weather predictions. If today's forecast turns out to be the true one, I'll be very happy indeed. We could move things inside if we absolutely had to, but it'd be so much better to be outside.
My photographer is my cousin, and she called last week to confirm everything. I'm terribly excited about the pictures, and I think that she has a very good idea of what we want for the wedding. Also, I arranged for a photo shoot with our good friend Pixie, who is going to be shooting a belly dance convention in Austin two months after the wedding. It will sort of be a reverse engagement shoot. She did an amazing photo shoot of us three years ago, so I know it'll be awesome.
So this is what guests see when they first walk into the gate. My mom painted the goat purple just for the wedding. I love my mom. About six weeks ago, all of the roses were viciously attacked by a beaver, and we were convinced they had been killed. Turns out it was just a more rigorous pruning than we had anticipated, and the roses are looking great!
This is currently what the ceremony site looks like. I'm actually going to keep it pretty plain. I'm draping the sari fabric in the trees, but other than that, I'm letting nature take it's course. I'll pretty much walk a straight path directly to the trees. Chairs on the right, and blankets and people standing on the left. I want it as casual as possible.
This is more or less where the ceremony will take place. The foliage has come in beautifully on the trees. The sari fabric will hang from two of the branches sticking out. Will look lovely.
The ceremony is right next to a small pond. And beyond the pond is a bigger lake. One of the minor concerns is that one of the ceremony dogs will decide to jump in the pond. My wedding party (who are my siblings) are in charge of making sure that doesn't happen.
This is looking back at the house from the ceremony site. The tables for dinner will be set in the lawn on the other side of the road.
A wedding party member posing on the dock. He is not likely to jump in. However, the dog of honor/ring bearer/best dog walked right on in when we were walking around. Of course, she hunted down algae to make her smell particularly ripe. I commented that she'll probably try to do it while she has the rings on her collar.
This is the house from the opposite side of the ceremony site. We'll throw blankets on the lawn and set up a croquet set and bocce balls. The after ceremony reception will take place here. Two months ago, a tornado came through and ripped out a big tree, but the house wasn't damaged at all.
Two members of the wedding party testing the hammock. The little one on top is the one that reeked of pond. She redeems herself by being cute, but she'll be under tight orders that the pond is a no-go spot from now until after the wedding. She'll not be happy about that instruction.
Of course, I forgot to take pictures of all of the gardens, but it looks like every flower under the sun is slated to be blooming by the time the wedding rolls around. I chose to make all the paper flowers for the tables so we didn't have to pick any from the gardens. But there will be thousands of flowers in the gardens. The iris is blooming. My favorite rose (white meidiland) is about to take off. Most of the other roses are cocked and ready to go. The penstemons are blooming. Peach, plumb, pear and citrus trees have blossoms. There are hundreds of thousands of wildflowers in full bloom all over the place. Even the mesquites are covered with pretty flowers.
My list of things to do is still pretty long, but it's not overwhelming, and the closer I get to the wedding the more help I'll have. I'm almost to the point of this thing having its own momentum.
Right now, the weekend of the wedding is slated to be slightly cooler than it was this weekend. If that happens, I'll be overjoyed. It was lovely this weekend, though a little warm.
I'm getting really excited!!