The Wedding

Well, it's over.  The guests have left, the bride and groom are at Disney,(she has already sent me pictures of Pluto's house) the lodge is cleaned, the leftovers dealt with, the trash cleared and my house, somewhat, back to normal.  I'm still in activity mode.  What do I do now?  Christmas?  I guess. 

I feel like I missed Thanksgiving.  Was that last week?  Oh, But I am so very thankful.  Thankful for the success of the wedding, thankful for all the great people who helped me, thankful for my amazing husband who was the perfect father of the bride well, after I threatened him, thankful for my new son-in-law that truly loves my daughter and us, thankful for my 3 new grandchildren that I love and love us, thankful for how Elizabeth was the greatest bridal attendant ever for her sister, thankful for Catherine's new sister-in-law who was by her side all morning of the wedding just doing whatever needed to be done, thankful for "that little Herndon girl" as my dad calls Melanie Hayes, and Judy Herndon who has done stuff like this all her life, thankful for Sheila who did whatever needed to be done whenever I wanted it done and sometimes before, thankful to Pastor Jeff who honored all of Catherine's requests, even the odd ones, and did an amazing job at the ceremony, thankful for the 5 "black apron" ladies (I made them cute black aprons to wear),  thankful for my parents who helped so much and were there the day after for cleaning detail, thankful for neighbors and friends who showed up Sunday morning to help out without even my asking.

The wedding was everything and so much more that I wanted for her.  OK, and me too.  I think Southern Living magazine should have been there to take pictures of the serving table at the reception.  Melanie Hayes is amazingly talented.  I just handed her what I wanted on the table and she had it beautiful in about 15 minutes.  I cried.  I couldn't take it down until last thing on Sunday.  Then there was the "canteen".  I had set it up for a coffee bar during the wedding and reception since we had to get the people out to set up.  It was beautiful.  I used vintage tablecloths from Mrs. Logan and my mom. Helen would have probably died at how I had them arranged, but I loved it.  My mom says that was what I was most proud of.  It was great.

Friday before the wedding was crazy.  I had been to the lodge everyday last week, even Thanksgiving, taking things.  I think I took 8 car loads before Friday.  I was up very late every night and stayed busy.One night I was so tired I walked into the laundry room and hit my head.  I wore a nice goose egg to the wedding but it was not noticed, thank goodness.  On Thanksgiving night, my cousin Sheila and I baked 216 cupcakes of various flavors.  The day before, I had baked a four layer wedding cake.  (It was actually six but the first 2 layers went in the trash;  they were not pretty and flat. I know I could have saved them, but .....)  Anyway, on Friday, Melanie, Judy, Sheila, mom, my sister, Lane and I were there allllllll day.  I made 6 very large broccoli casseroles, mom made a ton of marinated cole slaw, we cooked 23 very large eye of round roasts, and Melanie, Sheila, and I decorated all those cupcakes assembly line style.  At about lunch time, I about lost it.  I think I was just overwhelmed and tired.  I ate a pop tart and recovered.

After the rehearsal dinner, which was very nice,  and the rehearsal, which scared me, we all left.  Well, the bridesmaid and the bride and the groom and the groomsmen stayed for the night in the cottages on the grounds.  We left them with a blazing campfire.  I told them I had locked the lodge and for them to STAY OUT,(I didn't really lock the lodge.)  Well, that didn't work.  Kathlene Miller, the bridesmaid I had left in charge, called me Saturday morning around 7 asking for gator aid and goody powder and then mentioned that they may have gone into the lodge and cooked some of the rolls intended for the reception.  I told her that if I saw her even look at my rolls at the reception, I would hunt her down and yank it from her hands...:)  We had more than plenty. 

The day of the wedding, the "Black Apron" ladies and Sherri Ruffalo showed up and finished all the cooking and food prep.  Theat gave me such great peace of mind and the time to be with the girls and get ready.  It was great and even relaxing.  We had a blast.  The photographers followed us around and we had fun with that.  Everyone was beautiful.  All the dresses worked and hair was done and makeup perfected.  It was fantastic.
I think we ended up with about 180 or so guests AND we didn't run out of food.  That was one of my biggest fears.  That and falling in my red high heel shoes.  Yes, the mother of the bride wore red shoes and loved them. 

Catherine called us early on Sunday morning, around 7:00, to tell us again how much she loved us and appreciated all our hard work.  She was more than pleased and said it was everything she had ever dreamed of and so much more...whew..that was what we wanted for our baby girl.

All I can say is that everything was wonderful and perfect and couldn't have been any better.  But I do miss the lodge.  It had become my home away from home for the past 4 months.  Even when I wasn't there I was thinking about it and what I had to do and wanted to do. But, it is finished...it was a huge success..and I will always remember it as one of the best times of my life and I know Catherine will too.

And a very special thanks and more hugs to everyone who helped us and made it so wonderful..I love you all!!!!!