Wed Recap: Time to eat!!!

UGH!  I never got around to writing out this whole post...so you might have read the ramblings of my notes.  This just goes to show the madness of life.  I'll try to edit it up a bit in a hurry as I am supposed to be working right now :)

We ran out of the mini cheese chicken quesadillas...John was upset about that and the fact that the lemonade pitcher was empty when he came out to the cocktail area.  But caterer handled it immediately.

Caterer was sick and left early :(  But his staff did a great job of keeping things cleaned up for the most part.

Food was okay...seemed like guests were eating it.  The chicken didn't get the rave reviews we thought it would and John and I thought it didn't taste nearly as good as it did at the tasting.  He thought the tri-tip was not cooked enough but one of my friends said her fiance loves it rare and thought it was great.  One of our friends told us the roasted garlic mashed potatoes were like 'crack' and that he had gone back for 3 or 4 servings.

Salad and veggies were good but hard to screw that up. 

Appetizers seemed well enough...simple - fruit, cheese, crackers and then quesadillas.  Substituted the stuffed mushrooms for little teryaki chicken drumettes at our caterers request because there were no ovens.  John wasn't happy about that and didn't think they were as good but other friends said they were really good.

Seemed like people had cleaned their plates, including my boss who is hard to impress :)

We had water pitchers on each table that we asked them to infuse with either cucumbers, lemons, or strawberries.  Some people loved this, others said it was not that good. 

They only cut up the bottom layer of the cake so the other three layers that had different flavors weren't even set out!  Thankfully, we ate the lemon layer the next day at our day after lunch with family.

Overall, the food was definitely not bad, but definitely not great either.  We knew that food was *NOT* a priority for us as long as it tasted good.  It must have been okay for most of the guests because a few people even commented on the good food on their guest book pages. 

Wed Recap: Surprise! For the groom and the guests

I really wanted our wedding to be full of surprises for our guests and especially my groom - as much as he would let me surprise him.  :)  I wanted the guests to feel like they were at a sentimental and emotional wedding but also a really fun and entertaining one unlike your typical 'processed' weddings where it's the same expected thing after the same expected thing.

Some of the ways I tried to infuse this uniqueness and creative surprises were with little extra elements that didn't cost much at all and yet added something fun or different to the event.  So here they are:

I'm going to start off with the video today because believe me, you just have to see this first little surprise for my groom *LIVE* :)  Then after you can read about each thing and see the pics :)

1)  Of course, you all know about the one main thing I did at our ceremony that truly set our processional apart from anything else the guests had seen.  I incorporated a spoof of the E! THS as a video to precede my walk down the aisle.  I loved playing it at the ceremony instead of the reception as most montages are now played because it kept the guests all looking in the same place and gave them something to laugh at during what is typically a traditional and sometimes mundane part of the wedding celebration. 

2)  There was a great surprise for Mr Fix It during the processional as well.  I have eluded to the $14 sign I had created in our wedding colors from VistaPrint.com in the past.  Well, I saw a version of this idea on a blog while browsing for parasols for my bridesmaids and just had to do it!  We had our eldest ring bearer carry this fabulous little sign down the aisle.

By Robert Mullins

By Jeff Ezell

By Kristin Jepson

Unfortunately, the two ring bearers in front of him didn't walk quite as fast so he ended up getting real close to them to where it took a minute for Mr Fix It to truly be able to see what the sign said.  But once he and all the other guests got a glimpse of it, they had some great laughs as seen in these photos:

By Robert Mullins

Check out Mr Fix It's face when he sees the sign his nephew is carrying:

Photo courtesy Janet Campbell

I love all the guests laughing in this one :)

By Tanya Beever

By Robert Mullins

3)  For our recessional, I loved the photos I have seen of guests tossing flower petals at the bride and groom.  The shots are just gorgeous.  But I really wanted *ALL* of our guests to get in on the action and so when I saw this idea of 'ribbon wands' on another web site, I just had to incorporate it.  It was sort of inexpensive to make the wands.  I think it was $70 for about 100 of them.  I made one for every other guest and we placed them on the chairs at the ceremony.  Here you can see the guests holding them and playing with them pre-ceremony.

By Robert Mullins

By Robert Mullins

This little one was so in love with them that she collected a bunch during the cocktail hour and made them into pom poms :)  (By Kathleen Wolsfeld)

I was kind of bummed about how this was executed.  I wish I would have made enough for every single guest to have one.  And I should have actually attached a little tag on them letting them know when and how they should wave them because most of the guests either didn't wave them very high or out the aisle at us or they only waived them for a brief moment.  Therefore, we didn't get the great shot I was anticipating of us kissing at the end of the aisle with all these little ribbons flying over the guests heads :(  This was a fail type of idea...but had I done it better (listed it in the program or used tags), I think the guests would have gotten into it more.  Instead, here are the shots we got of a few of them waving around (as you can see, the video footage looked way better than these photos):

By Robert Mullins

By Roseanne Rivoli

 

By Robert Mullins

At least somebody had fun with them :)  Mr Fix It's little niece

By Robert Mullins

4)  And my favorite surprise for Mr Fix It and the guests at the reception was definitely the chocolate fountain.  When we first contacted our caterer, he let us know that they included a chocolate fountain with dippers like strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, pretzels, etc during your reception after dinner.  Well of course, I was not happy with just your typical chocolate fountain.  So I found a site online called http://fondue4you.com/   This place lets you buy different colored chocolate for your fountains.  And they had a wonderful Tiffany Blue color to match our wedding colors!

I mentioned to our caterer that I found the site and asked him to check and see if the cost of their chocolate was comparable to what he normally paid.  He said he would handle it no problem and didn't end up charging us anything extra.  Steve from La Finestra catering was very accommodating throughout the process and we loved working with him.  And look at all he put out (there's actually a lot more on the other side of the fountain)

Though when Mr Fix It heard me confirm the 'blue chocolate' order, he flipped out!  He was pissed that I had yet another 'stupid little detail' that was probably extra money and thought I was going way over on the wedding details.  Plus he kept insisting that colored chocolate was going to taste *horrible*!  Well, come wedding day when that chocolate fountain was all set up, he was eating his words...and the chocolate!  It was the most yummy-licious freaking chocolate I have ever tried before!  I didn't notice it was set up until the very end of the night and as soon as I made my way over there I was all over that thing...as were all the guests.  They raved about it!  I highly encourage you to order this stuff...soooo good!

Photos by Robert Mullins

We made sure all the guests knew about it by including it on the little place card notes we tucked into each guests' napkins.  We also had our DJ announce it after our first dance to let everyone know to go check it out.  It was set up right on the other side of the fire place in the alcove just off the dance floor so lots of people made there way over there.

All in all, these little extra details which didn't really cost much extra truly gave our guests some memorable things to be entertained by that they didn't see at just every other wedding.  Oh, and of course there were the other things like the magician, photobooth, and flip flops that they loved as well.  Lots of fun surprises.

Share time:  Do you plan on having any little surprises for your groom or guests on your wedding day?

Where do I start?

I have so much I want to tell all of you, but I don't know where to start...good and bad.  So much has happened yesterday...I am elated and devastated all in one.  I am giddy with anticipation and fearful of the unknown heartbreak that probably lies just ahead.  Where do I start?  There's much going on.

Here is my guy:

He's a tough guy...can you tell?  :)  He's as manly as manly can be.  And in the six years I've known him, he has never once shed a tear.  I always thought, "I will never see him cry ever...except for either on our wedding day (which I doubt) or on the day that his dog dies."

Well, here is our dog (it's actually his dog he has had since he was a puppy 11 years ago but after a six year relationship he is now definitely 'our' dog!):

(sorry for the horribly blurry and ugly picture)

He is the most amazing dog you'll ever find.  He is a full bred pitbull though he doesn't look like it and the smartest most loving most friendly most 'human' dog you will ever come across.  Those ears - we call him Scooby Doo sometimes.  The dog MAKES you love him...I am not a dog person and he is now like my child just like he has been for Mr Fix It all these years.  He is well trained and protects us at all costs.  He has helped Mr Fix It through some really hard times in his life.  And we just found out he has an enlarged heart.  He started having trouble breathing a couple weeks ago so Mr Fix It took him into the vet.  They ran some tests and said he has an irregular heartbeat and enlarged heart. 

Mr Fix It brought him home and brought him by my work yesterday.  He was fine, walking around, acting normal and letting me love on him.  And then, last night at midnight, Mr Fix It calls me.  And he's crying like a baby.  Mind you, I have *NEVER* seen Mr Fix It cry - EVER!

Come to find out, Kuta (he's named after a beach in Indonesia that Mr Fix It likes to surf at and is taking me to on our honeymoon) is really having a hard time breathing.  And he's almost lethargic.  And Mr Fix It is just absolutely certain that he is going to die this night and he is devastated and depressed and crying because there's nothing he can do for our puppy.

I try to calm him down, I pray for him, I just listen and fight back the tears myself.  We finally hang up.  I call in the morning and Kuta is doing better but still not himself.  Mr Fix It took him back to the vet, he called me on the way there once again in tears asking me if I am going to come see him if he has to make the decision to end any suffering for him.  I tell him to call me of course. 

But in the midst of this horrible circumstance, I am meeting with our caterer and coordinator at our venue in the morning.  We've had it booked for months and we need to have this meeting.  What do I do?  Mr Fix It calls and says the vet gave Kuta some medication to assist with his breathing and said to leave him for the day.  The vet said he could have a heart attack at any moment.  UGH!  But does that mean the medication will help and maybe he'll live many more years?  Or will he die any day now of this heart condition and Mr Fix It will be totally depressed in these last months leading up to our wedding?

I have been dreaming of when my daughter and I get to move in with Mr Fix It and Kuta and be a family with our dog...we often talk about how much Kuta loves me and my daughter and how excited he is going to be to have us there all the time.  This just cannot be happening...not now.  Not when Mr Fix It just had his work van break down last weekend and found out it's going to cost $5,000 to replace.  Not when he is already struggling to bring in an income right now because his business is not busy at all.  Not when he is stressed trying to plan and pay for our honeymoon in 3 months.  Why is this happening now?

So I try to shake off the tears and go through my three hour meeting with my caterer and coordinator talking all things wedding and plans and what not.  It took my mind off of things for a little while and I was feeling bad for feeling excited and laughing and dreaming about how to bring all our wedding plans to fruition.  And then I left the meeting, excited about the plans and depressed about how to deal with Mr Fix It and the unknown about our dog.

I had to cancel our first dance lesson for last night as Mr Fix It is in no mood to deal with anything...he is crying almost every few minutes.  And so am I.  I want to share about my meeting, but I need to be with my honey and our puppy.

Please be praying for God's provision both financially, emotionally and physically that we would be able to have health and ability to take care of both ourselves, our puppy and our daily work and stresses.  Yesterday was so great in my meeting but the sadness of what we're going through and seeing Mr Fix It so upset is just so so sucky.  So basically, yesterday mostly sucked - Seriously.