Wedding #2: Olivia and Brian

The time between the two weddings just flew by! I spent a good deal of that time washing and carefully folding and hanging many, many white tablecloths. (I bought them so I could use them for both weddings.) After Julie and Big Sam's honeymoon trip, they stayed with us until Olivia and Brian's wedding. This past summer, when all my children were at home, were some of the very best times of my life!

Olivia's wedding took place at First Baptist Church in Corinth, Mississippi. We hosted the reception there too. It is a beautiful building, and my florist and The Wedding Planners (aka Lynn and Leanna) did an absolutely fabulous job of decorating!

 Joy, Brian's mother, helping him get ready

 the handsome groom

 the men having fun!

 sweet Tracy, styling Olivia's hair. 

Tracy used to babysit Olivia....now she is all grown up, married, and has four children of her own.

 I guess I am fluffing the dress?

 pinning on the veil.

 the beautiful (inside and out) bride

 precious!

 so pretty!

 Sisters!

 Olivia with her sister, Julie

 Olivia with her other sister, Leah

 the pretty bridesmaids.

I love the pink!

the handsome groomsmen

 our family before the wedding

 Olivia with Mims and Pops

 These sweet flowers girls are twins! They are Brian's nieces.

 Everything was so pretty.

 The Wedding Planners making one more final adjustment before the big moment!

 All married now!

 This is my parents' family--all their children and grandchildren.

 Mims and Pops with the bride and groom

 My grandmother, Momo, with Olivia and Brian

 Our whole family with Grandmomma, Jimmy's mother.

 Brian's entire family--his parents, his siblings (standing), and all his siblings' children (seated)

 Tom and Joy with Olivia and Brian

 the happy couple

the entire wedding party

 This is one of my favorite pictures.

 The food display turned out to be so pretty! I had the same caterer for both weddings, and she did an amazing job!

 Elle made Olivia's wedding cake too, and it was delicious!

 Tom, Brian's father, made cheesecake for the groom's table. His cheesecake is delicious too!

 Olivia requested to be showered with fresh rose petals as she and Brian made their getaway.

And they're off!

And I survived.....barely!

Wedding #1: Julie and Sam

I just realized today that I NEVER BLOGGED ABOUT THE WEDDINGS. 

It was such a busy and somewhat stressful summer, and then I took a trip to Seaside, and then I quickly got ready for another homeschool year, and then we took Clay to college 12 hours away in Florida, and then cross country season, and then and then a trip to Utah, and then on and on, and you know I have been such a terrible blogger.

So. Here is a recap of Wedding #1:  Julie and Sam (Remember, Wedding #2:  Olivia and Brian was 7 weeks later.)

Julie's wedding was held a a venue called Blue August in Baldwyn, Mississippi. We rented it for the weekend and had the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding, and wedding reception all in the same room! The picture below is from the rehearsal dinner. We used the same arrangements plus more for the wedding reception tables. 

We set up 200 or so chairs for the wedding ceremony, and then we had to flip the space for the reception. How that was done (and the master minds behind it--Lynn and Leanna) is a story for another blog post! 

 rehearsal dinner

Honestly, the wedding day is a blur. Julie and Big Sam began their day (along with Jimmy, Big Sam's father and brother and a couple of other groomsmen) by running a 5K race!  I just tried not to think about it! 

My sweet sisters-in-law, Mary Margaret, Amanda, and Megan hosted a beautiful bridesmaids' breakfast in Mary Margaret's home. The groomsmen enjoyed their breakfast hosted by two of my dear friends, Karen and Sheila.

Following the race and the breakfasts, we all met at Blue August to begin dressing and preparing for pictures. 

 I was overcome for a moment.

 sweet Julie getting ready

 Olivia helping her with her veil

A side note. I can't remember if I shared this or not, but Julie, with lots of help from my mother, Mims, lovingly made her wedding dress and veil. She trimmed both the dress and veil with lace that she painstakingly removed from my wedding dress.

 Sweet Big Sam 

 Sweet Sisters!

Another side note:  Jimmy lovingly spent hours building the wooden arch! And Lynn and Leanna spent at least an hour (or more!) draping the fabric perfectly!

 Julie with her bridesmaids

 Sam with his groomsmen

 the entire wedding party

 Brian and Olivia, Julie and Big Sam

 the children

 precious!

 the bride and groom with Jimmy, me, and my parents, Mims and Pops

 Julie with my grandmother, Momo

 Sam's parents, Dan and Tami

 Paul, Dan, Tami, Julie, Big Sam, and Abe

 All the Peters--Paul and Alayna, Dan and Tami, Julie and Big Sam, Grace and Abe

 Sam with his brothers

 So Sweet!

the big moment! 

The wedding cakes were made by Julie's friend, Elle. They tasted absolutely delicious! I ate leftover wedding cake for breakfast for several day after the wedding. I may or may not have hidden the leftovers from the rest of my family!

 A happy bride and groom on their way to begin their new life together!

The saying on the napkins pretty much sums it all up!

Friday

We are taking a Spring Break beginning now!  I am leaving in just a few minutes to pick up Clay and his college roommate from the airport. We are all so excited for the week that lies ahead--even Jimmy is off work the whole week. I have several things planned for the week including our Family Bible Study tomorrow night (so I will need to clean house tomorrow!), Teen Bible Study next Friday, vet appointments for all five dogs (Clay and Bret will be taking them for me), Jimmy an eye doctor appointment, plus I also have a few deep cleaning/purging/organizing tasks for myself. Plus I am still sewing curtains for our tiny pop-up camper (which I began last March and stopped for many, many months because:  weddings.) I also want to visit our local fabric store to get some fabric samples for Julie's baby nursery! She, Leah, and hopefully Olivia, and I plan to sew some bedding and various decorative items for her nursery. So much fun! I want her to have the fabric and plans chosen before she arrives on July 11 so we can hit the ground running with baby preparations! She will have only 8 weeks until her due date when she gets home to Mississippi.

A running update: Ever since my last blog post I have been consistent in my running and attending CrossFit classes. It's true that a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Once I got into the groove of running 5-6 days a week and attending CrossFit twice a week, it has been easier to keep it up. When I finish my miles tomorrow morning (just 3 left), I will have completed the weekly running plan I made for myself for 4 weeks in a row. I am pleased. I have also managed to stay injury-free in CrossFit. That is mainly because of my wonderful coach, MC, who modifies most every workout to accommodate  my shoulder challenges. I appreciate her so much. And I love my classmates (5 ladies from my local church)! They make exercising fun--well, almost fun....at least they are encouraging and a fun distraction from the grueling workouts!

I hope you are enjoying your March. The month of March always seems like a good time to do spring cleaning, both inside and outside the house.