Wedding Details....

I can't believe it's been almost 2 whole months since Daughter's wedding. So much preparation leading up to it... and now it's over (along with almost the whole entire summer! I don't know how that happened.) We recently got the CD from the photographer (it took awhile, because it got lost in the mail.)

The worst- and best- thing about planning a wedding is all of the little details need attention. Sometimes those little details just become pesky and annoying (Is there really a difference between the ivory and the buff table linens?) But then there are the details that make the day really special.

Take for example, the groom's tie. My daughter bought this to coordinate with the groomsmen's ties- and then as a surprise, hand embroidered the back of the tie and surprised Jeff with it the day of the wedding. I am sure he will cherish it always, even when pink striped ties go out of style.... (This was my favorite detail of the wedding, even though most of the guests never saw it.)

My second favorite detail was the ring bearer's pillow. We wanted to do something a little different and we were looking online for some ideas. We saw a pillow made from an old handkerchief, and I remembered that I had a drawer full of hand embroidered linens that my grandmother made almost 70 years ago. My grandfather was in the Navy, and when they were courting my grandmother would sit in the evenings and do embroidery while waiting for him to come and visit, and to while away the hours when he was away.

I didn't want to cut up such precious family keepsakes, so we chose a table runner and wrapped it around a pillow form. (Just like wrapping a present). I used very large basting stitches on the bottom, and used a few stitches to tack a piece of grosgrain ribbon to the top to hold the rings (not the real rings- just fake ones from the craft store. The Best Man had the real rings in his pocket.)

After the wedding I was able to take out the basting stitches and the table runner was good as new (or good-as-old, actually). It was the perfect "Something Borrowed." Below is a photo of all 4 generations of the women in our family- my daughter, me, my mother, and my grandmother who embroidered the linens all those years ago.

For gifts for the Bridesmaids, my daughter found necklaces from an Etsy shop all the way in Greece.

We made the table numbers. My husband cut pieces of old wood from the fence around our house, then Youngest Daughter (aka Maid of Honor) hand painted the numbers. The rustic look was exactly what we were looking for for the table settings and venue.

More wedding details to come.... stay tuned....

And don't forget you have until Midnight EDT tonight to enter the Christmas in July giveaway here. Good luck.