Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Baker Wedding, from Mock-Ups to Execution

It has been a while since the event, but I’m finally posting about the Baker wedding in June  I finally got the photos somewhat organized in order to post about it and include the photos.  Before the wedding, the bridal party got together in Billings…to look for dresses of course.  When we got together, I also did a few mock-ups for the centerpieces so the bride could make a final decision and items could be ordered.

She was trying to decide between square and round vases.  She was also trying to decide if she wanted to use the white linens and add a table runner, or if she wanted to rent blue linens.  She had decided on white flowers and lemons so I put together a few options.  Of course some imagination was required.


After she decided on the type of vases, votive holders, and table cloths, she had to decide on the type of flowers.  She knew she wanted white hydrangeas and yellow roses to match her bouquet and other flowers throughout her wedding.  She wasn’t positive on how she wanted them arranged or what else she wanted with them.  The bride had come up with some flowers she liked, so I went to the local florist to pick up the flowers and put some arrangements together for her to choose from.  Someone else had accidently sold the yellow roses I had put on hold while I waiting for the hydrangeas to come in, so she once again had to use her imagination.  Here are just a few examples of the options I gave her.
This one had 2 hydrangeas in the center, roses around the edge, and spider mums on the bottom.

This one had the roses in the center
She made her flower decision and all that was left was the set up.  We started with the paper lanterns so we could use the ladder and not worry about the tables being in the way.  Her venue had the twinkle lights up already, so it was fairly easy to line up the lanterns and center them with the point the lights came together.  She didn’t want a set pattern or anything, but just didn’t want the same color next to each other.  We laid them all out on the floor first to get an idea.  After having them laid out, we adjusted were adjusting was needed then hung them up.  Before we moved the tables in, we turned out the main lights and turned on the twinkle lights to make sure the bride was happy with the effect.

We put together the centerpieces in a cool room where we were keeping the flowers.  We arranged the flowers and wired the stems together in order to put them in the vases with lemons hiding them.  We found it easier to put the lemons in the vase, and then put the arrangement in.  She had decided on white linen with the blue table runner.  Ribbon accents were put around the vases and votive holders to more color and their monogram.

The bride and groom’s monogram was hung behind the head table with lights and tulle.  This helped bring more focus to the head table and make it the center of attention.  The decorations on the head table were slightly different, which also helped the head table get a little more attention.  Tulle and twinkle lights were hung behind the cake as well.  The bride’s dad built a Plexiglas stand for her cake, allowing her to fill it with lemons and pull the centerpiece design throughout the wedding décor.

At the church, tall vases were filled with lemons and the extra flowers were arranged in these vases.  She had received lanterns from party lite and added ribbon, and then placed them going down the aisle.  The tall vase arrangements varied slightly from the reception space because they were skinnier vases.  This made it so some lemons were cut in order to fit in the vase and hide the stems.  A few vases were left without lemons, using yellow roses only and having their stems go all the way to the bottom of the vase.


The wedding was beautiful and turned out fantastically.  It was the first wedding in which I helped coordinate as well as being in the wedding.  It was a little tough but with great support and lots of help, it went very well.  The bride was beautiful and I’m so glad I was able to be a part of her and her new hubby’s big day.

Summer Activities

Holy cow has time gone by.  I didn’t realize how long it had been since I posted any blogs.  I’ve been busy with Isaac, visiting family before winter, and overall just being exhausted.  Baby Yost #2 is expected in December, which means I said no more traveling after my Prosser trip in September.  Since that was the case, it seemed like we didn’t stay off the road long until then.  Both Eli and I decided that we needed to visit family once last time before we stopped traveling.

After building Isaac his sandbox, we got him a kiddie pool as well.  It was hot out and he is a fish! If there is water around, he will find it.  Needless to say, we started spending lots more time outside.  I ended up convincing Eli that I needed a lawn chair and small table to make things easier for me.  The benches on the sandbox are nice, but being pregnant I couldn’t sit that low for long and I needed the option of sitting in the shade for a bit.  It made things easier on me and allowed Isaac to stay outside longer, which he loved.

August brought more heat and more trips.  We headed to Bozeman in order to go on a hike.  It had taken a while, but we finally were able to find a weekend that worked and would be easy for family to get together and hike up to Cottonwood Lake.  The trip was fueled by the desire and need to spread ashes.  In total it was an 11 mile hike.  Eli and I had packed a camelback that way when he was hauling Isaac, I could carry the pack…lucky for me my sister and brother-in-law had the same idea.  They are big hikers (amongst lots of other outdoor activities) and they packed one backpack between them as well.  They did this because my brother-in-law had the intention of hauling Isaac for the entire trip (he weighed about 23 pounds on his own).

In all, this meant that I didn’t have to carry anything!! Yay for me!! We took various breaks on the way up; it was a rough hike due to how steep some areas were.  With a growing belly, my center of balance was off a little and some of the steps I had to take were a little bigger than my tummy wanted to allow.  When we got to the top, wouldn’t you know it, Isaac found water.  He had fun playing in it and, after falling in the mud, having to have his arms and legs dipped in the lake so we could rinse him off.

September brought a trip to Eureka and the lake there.  We met up with family and friends, who had a boat.  Isaac has been on a boat once before, but he wasn’t even a year old and it was windy so we had to be wrapped up a bit.  This time he got to wear a life vest and even got to sit by himself.  He had fun playing in the lake and even took a nap after getting a boat ride to pick others up.

End of September brought our final trip.  We found out that Eli’s sister and her husband were going to be moving to Indiana in the new year.  This meant that Isaac and I would be making the trip to Prosser on our own.  Eli’s sister had invited him to an event the same weekend we had planned to head to Prosser.  It wasn’t an event that was Isaac friendly, nor one that I would really enjoy with it being not the best for Isaac.  Eli and I decided that Isaac and I would stick to the plan of going to Prosser and it was more important for him to spend the time with his sister, especially since my parents were planning on coming for Thanksgiving.
We got to meet my parents’ new puppies, Rascal and Tobey.  Isaac hasn’t been all that sure about dogs so far, but he warmed up to them.  He enjoyed attempting to play fetch (the dogs haven’t quite gotten the hang of it yet), liked laying in their bed, and thought it was hilarious when they licked his tummy.  By the time we got home, he was missing the playmates. 
 

In Prosser, it was Balloon Rally Weekend.  Isaac got to see a hot air balloon being blown up at the elementary school.  He also got to spend time with my mom’s Kindergarten class and got to take school pictures.  Unfortunately the weather wouldn’t allow the balloons to go up over the weekend, so he wasn’t able to see all the balloons in the air, but had fun just the same. 

That wraps up our end of summer activities, especially since it has been getting pretty chilly here.  As I get further into the pregnancy, I lose more sleep out of just being uncomfortable and can’t run around with Isaac as much.  He’s been adapting pretty well by playing on his own or coming up with games I can play with him (cars, his tunnel, or even Legos) if I need to lay down to take pressure off my back.  Now we just have to wait for Halloween to see how he does trick or treating.