With all of us assembled, the logistics and festivities began. On Thursday, Sara and I did hours and hours of shopping for last minute things. Ingredients for her festive dessert at the luncheon, groceries for the rental house, cake plates for the festive desserts, vases in case we needed them at the luncheon, some fabrics and things to make a couple of last-minute alterations to her dress, etcetera. We also got our nails done (and totally randomly saw a dear friend from Maryland at the same nail shop--seriously, what are the chances??) No pictures of that day that I can find, but it was really fun to get to spend that time with Sara. There was little stress because the plans were simple and everything was pretty much done. We were relaxed and enjoying the talking through of ideas rather than feeling anxious or cranky. We laughed about our solution to fixing up her dress, went back and forth to the local Wal-mart approximately 17 times in one day, and just had fun.
I'm really grateful for that, because she's my only daughter, and I want her wedding to be a memory surrounded forever in my mind with golden light and sparkles and rainbows, no dark clouds, and I think it will be.
Friday, I left on my own in the morning to head up Provo Canyon to Heber City to pick up the flowers. There was a fun connection in how we found the floral designer. She's the sister-in-law of our next door neighbor! I loved that we didn't have to start from scratch to find wonderful helpers for this out-of-town wedding.
Anyway, the flowers were glorious. Again, Sara's plans were simple, so all I picked up were a bouquet, a boutonniere, some extra flowers for her hair, and some table decorations. All hydrangeas and delicate fillers in white and blue and green--so lovely.
While I was picking up flowers, the mood was so relaxed that the bride and groom waited until that morning to get their marriage license (I wasn't stressed at all...) and went to a shooting range with Eric and the brothers for the morning. Then came the big meeting.
Andy's family came over for a casual lunch at our rental house and it was so good to meet them! We enjoyed getting to know them a bit and breaking the ice before the big day.
The afternoon was spent at the Payson Temple with Sara and Andy for their formal photo session. The connection to the the photographer was another bit of magic. I had met her by chance a year and a half ago, and I had followed her on Instagram. I was so excited she was available to photograph Sara and Andy. Here you can see her pro photos.
That evening was making lime pies and more shopping, and getting things over to the restaurant for the reception. I can't say enough about how easy La Jolla Groves made it for us. The staff was friendly, they never acted like we'd asked a stupid question, and they stored all our things for the night.
It was such a small, sweet thing for me to load stuff into my dad's car, drive over to the restaurant with my son, work together to get everything done, and then head back knowing I'd see the other members of my family staying with us at the house. It was a good decision to have the wedding in Utah so that so many of the family could be with us.
Here are some photos. :)
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| Flying down Spanish Fork Canyon. I always want to know the names of these features in the Wasatch. |
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| Back in the city of my birth, Salt Lake. |
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| The scene at the rental house. 4 of my 5 kids in one place!! Dreamy! |
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| All the shopping with Sara. We thought about buying this lifesized stormtrooper balloon to stand in for Evan in the photos. |
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| Tender reunions with special friends. |
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| My first view of the bouquet. |
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| Sara and Andy having fun while being photographed by the Amazing Rachel. |
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| Magic. |
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| And more magic. |
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| It's such a beautiful temple! |
so lovely!! I love that you got to have relaxing golden memory making times. (Re flying over the mountains: me too! ...so many peaks to know and find, I marvel at early surveyers' ability to map and measure without airplanes!)
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