Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Ashley's Wedding, iphone pics

Being mother-of-the-bride is tough business any way but man, oh man, having to have my hands free and not have my camera was tough on me.  My Nikon is too big to tote around at times like these!!!  All I had was my iphone so I'm sharing a couple of the pre-wedding photos with the bridesmaids.

Ashley chose Nick, http://www.nickcharrow.com/ as her photographer.  He is young and likes to use brick walls and commercial structures in his shoots.  Next door to the Embassy Suites where the girls got ready was the Brea Cultural Center and he thought it was ideal for some pictures.  He had us walk there, which caused for quite a bit of honking from street traffic but that made it fun.  I only snapped a few and these are the best of them.  They're going to have to hold me over until we get the 'real deal' from Nick.

I can't wait to see the pictures if this is what things look like with my older iphone.  I love Ashley's dress in this picture.  Everyone looks so pretty!


This was a kind of a huddle shot.  :o)


And I love this one.  It looks nice and even with four girls on each side but David's sister is missing.  She was a "Groomsmaid" and took most of her pictures with the guys and their parents.  We left soon after this shot to do the gazebo flowers.  There were more taken of the "First Look" and the entire bridal party.  Don't those orange flowers look amazing against that navy blue?  Love it!



Monday, November 14, 2011

Ashley's Wedding, first pics

I know I've been gone a loooong time but I was a little busy with final wedding plans, blog posts just had to wait.  But now, I have pictures from family and friends to share.  Yay!

Ashley's wedding was Saturday and we prayed we could have it outside at the beautiful gazebo but there was a storm coming down from Alaska due to hit Saturday early evening.  Wedding time, 4:00 p.m. (kind of early evening!!)  

The bride and groom to be really wanted to have their ceremony outside since that's why they picked this beautiful venue and all day there had not been a drop of rain so we decided to just go for it.  We barely made it!  In one of the pictures, you can see the raindrops on the collar of my dress.  :o)  During the cocktail/social hour, the rain came down pretty good but we were already inside at the reception celebrating.

First, here's a picture of the program that Kelley made.  She saw something online and put her creative juices to work.  It was adorable and though I'm her "biased" mother, I think it was cuter than the original she saw.  She listed the Bridesmaids and then "Sistermaids".  Our two girls and Dave has sister.  I thought that was cute!



This was the table by the entrance to the wedding area.  We had the bubble basket, the yarmulkes (hats for the Jewish ceremony) and the programs.


Instead of having a sign in book, Ashley wanted to do puzzle pieces.  She had seen this idea and found small 5x7" puzzles at the teacher supply store.  She loves to do puzzles and will glue them on cardboard and bind them in a little book.


This is a picture of the cutest little flower girl, Kylie, with our daughter Kelley (out of the shot) and Richard and Ashley in the background. 


Richard and Kelley bumping elbows before the walk down to the garden.  Actually, Ashley didn't know she was supposed to grab her daddy's arm.  Different generation, you know?  I think it's a cute picture.  :o)


Some of the bridal party waiting to walk........  There were nine bridesmaids and five groomsmen.


Kelley and Kylie........


Here's a shot of the threatening sky but it did make for gorgeous pictures.


All the bridesmaids in a row with cute little Kylie.  Kelley gave her a piece of candy after they walked down the aisle and under her mother's instructions, she was not to eat it until after the ceremony was over.  Kylie held onto that piece of candy with a death grip but she did not eat it until they walked back down the aisle.  So darned cute!  And I was told this is a "technique" that is used by mom quite often.  lol


My daughter Stephanie did the centerpieces and bouquets.  I'll post more inside pictures tomorrow.  I did the floral spray on the gazebo.  It was a little stressful as the ceremony was to start at 4:00 and we did photos prior to the ceremony and weren't done until a little after 3:00.  We were at another location so hubby and I flew over to the site so I could do the spray.  Since it was just wired together and no water source, the grower we bought flowers from suggested I wait until a few hours before the ceremony.  I think we cut that one a little close!!!  I did that spray in about fifteen minutes.  After that, I could finally relax and enjoy the festivities. 

This is the dessert table.  I got the banner idea from a Stampin' Up! website.  A demonstrator had used this term for her daughter's wedding.  I cut them out with my Cricut.  I borrowed some serving pieces from my boss and from Kelley.  I bought a few at Goodwill and the rest were in the cupboards at home.


I bought candy in bulk and baked Texas Sheet Cake, Magic Cookie Bars (Dave's favorites) and white cupcakes with orange frosting (on clearance from Target after Halloween).  We bought apple and pumpkin (Ashley's favorite) pies from Costco.  My friend and former co-worker, Becca, made the devils food cake pops, which were delicious.  She is Becca's Cupboard on facebook.


Kelley printed the names of the baked items and candy names and I cut them out with my Cricut.


Kelley painted the cake toppers (minus the cake lol) as her gift to her sister and new brother-in-law.  She even added the hair flower and made orange paper roses for the bouquet.  Dave and Ashley fed each other their favorite dessert for that portion of the reception. 

These photos are from the flower girls mom and my sister.  As I get more pictures of the family, I will share them too.