Some Photos from the Wedding

   Perhaps you heard the unfortunate rumor that both Handsome and I failed to charge our cameras before the much anticipated Saturday afternoon wedding. Is that the saddest thing you have heard all day? Sorry. But it's true. All I took is a couple of Instagram shots, and so far only two other candids have surfaced from our friends. Surely more are out there, right, you guys??? Umm, guys?

   Anyway, it's not all bad news. On Saturday we had our hands full anyway and probably would not have been very effective photographers. More importantly, our friend and a truly talented fine art photographer Luis Saenz came to the rescue. Here is a link to his incredible slideshow of Rebecca and Brian's wedding so you can browse the beauty yourself.

   If you're interested, you can also look at some of our Pinterest boards and see how the finished products measure up against the inspiration... Here is mine. Here is Rebecca's. And here is Susan's. Over the past few weeks we all used Pinterest to brainstorm, collect feedback on images and ideas, and delegate jobs. It's not just eye candy, you nay-sayers! Pinterest actually helped us plan this wedding. LOL

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   You know how I hate to tear down a party? How I hate for it to be over and prefer to take my time letting the memories soak in nice and deep before clearing out and scrubbing up? Well this gorgeous, happy wedding has been no exception. In fact, there really are elements of it I'd kinda like to see made permanent here at the Lazy W. We'll see how that rodeo goes. In the mean time, I'd like to share a few aftermath glimpses of what the wedding team created for our new friends...

   

   This is a view of the ceremony area around 6:45 Saturday morning. The arbor was built on a traditional brass frame borrowed form Handsome's Mom. It has been used in countless weddings and vow renewals over the decades, so it feels pretty special. Lots of memories are wrapped up in those skinny bars, folks. On the Thursday preceding the wedding, Handsome and I walked to the Pine Forest next door and brought home several dry, naturally curved pear tree limbs and twigs to fatten up the brass frame. Then on Friday morning Debbie, Susan, and I added one strand of greenery after another, then some white flowers, then burlap ribbon, and then some hanging glass lanterns. And maybe more tulle and greenery whenever someone walked past... It was a fun canvas. 

   That scrappy "I do, We did" sign is my favorite. Thanks to Mysti for stenciling the letters, and thanks to Susan for finishing it with white paint but not dripping any on the piano!

   Back to Saturday morning... In the chaotic hours that followed this above Instagram shot, we added to the ceremony area a pair Debbie's blue hydrangeas, right there at the entrance of the aisle. It looked so soft and bridal. And those mismatched chairs were filled with almost three dozen smiling people, all shaking hands, hugging, and celebrating a new beginning. The grass, blessedly soft, was tracked back and forth with happy, running children and one tulle-wrapped dog named Buster, but no geese. The geese skeedaddled as the crowd grew. This is good. 

   Around 8:30 Saturday morning my sweet Momma drove all the way to the farm with my two be-YOO-tiful nieces to lend us some of her larkspur. We plumped up the arbor area with two five gallon buckets filled with these wild, happy, voluptuous blooms. They were the perfect dressing for the base of the arbor. I just slipped each water-filled bucket inside a burlap coffee bean sack and called it gorgeous. Big thanks to Heather over at New House, New Home, New Life for the burlap gift certificate! 

   At the last minute, Juliana carefully placed paper fans on each chair. They had been glittered with the names of the bride and groom, and she told me she had made sure they alternated: Rebecca, then Brian, then Rebecca, then Brian... 

   I personally think these rustic flower arrangements look incredible against the distressed white obelisks we borrowed form Tyrene, Handsome's uber talented designer sister. Isn't that pretty? By the way, there were enough larkspur blooms to cut for both the bridal bouquet and the flower girl's bouquet without even making a dent. Thank you Momma! I can't wait to plant the seed heads and have my own wild meadow. The fresh flowers we collected from Mom, Debbie, and Marci the day of the wedding were my favorite element.

   

   This is a big grapevine wreath that hung outdoors the day of the wedding. We had to bring it inside early Sunday because of some pretty heavy thunderstorms. The cool-beans memory for me here is that I glued it together Friday night while watching an OKC Thunder basketball game with a room full of my favorite laughing people and a belly full of good, greasy pizza.

   Here is a glimpse of the sweets buffet. There were so many delish treats available for sampling, you guys, so very many. Having only sweets made it feel like a secret paradise. Adults and children alike filled and refilled their mismatched plates and saucers with chocolate-dipped fruits, cupcakes, pastel meringue bites, monogrammed cookies, and of course wedding cake. This Instagram shot reveals only the tail end of a fruit and marshmallow selection that sat adjacent to the chocolate fountain. See the curvy, elegant chocolate letters? Marci made these on a whim, and they added such a cool effect. We had a team of really talented, really out-pouring people working on this wedding. I know I am not the only one who feels like we were all part of some extra special memory making.

   Again, no luck on snapping shots of the cake on display... Though I do believe Luis has some in his slideshow. Here is a photo of the bride's cake in the cake-maker's fridge. It is wrapped in scripture, you guys. So beautiful and so perfect for this couple. The groom's cake was a half sheet, chocolate in every way, and frosted to look like a tuxedo. 

   More of the sweet leftovers and the flowers that we brought in out of first the rain and then the steamy heat. As I sit here typing out my memories, a plate of cupcakes is whispering terrible things to me. Or, as Charles Barkley would say, turrbull things.

   Brian and Rebecca chose a special song for their special day... "All Your Life" by the Band Perry.

   To incorporate their memory and amp up the rustic feel of the wedding, we made this chalkboard. Handsome found a long sheet of scrap plywood in our barn loft and cut it to about six feet long. Then over the course of a work day I sprayed it with layer after layer of chalkboard paint. Long after sunset on Friday night, Marci's kiddos primed it with colored chalk. Enthusiastically. On the day of the wedding Susan very sweetly filled it with the song lyrics. Then we just propped the chalkboard up between some trees at the wedding reception and walked around humming the tune...

I just wanna be the only girl you love all your li-iii-iii-iiife...

   This was one of the prettiest details in my opinion. Another nod to the Band Perry song, Rebecca wanted sand in very old mason jars, some clear and some that wonderful antique aqua blue color, all topped with candles. We borrowed most of these jars from Maribeth. And yes, we did burn the candles, even though it was a morning wedding. And the effect was quietly dazzling. Thanks for remembering to light them, Marci!

   Wait, maybe this is my favorite part. I deeply regret not photographing the original wild exuberance of our reception trees all dressed in their white and blue finery, but here is a two-days-later shot. It's still pretty fun looking if you ask me, but seeing those trees freshly draped with paper streamers blowing in the Oklahoma wind was enough to make me laugh out loud! What was even more fun than the finished product was watching our volunteer kiddos throw and wrap the stuff everywhere! Awesome. Just plain fantastic.

   Do this at your house at your next party. No, wait, do it now. As soon as possible. Yes, I am suggesting that you tipi your own property. With great, exaggerated, overhanded arm movements. You can't not be cheeered up when your very old, very serious trees look this great! And it erased any doubt as to where the reception was being held. These streamers and the sheet music pennants constructed by Susan, Debbie, and Rebecca's nephew made the shady smokehouse grove extra special. Thank you, Carolyn, for providing all of that lovely sheet music! And thank you Debbie and Rebecca for all the ironing of mismatched linens for the reception tables!

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   Well, so much more happened that day. We danced the chicken dance. We ate and giggled. We posed inside empty wooden frames. We admired the bride and got to know a few new faces. We threw seeds at the happy couple as they left for their honeymoon. The stories and details abound, but I am fresh out of wedding photos. I hope you took a few minutes to go look at Luis' slideshow, and I hope you have enjoyed this. We sure have. More important than the creativity and friendship, though, has been that we are all witness to the start of a new love story. We are all fortunate to be embedded in this family's beginning, and they in turn are embedded in us.

   Sincerest congratulations, Brian and Rebecca! We wish you thousands of happy, special days ahead. We wish you captured sand for wishes fulfilled and millions of fireflies to brighten the dark corners. Thank you so much for letting all of us be part of your wedding. The Lazy W is a richer place now because of it.

Believe in Lightning Bolts

xoxoxo