Loved this beautiful day! Having an outdoor reception without a great backup plan is always a little scary but the weather was perfect! I always say expect something to go wrong and its okay, its just part of the story. But the only hitch we that we had winds that started just as the florist was setting up for the reception. So that slowed things down and tipped the cake. So thankfully Marianne the wonderful florist just improvised and the cake was beautiful! It also blew the balloons in the pool but that was no big deal.
It was a little intimidating to have the reception in our yard because I always feel like our yard is a little bit rough and farm-like and where are the photos going to be? But it was actually a lot of fun to have a reception at our house. It meant I got to spend a lot of time (and money :)) at my favorite store Sun River Gardens. We planted 2 small Karl Fuchs cedars, 2 crabapples, 2 espalier apple trees, 1 pear, 1 apricot, 1 asian pear, 4 limelight hydrangeas, 4 endless summer blushing bride shade hydrangeas, lots of other shrubs like laurels, and some pretty pink snapdragons, 4 rose bushes and lots of angel wings and beardstongue. Tons of other flowers were planted as well. We mulched the whole yard and pruned the trees and fixed the sprinklers. We dejunked everything as well.
I recently listened to a podcast where a musician described how playing her violin was entwined with her nervous response and calmed her down. I feel like that is how I am with gardening. It makes me happy and really though it is hard on my back, I love it. Its so rewarding. I love seeing the results of planting something and years later being so glad I did!
Carson's family was so sweet and showed up to help us get the yard ready for the big day! His dad and brothers helped string the lights and even came while we were boating for Monet's bachelorette party to finish the job for us. He showed us how to fix our apple tree and after we soaked the roots he used straps to straighten it up! Jared is so happy because he didn't want to cut that tree down. Carsons mom helped me with a lot of weeding! They were so sweet to do that.
One thing I love about our yard is that its west facing and we have a lot of shade in the evening. But Monet's wedding was just a week after the longest day of the year so it was still pretty bright in some areas! But soon cooled off and it was perfect. We watched a youtube video and learned how to string patio lights with a kit from Amazon. It was so inexpensive and saved us so much money! I was proud to show off my tree climbing skills. It was fun to have these projects to work on with Jared.
We love that our yard has different areas and "rooms" divided by trees and the pool. So we set up different areas for the reception. The main area had most of the main tables and chairs set up and the dance floor. Around the pool was the line and Monet and Carson under the pergola where they cut the cake. The patio furniture under the pergola was set up for a cozy seating area with the fire pit.
In the main area to block the trampoline we had a Photo Booth bus set up. It was so cute and I love that all the kids still jumped on the tramp behind the bus. We set up our own tables and chairs in the far side of the yard so our family who was staying the whole time would have a place to visit away from the loud music.We had corn hole, giant jenga and a huge connect 4 set up. As well as the (safe) axe throwing game my mom gave us. Simone got some baby goats for the summer and that was fun for the littles!
We hired the same DJ as Elise and Morgans wedding! He's so good He brought the cold spark machines and had all these lights that lit up the trees too. He had glowstuff and all these fun ideas. You can tell he spends a lot of time getting everything perfect. Also, I do NOT ever want to MC a wedding. Its awesome to have a pro help get everyones attention for the cake cutting, bouquet toss, and dances. The kids all LOVED his music selection and how fun it was.
I love flowers and the florist we used was another splurge! Elise and I really enjoyed watching her team set up the arch over our pergola. It was cool to see how it was done. I loved how fresh the flowers were. We didn't want them to take down the flowers right away so we left the arch up and it lasted until July 4th! It was fun to enjoy it.
Finally the catering crew was so great. They brought all the rentals. And it was nice to have it all done for us. They needed some direction, but they were so nice and helpful. Monet and Carson chose shakes, fries, and Cheeseburger sliders! Then we had a bunch of the catering sized crumbl cookies and drinks. I didn't have the food, but the shakes were really yummy. And I think the cheeseburgers were not as good as their pizza.
Jared spent the day working on a cute video but sadly the TV didn't have the right connection. I think he really enjoyed all the cute photos and putting it together though.
The luncheon was so nice and close at the Alpine Country Club. The food was great and it was a beautiful space! We loved the idea that Carson's family had to have the siblings give their new in-law a gift to "survive" being married to Monet or Carson. It was funny! Great idea. I think Carson got a pack of hangers from Elise cause Monet loves to steal everyone's hangers. Hers have to match perfectly. Soren gave him a stopwatch. Cause Monet takes so long to get ready. Haha.
We started the day with hair and makeup people that came to our house and it was really fun to do it that way! Way less stress than last time and they were so fun to chat with and really made a good, stress-free start to the day.
I'm always a little emotional with big events at our house. There are all the normal milestone emotions of our kids growing up and changing and then there is stress involved with planning and the mental load of that. And I wouldn't say that I'm very fun to be around when I'm in that mode! But the great news is that its temporary! And I am so grateful for friends and sisters and brother in laws who showed up and helped us take care of all those little details! Like planting flowers, cleaning off the hot tub cover, and even patching on some pool tiles. Using a little grass paint on our dead spots. Bekah picked up pizza for the kids that were at our house during the luncheon and got the bridesmaids flowers to distribute. Everyone helped with hanging the basket lights. It was really sweet of them to do help with all those things! Papa let us use his car for the getaway car!
Anyway, the best part is that Monet and Carson loved their wedding day and were so happy with how everything turned out! It was fun, beautiful, lots of friends and family, and good food!
