Wedding Week: Bridal Luncheon

The few days before the wedding were just full of fun. On Friday morning, I had the chance to get together a lot of my favorite women for a Bridal Luncheon.

This event was the only one that had a "major mishap." A week before the wedding my mom drove to the restaurant to finalize everything, and guess what? The restaurant had randomly closed down! Luckily, they hadn't closed down entirely... they had just decided to stop being a regular restaurant, and start being a special-events venue. 

The employee who had been working with us wasn't working there anymore, so no one had any record of the room reservation she had worked out 6 months prior. So one week from the event we had to pretty much start over. We redid the menu, and my mom had to do some expert negotiating to avoid paying a $500 rental fee (because we weren't paying a rental fee when it was just a restaurant!). It ended up all working out, but not without a few scares!

Just so you get the whole picture (and because I love love love paper products!), I'll start with the invitations!

We found this scalloped cardstock at Joann's Fabrics. I'm in love with it. 

Oooh... texture-y paper!

The luncheon was at The Lodge at Shirley Acres. Because of the whole restaurant-closing-down fiasco, we ended up having the whole place to ourselves instead of just the party room! 

My mom and grandma set up a variety of photos from my childhood. Only mildly embarrassing. :)

That box with a bow on it contained a binder full of recipes from all the luncheon attendees. Each person had picked a recipe and then decorated a 8.5x11 page with the recipe on it, and my mom put them all into a binder. SO wonderful!

Pretty centerpieces! We put white stones in the bottom, and floated those plastic crystals on top (the same ones we used for the candy buffet table). 

With my mom and Grandmom, who worked so hard to make the luncheon happen!

Oh, sisters. :)

It really was a "lodge." Compete with deer head in the next room. 

With Jeff's mom and grandma

Best dressed flower girls EVER! 

Tables all set and waiting!

With my cousins!

Bridesmaid pic! 

My aunts, grandma, great aunts, and second cousin (on my mom's side!).

I ordered the club sandwich. There were also shrimp po-boys and chicken caesar salads. And for dessert, there was cheesecake and bread pudding! Yummmm!

And the kids got chicken fingers and fries. :)

It was a decent-sized group. We invited all of my cousins, aunts, and bridesmaids, plus my grandmas and Jeff's grandma, my flower girls, and my mom and Jeff's mom. Oh, and also my great aunts and my one second-cousin that was attending the wedding. Like I said, pretty big group. :) 

I felt so, so blessed to have all those women there for me. I look up to them all in different ways, and it meant a lot that they all took the day off work or drove in early from out of town to make it to the luncheon. Plus they brought me recipes, which was GREAT! 

After the luncheon, we ran home to change clothes, and then I took my bridesmaids to our reception venue to drop things off. I had about fifteen boxes, all labelled with typed checklists of their contents and numbered (Box 1 of 15, Box 2 of 15, etc.). I so wish I had a picture of all those boxes stacked up ready to go... it was a grand achievement for my obsessive-compulsive-organizational tendencies. Each box had a folder on the inside with instructions, complete with mock set-up photos and diagrams and everything. It was wonderful. I wanted to drop them off myself so I could make sure our venue coordinator understood all my directions, so we took everything a day early. 

Quilt guestbook supplies, table numbers, sparklers, candy buffet stuff, escort card displays, bathroom baskets, family photos... it all had to get there, and I had to leave it all in the hands of the coordinator to set up the next day! At this point I started to stress a little bit about the wedding... letting go of all my hard work and giving it to someone else made me a little nervous. I don't think I felt completely better until I got to our wedding reception and saw it all set up according to my diagrams. Yes, I'm ridiculous and a control freak and entirely too obsessed with being organized. But I can't help it. 

I got to see the room all ready to go with tables and linens...

Oh, how I loved those pintuck tablecovers!

I was totally surprised by just how huge the head table looked. It reminded me of Disney movies... you know? Like the royal castles with their exceedingly long dining tables! 

I think I scared our venue coordinator with my really detailed candy buffet instructions, because she asked if I'd like to go ahead and set it up myself. OF COURSE I WOULD! 

Ta-da!

Thanks for the help, bridesmaids!

We took one last glance around the room, told our coordinator that we'd see her tomorrow, and hurried back to the house to get ready for the Rehearsal!