Wedding Raising

Southern-Style
A Downhome Perspective on All Things Southern

Manners and Etiquette	Answer to Question on creating a Southern Home	Manners and Etiquette Q & A	Southern Wedding	Southern Mother of the Groom	Baby Showers	Parties and Showers	The Wedding Raising: Planning Ahead	The Wedding Raising: Implementation	Simply Southern Wedding Part II

Brooke and Mike

A Simply Southern Wedding
Part III: The Wedding Raising
Planning Ahead

Part I: Simply Southern Wedding
Simply Southern Wedding Part II
Part II: Parties and Showers
Part III: The Wedding Raising: Planning Ahead
Part IV: The Wedding Raising: Implementation
Part IV: A Simply Southern Wedding

Since this would be the last wedding we would "throw", it was our youngest daughter marrying, I really wanted it to be a truly southern family and friends event. While a wedding is the celebration of the sacramental uniting of two people, for the mother of the bride it is also the humbling and rewarding dependence on dear friends who come together offering the support of their friendship. Knowing it was not possible to accomplish all of the ideas I wanted to create in the garden I had weeded, watered, edged, mowed and planted, battling drought, water restrictions, blisters and poison ivy, I decided to throw a "wedding-raising." Barn-raisings used to be commonplace. Their purpose was to accomplish a single goal in a very short time and the activity bonded and nourished friendships as a byproduct. Using "barn-raisings" as my inspiration, I issued the invitation to a "wedding-raising." Fortunately, among my friends are some of the most gifted designers in Dothan.

III. Preparation--I created several charts in preparation for the wedding in an attempt to organize the orchestration of this event.

A. Plan Ahead: Plant for the future Real preparation for having a garden event begins with the first landscaping plan one has for their garden. My mother in law began the preparation by including evergreens, sasanqua, and magnolias. Fortunately I had added plenty of pittosporum, magnolia, palms, ivy and aspidistra which now grew in the yard from which we could gather more of what we needed. Swamp daisies, Mexican petunias, sasanqua, coral vine, goldenrod, and roses (Knockout and tea) grew in abundance.

B. The Garden plan: Our home consists of a Monterrey style colonial home set on hill with a two acre lot. In the six months between when our daughter and her fiance set the date for their wedding, I think I crawled over all of those two acres pulling weeds and planting flowers. Then came the drought and the water limitations and there went my dream for a lush garden. However, the basic bones of the garden showed through with enough beauty to be welcoming to our guests. In designing the garden for the wedding, I drew up a basic outline of our garden. In my mind I envisioned the way it would eventually look and the pictures included here in the plan show how well the "envisioning" evolved.

Back yard Garden Layout for Reception

Entrance

North Iroquois


Entrance/back gate 1 Bench and pots entry		Rose garden	2 Boiled Peanut Area	3 Smoking area Eric Newman will offer his special cigars for a "Smoker" Decorate as a "Man Cave" Arbor 1	Entrance/gate 4 Garden Area 2 Arbor
Ribbons on children’s swing		12 1n 13 tables under oak 1 long Table Tall blue wine bottles with flowers arbor Croquet set up 2 Table 4 Main entrance into courtyard area Arbor 4			3 Arbor
Playhouse					Gazebo
		Mickey Minnie Mouse Wedding Cake Children’s table	Greenhouse Closets	Music System
					Heart wreath above gazing globe

Long Music System camellias floating in bird bath table 9 Bistro Table 8 Bistro for Table party Tent in center28 chairs 10 Bistro table 11 bistro table			Ping pong Buffet Silver epergne with 24 pink roses Floral chandelier Epergne with 2 doz roses Coffee Bar	Patio 7 Table (4)6 Round Table with ext. 8 Sofa and chairs Sweetheart table Unity Candle decoration bridal	3 Table 4 Pool area 4 Table 4 5 Table 4 Entrance to Library blessing tree
	Flower Bed BEM		Sunroom Bar We opened the windows on both sides of the sunroom and wound up with 2 bar tenders and double access to the bar. Mums in tall wine bottles

Entrance Entrance Memory Tree outside Library door

		Small bouquet in bathroom

Playroom	12 pink roses Dining room Roses in epergne	Small bouquet Entry Hall in 12 pink roses in pink brides basket	Living Room Wedding Cake Grooms Cake	Library white roses in brides basket
		Front door

Balcony Garland centered above front door 12 roses center 12 on either wide with ivy garland

The Zen of Bubbles

Here in the front walking up to the house, there will be a garland with central flower arrangement and two flanking arrangements above the front door. The brick walk will have water-filled glass jars as luminaries. The central flowers will probably be camellias and sasanquas from our yards.

North Cherokee Avenue

C. What do we have/What do we need?
I then set about figuring what I had to use and where I would acquire other items I would need.

We have: 3 patio tables with 4 chairs each

3 bistro tables with 6 chairs

1 kitchen table with 6 chairs (Back patio table )

2 head chairs from dining room (Sweetheart Table)

13 card table chairs for attendants tables

3 bridge tables

6 game table chairs

2 Children’s Table use picnic table to serve. Use Beatrix Potter for sitting.

Table	From where?	Cloth	Flowers	Chairs	Who responsible?
Sweetheart table	Small glass table	Sharman	Candleabra from Bayou Bride’s bouquet	Chairs from dining room	Sharman
Bridal party	Loftin’s	Pans and Petals	Bridesmaid’s bouquets and candles	Loftin’s	Sharman
Tables 12 and 13	Pew buckets	Sharman
Tables 9-11 Dancing area	4 Pew Buckets	4 P and P	Pew Buckets and candles but filled with hydrangea and fern	Loftin’s	Sharman and Mike
Tables 3 – 7 Patio pool	Glass Engagement	Sharman	Engagement glass vases and candles	Loftin’s
Table 1and 2	Blue bottles and flowers	Sharman	Blue toile table cloth
Buffet outside Also altar arrangement	24 Red roses in epergne	P and P
Coffee Bar
Sunroom/Bar Use tall blue wine bottles with flowers for decoration in this transition room.
Playroom
Dining room	Epergne		1 dozen antique white roses in Grandmother R epergne
Brides cake	Round table in center of living room with jeweled table cloth provided by Pans and Petals	P and P	Arrangement back on fern stand (cut glass vase with hydrangea and calla lilies)Pink hydrangea and white calla lilies
Groom’s Cake
Library table	home	n/a	Bride’s basket ( 12 roses)	n/a
Children’s table
Arbors	Tulle and bows
3 Gates	Tulle and bows

Balcony
Stairs	Tulle and bows
Lamp post	Tulle and bows
Mail box	Tulle and bows
Saw horses	Tulle and bows
Christmas lights along fence and arbor

We cut pictures out of magazines and from websites to give us ideas.

D. The Schedule

I set up a schedule of the flowers that had to be done and when.

To be done	Floral arrangements for inside of house
Wednesday, October 24	Limes,hydrangea and callas in cut glass		Altar and living room
	Green apples, hydrangea and cannas in cut glass		Altar and Living room
	Burson epergne	2 doz white roses/fern	Playroom
	Ramsey epergne	1 doz roses /fern, pineapple, coral vine, lorapetalum	Dining Room
	Pink brides basket		Entry hall
	Silver brides basket		Library
	Pewter cupid guest bath		Guest Bath
	Yellow paperweight entry hall		Entry Hall
	Arrangement below mirror in cut glass bowl		Entry hall
	Arrangement in cut glass on hall tree		Hall tree

Friday afternoon	Headpieces and baskets
	Lily	Floral headpiece 12 roses and ivy	Flower girl Basket
	Mary Elle	Floral headpiece	Rice bag basket
	Mallory	Floral headpiece	Rice bag basket



Friday Morning	Tussie Mussies
	Sharman	3 roses, ivy and baby’s breath in wet oasis inside of tussie mussie.
	Arloa
	Allene
	Sylvia
	Mary
	Mother

Friday Afternoon	Calla lily bouquet
	Brooke	1 doz calla lilies wrapped with floral tape and then wrapped with 2 " white satin ribbon. Pearl top pins extend from top to bottom extending down.
			The hydrangea bouquet was tied exactly like the calla bouquet was tied. Remember to condition well--crush the stem and keep in ice water until needed. Refresh with ice water.
	Hydrangea bouquets	3 hydrangea
	Cecily		Tied with blue ribbon
	Andrea		Tied with brown ribbon
	Amanda
	Christie
	Lauren
	Elizabeth
	Collette

Friday afternoon	Headpieces and baskets
	Lily	Floral headpiece 6 roses and ivy. Measure head and connect pipe stems to secure roses. Use smaller roses than these. Secure with wire and then cover with floral tape. Next time I do this, I will use tiny sweetheart roses and make sure there are no thorns or pieces of wire that can escape. While this is beautiful, it was uncomfortable for my little flower girl.	Flower girl Basket
	Mary Elle	Floral headpiece	Rice bag basket
	Mallory	Floral headpiece	Rice bag basket


	Corsages
	Paulette Clardy
	Elizabeth Brown

	Cake cutters
	Boutennieres
	Rusty
	Mike, the Groom	Stick wire through neck of rose and then wind around stem. Cover with floral tape and then cover with 1" white satin ribbon.
	Ron
	Joe
	Ben
	Drew
	Steve
	Bryan Hall
	Lee
	Kabin
	Michael
	Duncan (ring bearer)

I had the best of intentions, but unfortunately time became a serious issue as we got down to the wire and some of those items I had intended to make did not get made. Fortunately, I had prioritized them and what needed to be done was done.

Brooke and her bridesmaids dressed in her bedroom and prepared to walk down the stairs I'd always envisioned a bride walking down, out of our home and into a life on her own.

Arrangements for the inside of the house were created the day the flowers arrived. This antique epergne makes a beautiful dining room arrangement.

You can learn more about the cigar company of the Newman family, Lyris, Eric and Drew, at their website: http://www.cigarfamily.com . They have begun a very important mission in the Dominican Republic you really should become aware of. I am so proud and happy I am for my dear friend, Lyris Bruce Newman, her happiness with the fine man she married, the fine son she has raised, and the contribution she has made to making the world a better place. I sit here with tears in my eyes, thanking God for my wonderful friend.

A. G. Branch--BuzzOff Mosquito (334 797-2960)

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