Re: to Louie - caution more wedding stuff!

[Guest guest]

Louie,

You are not boring me at all. I love the idea of the hershey's kisses

turned into a rose. I am going to try my hand at that. I'm not at all good

at crafts. If you have a pic, it would help me out. If not, I'll try just

from your description. I would be honored for you to share my daughter's

wedding story with your daughter. You asked how long we've been planning

all this. Well, Nikki and became engaged the end of Nov 2001, so

they have been engaged, with the wedding date set for about 2 1/2 years. We

talked a lot about the wedding and scoured books, bridal mags, etc from them

time they became engaged. We officially began planning around March 2003,

so a little over a year prior to the wedding. The plans haven't really

changed much since we began the official planning. Nikki first said she

wanted an outdoor wedding, but I begged her to reconsider. I didn't want

her day ruined if it rained. I did find a couple of places that could

accomadate either an indoor or outdoor wedding but they were not really as

large as we needed. Nikki and are inviting all of their fraternity

and sorority friends, so we are actually inviting almost 400 people.

However, we expect about 150 to 200 people at the wedding. We do have a

large family. My mom and dad are divorced, as are Nikki's father and I.

So, when you have so many 'steps' (stepparents, real aunts/uncles, step

aunts/uncles, etc.) it makes for very large family gatherings. Also,

's mother insisted that every one of her sisters/sisters-in-laws,

and the grandmothers be invited to every single shower. Nikki's bridesmaid

was going to just do one shower for all the Athens friends and family, but

when we found that 's mother insisted that so many people be invited

to every shower, we had 21 people plus Nikki invited right off the bat! Had

we known that almost none of the people 's mom insisted on being

invited to every shower, would actually come to the showers, we would have

most likely just had one shower in Athens by Nikki's bridesmaid and then one

at the church. However, because the guest lists were so large, Nikki felt

it would be better to have two smaller showers. So, she still would have

had four anyway, but we ended up with five. My sis hosted the first shower,

but my mom and I helped a lot with that one. We had about 30 people at that

one. Nikki's bridesmaid hosted the second one, but Nikki's maid of honor

(my stepdaughter, ), maiden of honor (her little sister, Tori), and

her stepmother (Tori's mom) helped a lot with that shower. There were about

20 people at that shower. The third shower was hosted by Nikki's bridesmaid

and roommate in Montevallo (where she goes to college). That's the one that

all of her Montevallo friends were invited to. There were about 25 people

at that one. The fourth one was hosted by 's aunts. It was a co-ed

dinner/shower. I wasn't able to go to that one because it was on Saturday

evening after I'd had the TIA on Wednesday and it was 4 hours away. There

were about 35 people at that one. The 5th and final shower will be held by

some friends at church. We expect about 40 people at that one because all

the ladies at the church have been invited, plus the 21 people in the

family/wedding party that have been invited to every shower. Yes, they have

racked up on gifts. We have the majority in our living room and it has

definitely been taken over!

I didn't really know that a bridesmaids' tea was just a southern thing. The

bridesmaids' tea is basically to thank the bridesmaids for all they have

done by the bride. It is typically given by the bride's mother and the

bridesmaids, mothers of the bride and groom, and sometimes the grandmothers

are invited. Often the flower girl and her mother are included if the

flower girl is old enough to enjoy it (and behave). Nikki's flower girl is

my little niece, Kaitlyn. She will be six next month and she has been

invited to every shower. They weren't able to go to the two that were

farther away, but she and my sis-in-law have been to both the showers in

Athens and are going to be at the one next weekend, also. She is a very

'girly, girl', just like Nikki was and she absolutely adores both Nikki and

. It ends up her dance recital is at the same time as the wedding

and she agreed to give up her dance recital to be their flower girl. I told

everyone that at Nikki's first shower and I also told Kaitlyn that I thought

that warranted very special birthday presents from Nikki and for

the rest of her life! We were going to have Kaitlyn's dress made but she is

really big into the 'American Girl' dolls. I found out they have a flower

girl dress for the doll and decided to get it for Kaitlyn's b'day. It is

sooooo adorable. It's just simple, but so pretty and so well made. Also,

it is ivory (same as Nikki's dress) and has pretty silk flowers in pink and

white that attach to the dress. There is also a beautiful floral wreath

with detachable veil in the back. The doll's dress also came with an

adorable little purse and little ivory sandals with rhinestones. I really

wanted to just get Kaitlyn the matching dress from American Girl to wear in

Nikki's wedding, but Nikki didn't seem like she wanted to go that route.

However, when I showed her the doll's dress, she immediately fell in love

with it. She decided that since Kaitlyn would be positively thrilled to

have the 'American Girl' dress and matching dress for her doll that we would

go that route instead of having it made. Nikki first said she still wanted

to go with the floral wreath that we planned to have the florist make with

real flowers. I went on and ordered the floral wreath from American Girl

when I ordered the dress. It was only $18 and I figured if nothing else, it

would be a nice momento for Kaitlyn. The dress came in right before I had

my TIA. We had to order a size 7 because that was the smallest size it came

in. We were a little concerned about the size because even though Kaitlyn

is tall, she is pretty thin and normally only wears a 6. While I was in the

hospital after the TIA, my hubby brought the dress to my sis-in-law for

Kaitlyn to try on. Kaitlyn called me in the hospital and told me that 'the

dress was the most perfect flower girl dress ever.' She was soooo excited.

Her mom said she was jumping up and down and screaming and yelling over it

as soon as she got it on! Kaitlyn is typically pretty laid back so for her

to be that excited meant that the dress was a major it. She told me that

the dress was 'just right - it's not too long and it's not too short'. She

was so cute. She has no idea that she is getting the doll's dress for her

b'day so I have a feeling there will be screaming and yelling over that,

too! While Nikki was here, my sis got Kaitlyn and the dress and had Nikki

and over for dinner. They decided the dress did need to be altered

just a bit on the shoulders and at the waist. Nikki ended up loving the

floral wreath and veil and said it was fine to cancel the one that the

florist was going to make. The flowers on the dress and in the floral

wreath will match Nikki's bouquet perfectly. We're probably going to have

Kaitlyn's hair done somewhat like Nikki's. She wanted to have a little of

her glitter spray in her hair and Nikki said that was fine since Nikki's

bouquet will have the glitter spray on it. Kaitlyn has very pretty long

strawberry blonde hair. Nikki is quite partial to redheads, which is good,

because since is a redhead and I am, too, it will be suprising if

their children are not redheads! Nikki says if they are not redheads, she's

sending them back!

Okay, I guess we need to continue the wedding stories offline. I'll send

you a couple of pics.

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