Gabby's Wedding... Recipe
The week before the wedding I went picking...in my friend's yards. I picked laurel, jasmine, japonica, salal, heather, azalea, and mini-rhodies...all the greeney I would need to make 10 table arrangements, 2 large arrangements, 1 book table arrangement, 1 bride bouquet, 8 bridesmaids bouquets and 1 toss bouquet - it was a lot of greenery! I put it all in buckets of water overnight and the morning I left for Salt Lake City I wrapped it in a big plastic garbage bag and stuffed it all into a huge suitcase! (I threw in this pic of Mt Rainier because I wanted to show our recent house-guests that it does exist! The day I flew out the sun broke through and I was able to capture this rare sight...and as the natives say, "The mountain was out that day!")
By taking the greenery with me I saved my sister about $150...so it was worth the trouble. (I purchased all of the flowers at DWF in Salt Lake, a wholesale florist that was wonderful to work with...they ordered everything in and had it all wrapped and ready to go when we arrived - and they had a fantastic selection of ribbon, tulle and vases. I know Costco is now in the wedding biz but buying from a wholesaler is still cheaper and you can order what you want.)
Gabby and Mike got married at The Old Meeting House in Salt Lake - a beautiful old building that was once a church. Everything looked great - the flowers were beautiful and the greenery I picked a week before still looked wonderful! The morning of the wedding it snowed...of course, it's Utah! The bride, who at the 11th hour turned from Bridezilla back into her sweet self, could not stop smiling.
Gabby's colors were Tiffany blue, pale pink and brown...Gabby ordered lollipops for favors and I stuck them into heads of cabbage, hidden in silver bowls, it worked like a charm!
Six of the bridesmaids are in the pic above - the other two were always wandering! Gabby's cake was amazing and was nothing short of a miracle. The lady who made the cake was given a picture of the cake that Gabby wanted - it was, in a word, hideous. So the cake lady, who could not bring herself to make the cake in the picture, changed it a bit and this is the cake Gabby ended up with - and she loved it! And it was the best wedding cake I've ever tasted - as in, it was really, really good! The bottom layer was chocolate with German Chocolate filling. The middle layer was white cake with the same filling...and the top layer was chocolate...can you tell the bride loves chocolate? Gabby's pretty shoes - which spent more time off her feet than on.
Such a beautiful bride! (So sad I didn't notice that coat hanging in the background - but alas, I am not a photographer! That job fell to the girl, who is an excellent photog, so I know they'll have beautiful wedding pics.)
My sweet mom, my beautiful sister and the bride...it was a wonderful day! And then there's Max...he and I spent quite a bit of time in the Bride's room...where I could corral him for a bit instead of chasing him around in high heels - he's so much faster than me! It was a long week and now I'm home getting ready for the next adventure...Disneyland with Max! WoooHoo!!