Feb
28
This past Saturday we helped host a marriage blessing/dinner party for the daughter of one of our friends. We met, planned, invited, prepared, cooked; about an hour before the party started, the worst thunderstorms came through and dropped bucket loads of rain! We were under a tornado warning and found out later that some places in town had damage from all the winds. It was almost enough to make us cry for the people trying to get there! But the show goes on you know, and I think a good time was had by all.
Here are a few pictures, mostly of the food and tables because I think I posted last week and said how “purty” it all was! And these are also for my mystery lurker, Kelly, who saw me taking pictures and asked if I was putting them on my blog……..you can delurk anytime Kelly and leave me a comment!
I helped my friend Debbie make a tablecloth for her dining room; well she really did all the work and it was her idea, I just sorta had to hold her hand and help her cut it out. It was “purty” with all the crystals at the bottom and shimmery ribbon which you probably can’t see here. The flowers were gorgeous too.
A close up shot with the food, candles, etc. I wish I had been closer so you could see the tulle and little sparkly crystals scattered around……the meat, condiments and beans are on the other side in this shot.
I just thought this was the BEST idea evah and might have to copy it! Although I don’t have as pretty of a tablecloth for this as Debbie does. She got another friend to cut a heavyweight foam board to fit over her washer/dryer, then covered it with the tablecloth and it was a great place to fill up cups with ice and serve tea & water! A nice smooth, stable surface and the appliances were covered, how cool!
We used julep cups for tea and they are oh so pretty…..and because we are oh so classy, served the meal on paper plates held on silver and gold chargers! Well they were the really nice, decorative kind of plates you’d buy at a nice gift shop or party place and the chargers made them easier to handle I think. It was a whole lot easier on the cleanup!
Desserts–doesn’t show up too good but we had 4 different ones on the tiered server
My hubby had been in Tennessee for 3 days before the party and only barely made it home about an hour before hand, good thing too since he was the one in charge of the blessing! He had me worried some because he kept telling me he had no idea what he would say. I should know by now not to worry, he has the gift of teaching and always does really well with it all. A little of what he said/read (by CS Lewis) was so good I thought: “The idea that being in love is the only reason for remaining married really leaves no room for marriage as a contract or promise at all. If love is the whole thing, then the promise can add nothing; and if it adds nothing, then it should not be made……And the promise (the marriage vows) commits one to being true even if you cease to be in love. A promise must be about things that you can do, about actions: no one can promise to go on feeling a certain way. He might as well promise never to have a headache again……Because this promise is so deeply important to the future of the community, it is performed before witnesses who pledge to do all in their power to hold the couple to their vows and help them live up to them.”
This is one of the reasons we have a blessing for those getting married; to have a prayer time for them, to give them a charge and let them know they are supported by church family. Hubby had their parents surround the couple while we prayed and it was a sweet time.
I think we decided that this was maybe the 8th party like this we’ve done, not all of them have been blessings but maybe half have. We have quite a few more kids between us to go yet!
We had fun even if the weather was terrible!
The bride is the young, beautiful girl in the middle, the rest are all us girl hosts, mama types!
February 28th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Great pictures, and everything looks really beautiful. Love that excerpt from Don’s blessing, great passage. 🙂
P.S. Great idea on the washer and dryer too, but would that work in your house? Yours is out of the flow of the kitchen/bar/dining/living room… still, a very nifty idea!
February 28th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Wonderful pictures. And I agree with Stacy that blessing excerpt was great. I wish more people believed that. 🙂
February 28th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
What beautiful pictures! Very awesome blessing.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
This is such a neat idea! I think my parents would really like it. How blessed you are to have friends and family who support each other through prayer.
BTW – “cry if I want to, cry if I want to. You would cry to if it happened to you.” i know this from Richard simmons sweatin’ to the Oldies!!!
March 1st, 2007 at 12:26 am
I love this, Gail! A blessing party is such a wonderful idea and something I’m not familiar with.
Such elegant tables! And all of you ladies are simply beautiful, too!
March 1st, 2007 at 9:50 am
Everything looks beautiful! I can see why there would be no mountain high enough or river wide enough to get to where your party was! lol The table decor was indeed very pretty, very elegant and the tablecloth pulled it all together! 🙂
March 1st, 2007 at 10:26 am
What a beautiful party! I love the pictures and that tablecloth is gorgeous! I love the idea of having a marriage blessing/dinner party. And, the words your hubby chose were perfect! Thanks for sharing this with us!
March 1st, 2007 at 11:00 am
gail, it was all very nice. such a wonderful gesture and we were so glad that we were able to come. everything was beautiful & i didn’t even realize they were paper plates until we fixed our plates!!! so am i now off the lurker list…i’ll try to reply more …kelly
March 1st, 2007 at 11:28 am
Yay Kelly! I was so glad y’all got to come!
March 1st, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Wow what beautiful pictures! Looks like it was awesome 🙂
March 1st, 2007 at 5:05 pm
What fun… and your decorations/food look great! Thanks for sharing.
March 1st, 2007 at 5:47 pm
I’ve never heard of a marriage blessing. What a beautiful idea. And your husband’s comments were wonderful. Decorations looked lovely.
March 3rd, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Yes, everything got cancelled around here for that evening and nothing ever really happened in our area. We are super cautious around here since a big storm hit in 2001 and tore our city up. Glad you had a nice party–everything looks so pretty.
March 3rd, 2007 at 6:58 pm
What a beautiful party, Gail. And what a lovely thing to do for a young couple about to start their marriage. Everything looks wonderful and yes, covering the appliances and using them as another much needed serving surface was brilliant!