That is me looking through it, there on the left. The “fancy carved wood” which isn’t carved wood nor really too fancy.
The M-O-B and the M-O-G (mother-of-the-bride and the mother-of-the-groom, Tammy and me)
I needed a good-sized, ornate-ish frame for the old-fashioned-family photo booth and just didn’t have time to go shopping for one. So one afternoon when Hunter came over. We decided to make our own.
I grabbed a large, wooden frame from the garage that had seen better days and had already been sprayed white for a previous event. First we hot-glued some gimp around the inside trim. The idea is to add texture!
Then we glued lace scraps from the fabric scraps box to the main surfaces of the frame using a white-glue and water mixture (2 parts glue to one part water). Imagine it as a decoupage-type project. The pieces were random and that is fine.
With our glue mixture, we tore strips of paper towels, twisted them, dipped them in the glue and rolled them into “leaves” and rosettes. We put them aside to dry on some wax paper.
When the lace on the main part of the frame had dried, we took the hot glue gun and just made curly-qs, some loops and swirls all the way around the frame. The combination of this 3-d texture on top of the lace is going to create the idea of an old-fashioned, carved-wood frame.
Once everything was pretty dry, we hot-glued the rosettes and leaves to the corners of the frame and then took it outside to spray paint it.
We sprayed it silver. On grandpa’s utilitarian-garage-side…which was good because we got a little out of control. But it could have been brown or white or whatever color…and may still end up that way!
After a few minutes of airing it out and letting it dry, we brought the frame back inside and then made a purple “glaze” by just watering down some paint. We used paint brushes and paper towels to put the glaze onto the frame and get it into the crevices and then sort of wipe of the excess. This also makes it have a more textured, carved look. It creates shadow and makes the various materials look like one aged piece.
A couple of hours later, voila! We had a faux, carved-wood frame for the photo booth.
That is it the “open” frame on left. This is Ryan and Tredessa “trying out” the photo booth a few days before the wedding when we were at the barn decorating. When I was finished, I realized that I really could have accomplished the same effect with a much larger “frame” by using a piece of foam core or cardboard cut into a frame shape. Just a little FYI on the DIY!
They placed actual photos of grandparents and great-grandparents because they wanted to include their heritage in their celebrating.
Some of my fav wedding-photobooth shots~
Niece, Elise posed in honor of her lover-husband who could not attend.
Dana and Jason hammed it up for quite a few good shots!
Two of my grandbebes, confetti girls Gemma and Averi with Ryan’s little flag-boy, Cody. CUTE!
Ok, so where were we? It was a magical day, sunny and bright and joyous. It was family and….
It is the wedding day. The THINGS are in place:
A casual, vintage scene has been set. Welcoming!
On the right, you can see the jars hanging from the tree with subtle (and non-fire-hazard) illumination.
This pretty little sign was painted by Mairin Bierer. It hung across the aisle before the bride and her attendants came to walk it. We were all family.
Meanwhile, back at the barn…
The centerpieces included old books from the bride, French labels with romantic quotes and song lyrics, milk-glass containers, candles, dusty-green sprays…
And here is what the bride and groom and their people are up to…
Chronos Images* Tredessa at the barn a couple of hours before the ceremony.
11.26.11
Things I forgot {or just didn’t count on}
Paper doilies to line the sweets table plate. Well, they were there…just didn’t get unpacked.
The Rolo-Pretzel Turtles. Sadly they missed the celebration. So they caused their own celebration of sorts in the ensuing days. Delish, Stormie and Elise!
The Mini-cinnamon Rolls on sticks and the Espresso meringues. They were my last two things to make/bake…and I just had to let them go. And somehow the wedding was positively fine without them.
To sew my stole. It needed repair work badly. I bet some one would have done it for me if I had asked. But I just wore it anyway. Who the heck am I becoming??!
To get a manicure. Just no time for it.
We forgot to have anyone run out and ring the church tower bell as Tredessa and Ryan left the church to waving flags and cheers. Because we were all just celebrating and smiling too much!
Tredessa and Ryan having fun in the photobooth. Tredessa with her matron-of-honor, big sister (by 1 year and 3 weeks), Stephanie
Succulents are way heavier than flowers and needed more support. Lots more support. And I could have made them 2 months in advance, but didn’t…until the morning of the wedding.
On at least 7 occasions I said to myself, “It would be advisable to have moist towelettes at the caramel fountain.” To all who had to lick their fingers, my deepest apologies.
I knew, I just knew I packed the wedding-white stir sticks for the hot tea table. They were discovered in the tote, while we were packing up…two days later. I knew it.
I had this beautiful design to paint at the front of the aisle runner (I had already painted a subway-style “advice” piece at the entry-end) and I just couldn’t get to it. There came a time the week before when I just had to let that idea go and know it would be ok, anyway.
Then, there was the balloon fiasco. Oh, my. The groomsmen inflated about 150 balloons the day before the wedding and they went up into the bell tower of the barn for a release just before Tredessa and Ryan would leave the reception. No one counted on the exceptionally frigid temperatures (to below freezing) during the night, which deflated and shriveled a good number of the balloons. When the pulley doors were let down, about 50% of the balloons were just little white wads of who-knew-what and the other balloons were pretty sad looking, too. The photographers kind of got their expressions and it is funny now.
Things I will never forget
Tredessa was radiant. Beaming, even.
After her engagement, she wrote a wedding plan. Most brides decide on definitive colors and places and and details concerning things. And Tredessa had thoughts on that, but her main wedding plan was about it being fun and family and intimate and closeness and relaxation and rejoicing. She wanted everyone who came to feel peace. She wanted everyone to have a romantic night of dancing and celebration. Her plan came together!
Seeing Guini tapping and twirling, dancing with abandoned glee with her daddy, turns and twists and getting-dipped. She looked beautiful. She felt beautiful. She was free and full of joy. One of the favorite moving-picture memories I now carry in my heart.
I had this magnificent bridal bouquet in mind and it did not turn out that way at all, which was stressing me out the night before. I dreamed of it when I barely slept. But in the morning, I remembered that Tredessa wasn’t all “flowery” anyway. I disassembled everything I had begun the night before, left 75% of it on the counter, put in the 6 white roses, the spray of naked-lady lilies, the small bunches of white spider mums and lots of vintage buttons and a couple of brooches and the succulents I had grown just for the occasion. I hand tied the smaller, very specifically-structured bouquet and wrapped it in satin ribbon overlaid with chiffon to match her dress. And in the 5 minutes it took to assemble after all the worry, it looked like a reflection of her ring – a perfectly lovely, vintage-y, love-with-a-history bouquet. And I knew it was perfectly right for the slender, beautiful hands that would carry it.
Delicious food made by loving, generous hands of a good friend. Vintage-y. DIY. A barn wedding. Using old family photos, chandeliers, creating a “living room” experience for the church-front. These were bits and parts of the the most beautiful wedding in 2011!
Dave barely even sniffled during the ceremony. Shocking! He is tender-hearted towards his kids. He was engaging, effusive and funny, even. Everyone loved the ceremony.
Three days with our familia from Florida. Ryan’s brothers and their fams and his parents and grandparents and uncle…We gathered in tight for traditional Thanksgiving on Thursday, had rehearsal and dinner on Friday and danced together on Saturday. We loved them all and just melted together. Familia!
Ryan’s mom (my new “sister” from Florida) told me, just before Ryan walked us to our seats, “You are beaming.” And I knew I was. I could feel the glow, so proud of my daughter and so pleased with her choice.
Ryan’s vows to my daughter were beautiful. Hers to him nearly knocked breath from me, so full of promise and depth and wisdom from observation. I was unprepared for the tears that bursted forth.
Ryan danced with his mom to Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore!” Everybody started singing along. It was a riot. Tredessa and her father, who had originally wanted to dance with her to “Suds in the Bucket” by Sara Evans, chose, as a nod to their shared love of great movies, the theme song from “The GodFather.” See my mama smiling there on the right?
Cousins and family from near and far came to help us celebrate the day. Cousin Emilee was the “stage manager” the day of the wedding. Mairin and Mia attended to the bride all the way from Minneapolis.
In the photos taken at the church right after the ceremony, Tredessa was like, “Really? Are you going to ‘Tebow” right here, right now?” Well, we live in Colorado, don’t we???
The church was very small,. We draped everything is fabric, off-white cottons and canvases, and used lace-filled frames and big paper flowers strewn about as a backdrop.
THIS is one of my FAVORITE photos from the celebration because
it really portrays the sweet joyousness of the wedding and celebration. It is the bride and groom surrounded by their attendants, dancing and making happy and the soft glow of the lights in a room full of family, well the mood was just perfect. Everything Tredessa sais she wanted when she started to plan it. It was good. It was sweet. It was magical. It ended too soon!
First dance: “You’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you…”
*Chronos Images //photography (Matthew Greenlee and Rachel Ruge)
Dave is teaching for the county here. We went really-really-really almost-above-the-timberline high to get here, over Monarch Pass. Here is a sign Dave saw in the county building:
I am visiting lots of wedding sites and www.marthastewart.com greets me with a countdown each time I log in, which I have to say does not really thrill me.
So, like 75 days now…actually less. Luckily, though, Ryan and Tredessa are having a small family wedding, so we should be able to pull it off. I mean I have got all the talent in the world in my fam!
In other wedding news ::
Elise-the-Niece is getting married to Matt in 11 days.
This gorgeous beauty will be at my house, along with little Miss Sawyer by the time we get home. All the way from hot-hot-hot Texas!
Better bring a sweater, Stef.
Dave and Tara are celebrating their 8th anniversary today.
Love your love, my sweets. 8 very, very good years.
Rocky and Jovan will celebrate their 5th anniversary Friday.
Five beautiful years for two gorgeous lovers! Congrats, my sweets!
So
I am catching up on reading and writing and organizing my computer files and photos and downloading video and editing video and getting room service every morning. From Dave.
And I have suddenly realized I want to start thinking ahead to:
Yes. It is time.
UPDATE 9/14/11 :: Apparently rain in Denver = snow in elevations over 10,000 feet. Living in Colorado this long I should know that, yet am here, expecting up to 6″ of snow tonight, in flip-flops and a hoodie. Hehe.
Robbin is getting married. She is bold and bright, simple and playful, timeless and youthful. It will be crisp and clean with a nod to design from the graceful past. She loves purple and yellow (dare I say “mimosa“??) and mason jars and field flowers.
And she is popular. She is marrying Jake in front of family and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of friends. There are massive amounts of thick white bridal satin going into the design. White picture frames as small as 5″ x 7″ and as large as 6′ x 8′ (yes, 6-feet by 8-feet) will frame the love they share. A giant frame “chandelier” will mark the dance floor, a la Anthropologie.
I have lots of inspiration pictures. We used to own a frame shop and I find I still love them. All of us gathered our cast-off frames (so it is a “green” event as well) and the wedding will be simply picture perfect! Here are a few of the images in the file. Can’t wait to see how it will really turn out in a few days!
Paint a frame you have grown tired of. You will love it all over again!…J
