I have never been much of a detailed person. What I mean is I don’t pay attention to detail. I am more of the big picture type person. I don’t know if it’s because I’m ADD or what, but that’s me. I feel like sometimes I miss some of the cool, sweet things in life because I’m not detail oriented. Luckily, I am pretty smart in picking friends who are quite opposite of me. Where I am a procrastinator, totally not a planner, somewhat unorganized, spontaneous to a degree, scatterbrained and so on….most of the people I migrate to or become close friends with are completely opposite. Most of my friends are detail oriented, organized, planners, OCD neat freaks, etc. I am so thankful that opposites attract because being around these type of people keeps me somewhat on top of things.
Today we got back Bailee’s wedding pictures. Our photographer did a great job taking detail shots. Yes DETAILS…that I never once thought about snapping pictures of with my phone during decorating, rehearsal, or our time before the wedding began. I am so thankful she took these because they opened my eyes to something. These pictures opened my eyes to how blessed I am with friends who love details, but more importantly love Bailee and our family. They love us so much that they spent their time helping us plan, decorate and make the wedding absolutely beautiful…beautiful with details I never would’ve been able to think of, let alone execute on my own. I have had so many people compliment me on what a great job I did with Bailee’s wedding….honestly, I really can’t take any credit for it. I mean I can take credit for asking friends if they had ideas, or if they could help, or if I could borrow stuff. I can take credit for my pins on Pinterest and for the manual labor I put in for the wedding. I can take credit for booking some awesome vendors and an amazing venue, but that wedding…that beautiful wedding…became that way because of the love of friends and family. My sweet detailed friends helped Bailee’s dream wedding become a reality.
I want to share some of the photos of the details from the wedding.
Our precious friend Patte Clark opened up her home for the bride and bridesmaids to get ready in. She prepared her room and dressing area as a beautiful sanctuary for them to primp and fellowship. They had a great time in her home getting ready for the big day.
The day before the wedding was spent frantically decorating the venue, The Eclectic Warehouse. This antique building sits in the heart of the town the bride and groom grew up in and is one of the most beautiful places to get married in Alabama. Without our sweet friend Alice Colley, I don’t know what we would’ve done. Her amazing floral arrangements and all of the things she literally let me pluck from her personal home decor helped fill this larger than life room with warmth and beauty. Alice also had the most amazing assistant in sweet Wanda Flournoy. Those two are a dynamic duo when it comes to wedding decorating, wedding flowers, and wedding directing. There are not enough words within me to express my thankfulness for these ladies!
One of the most detailed people I know…my sweet friend Tish Hill…also let me borrow some awesome pieces. Not only did she give me ideas for decor and let me use so many of her things, but she spent her early day off work helping us decorate. Our co-worker and awesome friend, Holley McGhee also came on the early day off and helped decorate. These two are detail freaks and know how to make things just right. I was so happy that they came to help. One of my most favorite things Tish let me borrow was some old doors that we used for our “photo booth” backdrop. These doors anchored the life size chalkboard with chalk work Bailee did. Our sweet neighbor, April Jones, let us borrow the chalkboard which she had used back in September for her daughter’s wedding.
Sweet April made wooden signs with phrases from 1 Corinthians 13 for her daughter’s wedding and let us use these. My detailers placed them randomly, but perfectly, around the room for decor. These sweet messages were awesome to read throughout the room. April’s details that blessed her sweet girl’s wedding day also blessed ours. We were even able to use one on our glow stick table. Bailee and Josh left their wedding under all their friends and family waving glow sticks. It was a fun-filled wedding exit for sure.
I just don’t know what I would’ve done without some other friends who helped us tremendously. Patte not only opened up her home to the brides and bridesmaids, but she literally babied her ferns so we could use them for the wedding. They were perfect for Bailee’s “spring” wedding in December. Oh and our beautiful Monica Paquette…what in the world did we ever do to deserve her!! Monica was there the morning of decorating bright and early. She helped me figure out how to set up the rows of chairs, she decorated and detailed that place out with greenery and accessories. All I know is when I left to go home and get ready for the rehearsal dinner….Monica was still there….when I arrived back for the rehearsal dinner….Monica was still there. Then there was Shelly and Mark Weeks…between Mark balancing and setting up the arch on the stage as well as helping Alice hang the greenery and lighting for the arch to Shelly helping with tablecloths, centerpieces (provided by Alice and the little flower jars by Michelle Knuckles) and anything else all my detailed friends asked her to do…once again I just don’t know what I would’ve without them blessing us with their help.
Helping us that day, also was Josh’s Nana, Peggy Wilson. Nana helped me make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything. She helped me with details like the bride and groom flutes and the cake knife and server. Seriously, those are things I would have forgotten all about!! Speaking of cakes…Bailee didn’t want a big cake. She wanted only cupcakes and she knew from the start who she wanted to make them. Her precious friend Rebekah Rankin is detailed and OCD when it comes to her baking and Bailee knew this. She knew Rebekah was the one for the job. The cupcakes were absolutely perfect and delicious. Another Rebecca took on the job of making the grooms cake. My beautiful co-worker Rebecca Spear took that job on graciously literally about two or three weeks before the wedding. Her cake was not only perfect for our decor, but it tasted oh so good! Rounding off the grooms table was plates of brownies provided by our caterer, White Wings Catering. Starla Riddle, who must be an angel sent from heaven, provided several of our serving pieces for these tables. Her pieces made for that elegant, rustic look we were going for.
Speaking of the angelic Starla…the grooms parents enlisted Starla to decorate for the rehearsal dinner. I wish had some pictures to show in this blog, but I don’t. The rehearsal dinner decor was perfect because of Starla’s attention to detail. I just want to thank Josh’s family for hosting such a nice dinner. Bailee is blessed to become a part of a family who has taken her in like their own. Starla went over and beyond though…along with her amazing son…they both stayed with us most of the day before the wedding helping decorate and making sure we had whatever we needed to make everything go over smoothly. One last minute detail Starla thought I could use was some fabric for the “globe sign in” table. She literally had scraps of fabric with a map design on them….they added exactly what we needed to make a statement with this table. Bailee thought a globe for people to sign in on would be perfect considering she and Josh will be living in Italy and doing a lot of traveling. My sweet Tish and sweet Libbye McGhee made sure she had the perfect globe for this table!
Now let’s not forget that when this wedding was over…all this stuff had to be cleaned up and once again we were overwhelmed with help! First of all, Tish and Trent made sure to bring their truck so they could just load up all the things I borrowed and take it on home. I didn’t even have to worry about returning any of their items. That was a blessing. Then there was my family…my sisters, my brother in laws, my nephews, my Brooke Ruttan and sweet Patte…all pulled up their sleeves and helped us load everything into the enclosed trailer Josh’s cousin Karen Higgins let us borrow. That trailer was a life-saver! I hope I did not leave anyone out, but knowing me and my less than perfect sense of detail I may have. We were overwhelmed with love from friends and family who wanted to help us through this wedding any way possible. It was literally overwhelming because we had so many people offering to help and actually helping us…the chances of me leaving someone out of this dedication are high. Know this….I had been sick leading up to the wedding and absolutely exhausted so if I am leaving anyone out please know how thankful we are for you and all you did for us! This day was full of nothing but LOVE and DETAIL…and for that we are honored, thankful, and blessed!
Words of Heart 