Gracie and Co.: Wedding eve days are fun to be a part of

My friend, Jo Anne, and her daughter, Julie, have been busy for months planning for tomorrow. They have been planning each detail for the ceremony that will take place tomorrow morning, here in Birmingham. It is Julie`s wedding day eve, today, and tomorrow is the big day, Her wedding to Caleb.

They were both moving around on over- drive today!!!... Or should I say, Jo Anne was like the energizer bunny that would just go and go and go!! I can say that because I teased her to her face after I had been with her for a few minutes!! There were things to do, a planned time to do them, and we were on a schedule, a mission!!

I went along for moral support, and an extra vehicle to transport the flower arrangements to the reception location.

My car looked like a flower shop! Jo Anne had picked up the flowers early this morning and spent all morning, putting them together in lots of different containers. Many were in mason jars, wrapped in burlap. She had cut labels out in different shapes to place on the outside of them and personalized the labels with their names and the wedding date.

The relationship between this Mother of the bride and the bride, is only to be described as pure pleasure and love.. No harsh words, no disagreements, always respect for each other, always checking to be sure the other one was happy with how everything looked. It was a sweet time that they had together to see all the planning over these last months, come together and become a reality.

I must say, that as we took each flower arrangement inside from the car, you could tell how much time went into putting them all together. I complemented them both about how beautiful the flowers looked and Julie, immediately said, "It was all her!"

Jo Anne had thought of all the details and made so many special things to use. She made a wooden cross with Julie and Caleb`s picture on it, tied with a burlap bow.

This cross was placed in the mixture of other crosses that they had collected to use in a display on the shelf in the dining room..

. Lots of burlap was used and I loved the look of it, mixed with a little lace!

The bride`s cake is going to be cupcakes!! My kind of cake!! They had some really pretty cup cake holders with crystals hanging on them, all set up , ready to be loaded up tomorrow with the cupcakes from Edgars!

JoAnne had painted two new pictures, just to use for the reception. They are both so pretty and will always be special for Julie to have, knowing they were created for her special day. One was an angel that she painted onto a music covered canvas... beautiful!

It was placed on the piano in a grouping of flowers and another picture.

Then, she painted a gorgeous picture of a stained glass window. She wanted to bring the blue into the

decoration, being the highlight color for tomorrow.

She made a moss covered wreath, that she used flat on the table with flowers in the middle.

A huge flower arrangement was made for the centerpiece of the food tables. It was in a wrought iron container, with moss then then the flowers. It was sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the three large round tables and looked great!

Another wreath was hung on the mantle

The other mantle was the focal point of the main room. The vases were placed on the top, with a tall block angel. Jo Anne had made a banner that looked awesome!! I don`t think she would mind me saying that she got the letters at a garage sale for pennies of what they sold for originally! She mounted them on black burlap then on a larger plain burlap, tied up with black satin ribbon. It looked great, anchored by the tall candlesticks.

She handed me a piece of paper before we got started, which I wished I had taken a picture of (!!), where she had carefully drawn pictures on it. Each item had what was to be placed on it, which flowers, and which pictures and where they were to go. Unreal how organized she was!! Julie and I both commented that she had missed her calling of being a wedding planner!

As we finished the last thing, locked the doors and turned the lights off, they were both hurrying home to take a quick shower and dress for the rehearsal dinner tonight! Then at 6:30 in the moring, Jo Anne will be back there, getting ready for the day! Julie is a lucky bride to have such a sweet Mother to be walking this path of wedding bliss with her! I am equally sure that Jo Anne would say that she is the lucky one to have her sweet girls!

Happy Wedding Eve, Julie!!

Have a great wedding day tomorrow!

Love,