Wolfinger-Hanes Wedding (part 1)

The rehearsal dinner started Friday at 6PM at St. Mary's in Lancaster.  The church is so beautiful inside and so meaningful for Jake and I because we also got married there and both the girls were baptized there.  After everyone finally got there, the Priest got everyone seated and Calvin's mom was on the phone giving directions about wedding stuff.  The Priest was giving her the evil eye and the person on the other end of the phone was just not taking the hint that she had to go.  We all thought it to be very amusing, not sure the Priest thought so.

Our group had to practice twice, because we didn't get it right the first time or maybe because he thought we needed the practice.

Jacie and Jaelin were so excited to be Aunt Katy's flower girls.

I don't know what they were talking about at this point.  Maybe: Are you sure you have the rings? or Why didn't we elope? or maybe What kind of kiss it would be at the alter?

We then went to Calvin's parents' house for a pork chop dinner. It was delicious. We left as other people were finishing the decorating.  I was worried that the girls were going to be grouchy for the wedding day.

The next morning Jake dropped the girls and I off at the salon to get our hair done at 8AM.  I already feared the long day and how the girls would handle it. The girls played a game of go fish as I got my hair done.

Then Jaelin asked Katy if she could be next. Since Aunt Katy never tells her nieces no, she went next. Jacie got her hair done after that, and I was now hoping Katy would be done in time for pictures.

We now had been at the salon for 3 hours and the girls were doing fairly well.  They now were busing themselves reading some stories about Olivia the pig that Katy and Calvin had bought them.

Then Jaelin got bored with the books and found the camera and took this picture . . .

and this picture . . .

and this picture.

Then I realized she was a decent photographer so I had her take a picture of Jacie and I.

 4 hours in a salon and now we were just goofing off!

Then I took the tutorial on how to remove the veil.  Which was easy.  I really should have taken the tutorial on bustling Katy's dress again. That didn't go so well.

And then we were off to the church . . .

Katy's 2nd Bridal Shower

Katy's Aunt Peggy and Aunt Susan hosted the second shower at Shaw's Restaurant in downtown Lancaster, Ohio.  It was a wonderful afternoon of fun. I think they may have given more door prizes away then Katy got gifts.  They had several items on the tables, many of them antiques.  Katy picked which one she like first on table one and second on table two and so on.  Then we had to try to guess what Katy chose.  Katy and I have similar tastes, so I thought I would do fairly well.  Wrong - I only got two out of six.

It was finally time to open gifts.  Katy called and asked me to be her matron of honor almost a year ago.  I was so excited!  I immediately thought I need a really special gift to giver her. I have been working on a special double top secret gift for Katy on and off for almost nine months.  In July when Jennifer came to Nebraska and taught me to make quilts we picked up Amy Butler material at Material Girls in Grand Island, Nebraska and made a quilt top.  The colors I chose were what I thought she had described as her wedding colors.  Although the wedding colors have changed I still feel they are great colors and remind me of Katy.  Mostly because these colors are bright and cheerful.  Jennifer quilted this quilt on her long arm with bright and beautiful variegated thread.  I put the binding on with a "hidden" hand stitch this week.  This is the first quilt top I ever made (with the help of Jennifer) and I am so happy to give it to Katy.

Jaelin, Katy, me and Jacie

Katy's First Bridal Shower -

My super special sister-in-law had her first bridal shower today, thrown by me. Although her mother- my mother-in-law took care of all the food.  We played some games for these prizes.  One of the games we played: we weighed in all of the guest's purses.  There were prizes for the heaviest, lightest and closest to the bride. I was surprised the heaviest purses including Katy's weighed 6 pounds. Guess which prize was chosen first?

I tried to explain Appalachia America to my Hispanic students last year in Nebraska. The best way I found to explain it, was a place where nobody moves in and nobody moves out.  When you choose to marry someone from a neighboring town in this area you usually get a rather large wedding and more than one shower.  It is a large and wonderful party stretched out over several weekends.  I am trying to be creative about the gifts I give Katy at her three showers.  I want the gifts to be spontaneous, fun and of course something she will love.

Gift One:

Jacie, Jaelin and I made (after seeing the initial idea online) a "Bucket of Dates"

There are several date ideas and a couple of gift cards that Calvin and her can draw from in the next year.  We also included a photo album so they can take pictures and have memories from their first year together.  Stayed tuned for next weeks gift!