The Day and Morning Before the Wedding

The day before the wedding, the bridesmaids and female family members went to get manicures and pedicures. It was my first pedicure ever, and it was my first manicure since my own wedding almost eight years ago! It felt so nice to be pampered after all the work we had done the week before. Nora getting ready for her manicure

After we got our nails done, we went back to my parents' house for a bridesmaids luncheon. The food was delicious, and we had a lovely time, but no one remembered to take any pictures!

Late that afternoon, we were able to get into the church to decorate and for the wedding rehearsal.

The church was so pretty, we really didn't do much decorating. Nora hung monograms on the front doors.

Earlier in the week, Mom and I sewed these pew banners, and then Nora and I painted the monogram and the border on each one. We hung them on every other pew with clear fishing wire.

The church had beautiful stained glass windows on each side wall.

The front of the church was a wall of organ pipes, and Nora's only decoration there was the big cardboard C covered with tissue paper flowers.

The bride and groom at the rehearsal

The rehearsal dinner was held in an upstairs room at Marble Slab. We ate barbecue and sushi and had ice cream for dessert.

Our little family with the bride at the rehearsal dinner

Nora with her sisters-in-law and mother-in-law

The next morning, we got up very early for our hair appointments.

Nora's hair was so pretty! She made the flowers for her hair!

Nora and I drove to the church together. Here was our first view of the church from her car. The white tent to the right of the church was where the reception was held.

Another view of the front of the church. You can see the door monograms.

We walked around the front to check things out while we waited for the maintenance man to arrive to unlock the doors.

Nora and me right before we went inside to get dressed and ready for pictures.

There were so many little details that I just had to do another post about preparations! The next post really will be about the wedding itself!

Wedding Preparations

Early on the morning of March 24, Drew and I left for South Carolina to help prepare for my sister, Nora, and brother-in-law, Topher's wedding. We flew out at 6:15 AM, and we got to see the sun rise on our flight. Drew enjoyed watching a movie on his little DVD player and drinking juice. Both our flights were uneventful, and security was pretty easy (they were very accommodating for us since Drew was so young). I got right to work the afternoon we arrived! Nora had lots of projects planned, and most of her wedding decor was done by hand by family members and friends. Here are some of the projects we worked on: I made her a practice bouquet for her rehearsal using a paper plate, some packing tape, and ribbons from her bridal shower.

I glued on the bow in the middle with a hot glue gun and gave myself a huge blister on my thumb.

We also made practice bouquets for the bridesmaids using tootsie pops, rubber bands, and more leftover ribbon.

Drew's birthday was a couple weeks before we went to South Carolina, so he got gifts from the family while we were there.

We made corsages and boutonnieres by hand. We cut different sized circles from satin and melted the edges with a candle. Then, we stitched the layers together with beads, and stitched on leaves and wires.

Nora added berries and wrapped them with floral tape and ribbon. They turned out so cute!

Nora sewed little pillows for the ring bearers.

I monogrammed the napkins by stamping them.

Drew was sick with allergies for most of our time there. He had a very runny nose and a bad cough. One evening, he just lay around watching movies, which is very unlike him! We found out today at the pediatrician's office that he has a double ear infection, probably caused by all the congestion.

Dad and I put together most of the wedding programs.

Drew went out with Topher to spray paint the giant letter C that would be at the front of the church.

Topher's mom and aunt came over several times to help with projects. They packaged cookies for the wedding favors.

Nora's friend made these cookies. Topher is a big Chicago Cubs fan, and since their last name starts with a C, they thought these would be fun!

My mom made the wedding cake - a key lime cake with coconut frosting, covered with shredded coconut. It was delicious!

Topher and his sister, Ann, covered the big cardboard C with tissue paper flowers.

One evening, Topher's sister, sister-in-law, mom, and aunt came over to help puff out the big tissue paper flowers for the reception.

Kim, one of the bridesmaids, had also gotten into town and helped with the flowers too.

We did several colors of flowers, and they were so pretty together!

My mom sewed the bridesmaid dresses, and she had to do final fittings and alterations that week.

We were very busy the week before the wedding, but the personal touches and memories of working together made the wedding so special. You can see more of our prep work on my mom's blog. Later this week, I will share some photos of the wedding!

A Few New Layouts

Since last month's blog hop at Let's Scrap, I have been a little burned out on scrapping (who would have ever thought that was possible!). I have made a few layouts though, and I thought I would share them today.
The first layout uses pictures from two Christmases ago. Santa and Mrs. Claus (friends from church) came to see Drew at our house. He wasn't quite sure about them, but he warmed up to them after some bribery, tickling, and finally, when Santa let Drew play with his key chain.
This layout is done with this week's sketch from Let's Scrap. I used these pictures of Drew's new room and bed to make this layout. The big Thomas is from one of Drew's birthday cards.

This is a layout about the cousins on my dad's side of the family. I used some older photos from childhood.

This last page was done for a challenge a few weeks ago that required us to use paint chips. I thought it would be perfect to do a page about coloring! Drew loves to color, and he and Jim color almost every evening.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

St. Patrick's Day

We had some fun last week for St. Patrick's Day. Drew and I made our traditional cupcakes. They are my favorite! We also stopped in to see Jim at work. They opened last week. Drew had fun wearing Jim's bank pouch on his head.

Our house is so small, and whenever Drew goes to a place that has room to run, he takes full advantage of it!

Jim was very busy that day - everyone has waited all winter to play, and they were calling and coming in pretty much non-stop the whole time we were there.

We met the Scallys at McDonald's for lunch. The boys always have fun there together!

They all ate their lunches,

at least somewhat,

and then they had cupcakes!

Maybe it comes from being an elementary school teacher in the past, but I love trying to do a little something to make each holiday a bit special!

Chocolate Midnight Cake

Last week, I promised to share the recipe for Drew's birthday cake, and then I never got back to blogging and didn't share it! However, I didn't forget, and here is the recipe! This is our family's favorite chocolate cake, and the recipe comes from the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor cookbook. It has a secret ingredient (mayonnaise) that some people might not find very appetizing in a cake, but it really makes a difference in the moisture of the cake, I think.

Chocolate Midnight Cake
1 package plain dark chocolate fudge cake mix
1 cup water
1 cup mayonnaise
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour (I used the baking Pam spray this time, and it worked really well.) two 9-inch round cake pans.
Place cake mix, water, mayonnaise, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with a rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side. Bake the cakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 28 to 32 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert onto rack, then invert onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
Place the butter, vanilla, and 1 cup of confectioner's sugar in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed to incorporate, 30 seconds. Add the remaining confectioners' sugar alternately with 3 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, blending with the mixer on low speed. Add another 1 tablespoon milk if the frosting seems too stiff. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. Use to fill and frost the top and sides of your cake.
This is a picture of the cake I made for Drew's party. It was for three different people, so I tried to get little decorations that reflected each of their interests! I made two recipes of this cake and baked each one in a 9 by 13-inch cake pan. I frosted the top of one cake with vanilla buttercream and then stacked the other layer on top of it and frosted the top and sides with the vanilla buttercream. I was a little lazy and did the decorative frosting around the edges with chocolate frosting from a can.
Next time you need a chocolate cake, I would encourage you to try this recipe! It is delicious!