Nora and Topher's Wedding

Hardly any of these photos are my own (and the same applies to the previous post). Being in the wedding made it difficult to take pictures myself, and since Jim was videotaping, he wasn't able to take any. The happy couple outside the church. Nora looked so pretty that day! The back of her dress and her veil.

My dad giving Nora away.

The bridesmaids.

The vows.

The kiss.

Nora and Topher with my parents.

The parents of the bride and groom.

The wedding cake. My mom made the cake, and Nora painted the little cake toppers.

Cutting the cake. Nora's flowers were so pretty! She has a childhood friend who works at the Biltmore House, and she did all the flowers. They were gorgeous!

Drew wandered through the reception eating cookies. He was a bell ringer in the wedding. He came down the aisle ringing a little bell, and then he sat with Jim for the ceremony. He looked so cute in his little suit!

Signing the marriage license.

The groom's cake.

The door monograms.

Instead of a guest book, Nora did a thumbprint tree. Guests inked their thumbs, and put their prints on the tree. Nora, our family still owes you our prints - we were too busy to do them!

The reception tent before all the food arrived. Nora and Topher had a dessert reception with two cakes, lots of cookies, chocolate dipped pretzel rods, fruit, punch, and coffee.

The wish tree. Guests could write wishes for the couple on little tags and hang them on the branches.

Going away. Guests threw chocolate coins at Nora and Topher as they went down the steps.

They went away in this rickshaw. So fun! Nora and Topher's house is near the church, so the rickshaw drove them home!

Nora and Topher had a beautiful day, and we were so happy to be able to be there and be part of it!

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!