Wedding Day!

The "kids" should be returning to New York tomorrow from their honeymoon cruise to the Bermuda Islands - that is, IF I remember the dates correctly, which I'm notoriously bad about.  After a few days in New York, they'll return to Seattle and settle into their first home together. 

Time has flown by so fast; surely it was only yesterday when.......

Well, enough of that.  Here are the very unprofessional photos I took, some the night before and some the day of the ceremony and afterward.   I'm greatly looking forward to the professional ones that were also taken.  It was a lovely wedding, family and friends surrounding the lovely couple.  Here are the photos!

Fabulous Dress! 

Fabulous Bride! Then again - I'm slightly prejudiced! Ha Ha

Close Up of Dress Bodice

Getting ready at the Church!!  "Haven't you taken enough photos Mom?"

Happy Couple During Picture Taking!

Izzy just had to get in this photo!

 

Practice Makes Perfect!

Lovely Flower Girl (AKA:  Fairy Princess)

This photo is for you, Mommy!! I love you and miss you! Hugs and Kisses! Isabel

Dancing Before the Ceremony (Don't ALL flower girls practice dancing first?)

Lovely Bouquet! I'm trying to figure out how to preserve it!

My handsome husband, my mom and my granddaughter - all in earnest consultation.  Can't we start soon?

My best friend Sherry and husband Joe came all the way from Murfreesboro, Tennessee for the wedding!!

Now that's what I call BEST friend (not to mention she's the sister I never had!)  Love you Sis!!

I created this swag from fabric Liz had picked out earlier.  Her friend Emile Edwards suggested running lights through it! Fabulous idea, but not the easiest thing to do because they kept snagging on the material!  However, a mother preparing for her daughter's wedding is never to be thwarted, and thwarted I certainly was not!!!  The only other thing I did was twine ivy through two candelabra.  The remainder of wedding preparations and decorations were created by Nancy, the groom's Mom.  Talk about talented!  I think they must have created the movie The Wedding Planner with her in mind!  And the reception was taken care of by Caroline Edwards, the Pastor's Wife (and Emile's and Rachel's Mom. Rachel and Emile were bridesmaids).  Fabulous food decorations! Fabulous room decorations! I can rest easy, knowing Liz is surrounded by lovely friends and family, even though she is so far away from home!

Of all the decorations, this is my absolute favorite!!  Jake is much taller than Liz and Nancy managed to find this cake topper with the bride standing on a suitcase!  Liz also frequently puts her hair up in ponytails to keep it off her shoulders! Simply adorable!!!

Little Wedding Keepsakes!  More of Nancy's artistry!  She also decorated the Flower Basket Isabel carried

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, Enumclaw, Washington

 

Not the best photo of the ring set, but it was the best one I took!

Pew Bouquets - Nancy made 16 of these, for the ends of each pew! 

Two of My Three Princesses!!

Another of Nancy's thoughtful touches, although my photograph certainly does it no favors!!! Sorry Nancy!  Instead of everyone signing a book that would go unnoticed in a bookshelf, everyone got to leave a personal message on this large photograph of the two kids. Afterward it was placed in its frame!

A beautiful silver punch bowl!  Not sure who it belonged to, but I thought it was fabulous so I got a picture!

Getting ready!!

Proud Father of the Bride!

"The ceremony doesn't start till 2:00?!"

Being exceptionally good, especially considering everything that's going on!

Another special pose for my Mommy, who's in Afghanistan!  I Love You Mommy! Isabel

My Lovely Mommy, Liz' Grandma (AKA: Nana), and Isabel's Great Grandma (AKA: Nanners)

Beautiful silver, blue and white bouquets for the church pews - by Nancy!

Okay, so I love mints! Besides, the bowl was beautiful and these had the Kids' Initials! So there!! 

Candles - all decorated by Nancy - for the Bridal Party Table and the Other Tables!

 A lot of work! More importantly - a LOT of LOVE!! 

I was surrounded by talented women!  Caroline, who made fabulous displays of gorgeous fruits and cheeses, refreshments, etc., had these two forks set out, which my creative self immediately laid eyes on and asked why they were formed the way they were.  Then she showed me - see next photo!

They're place holders!  And much to my delight - Caroline gave me one of them!  Such sweet and loving people we met!  A lovely wedding!  And the beginning of a lovely union between two people very much in love! To the Honor and Glory of God! Amen!

Jan Fursdon

Beautiful Washington State!!

Hi Everyone!

Here it is - 10:00 pm - and I'm just now sitting down to post a new blog!  Not the brightest thing I could be doing, so you may not see the end result until some time later.  But here goes anyway.

First of all, let me just say one thing - "I want Seattle's weather!!!!!"  Yes, I know it rains all the time!  Yes, I know it rarely ever gets really, really warm. And yes, I know that on the rare occasion it does actually get "hot", it does NOT stay that way for very long!  ALL of this is PRECISELY why I want Seattle's weather!!!  Even though I was born and raised in the South (Arkansas and Alabama to be precise), I HATE the HEAT and HUMIDITY!!!  It was such an absolute pleasure, walking outside in the evening, breathing in fresh clean unheated air!!  And the flowers and greenery were breathtaking!  So yes, although I'm a true Southerner born and bred, I'd trade our weather in a heartbeat, given half a chance to do so!!  Okay, enough about the weather.

Well, one last thing, then I'll change the subject.  Have you ever opened up a hot oven and felt the heated air hit your face, almost taking your breath away?  Well, that was exactly what it felt like on our return home through Houston, Texas!!  We left the Seattle-Tacoma airport with weather in the 50's and landed in Houston a couple of hours later at a lovely 92!!!  UGH!!!  BUT......God took pity on me and today brought rain and slightly cooler temps here in Madison, Alabama (which had a high of about 95 when we landed Sunday!)  Thank you God!!

There!  Now I'm through talking about the weather - at least for now! See what you think of these photos!

Wild Blackberry brambles!  A little too early yet, but in July there should be large plump blackberries everywhere!

This is Liz' backyard.  The path, which is almost hidden, leads directly to a paved path that encircles the river.

Lovely purple Clover!  We usually only see the white Clover around our house in Madison, Alabama, so this change was a nice surprise!

White and purple Clover here!  Everything looks so fresh and clean - not beaten down by the heat and humidity!

I think this is Cottonwood.  You can see how much fun this would be for a person with allergies.  It was everywhere!!  And this was after several substantial rainfalls!!  Liz said that when it first fell, it looked like there was snow on the ground!

This is what I called the "Entrance to Twilight Woods".  Isabel and I weren't too keen on going any further. What a funny face she was making!

Mom said this was an old-fashioned flower they always called Vetch.  Sweet!

This path goes up, then down to the river's edge.  Isabel wasn't sure what she was about to see so she paused and I snapped this photo!

The river, seen through the branches and leaves up by the paved path.  It was quite cold; this water runs off the snow-covered mountains nearby (Mt. Rainer specifically), and it moves really fast too! 

As soon as I saw this plant, it reminded me of pretty asparagus stalks growing!  Then I realized it was probably prettier than asparagus!!  As you can see, it just shoots straight up out of the ground!

Foxglove, also known as Digitalis!  It's from this plant that the heart medicine is extracted! Personally I prefer the more romantic name of Foxglove!  Lovely blossoms!!

Izzy being silly, posing for the camera!  Such a shy person!

I love it when I can snap a photo when Isabel isn't aware of what I'm doing!  This time she was too deep in thought to realize what I was up to!  Which is just the way I like it!

Sweet smelling wild flowers!!

Nothing like a real "pose" for the camera!

Another candid shot, taken down by the river's edge!  These rocks, though they look quite unassuming in this photo, were amazing!  There were speckled ones that looked just like large bird eggs; there were green ones, pink ones, purple speckled ones, and solid black ones. It's little wonder my carry-on bags weighed a T.O.N.  I didn't dare put them in suitcases for fear they'd never have made it home!  My home, that is!! 

This is one of the most interesting sights Izzy and I found on one of our walks.  It wasn't there the day before.  I remember reading that "hobos" (i.e., probably the forerunners of our homeless people today) used to mark trails a certain way to indicate to others like themselves who was friendly in a particular area and might give them food, who was unfriendly and could cause them trouble, etc.  Anyway, that's what I thought of when I first laid eyes on this little totem of rocks.  I'm just glad I had my camera!

Three trees, joined together at the base, with lovely moss growing upward, away from the elements.

A view of the far side of the river.

Another view of the river through trees and underbrush.  It was lovely, listening to the waves rushing past!

Heart Sighting!!

Another Heart Sighting!!  They're everywhere! They're everywhere!

I'd never seen so many heart shaped rocks in one area!  And no - I didn't bring them ALL home.  Just a few.

A favorite!

I think this is a close-up of an earlier shot.  What do you think?

Slightly out of sequence, but this is a tree that is indigenous to Seattle and the Northwest. 

Another indigenous tree!  I think this one is the Hemlock!  It has beautiful tiny pine cones, about half an inch long, all over it!  There's a Hemlock tree in Madison, not too far from our house; I like to gather up the baby cones in winter time and use them for decoration!

Back to the river path!

Fabulous Orange Flowers!  These were growing in the side garden of the church where Liz was married - Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, in Enumclaw.

A beautiful close-up!

Last photo - of the property next to the church.  Beautiful gardens are a very common sight in this area!  Of course, if you don't have to battle insane temperatures and humidity, as well as the Alabama State Bird (AKA: the mosquito), you can have a beautiful garden too! 

Well folks, that's it for now.  Hope you enjoyed the tour!  BTW - we must have brought home some of the Seattle weather because yesterday and today have been rainy and, believe it or not, the current temperature is a lovely and very mild 73 degrees!!  God took pity on me!!

Love and God's Blessings to All! Jan