Tuesday 9/28/21

This was a day of preparation!  We were so lucky that Dan and Loti trusted us to check off some things from the lists!  I haven't really helped much with getting ready for a wedding since my own, 46 years ago!  And weddings were a whole different thing then.  In the communities we grew up in, it was not expected that guests would sit down to a dinner and dance.  Nope, we were married in my church, had cake and coffee and nuts and mints in the church basement fellowship room and then we left!  Family and friends cleaned up the flowers and food for us as we sped away.

When Brita and Ben got married, the wedding and reception was at a distance from their home, so they enlisted the help of a planner to get things done in that location.  They lived in San Francisco and the wedding was at Plumpjack hotel/resort in Olympic Valley, CA.  I did do some prep to quilt up a whole bunch of fabric for tablerunners, but aside from that, there really was nothing else for us to do.  It was the easiest way out!

Dan and Loti had a short engagement and a short time to get ready.  Well, June to October time span.  They got into a great venue (due to a cancellation), Star Meadows Ranch.  And then they got the ball rolling with all of the big stuff.  Now it's time for us to get in gear and help out with the details.

Before taking off from the campground, Bob spoke with the manager and made arrangements to leave our trailer at the campground Friday and Saturday instead of hauling it to Star Meadows Ranch.  Then, we drove over to Dan and Loti's place through a light rain.  They were both at work, so we were met at the door by Huxley (the dog) who has a habit of barking at strangers.  At first she was edgy and didn't know what to think of us, but she soon found her spot to lay in and kept and eye on us.  This was the first time we had been able to visit their home, and it felt a little creepy to be there by ourselves!  It was full of boxes and supplies for the wedding!  Cases of wine and favors and rosemary vodka from a local distillery.  And the San Pellegrino stacked up to be used in their signature cocktail!  I did have to text Loti a couple times to put together what needed to be done, and since she was with her second graders I didn't really want to bother her.

So we found the boxes that needed our attention and got to work.  Loti had purchased a number of decor items, plus she "inherited" a bunch of wedding decor in a slightly used condition.  First off, I found the box of tablerunners that needed to be ironed.  They were burlap with lace trim, and I figured out that ironing them with steam on the wrong side was the best way to get rid of the folds.  I'm not really adept at burlap, but now I feel qualified to iron all future burlap stuff that Loti wants!  I didn't count them, there were maybe 24.  While I was doing that, Bob set to work on the chalkboards.  There were 3, and the frames needed to go from brown to white.  They were kind of a plasticy finish, and the first swiped of acrylic paint didn't look so nice.  Bob ended up digging around to find some sandpaper and roughed them up a bit.  Then the paint went on better, but still took 3 coats.  Next, we had lunch!  Then we figured out how to best remove candle wax from the votives and lanterns that Loti was given.  The plain glass votives were easy, I just microwaved them to get the wax warm and then wipe and polish.  But, the lanterns were a different story entirely.  We tried boiling water, but it just turned into a pot of boiling water and wax, making it very hard to get good clean results.  

It was at this point that I had to keep reminding myself that these lanterns and decor were not going to be held to a high level of scrutiny.  They were going to be sitting amongst greenery and flowers with burning candles.  I needed to let go of the impulse to polish each one to a perfect sheen!  Bob and I ended up working out a system to heat the lanterns (made of glass and metal) in the oven turned on low.  Then, the wax could be wiped off before they cooled down.  Some friends stopped by to deliver a meal of chili and some flowers, and we worked until Dan got home.  We weren't finished, but we had had enough of the wax for the day, so we picked up our mess and went back to our trailer for a quiet evening of Tater Tot Hotdish and Centennial (an old TV series on DVD).  Tomorrow we'll be back to finish our jobs with the wedding decor.  It's getting exciting!