Weavie and Wendy's wedding, Part III

By the time guests arrived, it was beginning to get dark and all of the candles were lit. You can imagine how lovely this looked at dusk by candlelight. The dry erase board had a message saluting the bride and groom.

Julie Ralston Fite, the Cake Ladi, created the wedding cake. I had never tasted one like it - and she had never made one like it! She baked a white cake, used strawberry filling, and, obviously, a chocolate ganache. Weavie and Wendy both love purple, so it was the featured color, but the decorator's theme was Autumn, from the decorations to the menu. It all worked perfectly together.

The candy table was the topic of much conversation. No one had seen purple and white candy corn before!

The table settings were lovely.

I had selected more pictures than this for this entry; I just remembered that four is the max I am allowed to post at a time. Be back in a minute!

Weavie and Wendy's wedding, Part II

The pump on my fountain quit recently but Tom installed a new one and worked on the plant arrangement surrounding it while he was at it. Good job, Thomas!

This tent held the reception. I had never seen one quite like it. It even had a dance floor! (Unfortunately, since we were not aware that the excitement was going to be out back, Tom had treated all the ant hills in front but none where we ended up needing an ant-free zone! He had to surreptitiously spray the dance area while people were eating because quite a few of the pesky creatures were already partying!)

The ceremony, which began at 5:30 P.M., was held in this small gazebo. I did not take any pictures during the actual wedding but I am hoping to be able to borrow some so you can see how lovely the setting was at dusk. We had rain forecasts for November 13 from 60% to 30% as we checked the ten day weather predictions. It did rain late Friday night and into early Saturday morning but, by the time people were awake and finishing wedding set-up, the rain had moved out of the area. It never turned into a beautiful, sunny day but, since it was an evening ceremony, that didn't matter. Naturally, Friday and today were absolutely gorgeous!

Weavie and Wendy's wedding, Part I

I was not as good as I had hoped I would be about documenting the preparations for Weavie and Wendy's wedding. I do have some interesting things to show you though.

All of us, who were with the bridal couple back in July when they visited and Wendy saw "The Johnson Wedding Chapel" (and the Johnsons) for the first time, thought that the plan was for the ceremony and reception to be held in the front yard. When Tom and I returned from Little Rock last Monday, we were surprised to find activity on the softball/soccer field at the back of the house. When we saw the size of the tent being erected, we understood why the location had been changed.

I love the use of fencing to welcome guests to the site. The fences and the lights are being left for us. Thank you, Jo! (Jo Huskey, a very talented woman I had never met but with whom I quickly established a wonderful rapport, was the wedding coodinator. Neither the bride or the groom had ever met her either!)

Rena Tolan, a friend of ours from church, is Jo's right hand woman - and designated ladder climber! She, also, helped her sister to cater the delicious traditional Thanksgiving meal for the reception. I will be telling about the wedding in multiple entries due to the peculiarities of my Picasa program but I will let you know right now that it was a wonderful, beautiful, moving occasion!

Wildcats 6A South Champions - a THREEpeat!

On Thursday, November 4, 2010, the El Dorado Wildcats defeated the Pine Bluff Zebras to claim their third 6A South Conference Championship in as many years! Pine Bluff is the team that ruined our perfect season last year and the one we then met and beat in the state championship game! They are always a formidable opponent and this year was certainly no exception! I am so very proud of all of our players and their coaches! (Above you see Coach Johnson slapping hands with Ryan Williams, the strongest man in the 6A! Ryan is one of Jimmy's D-linemen and one of my Hugh Goodwin babies!)

A friend of mine, Stacy Gulick, who was Hannah's kindergarten teacher and is now the focus coordinator at Yocum Elementary, DanMan's alma mater, took this picture of two cute Yocum alums during the game. (Now that I think about it, Stacy was Ryan Williams' kindergarten teacher too!) I guess no one was thirsty right at the moment so these guys climbed on the bench for a better view of the action! (DanMan on left, Leighton Turbeville on right - Leighton's father, John David Turbeville, was the Wildcat quarterback in '85 and '86.)

I should be cleaning house...

I think I will compose this journal entry in fits and spurts today as I take housecleaning breaks. This Saturday is the wedding at The Johnson Wedding Chapel. The new cleaning lady has us in pretty good shape if I can just hide all my stuff! As usual, I have about ten projects in the works and they are scattered all over! One of them is a baby blanket for the eagerly awaited grandson of our good friends from USAF days, Billy and Dianne Harrison. When I finish that item, I will probably post a photo. I am using what looks to be a very complicated pattern; it isn't really but it keeps me on my toes. Jenny's Lucy is a blanket collector - oh, wait - let me add a picture here...

Lucy was watching from the hallway as her mother got ready for a Halloween party. Looks like the procedure was pretty boring but, thanks to an ever-present blanket, she was able to make herself comfortable! (I am very disappointed that the picture is posting so small. Oh, well!)

Anyway, Lucy is a blanket girl, especially liking a particular yarn (Baby Bernat Coordinates) and pattern. When I was making blankets for Hattie I decided not to make any like Lucy's favorites so that there would be no confusion or hurt feelings. I found another yarn that I loved (TLC Cotton Plus) and made Hattie's first blanket from it. Jenny declared that to be her favorite baby blanket EVER so I am duplicating that one in blue for Baby Fitzmaurice (Fitzmorris?). I just finished a pink blanket for another friend's granddaughter-to-be and have the yarn for a bib and washcloth to gift with it in a pile. Yarn for hats for Arkansas Children's Hospital is in another pile, another started blanket in another pile - well, you get the picture!

Tommy and I just got back from shopping to find the wedding planner and a friend busy decorating. If the weatherman will only cooperate, this will be a beautiful, beautiful wedding!

Tonight Tom and Jimmy are going to see Merle Haggard in concert here in ElDo. Tanya and I will go watch Hannah in a skit at the Junior Service League style show. We have no ticket for DanMan for the concert and he sure doesn't want to go to a style show; hope he is welcome at Zach's for just a little while!

Maddy's first Honors Day

Well, Miss Maddy Nolan has begun her school career well! Here she is after her first Honors Awards Assembly. She received a certificate for being on the Principal's List - all As and Ss - but the thing we were all more proud of was her Citizenship Award! Sometimes it is hard to conform to all the rules and traditions of "big school" but she has handled the transition successfully! CONGRATULATIONS, MADDY!

A Maddy Day!

It is early voting time so Julie is working extra hours and JP had an appointment at the VA, so I got to pick Maddy up at "my old school", Hugh Goodwin, yesterday! (By the way, she got her first report card from REAL school on Friday and she made nothing lower than A/S!) Tom "needed" some help spreading seed for rye grass - and you can see he got it! We are hoping that the grass will sprout in time for the wedding on November 13. I am not sure if I mentioned in my last post that the Wildcats won last Friday night, ensuring a bye for the first round of the playoffs! That means Jimmy will be available to rehearse his part as a groomsman and we will be home for the rehearsal ourselves! GO WILDCATS!!!

After the work was done, it was time to play!