Amy and Bill's Wedding

Pausing for personal.....and a few wedding details!  Amy and Bill were married (April 14th, 2012).  It was a fun to be a part of the events that lead up to the wedding.  I've loved getting to know Amy through the years.  It's fun to get to see Amy get to know Bill.   (Amy is one of 5 friends in my life with this name, though the spellings vary, and the personalities vary, they are all great gals, but.....it does seem like I say this name a lot!).  'This' Amy has truly been the heartbeat of the singles department at church.  She is energy embodied.  She loves fireworks, and friends, Cain's Chicken, Chipotle's Patio, and Bill.  And now, they've headed down the road to Arkansas to begin their married life together as Bill begins his journey down the road of ministry. 
Leading up to the wedding I was able to attend one of her showers, her bachelorette (oh my, such cute decor, and so many laughs!), and finally, their wedding. 
Wednesday, before the wedding I headed over to Amy's apartment (that was being boxed up by Maggie on this particular evening) and helped Amy decorate the top three layers of what would be her wedding cake. 

 Amy loves a good party, so it was no surprise she had lots of cute ideas for her own wedding stored in her memories to put together this event in just a little over a month.  Bill and Amy have been dating for two years, and on Leap Day, she proposed to him.  It's a long story.  It's a fun story.  It's unique, just like these two. 
Amy made a ton of these little flowers to replicate the Cherry Blossom theme she had throughout the wedding. 

Clever, she had the bakery make a faux top three layers of her cake.  They put icing hardener in the frosting, and frosted up styrofoam.  Amy bought ribbon for us to add, and then we got to work adding the blossoms.  The goal was they would slowly decrease as they dripped from the cake.  This saved a lot of money, and the bottom two layers (you will see in a minute), I was able to decorate with the remaining flowers on site the day of the wedding while Amy got ready.  With two hundred guest expected, this still gave her plenty of cake to enjoy as left overs, and it gave her height without all the cost, and this was something we were able to do in advance! 

 The flowers were another area Amy was able to save some money.  We ordered light pink and hot pink roses via Sam's.  They came on Thursday and I pulled them out of their temporary homes. 

 This is about a third of the flowers, getting a big drink of water.  They were pretty excited to be out, and it took some convincing, and refrigeration to get these gals to keep their petals on for a few more days.  Note to self, or someone who wants to DIY flowers.  A box of spray roses from Sam's makes 3-4 nice sized bouquets.  I like LOTS of flowers in bouquets, and I put 20 stems in each bridesmaid's bouquet.  I also used all these roses for the boutonnieres and corsages.  I make them up the day before, and then put them in a fridge (without fruit, flowers and fruit fight) on a low setting, on the bottom shelf. 

 Another note to someone who wants to DIY flowers, this can be really time consuming, cutting, de-leafing, trimming wrapping, please find a friend to DIY for you or you may not get to enjoy many of those pre-wedding events! 
Another idea I liked, Amy gave me some little pearl sprays to incorporate into her bouquet, I just used some floral tape and wrapped these onto the stems of some of the flowers and put them throughout the bouquet.  I really liked this idea. 

 Here are a few of my bridesmaids bouquets.  All the bouquets got tulle bows (Amy's favorite), and Amy's got a blue broach that had been her Mom's for her something blue added to the front of her ribbon. 

 Groom's boutonniere, all the others were hot pink with wax flowers. 

 Corsage example. 

 And now....wedding.  One of my very favorite moments of a wedding is watching the groom see the bride for the first time.  I think this is missed a lot by too many people, including the photographer, so I was ready, and he didn't disapoint!

 Who gives this bride?

 Fast forward-Amy and Bill headed on to their happily ever after. 

 The finished cake.  I slid the top three layers on the bottom two (which are real) and added flowers, and another thing of ribbon.  The only difficult part is sliding the top layer off and onto the bottom....it's just awkward to move it over, and I had to do a little repair.  It made it.  Just sayin'.....it's something to consider.  Moving cakes is not something I'm pursuing as a side job.

 Guest left wishes for the couple on cards and tied them to a blessing tree. 

 Another unique idea-streamers for the send off. 

Amy has been a big part of the singles department at the church for years, it's going to be so strange to not have her planning our social life, keeping us all connected, and in tact, but I know God has a huge plan for her in Bill's life, and I can only imagine how she will use these talents in her new role as a pastor's wife.  As I was sitting in the wedding, I was looking at some of my other couple friends who had walked those aisles over the last few years, others present with their significant others watching that walk, probably wondering what their day will look like, and some of us still attending events as a party of one.  It never ceases to amaze me to watch God's plans unfurl, and I'm looking forward to future celebrations for the friends in my circles, and for Amy and Bill over the next few years.