Joanna and Mike's Wedding After months of planning, preparation and anticipation, the wedding weekend finally arrived. Things started with the rehearsal that was held Friday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. at the church. The sanctuary was already decorated and looked very nice. Our minister is a very organized person and the rehearsal took about 45 minutes. We all were comfortable that we knew what to do, so we all went to Chadagan's, a local restaurant, for the dinner. Saturday, October 21st was a beautiful day; sunny and warm with plenty of leaves left on the trees. The church was decorated very simply. The walls are white and the carpet is a burgundy with a print in it perfect for the wedding colors. We had a decorating company come in and decorate the church and the country club. They put everything up and took everything down. Every other middle aisle pew was decorated with ivy and a creamy bow. A creamy ribbon was draped from one ivy and bow decoration to the next thereby blocking off entry into the seats from the middle aisle. Everyone was seated from the outside aisles. There were two large vases of silk flowers at the front of the church. The flowers were all in white, pink and burgundy colors with Stargazer lilies dominant. The two candelabra were decorated with ivy and bows. Candles were lit in the candelabra and in all the 11 stained glass windows. The unity candle was on a table behind the altar. It was raised so it could be seen easily from the pews and the silk flowers around it were in the same colors as the flowers in the vases. There were seven white roses in a vase on the piano in memory of Joanna and Mike's deceased grandparents. The four bridesmaids wore burgundy dresses in the same style as the bridal dress: round necklines, high waist and princess style with short sleeves. Joanna's dress was ivory with the top beaded and the skirt plain satin with a short train and short sleeves. I wore a long navy dress and jacket and Mike's mom wore a long forest green dress. The men (including both fathers) wore black tuxedos with silver vests. The bridesmaids' bouquets were a mixture of white, pink and burgundy flowers. Joanna's bouquet was the same colors with stargazer lilies and ivy trailing down. The mothers' and grandmother's corsages were three pale pink baby roses. The fathers' and groomsmen's boutonnieres were white roses with ivy leaves. Mikes boutonniere was two white roses and ivy leaves. The music recital and ceremony were taped with audio and video equipment. We got some good footage of everything from several cameras and Dave, Mike's dad, is putting it all together into one tape. At 2:00 a half-hour recital of music began. We were fortunate to have three musicians play alone and in duets. Joanna's friend and neighbor, Robynne Godfrey played flute, Carol Mixer played piano and Jim Sankey played organ. Besides being gifted musicians, all three have a special connection to Joanna and Mike. During the next to the last piece, Mary and Dave were ushered in then I was. Then Mary and I went up and lit the two candles on either side of the unity candle. We did fine and didn't trip or stumble. The ceremony started just about on time at 2:30. Everyone did very well. Phil did a good job of keeping Joanna steady (she was kind of emotional on the trip down the aisle but rallied and did fine after that) and not charging down the aisle too fast. Both Mike and Joanna spoke their vows clearly so that everyone could hear them. After the ceremony, Joanna and Mike and the wedding party processed to the back of the church. The wedding party moved down the steps and out to distribute bubbles to the congregation. Joanna and Mike circled down the outer aisles and came back to the front of the church, then cut the ribbons at the pews and let each row of guests out. This allowed them to greet everyone and eliminated a long receiving line. We parents were at the back of the church greeting everyone. When everyone was out of the pews the couple went outside through the guests blowing bubbles, circled around to the side door and went back inside to have photos taken. We parents got our photos done first so we could leave for the country club to greet people there. The Grove City Country Club looked very nice, it's colors fit into our color scheme beautifully. The tables had cream cloths with burgundy napkins. Every other table had either a high tower decoration with candles around the base or a short decoration with candles. Both kinds of centerpieces had Stargazer lilies and ivy (silk). The cake table was flanked on each side with tall towers with lights in them. Between the towers tulle was draped. The wedding party tables, the cake table, cookie table and gift tables were all draped with tulle, ivy and burgundy ribbon and there were little lights under the skirts. As it got darker, the lights really looked nice and added a pleasant atmosphere to the room. We had the Slippery Rock University faculty jazz quintet play during the reception. The first hour, from 4 to 5, just the keyboardist played, the staff served hors- d'oeuvres and the bar was open and the cookie table was loaded with 70 dozen cookies that Mike's mother, Mary, made. At 5:00 the wedding party came in (after having photos taken at the church and outside the country club) and sat down. The best man made a toast, then our friend, Bill Cousins, offered the blessing. The staff served salads and rolls at the tables and then the wedding party started the buffet line. We had wanted the things to roll right along and they really did. The set up was great and the buffet line went very quickly. No one waited very long to eat and the bar was open, so they could always drink. After dinner, about 6:30, the band took a break while Mike and Joanna cut the cake, threw the bouquet and garter. The cake was served immediately after that. In between all that, we visited with the guests. The musicians were excellent. They play a mix of old standards, big band and jazz; exactly the kind of music Joanna and Mike wanted. The guests were surprised with the refreshing change and told us how much they enjoyed it. We had hoped the reception would be like a huge party with everyone relaxed and enjoying chatting with each other. It appeared that that was how everything turned out. Upon reflection, the entire day ran smoothly, we all enjoyed ourselves and it will be a wonderful memory. |
An October Wedding Joanna & Mike October 21, 2000 A description by the mother of the bride . . . |
