AN UNEXPECTED GUEST...

Let me take you into what my blog is really about...hence it's title!

I for one believe that the loved ones who are deceased are not really gone from our lives and I like to think that they join us whenever they are needed and I have a nice story to tell you if you are willing to believe that it could be true....


Sat. Sept. 3 was the wedding day of a guy who spent many hours growing up with my kids. My son and him were in the same grade and were best buds for awhile.

It was great news hearing that he was tying the knot and that we were invited as he and my son had drifted apart...but then this is a small town so people really don't drift that far...

Anyways we had all decided to attend the wedding which meant dragging my son [all of us] to the church part! My kids were not brought up with a religion and have thanked me many times for that fact of not having to face the Sunday torture of having be preached over. But I do believe that if someone needs to get married in a church then THAT'S their prerogative but we should honor it and so we did...

With a lot of squirming and fidgeting and we all must of suffer from A.D.D but that wasn't our fault either...have you ever sat through a wedding that held a service too and that was officiated by someone who had a hard time with the English language?

All I kept hearing was him call the bride Allicia when her name was Alyssa and go on and on about someone named Sarah? Those whom I talked to afterwards said that they were used to his lack of English skills and normally he speaks through a mike...but that wouldn't have mattered anyways when one couldn't understand him period!

We did sit at the back of the church so we weren't bothering anyone with our in attentiveness.

I was also sitting on the aisle seat so I could take pictures of the bride/groom as they came in and this kept me busy for awhile until sermon time. I don't quite know how to explain this next part because I know the majority of those reading this will shake their heads and say that my mind is slipping again...but then why should I care what they think!


This is what happened...

A very loud thought came into my head and said "look up and take a picture"...so I did


Right above me in the 16th shot of the day was this large Orb! It was very bright on my camera and shocked me and something told me to look back and take another one...

I took lots more of the ceiling and everywhere in the church after those two but captured nothing...not even dust motes!

I also got the feeling of who it was too...

The grooms dad, Gord!

The feeling that this was him increased as the evening went on...the next questionable shot is #37 when they were cutting the cake.

We were only invited to the dance, so I wasn't able to take shots of the supper festivities but through these next shots it may show you some questionable spots that I like to call Orbs. The below photo shows them very faint although the one above the bride has a brighter edging to it.

The shot right after the above one came out all blurry EXCEPT for the Orb, which seems to be fairly clear looking. It also has a strong aura ringing it too! This took lots of power to show it this clearly and the fact that the camera focus on IT!

If any of you have been following my Orb quest most will know that this is a rare one with lots of definition to it! You will also see that this same Orbs shows up lots more in my photos.

The shot below which was #39... shows the size as smaller and what might be matrixed as a smiley face? I think there is someone there from her side as well, just not as strong as Gord's Orb. I think he really wanted to be seen as most of my shots after the cake cutting was from inner urgings that cannot be explained.


The next shot [#44] below is what I would call dust mote orbs and moisture orbs from the fog machine but who knows what Orb might be hiding amongst them dancing the night away....;}

As most know at weddings there is a lot of pranking stuff going on like; all the women have to dance with the groom and the guys for the bride. A normally shy guy did very well on the dance floor and seem to be having a great time and


Was also being watched...

This is another strong Orb behind the groom and has that same strong aura as the large one...was his dad on the dance floor too?

Keeping a close eye on him?

The bride had some of her followers too...

Although it did look like the large orb hung around too...

My last shot of the evening captured these three Orbs trying to get in on the photo action too?

The final largest Orb seem to match the one in the 4th photo from above and both of them has a bright aura around it that is quite thick.

As far as I am concerned the groom's dad suffered much in life with MS and lost his life because of it. It's fitting as far as I am concerned that he got to float around his family, to be there in spirit and hopefully they felt him there like I did!


And thank you Gord for the privileged of showing me what I have suspected all along!


PS:

Must add that my family and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening! I got to dance with my daughter and grand children and watch BillyRoo [son] hide whenever we got the urge to jump around.

This wedding also confirmed to him that he'd elope to Vegas before going through what he just watched his friend go through..."a walking nightmare" in his eyes!

Little does he know...that when the "love of his life" wants what she wants and it's a big wedding....I foresee trouble in their future...;}


But not to worry there doesn't seem to be any "love" interests hanging around...
him or me....:)

The Gothic Wedding...The Final Chapter...[I hope]


 The last photo of the couple's table...

Hope you can see the detail clearer...?


Wedding went okay...

Reception was different. MC had to wing it a lot due to no one preparing anything for him to say?

A lot might have been different on the Bride's end if she had only asked for help? Granted there wasn't anyone responsible around her to do so and we lived 2 hours apart. She doesn't drive and he worked oilfields.

In all the did pretty darn good for handling an event that takes a huge amount of planning.

Did have some fun! Danced. A. Lot! Showed my grand daughter that it was okay to "dance like no one was watching", even though people were! Did visit a bit when I wasn't busy shooing drunks of the floor with drinks. Saw my brother & sister-in-law for a seconds before they disappeared...



So final photo of the wedding party during the ceremony and taking photos out in the rain...

Happily married at last!

The last and worst part for me was the ending of the evening!

Being the coordinator, it was up to me to see to the ending...removal of drunks and with a possible clean-up.
I was supposed to take the hall keys to close up but asked to not have to...I was tired. The keys then went to the best man [very drunk] who thought we had to clean the hall and he wasn't coming back in the morning. Not wanting him to handle the decor himself [with drunk friends] with a possibility of ruining them, I asked that he leave them and give me the keys so I could come in the early hours while others slept [a norm for me]? All he had to do was make sure the doors were closed after they left.....Nooooooo

All hell broke loose...!

He starts mouthing off to me, accusing me of coming to do bad things in the hall when no one would be there? Nobody gets up at those hours for goods things? Who the hell was I to boss everyone around all day long and all evening? .....I was JUST the DECORATOR! He had lots more of bad things that can't be repeated but you get the idea of insults hurled at me....innocent me!

There was no way in hell he was giving me the keys!

The Bride and Groom forgot to inform everyone who I was and what my role was, besides being the decorator!

I had just spent the two days/evening herding cats people/kids around!
Nagged drunks to keep their drinks of the hardwood floor part.
Telling the DJ that they couldn't use their fog machine due to asthmatic in the crowd, nor their strobe light because of there being an epileptic too. Which did not endear me to the drunk DJ [best man's friend] either!
The ones near the balloons must have thought I was a nagging b--ch!


The last thing in my life is me wanting people to hate me!

I go out of my way to be nice!

My Ex accused me often of always trying to make people like me by doing these things for them!

Only to come off as a B--CH!


That's what hurt the most!

Needless to say I didn't get the keys and spent the rest of the evening trying to get some sleep.

I was NOT there early the next morning!

Sadly I had to upset the Bride and Groom even more by telling them how disappointed I was in their friends and what was said to me and asked why they let no one know what I was there for besides the decor?

Somehow saying "I'm sorry" does n't always smooth the hurt feelings.

For everyone got to see the real mad me then!

Happily the sun shone as we drove home!

Now you know why it took so long for me to relate this "well learned lesson"!

Hopefully all the crap that happened at that wedding means clear sailing for them from then!


THE END!

P.S...They are now expecting in May...;)

The Gothic Wedding...part 4

Continuing on with my complaining....


The set-up was not only difficult...try throwing in family drama!


Summation of fight I did not want to get into...

Bride-to-be...in hysterical tears!
-Her future in-laws were both pissed [drunk ?] because they felt left out of wedding plans? Both were literally screaming nasty things at her? Both felt left out because everything had happened at the couples place instead of theirs?
-The young couple had only wanted help with the cost, not anything else and had asked to do their wedding their way...which wasn't wrong in my books. That's what was agreed upon by everyone earlier in the planning stages... so why then with the grief?
-Traditional planning got in the way! Some steps got forgotten? This really bothered them?
-Some mean things got said [not by me] and feelings got hurt...all thank you to questionable parents celebrating [?] too soon!

Thus Groom was driven to tears...because dad's good at doing that sort of thing!


And yes...I was ASKED to step in...which I did!


Things got said [tactfully] and peace was restored...for them


For me...it affected my sugar levels and decorating got tougher!

Sugar out of whack makes anger a big thing with Diabetics!

When I get upset, I can't eat...no food + lots of stress + strenuous activity = unreasonable thinking, which led to me causing another problem...


The Ceremonial Arch Placement!

I didn't want to have to move it around and hoped to keep the reception setup easier without moving much, besides the chairs [no guarantee on helpers]. So I suggested the stage, not aware of the exact size of the DJ's music/equipment and the space needed. In my mind, if it was like the ones I'd seen before, they required minimal space. I should have just waited for them to setup instead if stubbornly insisting on the arch placement! I was more interested in the ease of my job later is probably the main excuse...;( I did see the reason later, but my insisting had caused added grief to an already stressful time!

[I am still trying to fix that annoying trait of mine...;}]


Then I run into Head Table Placement!

That caused some more problems. When one hires a designer, it should be done the designer's way [that's why you hired them], with the wedding couple being the only ones who has a say in any changes. I can be very stubborn about this fact! It may not makes sense as I am going along, but the big picture is in my head and it's extremely hard to put to paper. I do have detailed drawings but some still can't see? So all I asked was to do it my way first and if the couple & I don't like it then we'd change it.

There is always a decorator in the group that has to want it their way? I know they are only trying to help but it's also a hindrance! Sadly I always give in for the sake of peace! Wasted a good half hour only to do it my way in the end....GRRRRR...

These two wonderful events happened together!!

Can you imagine where my stress levels were then?......Sugars?

Things did get finished...I got some food into me and calm was restored.

BillyRoo and I left them to do their rehearsals....but I should have stayed as I was also their wedding coordinator, but it had already been too much and I needed sleep!



Finally the big day!

I started mine out by visiting Button's grave around 6 am in the misting rain. Had a good chat, informed her of what was going on and hoped she could do something about a better day/no rain...;}?

Won't bore you with all of the other disasters that happened like a no show photographer, hair dresser that couldn't do hair, scrounging for flowers to put in hair, missing flower for ring bearer [think dog ate it] and a little girl who wanted nothing to do with this wedding...

Plus more rain!


My take on children in the wedding party.

Is it...

I can hear all the "awes..." out there. Even got one from me when I saw them.

That's it for cuteness!

The littlest one's changed when she got tired [couldn't blame her] and parents should have removed her but didn't! Her brother was the same way but was good, in helping his little sister get through the walk down the aisle. Thing was, he didn't like the other little girl [my niece] as both wanted to be the leader! These pics tell the story. I was happy on the Dragon staying in it's basket. I knew she would be the strong willed one from previous experiences. They had a heck of a time getting her to wear that dress and no way was anyone doing her hair! She too, got tired.

That said, they were great walking down the aisle. Both kids were told they were the leader separately by their parents [alone] and were convinced to hold hands. Trouble was none of them knew where to go! Seems at dress rehearsal the plans were that they would walk out first? Why would you expect that age to remember where to go?

I had to get my big butt into the ceremony by having to guide them...then untie the aisle ribbon, which should have been the first bridesmaid.

All did finally go well for the ceremony...no I won't bore you with those shots...;}

Except for the signing table...

In the upper photo I have the only orb on all of my shots. This photo also includes the candle that they lit before the ceremony in honor of his deceased mother, Buttons. I like to think she was there!


Finally on to the reception...

One big thing the Bride really wanted was make an entrance through a sea of balloons on their walk to the head table. This took 300 balloons [the bridal party blew them up te night before]. The kids had a ball. This was another problem for me...keeping the dam things on the dance floor area. Kids weren't only the problem it was the ceiling fans! Ever tried getting balloons from under a bale while people are sitting at them. I would have left them only it became hard to walk through the table aisles with the balloons there! Not to mention sitting with them...which just happened to be where we were sitting! It went from being funny to hating them! Word of advice on the balloons...put them out just before they start their entrance and keep the fans off!. We had to have the fans because of all of the humidty inside and out.

The head table turned out not too bad...I had wanted more ivy but had depleted all stores of their stock..;}

The head table had become cluttered looking. The large candle/holder was a girft from her maid of honor and she wanted in on the table. I thought it was too tall...see I do make concessions...;}


This is far as bloger will let me go....

And yes there is more drama.....

THE GOTHIC WEDDING...part 3



5 years ago, I was asked by my nephew and bride-to-be if I would be interested in helping with decorations at their future wedding, which would be a Gothic one...of course I was interested...;}


But this was also a gift to my sister Buttons. If she had lived we would have done this together...

Welcome to their magical moment...

Somewhere in a Fairy Lit Forest in Coronation, Alberta...

 A very scared looking bride


Sign-in Table/coat check...

The starkness of the white top on the table was later covered with a black lacy panel and the pillar got a burgundy ribbon white a red heart to finish the look. Somehow missed a close-up of the final look shown in the above photo. The birdcage and treasure box [held extra "Wishing Stones"] were from that year's garage sales...:)

I just loved the bride's dress!

The bodice was gorgeous with its fancy bead work but it was the back that amazed me...

 

Hard to believe this was a second hand dress

I loved the hint of a veil! Although I would have liked to seen it black...;}

Here's what our final results were in the forest land...

Doesn't this entrance way look huge! This was one big hall! Happily it's lighting was great in adding the atmosphere we were looking for...kind of on the dark side. Made for crappy photos though...;( Most of the shots have been lightened and are fuzzy. One thing I am is not a great photographer...I guess one can't be great at everything...;)

They wanted an archway for their entrance/exit and one for their nuptials. Not wanting it to be a traditional arched style or white, I had this brilliant idea of using PoD's old green gazebo. So we painted it black [exterior paint] added ivy and more mini lites. This was a lot more sturdier than those cheap white arches. One gazebo made two archways.

Along the sides of the hall, I had these 8' pillars that were wrapped with burgundy velvet ribbons, mini lites and ivy, topped with ivy bushes. There were 4 lining the front only their top was a lamp. I also had 4 pillar lamps for added sparkle. These were supposed to represent trees. The bride was supposed to have gathered bushes together but that never happened and I didn't have time. I had the lights for them just in case she had.

The stark whiteness of the aisle markers matched with the bright whiteness of the ceremonial arch which helped break up all the dark aspect of her Gothic. The red hearts helped.

You probably noticed the bare walls. Rules in this place were very strict...no hanging decor or fastening stuff on walls. That's why the poles...;)

I really wished I had gotten better close-up shots of the tables...they did look good.

I would have really like to seen the bushes but in all I think it looked fairy-ish...

The Wedding Aisle....a sacred path for the bride & groom

I did everything possible to ensure that only the wedding procession went down that aisle! I tied the entrance, I looped barriers between the rows, so there would be no crossing from side to side...only to be ignored? Don't know how many times I had to re-adjust things! I wonder if there had been a floor runner, would they still have walked on it? Guess that's my "old fashioned" sticking out...;}

A very slippery floor!

Just waiting for the ceremony

The extra lighting in the white area was made white by adding my "led" branch lites. They give off a blue/white glow which contrasted nicely with the soft yellowish glow from the mini lites. The curtain was closed for the ceremony...;}
This archway was quite moveable and was later repossioned at a photo op area.

*******************

Final set-up time 10 hours of horribleness!

BIGGEST PROBLEM...MIS-COMMUNICATION!

What should have been an exciting time of joking around, maybe a bit of drinking, having fun decoration...turned out to be a disastrous nightmare!

The weather played a big factor in most of it!

It rained from the moment we got there til the moment we left!

Plans of tenting were washed away in the deluge...so we had to get hotel rooms. Which were another nightmare situation I won't go into other than there being NO RESTAURANT [closed due to staff problems -drug busts] and no outside lighting in the parking lot with NO STREET LIGHTS! We did get a special rate?

It had rained quite a bit before we got there so the ground was soaked, puddles everywhere with decorations that shouldn't get wet, having to be unloaded. We had lots of helpers as tables had to be removed only to be replaced with the long ones which we couldn't find. Seems, lookers were "man looking" because I had to do it myself! That became the general theme. I had to be in many places showing untalented helped how-to-do EVERYTHING? I had to show one guy how to measure and cut the plastic for the tablecloths? I know I shouldn't complain...help is help no matter how unskilled...:) I WAS very thankful for people showing up...:)


HAD FINISHED THIS POST BUT GOT ROBBED...


So you'll have to wait until blog lets me continue...

A Gothic Wedding...Part 2


Colors...black, burgundy/blood red with a hint of white

Theme..."Dragons - Magic in the forest"

So on with more stuff that had to be made...

 

I wasn't sure what size would fit or how many cards to expect, but knew for sure that we wanted a birdcage style. Hopefully something bulky enough that couldn't be snitched! Which can be a concern at small town weddings? The smaller one worked the best for card retrieval.

I ended up gifting the small one to them and I kept the big one for future rentals.  

The bride wasn't too keen on a lot of hall flowers but we needed something for the sign-in table and stage? 

{I forgot to mention earlier that her flower pick for her bouquet was 5 red [years together] 3 black [for the ones who couldn't be there...mostly Ben's mom, Buttons] and 2 white representing them.}

She wanted 2 red roses to represent both of them on the signing table with the rest being black roses. I added the red and gold wheat looking sheaves to represent Ben's family history of farming [also helped break the bleakness of the arrangement]...

 

What to do for Aisle Markers.....she didn't want flowers?

The ceremony and reception were both being held in this hall [which was huge] so we had to set up for both with easy removal of the ceremony arch. We'll talk more on that later but for now I had to think of how to make an aisle with reusable Aisle Markers. Couldn't use a floor runner to mark the bride's walk way...floor too slippery. With part of our theme being "magical", I came up with the idea of "Fairy Wands" which could stand in a vase behind the couple on the stage...to later be given to the little girls attending. Turned out she kept the wands because she liked them too much to give away all of the kids turned out to be too hyper. The wands were 2' tall with foam hearts painted red/black with little "Fairies" clinging to the heart. The red tulle aisle draping later went on the head table and the white tulle was fluffed at the base of the repositioned arch for photo shoot.

Third Problem....the Tables

Our theme was Gothic which has some medival feel to it which was good backdrop with Dragons. The hall had round ones preset out [had to be returned to after function] but they didn't suit so we used the long ones... This was the first design idea...

 

The center piece were those rose bowl types, turned upside down on a red plastic plate. Inside sat a "led" tea light. On top of the base of the bowl sat a small dragon figurine [which would be tack-up down]. This ended up diferently...

This is how it ended up looking which was just fine. In addition to the bowls were the Bride & Groom "led" tea light holders. The bride was a crystal wine decanter and the groom was his favorite beer bottle [these were those cheap outfits that fit on wine bottles]. I changed the white veil to a black one. Both bottles had a candelabra corked insert which held the lights.

Each table had polished stones [some with words on them] with black & white heart petals strewn about.

The head table had lots to it...

 

Fourth Problem...

The bride had gone out and bought some neat "Dragon Goblets" for the head table. 8 attendants and one for her and him. These would have been okay only they looked horrible [pic doesn't show just how bad]...

 

The end results were quite nice and all liked them.

The other was their goblets...

 

These had been planned...

Along with these goblets I had repainted my kid's dragon heads [they liked better] to match the theme [these were just borrowed] as they were to go on the head table...

 

The small dragons were to go on top of the flower bowls only we couldn't find and others to fill all the bowls so these ended up on the head table. These were later gifted to them too.

The Fifth Problem....

Which might not have been for some but is for the traditional type I am...

There WASN"T going to be a "Wedding Cake"!

I know more and more are do just that, not having a cake, but for me...a photo op is missing?

So as my shower gift I made them a.....

  

The quotation is from their wedding invite.

They loved it so much that they sat it on the Signing Table....:)

I hear she has it in her display cabinet.

Gotta go to work..........stay tuned for the finished results......

 A GOTHIC WEDDING...part 1

It began with a proposal...

Ben's idea was to use this as his proposal but didn't know how to go about it. So I designed one for him to give her for her scrap book...

 We used this idea for the table favors but instead of "Peggy..." each place was filled with a question etc. These were small so we were able to fit 2 to a page. PoD [bridesmaid] did all of the folding.

The dragon design was used on their invitations and was the general theme of the wedding

The other table favor were the "Wishing Stones"...

 

 The heart stone had "I WISH" written on the back of the stone in reverse, so when held up to the light you could read it properly, make a wish and put under your pillow...wish is supposed to come true...;)

Being a Gothic wedding, the bride did not want the usual bouquet. She loved this weird fan shaped leaf and wondered how I could incorporate it into her flowers or hair piece...? It look like it might have come from a dragon...one of it's scales? In keep with the theme the "Dragon Scale Fans" were born...;} The choice of fan was that August is usually hot and it might help cool them...that's why the sleeveless dresses.

 

 The First Problem:

The constant color change of the maid's dresses. They went from burgundy to black, then red, then a mixture of all, etc.

The base of the fan went from red feathers [couldn't use cause one was allergic to them] to finally settling on a white base.

 

The flower girl's baskets had their own problems too. Previous experiences had shown me, that the kids are too young to have responsibilities like throwing flower petals. What ever it is it had to be light weight and sturdy enough to withstand any abuse...swinging, hitting, etc. Wicker baskets are too heavy and can hurt others, so I used a hanging [garage sale] mesh fruit basket and wound ribbons through the wires, adding [wire ribbon] bows. Added small flowers & bunched up tulle circles. Replaced the chain with wire ribbon to form a hanging swing where a stuffed baby dragon sat. Dragon was removable to keep them happy while waiting...:)!

The other request was for hair decor for the maids & flower girls. She loved the sparkly flower and we go with this idea..."Maiden Wreaths" in punk hair-dos...

The Second Problem:

Which would have been okay if only her hair dresser hadn't bailed and the one that did do the hair couldn't figure out how to place them? The hairdos were supposted to be punkish but ended up being "Pebble Do's" [see the flower girl hair]. PoD was not impressed! She had gotten her streaked with red for the "punk" do. So in the end these head pieces did not get used...I had to scrounge up flowers for their hair decor instead...which didn't suit as far as I was concerned. But your talking about a couple hours before the hair time! They were just lucky that I carry emergency supplies for just that reason.




That's all that I am able to up load so will have to continue.....