Michaela & Chris' Wedding

My niece Michaela (daughter of Mike's twin sister Rachel and her husband Paul) got married on March 17, 2017. We have really enjoyed participating in all the festivities surrounding the happy occasion. 

On March 4th the aunts and cousins threw her a bridal shower. My neighbor Haven had just done a shower and made this donut board that she so kindly allowed me to borrow. It was a fun backdrop and conversation maker!

All the Andrews aunts and girl cousins that made it to the shower. We hope she felt spoiled and loved!

Michaela asked me to do her wedding flowers, and I excitedly obliged. It's been years since I did a wedding but it's such a fun opportunity, I couldn't pass it up. Not to mention that I could save her a lot of money by not charging labor, which I happily do for family.

The colors of their wedding were red and sky blue. Roses are always the wedding staple, and so perfect in red. For the blue I had to get a little bit more creative, and we settled on blue hydrangea, blue delphinium, and I wanted to try a blueish colored thistle, eryngium.

The bridal photos were a week before the wedding, so I made the bridal wreath, bouquet, and the groom boutonniere twice. I have to say, it was good practice and prepared me for some unforeseen issues...  like the fact that I ordered light blue delphinium, but it came dark blue, so we got that fixed for the actual wedding, thank heavens! Ella was my model for the wreath, making sure it looked okay on a head and not just on the counter!

For my first time, it turned out okay, although after picture this I spent a lot more time covering the green tape and wire.

The hydrangea wasn't as blue as I had hoped, but it came from another grower for the actual wedding and turned out so much prettier. Thankfully the bridal pictures turned out beautiful anyway. 

The next week I picked up the flowers on Wednesday so I would have two days to get everything done. They were so beautiful and perfect! (Note to self: I got the roses from Costco because they have the best price in town. But the florist at Costco referred me to Smith's Marketplace to special order from a wholesaler. The prices were reasonable, and they had everything I was looking for.)

The first day I focused on the centerpieces, so we could decorate the church on Thursday. I collected and borrowed mercury glass containers, thinking they made for the right size to go with the table groupings. 

The week of the wedding rolled around, and we geared up for some long days and night. Sarah flew into town and the sister reunion was a little bit emotional. Sarah and Rebecca were the masterminds behind the ceiling transformation. I dropped off the centerpieces and did the chalkboards, and then headed home to work on the wedding party flowers.

The delphinium added the blue we needed! The second crown turned out prettier.

We headed back to the church in the evening to help, and deliver the bridal bouquet, crown, and bout for the bride and groom to have with them at the temple. Things were coming right along and before we left for bedtime we had the tables up and mostly decorated. Thank heavens the church nursery toys were available, and that we took our laptop for a movie because Rachel ended up needing it to order photo prints online. All went as well as could be hoped.

Back home that night I finished the 11 boutonnieres, 5 corsages, and the cake flowers. It was a late night!

The day of the wedding dawned bright and beautiful. It could not have been better weather! The couple was sealed in the Payson Temple, which is breathtaking inside and out. The sealing was so sweet, and the couple was radiant. Our kids wanted to skip school and come with us, and I couldn't decline since I wanted them to understand that the temple is the actual wedding, where the special stuff happens. Kate was a wild woman (thing getting molars) and Jake was always running around, but the cousins helped a lot and we all survived. 

As soon as the sealing ended we passed out flowers for the pictures while we waited for the bride and groom to exit the temple.

The bridesmaid bouquets were so simple and pretty-- just a single stem of hydrangea with some baby's breath.

Mike and Seth brought their cameras to help with photography. There was also another aunt and cousin that took photos, so hopefully between everyone they caught some good shots!

Congratulations Cris and Michaela!!!

The bouquet turned out beautiful. Styles now are less bunched and more asymmetrical, which is hard to accomplish with round hydrangeas, but the cascading eucalyptus helped soften the shape.

Michaela made such a beautiful bride!

The Nelson Family has never looked more amazing! Those boys were so dapper in their bow ties, and the girls all so pretty.

The proud parents, Paul and Rachel. They have raised an amazing daughter, and Cris is a lucky guy! It's crazy to think that Mike is old enough to have a married daughter (since he and Rachel are twins!), but then I pointed out I would have had to be 10 when I had my first child.... yeah, no.

Grandma has been very close with the couple during their courtship since Michaela lived with her. It was a special day for her too!

The bridal party looked so pretty all together. The blue flowers against the red dresses was stunning.

Cris has impressed us too. He is warm and friendly, and very apparently adores Michaela. He sure has something to click his heels about!

Three of the lovely sisters together. 

After the sealing all of the family was invited to Cris' uncle's house in Springville for a luncheon. Mike took the two older girls, while I took the three younger kids home for nap time. On the freeway near Spanish Fork I noticed a big section of blown out tire in the lane next to me. I saw a car in front of me go around it, but the car behind them didn’t see it until almost too late, and I watched them jerk their wheel to the left to avoid it, causing their car to go into a complete 360 spin and cross in front of my van, then into the median. Miraculously, even though we had both been going around 80 mph, there was no impact and nobody was hurt. I instantly felt the seriousness of the circumstances, and knew that we had been divinely protected. What makes the story even more amazing is that in the car that screeched in a circle in front of me ware two of the bridesmaids from the same wedding. It was truly a miracle. I was shaky and teary eyed the rest of the way home, but I knew Heavenly Father was watching out for me.  

We headed back to the reception in the evening. Everything turned out just beautiful, and it was time to enjoy! They had a delicious taco bar, thanks to Cris' employer.

 And can I just say, his family knew how to dance and have fun! My kids loved joining in.

And then they were off! To Park City, I think. It was a beautiful day filled with lots of sweet memories. We wish the happy couple a happy forever together!