Let The Wedding Crafts Begin!

Exactly one week from today my sister-in-law Jean is getting married, or rather, having a celebration of marriage. They actually got married at the court house but the big ta-doo is next Saturday. It's going to be a hoot to have the whole family here. Plus, it's reason to go all out with the craftiness.

Today I made the chandelier for the reception hall. The pictures don't do it justice. And I'll post photos of it in coxtext--it'll make much more sense, and look a lot better than it does hanging from the rafters of my garage. It's three grapevine wreaths of graduating sizes, hung with wire and wrapped in garlands of flowers, lights and tulle.

I also made the pillow for the Ring Bearer (Oliver):

I put the finishing touches on a wedding day purse for the bride--crocheted with chenille and lined with the liner from the bride's maids' skirts:

And almost finished Phoebe's outfit (still need to cut and hem the bottom of the skirt). She and Mo are Guest Book Attendants. I made her a skirt out of the same satin as the bride's maids'. Her top is a reconned shiny t-shirt (instructions in this fab/crazy book) found in a bag of hand-me-downs one of our babysitters gave us. Therefore, this cost $0. I also crocheted her a shrug out of the same chenille from Jean's purse, I just have to sew the seam.

The rest of my projects can't really be done until the day-of. We're hosting the rehersal dinner in our backyard. So Friday I'll be setting up tables & chairs, colored luminaries, tiki torches, and these cool scrap-fabric "car lot flags". We'll also set up white luminaries and potted mums & ornamental grasses (which I bought today in the driving rain. I left my purse in my cart inside, kicked off my shoes, rolled up my pants and went outside in the Walmart Garden Center to buy 10 mums and 10 grasses, carrying them back in by the arm load and got totally soaked. The Walmart Garden Center employees thought I was insane--and boy is that gonna keep me up at night), plus the chandelier in the reception hall. Then Saturday morning, make the bouquets and bouteniers (sp?) and floral centerpieces. Sounds like a lot, but there will be all hands on deck.

The worst part of all this will be cleaning my house, specifically cleaning my bathrooms. Yuck. Want me to build a chandelier, make 8 bouquets and bouteniers, and host dinner for 35 in my backyard? I can do that without breaking a sweat. It's mopping the bathroom floor that will throw me for a loop.