Welcome back to Melva Loves Scraps and the Pieces of My Life Sew Along!
Can you believe we are more than halfway through this sew along event??? And that we are already sitting here in August? Schools and teachers are preparing for the return of students... And Dave and I will be celebrating our 39th anniversary in just a few days. Where has the time gone????
With the last block (Large Spool) I shared details of my wedding dress... This time I focus on the rest of the events of our Wedding Ring Day.
I was just 20 years old, Dave was 22.
I lived in Colorado; Dave in Illinois. He has a large family; Mine was a much smaller family. Most of his extended family, aunts/uncles and cousins were unable to make a trip to La Junta for the wedding ceremony. As Mom and I reviewed the list of guests we anticipated, a last-minute decision was made to extend an invitation to all of the members of the church we were getting married in. Since I grew up there and Mom worked as the financial secretary for about 15 years at that point, there were many that had asked if they could come. In all, we had nearly 100 guests attend the ceremony.
As I looked over our guest book, I saw names of people that I haven't thought of for years. There was a surprising number of church members. Some were Sunday School teachers from my childhood, and youth group leaders in my teen years and childhood friends and their parents and siblings... I smiled as I recalled my memories of each of them.
Dave's parents would have preferred to have a larger celebration... That big party would have to wait until we were settled into our apartment in Illinois.
I was content to have a simple reception in the church basement with cake and punch, mints and nuts. I made hundreds of cream cheese mints. (All in the early morning hours... before 6 a.m... August in La Junta, CO can be very hot... It was not uncommon for the temperatures to rise over 100 degrees F. And many days it was in the 80s by 8 am.) If you have never made molded mints, you mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and mint extract (and a drop of food coloring, if desired), shape them into small marble sized balls and roll them in granulated sugar. You then press them into a mold that has been coated with granulated sugar to prevent them from sticking.
Grandma T. made the cakes; Mom & Grandma decorated the cake layers together. I remember Grandma needing more cake mixes. I volunteered to drive to the store. As I walked out the door she said, "Be sure to get Duncan Hines cake mixes. Betty and I are not getting along today." If you look closely, you can see the plates of nuts and mints. You may also notice that the bottom layer of the cake is sagging just a little. After we cut the cake and the top layers were removed, that bottom layer sprang back up as if nothing had been wrong. ;)
Following the ceremony, we visited with each of our guests as they passed through the receiving line and then we cut the cake. As we prepared for this my Mom looked Dave straight into his eyes and told him "Don't you smash that cake in her face or get any on her dress". Haha. She may have threatened him with bodily harm. He was nice and so was I.
Since we didn't have a meal to offer our guests, one of my aunts hosted a small gathering for the out-of-town guests to be able to have a light meal as well as some additional time to visit with each other. Dave and I made a brief appearance before we left for our "honeymoon".
It was one night in a small cabin at a lake. It was a 2-hour+ drive for us. The plan was for Dave's parents and younger siblings to meet up with us the next day to "tour" them through the mountain community of Cuchara. Dave and I were up early so we could enjoy some alone time and a walk around the lake. It was a beautiful morning.
We had been married about 1 month when Dave's parents hosted a party for us... a chance for all of his family, extended family and friends to celebrate with us. There were 60 in attendance for that party. The size may have been smaller, but the party was bigger and included food, cake, music, lights and dancing... and a bar.
We enjoyed opening the gifts as our guests watched at both receptions. Thirty-nine years later we still have many of those wedding gifts... among them is the microwave we got from my in-laws, the set of hand-painted china that Grandma T painted with pink wild roses; our everyday silverware, casserole dishes, tablecloths and napkins... and who could forget the cash? LOL! I don't remember the total amount we had been gifted but can say that neither of us had ever held that much in our hands at one time. ;) I know it helped to pay for the expenses we had in setting up our apartment with painting, cleaning supplies and stocking our pantry.
It is now time to head over to my Payhip store to get the pattern. This block features four square-in-square units, strip pieced rectangles and a square. You'll find that it pieces together fairly quickly. make sure you come back to share/link up your finished Wedding Day block.
Since we are more than halfway through with the blocks, I'll be sharing the layout for the second section of the QAYG soon. Come back on Monday and my Sew & Tell Party to get the details.
As I have reflected on our day, I have no regrets and wouldn't change a thing. Except for getting more of a "honeymoon"... (that story was included in my newsletter) but in short... we should have kept our plans a secret. ;) And since we have deferred any sort of big trip for ourselves to including the girls, maybe a crowd funding account would be an option. Haha! I do have the button below for a small Ko-fi donation. LOL!
Did you have the opportunity for a special honeymoon?
Leave a comment telling me about it.... I'd love to live vicariously through you.
Keep Piecing,
Melva
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