George and Brooks say, "I do"

Our sweet friends finally decided to tie the knot on their relationship and become eternal companions forever.  Since I was the one help pick the date after George finally popped the question and Brooks told me she wanted to get married before her birthday (since she was turning 40 and wanted to be married in the 30's) I said to do it on 7-11.  It would make it super easy to remember and found out it was even on a Saturday this year.  Perfect!! They agreed and then put me in charge of the decorating since I was the one that picked the date.  I'm not sure how that calculated out to be the case but I agreed to take it on.  I asked what my budget was and was told as little as possible.  Well, that could mean a ton of different things for different people.  I said what $10, $100, $1000.  What's a little.  He was hoping for $100 since they were planning on feeding everyone carne asada for the wedding and that was going to cost a lot.  I took a deep breath and said okay.  This was going to be a tough task and I had I hopes for the way it was going to look.  I started a Pintrest board and then invited Brooks to join it so that she could see if I was on the right track and to pin stuff herself.  Thankfully she liked it. I  asked if she had colors in mind...I was hoping for just a pop of color and she said red.  Yikes...I didn't want it to go crazy but then remembered red roses would be perfect for the center pieces and give her the red she wanted.

All my borrowed items! 

I started posting on Facebook asking everyone if they had tulle, metal buckets, and other shabby chic type things that I could borrow.  I messaged my friend's who's reception I had just attended had that exact same theme and thankfully was able to borrow a lot from her and that saved the day!  In the end I paid only $4 for two hula hoops for the chandeliers hanging down from the pavilion.  Brooks bought the flowers and the center hula hoop but other than that I borrowed everything else.  Greenery from mom with the accordion backdrop for the cake table, table cloths from our ward and from Powell Valley Ward, table cloth, glass drink holders, and other red decor pieces from Nola, Wooden Ladder from Melissa McMullen that my Dad had extra white paint that we both painted together (that was fun!), metal tub from Laura Nelson, lawn games from the Bardi's to entertain the kids, and the best score was a HUGE box of tulle from Sister Zaugg that we were able to string on the sides of the pavilion and transform the space into and enchanting place for the reception.

Then I raced home to get ready to head to the temple for their sealing.  They decided to get sealed the night before and took everyone out to dinner afterward at the restaurant by the temple.  It was a wonderful night full of love and laughter.  I was also privileged to stand is a "mother" of the bride during the ceremony which as a lovely experience.

Before heading in for the sealing...so excited for them

Photos after the Sealing

After their Temple Sealing, in the atrium 

At the Lake Oswego Grill 

Celebrating the Happy Couple

I was so relieved to see Saturday morning that things were still all up and looked great!!!  My mom, bless her heart, was out helping me with the tables getting things all organized.  It was busy.  We had only a few hours to get as much done because it was Addie's Gymnastics Rec Meet too that afternoon, she did great too.  I was grateful to know I had a break though it was a little stressful with less time.  

{Pics from Vaughn since I was so busy and my phone was died and couldn't take pics}

Our sweet Sister Missionaries helped with the roses in the mason jars

George and Brooks- Head table

The Food side of the buffet table

The cake table but filled with pictures and such until the cake was brought out

Beautiful pop of "red" with the beautiful lace burlap runner 

Brother Ortiz at the grill...such YUMMY meat

Kevin helping all the kids since I was so busy with everything

(Rowan is wearing Kaila's scarf as a sash for some reason)

Brooks pined a "naked cake with fruit" on our board on Pintrest and I knew I could do it. It would be my gift to them for their wedding along with decorating. I baked the cake the night before and froze it at Erin's house.  I had to put it all together and couldn't do it too early since it wouldn't last in the heat.  Thankfully it was a perfect July day and I was able to get help from Brittany Deleon in assembling the cake.  Lauren Kammeyer helped with the fruit and we put the extra on trays to add to the buffet table.  Emily Jensen and her older kids were the best and came and helped me finish all the decorating and moving all the extra stuff back to the cars so it looked great.  I was so beyond grateful for all the help.  In the end it was beautiful and wonderful.  Exhausting though and I'm so glad for all the help that was rendered...especially in the take down.  Everyone helped pitch in and it was all done in 30-45 minutes.  The Matheny's were even able to fill their van with a large load of things and drop it off at our house since they didn't have their kids with them, another blessing.

(Lauren, Brooks, and I)