Stephanie and Nicky's Wedding

Everything went pretty smoothly---considering a few monkey wrenches thrown in at the last minute---extreme weather in Charlotte, NC preventing Sandy and Greg from getting here on Thursday as planned. Then, Greg's dad passed away on Thursday night (not unexpected). Still, everything fell in to place quite nicely for Stephanie and Nicky.

On Friday night, everyone except for Greg and I had to be at the Church for the rehearsal. Stephanie and Nicky were hosting the "dinner" here afterwards. Since Greg needed to be with his family, that left me alone to get everything ready. Eli, Jordan's s boyfriend, offered to come and help. He is such a sweetheart---I just love him! He was a huge help, except for this:

He always takes his shoes off when he comes in. It must be something he does at his own house as I don't expect people to take their shoes off at my house. I wear slippers or socks all the time, but it's just for comfort. Anyway, this is not the first thing I wanted our arriving guests to see. He moved his shoes to the back door. Still, I thought it was cute.

Then I discovered this:

Has it really been since Christmas that I've even walked in the dining room? How in the world did we "forget" to undecorated the china cabinet? I decided to leave it on Friday night because I knew it would create a mess to take it down. Those leaves are HIGHLY flammable!! No one noticed.

When the Lapps family was delayed, I asked Butch if he wanted to help me fold the napkins in to hearts. He rolled his eyes! He would have done it if I'd really wanted him to. The Lapps' got here around 2 p.m., so there was time for Victoria and Elizabeth to help me. There were only going to be 24 people---and 13 of them were US! We're always a party by ourselves.

I kept the food simple---Honey Baked Ham and Turkey, roasted potatoes, broccoli casserole, and fruit

salad. I wanted a fresh floral arrangement for the table, but since it was Valentine's Day, the prices were "jacked up." Instead, I opted for a $25.00 green plant that I'll have forever! Well, if I don't manage to kill it.

 Petit fours for dessert.

I used conversation hearts as confetti. These little heart candles were so cute, but no one got to see them. I lit them too early (a half hour before everyone arrived---they were late) and they melted away. What a shame---they were cute.

Next up---the wedding....