The joys of planning a wedding
My life is never boring, that is for sure! Lately I have been having an absolute blast helping my daughter plan her upcoming wedding. Indeed romance has been in the air around the Lathan house for a few weeks now.
Isn’t that a marvelous photo? My future son-in-law is wonderful, and quite old-fashioned. He asked Emily’s father for permission to marry her, then he asked me! Of course we said “Yes!” in resounding glee. We truly do adore Neil, and know he is perfect for Emily. Asking our permission was incredibly sweet and we felt very blessed, but Neil did not stop there. He wanted to plan an epic proposal not only at Emily’s favorite place but with her family present. Wow! Who does that? We were stunned and so honored. For three weeks we plotted with him in secret. Emily was completely in the dark, and getting more and more annoyed at Neil’s exaggerated “I’m not sure about the whole marriage thing.” LOL!
Needless to say, when he dropped down on one knee in the middle of our dinner at the Wine Country Trattoria restaurant in California Adventures at the Disneyland Resort she was taken utterly by surprised. It was priceless! And we captured the entire moment on camera—-
The entire restaurant cheered. I was teary eyed. We all were grinning ear-to-ear while busily texting and calling everyone we knew and posting on Facebook. LOL! I never in a million years thought I would be present at my only daughter’s actual engagement. It was amazing.
We have wasted no time getting started on the wedding plans. Partly that is due to excitement, but largely it is out of necessity. Neil is in the Navy and will be leaving for a new assignment in December or early January at the latest. None of us see any reason to delay so the date has been set for November 4 – 2011. Yes, you read that right! The good news is that I am very good at planning stuff! Being highly organized is paying off. Before two weeks had passed we had the bridal gown and veil, the bridesmaids’ dresses on order, the church and pastor reserved (our church and the pastor who has known Emily since she was a baby, so that part was easy), the reception hall and caterer (both at the naval base), the save-the-dates sent out and the invitations on order, most of the various items like favors and guestbook and flower girl basket ordered, the cakes – wedding and groom’s – decided on and ordered, the photographer reserved, and the silk flowers designed. Whew!
Today we met with the decorators. This was a divine appointment, as so much has been so far. We chased down a particular gown to a shop called The Elegant Bride in Fresno. Ended up Emily did not fall in love with the gown seen in the magazine photo but she did fall in love with another after trying on about 8 or so. It is fabulous and I wish I could share images, but not yet. Anyway, as it turned out, one of the ladies in the shop is a huge fan of my novels! That was a delightfully surreal moment, but the best part is that she and the shop owner also run a wedding decorating business. Samples of their work blew us away and the relief in having competent designers handling my sweet Emily’s fairy tale wedding is phenomenal.
Naturally there is much yet to do. We are enjoying each second of it and I am confident that her special day will be fabulous. I shall keep you posted.
[…] On the personal side of life, 2011 was a banner year of “events” with a capital-C. My husband and I both had knee surgeries to repair multiple torn meniscus. Before that, I had three successive surgeries to completely remove a cancerous lesion from my tongue. SUPER painful! My son (my baby!) graduated high school in June. WOW, how time flies by! On November 4, after three months of furious planning, our daughter Emily married her soulmate, Neil Steiner. A true blessing! I blogged about that, with loads of photos, in The Joys of Planning a Wedding […]
Hi Sharon!
Thanks for keeping us in the loop of the wedding plans! Feels as if we are there with you. My sincerest best wishes to Emily and Neil for much love and happiness together.
Take care and God Bless.
Esther
We congratulate the new couple on such a wonderful, blessed occassion! We wish them the very best and great joy, health and happiness!!!
Selena, Robert and Robert!!!
Hello my dear friend. Well look at this!!! I return from my overseas holiday to find such wonderful happy and exciting news!! A hearty congratulations to the beautiful couple the dashing Neil and your gorgeous Emily!
Best of luck with the wedding preps!!
Love always
TSBO devotee
Vee xoxoxo
Congratulation & God’s Blessing to one and all! How exciting to see your child grown up & starting a new life with her special love. Can’t even begin to imagine how this whole experience has been for you & your family. May God Bless Emily, Neil and your entire family. May their lives be fills with lots of love & happiness!! Very happy for you all <3
ps Your family's story is like enjoying one of your beautiful, romantic novels……glad to have become friends with you & share in your joy!
Thank you SO much, Celeste! Young love is always so romantic. It would be easy to look upon Neil and Emily with the jaded eyes of someone who has been married for 25 years and could certainly tell some hair-raising tales! LOL! But for one thing, they would not listen. Ha! Starry-eyed lovers do not want, or need, to hear about the trials they will encounter. Deep inside they know it won’t always be hearts and roses, so for now let them enjoy the glorious freshness of new love. In fact, even as happy as my husband and I are – our love deeper after all we have been through – there is something invigorating and wondrous about observing a couple at the beginning of a relationship. It brings back those memories, for one thing, but it also instills a spark for us. We are each appreciative in our different ways for the beauty of finding that special someone ordained by God who will be your partner in life – good and bad.
Dear Sharon!
I am really in love with you, your family and your wonderful lives. I am not sure if I can express my feelings with the right words, but I am so blessed to have you in my life. As I read “The joys of planning a wedding” I thought it is like reading a wonderful novel or watching a sweet movie. I can´t wait to see Emily as a bride and you as mother-of-the-bride!
Enjoy all the planing!
Lots of love,
Susanne
Oh, thank you so much Susanne! You are the best. I hope you know I feel the same way about you. I have been blessed to get to know you (and so many other wonderful people) through my writing, a few who are dear, devoted friends. You top that list! Thanks for always being with me. I am happy to share these slices of my life with everyone. Emily is my only daughter and my dearest friend. We are so enjoying this time together.
Thank you so much for sharing your happiness and this true-life love story with us. Congratulations to the beautiful couple!
Thank you Deborah! I appreciate the well wishes. Thanks for stopping by my blog. 🙂
Congratulations to the young couple and how fortunate they are in having you Sharon in full organisational mode to help them with their wedding! Sounds as though it is going to be a fantastic affair!
Thanks May. We are having great fun with it. I keep joking that I am going to go “all Monica on her” – that a reference to the Friends character who was the wedding planner from Hell for pal Phoebe’s wedding. We are major Friends fans so Emily gets the joke. Of course the truth is that if I have to go “Monica” on her in order to create the most perfect wedding ever, I will! LOL! So far I don’t think that will happen, but I am prepared. 🙂
Sharon how simply wonderful!! You are so blessed, I would have been teary eyed myself. Congratulations to your family. It will be so much fun for you over the next few months. What joy to be able to plan a wedding and enjoy all the special moments with your daughter. HUGS this is wonderful news indeed.
Thank you Lisa. It is a joy, even on days like today when we address, stamped, and licked over 100 invitations! Writer’s cramp never felt so good! LOL! I appreciate the HUGS. 🙂