A Recent Wedding Experience

We have had the Garden Party planned since the beginning of our wedding planning. The need for semi-structured activities was really brought to our attention at a recent wedding we attended. The wedding took place at the couple’s church then we drove across town to the reception hall. The wedding pictures were being taken outside of the hall so we followed each other across town.

We entered the hall at about 5:15pm, found some seats and waited. About 15 minutes later a DJ started playing smooth jazz music. He announced that there were some appetizers available so we nibbled on those for a while. At about 6:00pm it was announced that dinner would be served at 6:30pm, it wasn’t. Our friends, that we were sitting with left at about 6:15pm, they were hungry and tired of waiting.The wedding party finally made their entrance at about 6:45pm. They went straight into the couple’s first dance, father-daughter dance and mother-son dance. Then it was finally time to eat. Our table was at the buffet line at 7:15pm, 2 hours after arriving at the reception hall. This is just not acceptable at all. During that time there were 20+ toddlers and children running around, yes actually running between the tables. It was a mad house.

We only stayed because the groom is like family to us. If it were not a “family” wedding we would have left much sooner than we did. We are usually some of the last to leave a wedding reception but not this time. We stayed and danced a bit but the amount of little ones on the dance floor made dancing difficult. The moral of this story is…be organized, have a timeline and stick to it and parents-please keep an eye on your children.

Our Garden Party Plans

The ceremony is taking place outside, in front of the church. After the ceremony, the bride, groom, maid of honor and best man will greet guests in a receiving line that leads them to the Garden Party in the large back yard of the church. While the guests are at the Garden Party a few behind the scenes things will happen. Formal portraits and group pictures will be taken, some chairs will be moved inside for the reception, and the runner will go get the reception food.

Our plans for the garden party include beverages-iced tea, lemonade and water, appetizers, music, photobooth and games. We plan to have 2 types of games. We will have 3-4 corn hole games set up so several people can play at a time. We also plan to create some wedding mad libs so those who are sitting and relaxing can join in the fun. Our ceremony musician is also going to play a 30 minute music set to keep the guests entertained!

As we are wrapping up the picture taking-no more than an hour, the garden party will wind down and those guests who are invited to the reception, our reception venue is too small for everyone attending the wedding so it is invitation only, will find their escort cards and enter into the reception space.

What are your thoughts on this time between the ceremony and the reception? What have you done or experienced during this hour? I love hearing about your experiences!

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All Things Are Ready: A Bride’s Complete Christian Wedding Planner

While I was doing my research, the planner I wanted had to cover several things that I felt were important:

• It had to be about planning a Christian wedding.
• It had to include checklists.
• It had to include a timeline.
• It had to keep Christ first in every element of the planning.
• I wanted a 3-ring binder format if possible.
• I wanted it to include notes or devotions for the bride to keep her focus on what is truly important.

All Things Are Ready includes all that and more! I actually found this book on the Doorposts.com site. We have used products from Doorposts in our child training since our children were young. I knew that they advocated courting, as we did so I thought they might have a wedding book to recommend…and they did!

About All Things Are Ready

 This is a new Christian wedding planner that will help you organize a beautiful, enjoyable wedding. Unlike most wedding planners available today, this planner looks at weddings from a distinctly Christian, Bible-based viewpoint.

This Christian wedding planner is based on three basic assumptions:

1. Planning your wedding doesn’t have to take very long (unless you want it to).
2. The cost of your wedding should not exceed what your family can afford.
3. A Christian wedding is all about rejoicing in what the Lord has done in the lives of two people and their families.

All Things Are Ready is full of to-do lists, planning resources, tips, budgeting and timeline tools, options for personalizing your wedding, ideas for portraying biblical themes, and devotions to keep your focus on the Lord and the work He is doing in your life through marriage.

Mom Maven’s Thoughts

All Things Are Ready has been an invaluable resource for us as we plan a frugal, Christ-honoring wedding in 6.5 months. We were easily able to tweak the 12 week wedding planning calendar to meet our longer planning period. My husband and I meet weekly with the couple and go over what has to be worked on each week. This keeps us all on track and keeps the planning moving forward. The Master List is a wonderful tool to make sure we don’t miss any little detail of the planning process. The bride’s devotions are helping keep the focus on the love she and the groom have for each other and God and not on stressing over the small stuff.

If you, or someone you love is getting married I recommend All Things Are Ready: A Bride’s Complete Christian Wedding Planner. It will keep the focus on the big picture while making sure every little detail is covered at the same time.

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