The goal of this wedding was to create a fun, casual, picnic environment where 350 guests could relax and enjoy themselves. The wedding took place outdoors on the lawn of the groom's church. The entire area was decorated with paper flowers.

   
Flowers were "planted" in the grass and in the gardens. The sidewalks and the side of the church were covered with paper flowers. This little girl was having a blast jumping from flower to flower. In all, we made about 800 crepe paper flowers and about 250 sidewalk flowers varying in size from 6" to 3 feet wide. Yes, we had help from ladies in the bride's church!

We covered the tables with paper and supplied crayons so guests could draw pictures and write messages to the bride and groom.

      
To keep our guests cool, we made brightly colored fans with the program on one side and the bride and groom's story on the other. A yellow or purple lollipop was tied to each fan. Lemonade was served before and after the wedding. We asked the guests to take home the paper flowers as our gift to them.

   
Daddy walked the bride down the aisle and he performed the ceremony.

The ceremony was joyful and filled with laughter. At the appropriate moment, the pastor invited the audience to join him in reciting the wedding lines ("Mawwage. Mawwage is wot bwings us togewah today...") from the movie, "The Princess Bride," which is a favorite movie of the bride and groom.

   

Eric and Bethany dated for more than three years. By their own choice, their kiss at the wedding was the very first time they ever kissed each other on the lips. At that moment we played part of the song, "Kiss the Girl," from The Little Mermaid movie.

      
The bride's mother said she would make one thing (not counting the scads of paper flowers she made): she would either make the wedding dress or else make a quilt for the couple. Bethany decided she would rather have her mother make a quilt that could be used for years to come, so she bought her dress on Ebay. It was a beautiful organza dress complete with swirls of embroidery and hand-stitched beading. We dyed the bride's petticoat lavender, just as a fun little surprise.

All of the bouquets, corsages, and boutonniers were made with crepe paper flowers. The bride and bridesmaids also wore paper flowers in their hair. The bride's sister made her beaded necklace.

The bridesmaids wore white eyelet sundresses. The bride made each bridemaid a beaded necklace as a keepsake.

The groomsmen wore yellow oxford shirts, which we had to overdye after we bought them since they looked so faded next to the bridesmaids' dresses.

The wedding cake was designed by the bride and groom. The bride's sister helped make the fondant flowers. A family friend made this unbelievable cake. Throughout the day, the cake was surrounded by paparazzi. It was definitely the second most photographed thing at the wedding! It is sitting on an antique mirror which used to belong to the bride's great-grandmother.

The groom's mother organized volunteers to prepare a brunch buffet complete with homemade muffins and flavored spreads, an abundance of fruit and fruit dip, cheese, ham, sausage, and quiche.

Large round tables were set up inside for those who wanted to enjoy the air conditioning and a slideshow. Each 8 foot table had a single paper flower centerpiece which was about 24" in diameter.

The two long hallways between the outdoor wedding area and the indoor buffet were lined with hundreds of crepe paper flowers in Sobe and Izzy bottles. By the end of the reception, every flower went home with a guest.

We had various activites set up outside for kids to play with during the reception including bubbles, balls, frisbees, a "make your own flower" craft table, and corn hole.

The bride and groom made sure they played a game of corn hole, too.

Exhausted at the end of the day, the bride sits on Mom's lap for one last picture.

After the reception ended, the bride and groom went to Waffle House, where they had their first date three years ago. The district manager happened to be there. He took pictures, gave them their meal for free, made "Just Married" paper hats for them, and gave them extra money so they could go out for a nice dinner later that evening. Other people in the restaurant used their cell phones to take pictures of them too.

  
The next day the bride and groom flew to Maine to enjoy their week-long honeymoon at a bed and breakfast near Acadia National Park.

Although this is not the quilt that was promised, in August and September 2007, the mother of the bride made this quilt as a memorial of their special day. For the whole story behind this quilt, go to her personal website, www.mariaelkins.com/JournalQuilts2007.asp

In September we did a "Trash the Dress" session at a local park. A very talented friend of ours took the pictures.

A special thank you to everyone in the bride's church, Calvary Chapel of Dayton, and the groom's church, Patterson Park Church, who jumped in and helped with the preparations, the flowers, the fans, the food, the cake, the hair and make-up, the set up, the sound, the music, the photography, the clean up, and so many other things. There is absolutely no way we could have done it without you!

Thank you, too, to the ladies on the QuiltArt list who gave the mother of the bride advice on dyeing, sent special crepe paper from England, helped us figure out correct food quantities for 350 people, and generally put up with her obsessing over the wedding for the last nine months. It's time to start quilting again!