The Princess Brides

I am so behind in posting. June is quite a busy month for me with three weddings and a garage sale. That leaves me one free weekend the end of June and I'm looking forward to it!! Maybe my husband and I can celebrate our anniversary that weekend. Our anniversary was in May, but it was too busy that week. This posting is about two wedding from May 18 at the Lone Oak Ranch. Both brides wore princess type dresses, extra puffy. :-) They were beautiful! I didn't get a good picture of Brooke's dress, but it was very big and pretty. The weddings were 1 1/2 hours apart. It was a nice sunny day to have two outdoor weddings. The decor for both weddings was very different. One went with a light fresh look of blues yellows and silver and the other wedding was hot pink and zebra print. You couldn't get any more different. Below are pictures from both weddings.

Sarah's Wedding

Sarah's wedding was a 3:30pm at the Wagon Wheel. Before the ceremony, I snapped this picture of Sarah. Now doesn't she look like a princess?? :-)

This was a picture of us as we drove over to the wagon wheel for the first look. We were in a golf cart.

I loved this shot I got of the first look.

I just loved the color combinations they used at the wagon wheel. That little bit of red accent was nice.

I loved all of the flower pedals at the ceremony site at the Wagon Wheel.

Cowboy boots on the bridemaids is very popular at the ranch. It was nice that the wedding party was shaded and most of the guests were as well. It was quite warm this day.

Arriving at the reception by carriage from Rustic Rides www.rusticrides.net

The reception at the Rodeo Cafe.

The table setting. Believe it or not, this may look like china, but it is all plastic ware. Except for the wine glasses and cups, which were also a souvenir to take home.

The sweetheart table. Just big enough for the two of them.

The cake...gluten free I might add. It was very delicous! The middle layer was three layers and the cake is a little more dense than regular gluten cake so it was quite tough to cut. My knive broke while cutting this middle layer and I made due. Sarah and her new husband both have Celiac disease so mostly all of the food was gluten free. We are seeing more of that these days.

First Dance. The DJ was from Doubletake and he was great! It think a professional DJ can make such a difference. In fact, their original DJ was unable to make it and this guy filled right in. He was such a pro and it always makes a wedding coordinators job so much easier.

Leaving with sparklers. Even though it wasn't dark, it still makes for great pictures. What a fun way to leave.

Sarah and Will - May 18, 2013!

Brooke's Wedding

I didn't get as many picture of Brooke's wedding since I was mainly with Sarah this day. Brooke is the sweetest person, but she must have a wild side seeing her decorations. :-) She hired a professional decorator, Brenda with Cherished Memories, to do her decorating of the outside at the grove and the ballroom for the reception. At first when I heard hot pink and zebra print, I was wondering what that could  possibly look like, but Brenda did a great job with it.

The ballroom for the reception. A little zebra print goes a long way!

Reserved for Family table decor

This was the guest book table and the "M" was to be signed as well.

The Bride and Groom's cake

The outdoor ceremony set up at the Grove. It was nice and shaded in the trees.

This is one of the only pictures I got of Brooke. It's not a very good picture either.

It was a long day, but I think they both loved their day. It's great when the bride and groom are happy after all of that planning! 

Diner, Drive In and Dive in Florida!

My husband and I visited my parents in Florida at the begining of the month. We wanted to check on my dad. He was receiving radiation treatment for a cancerous tumor. He's doing well and slowly improving. While there, my parents took us to some interesting resturants. It's fun to eat at some non-chain resturants and those are some of the best.

Dive

We started out going to a unique Barbeque place...a real dive from the outside. We were begining to wonder what this place was. The place was called Peebles Bar-B-Que in Auburndale, FL. Here is a picture of the sign.

Here is what the resturant looks like from the outside. Yes, they prop the outside widows open with sticks of wood. It's a unique place that is only open from Thursday through Saturday, 11am-9pm and are closed July and August.

Here they are inside roasting their meat...and it was good! The meat was great, the sides were excellent, but the bar-b-que sauce has a little too much vinegar for my taste, but I liked the experience and it's worth checking out!

The inside is "sit where you want" style

These are happy campers...my husband and dad

The one thing Peebles did not have was dessert...so...we left and found a Diner.

Diner

We took off from Peebles and drove to Lake Alfred and found a quaint little diner that had a great assortment of pies. Most were homemade.

I should have gotten a picture of our pies, they were good. I got sugar free cherry, and the rest of the crew got coconut cream, chocolate peanut butter and lemon meringue...yum!!

We ate outside on this patio and the weather was just great!

Drive In

A few days later we stopped by Andys. Andy's used to be a drive in, it goes by the name Andy's Drive-In resturant and Igloo in Winter Haven, Florida.  The service was great and the food was yummy and the prices were great.

Here's the menu...very reasonable.

The burgers were really good.

They have all kinds of ice cream. My dad got this Fruit Salad Milkshake. Yes...I never have heard of that either. Not sure if the word "salad" is supposed to make it healther...I doubt it. :-)

We had fun going to these different resturants and checking them out. We were really down there to help dad and mom. So for those of you who know my dad, here is the radiation machine they they used on him. It's amazing how they can pinpoint the spot where the cancer is and just treat that spot. He's doing better. He is finished with his treatment and for the next several weeks he should continue to improve. If not, they will move on to the next step. Not sure what that is yet, but we are taking one day at a time and trusting God.

This is one of my favorite views when I'm in Florida at my parents. I'm actually outside when I took this picture, but it is about the view from my parents kitchen window. Very serene and peaceful.

The Outdoor Wedding That Almost Wasn't

The wedding date was April 26 and the wedding was at Lone Oak Ranch. The forcast called for rain and the wedding is set to be outside. We practiced the night before both outside and inside...just in case...and then we prayed that it wouldn't rain. On the day of the wedding, which was set to take place at 6:30pm, I got a call around 11:30am from the bride letting me know that she decided to have the wedding inside, she didn't want to risk it being cold and rainy. Then I got a call around an hour later dismissing that direction and saying that the wedding was going to be outside...on the grooms insistance. He was watching the weather and really felt like it would be OK. So when I got to the ranch, I had the parents and grandparents gather some umbrellas and put them under their chairs...just in case. Well...it started to mist about 2 hours before the wedding and then it quit. We had the wedding outside and the weather was just perfect. A little cool and overcast. It was fun, and things went really well.

First Look's are quite popular these days. This allows for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding...have a moment and that way they can get most of their pictures out of the way. Pictures after the wedding with family are short and sweet and then it's on to the reception.

These are the adorable flower girl twins and ring bearer's. One of them had quite the personality. Hint...it's one of the boys. :-)



These are the adorable flower girl twins and ring bearer's. One of them had quite the personality.

(Hint...it's one of the boys. :-) )



Ushering them in

 

The Brides Arrival





Here Comes the Bride...





Who gives this bride?







The Wedding Party




In the words of Phil Robertson, they are Hap-pay, Hap-pay, Hap-pay!

(Sorry...just thought it appropriate to give a Duck Dynasty reference)



Just Married!!



What a beautiful and unique way to have your guests sign in at your wedding and what a nice keepsake. Not sure who cut this wood, but they did a great job!




Decor from the reception...last name begins with a "W"





Burlap is very "in" and it is a major part of the decor these days.





Head Table Decor



The Brides cake of four different flavors. The three we cut were spice, strawberry and white. Yummy!!




The Groom's Cookies. They were gone in no time! They both really love baseball. The DJ would annouce the score of the Rangers game throughout the night.





A Koozie as a gift or take away with the bride and grooms name and wedding date.



The throwing of the boquet. Although this picture seems to have cut out the boquet that was thrown quite high.



One last picture before they left.



A sparkler send off!!





And they are off...into the Sunset. Acutally I just loved this picture even though it was taken the night before the wedding. This is how serene it feels at Lone Oak Ranch.