And Now For The Rest of The Story!

Less Than 24 hrs Before the Wedding!

For as many years as I can remember Amanda has loved Heston Farm

It was her dream to get married there someday.

She'd had friends get married there even in rain storms

and it was fine because even tough it is outside everything is under cover!

The weather was unusually hot this week

and Friday was really hot and they were calling for

a thunderstorm.

We started early putting up decorations

and if you have been reading this blog for the last week we had made most of them

in this last year.

Things were really starting to look nice

but it was time to go home and get ready for the Rehearsal Dinner

Than after the dinner that was at the other end of the property we would all

go back up to the pavilion to finish up what we could before calling it a night!

Remember my last post we talked about the beautiful weather we were having for the Rehearsal Dinner?

Everyone dressed for a luau!

Well things changed real quick that night!

We heard the first clap of thunder and a few of us thought we better run back up there and put

a few things a little more undercover...

Have you ever heard of a storm called a

DERECHO

http://earthsky.org/earth/videos-and-images-violent-us-storm-of-june-29-2012

This link will tell you a little more about it..

It is a lot like a tornado but instead of being vertical it comes in horizontal!

It went from being sunny and beautiful

to being

Yellow and Green/Gray

skies in just minutes.

The wind started picking up

they said upwards of 70+ mile an hour winds..

We were grabbing decorations and stuff and literally throwing them in the kitchen

which was the only completely covered area.

Those beautifully decorated doors at one point I saw two men trying

hold them up. At that time I looked up and all those beautiful trees were just

twisting off and exploding right in front of us.

At That Point...

I screamed for everyone to drop everything and run to the kitchen...

Those doors dropped to the floor and we ran.

The sky was black at that moment and it was only 8:00

and the roar was so loud as it passed over us.

I had never seen or heard anything like it!

All the power was out and we were tripping over things in the kitchen,

trying to get around with our lights on our cell phones.

We came out of the kitchen...

only to see all the destruction this had left in it's path.

I grabbed Amanda in my arms 

both of us in shock at this point to what had just happened...

We just stood and cried!

Looking around to see if anyone was hurt and wondering how everyone was that we had just

left at the other end of the property. Because they had no real cover down there. Just an open pavilion.

It seemed forever before anyone came up from down there.

Everyone was OK...

except for Amber who fell and really scrapped up her leg.

We waited for power to come back on, and made phone calls to see if we could get any help down there.

Tried to check out the property..

for any damage...

The cabinet that was to have all those mason jars had blown down and was full of water.

There were Hydrangea's all over the place.

Chairs set up for the service were blown here and there.

Limbs and leaves scattered the beautifully manicured property.

Benches and chairs around the fire pit were all down.

It seemed that the storm came right up the rivers path!

The doors they stood in front of just a couple of hours earlier at the Rehersal were a mess...

These doors were held up with rebar driven in the ground and bolted to the back of the doors..

Chairs blown and leaves everywhere...

furniture around the fire pit

This tree was right behind our pavilion

just twisted and wripped apart.

That evening the sound of chain saws rang out into the we hours of the night.

The fire alarms kept ringing.

Trees on homes and roads and in the river all around us.

This tree behind us looked liked it had been pealed like a banana..

Up rooted trees just laid in the river and almost 4 weeks later it is still there.

For a week there was no power on that hill and as you can see power was off in a huge area of the East...

But it was hit and miss... we live less than a mile from where the wedding took place and we never lost power. But that whole hill was without for a week.

West Virginia had almost 500 electrical poles down...

and twisted towers...

stuff like this doesn't get fixed overnight! 

To Be Continued...

Lynn

The Wedding...

The Night Before the Wedding...

Well after a very HOT day it was time to practice this ceremony!!!

All decked out in their Hawaiian attire,

these crazy guys were ready to see

the bride to come down the isle!

I have no idea what they are looking at

but it must have been interesting!!! LOL

Remember these aren't the photographers pictures,

just pictures we all took.

I just loved this one because you

can really see how pretty those hydrangea's and lambs ear

dried flowers looked on those doors!

Here they stood holding hands practicing

for what would be the biggest

day of their lives!

It was a beautiful day

but it was way to hot...

almost 100 degrees and the humidity

well just let us say we were

all dripping wet and miserable...

Thank goodness for lots of ceiling fans in that place!!

Down the isle they went...

and off to the other end of the property...

The Rehearsal Dinner was to be all the

way across the property, down by the pond!

West Virginia is a beautiful State

as you could see we were surrounded by trees

big beautiful Green trees.

And to the right, right behind those trees

is a beautiful river!

If you look really close

far in the background about 300 yards down

Is the pavilion the wedding would be held the next day!

By this time mostly decorated

and shortly after this dinner we would be adding the

finishing touches on everything.

That way the next morning all we should have to do is set

the tables and add those little touches that would make everything perfect!

It was such a beautiful evening and everyone was having such a wonderful time!

It was a luau and everyone was dressed the part!

All the bridesmaids were looking great!!!

Signs were hung...

This one was designed by Mary

The Flower girl.

She always called

Amanda/Anda

and well she never knew her Pap

So she always called

JR/Pap

and that is what the sign should read...

and that it did!

Here we are

The Usary Girls!

Me,Amanda & Colleen

we had worked hard

and it was time to party!

Here is our wonderful Photographer,

JR's cousin Sandra and her husband Rocco

and I can't forget the Crazy Groom

in the background!

Yea that's JR

There is Marsha on the right

watching as they cut the great Grooms Cake

her and his sister BJ had bought for him!!!

It was special all right!!!

Topped with a replica of his dog Cabella

a 170 lb. Mastiff

and of course him laying under the tap on that Keg..

It was such a cute cake!!!

This is such a great family photo

of

JR,Mom & his sister BJ

They had no idea until that night

they had bought the same outfit

for this occasion..

JR & my nephew Austin

really did dress alike that night and they looked so cute!

They look like they just got caught taking a sneak taste of that cake!!!

And these life long friends always look this rotten...

They look so happy and ready to start a new chapter in their lives!

To Be Continued...

Lynn

The Wedding...

Let the Painting Begin!

You know when my girls were growing up

I always told them

with

a name like Usary

you are always going to be at the end of the line

since you are at the end of the alphabet!!! LOL

So I always told them to marry someone

with a name at the beginning of the alphabet.

Do you think she paid attention???

I ordered 100 yards of burlap that was just the perfect width for table runners.

Now all I had to do was paint the edges and the "W"

The tables were being decorated and they were starting to look like we had planned...

The W's only got painted for the head tables

and one of the tables with the quilt as you walked in..

On all of the round tables we just painted the edges...

This was one of the things she picked out

back in Jan. when I was trying to get all the painted stuff done.

It hung on the wall when you first walked in...

I am hoping the photographer got a picture of it!

The glasses (or should I say Mason Jars) had to have a sign

so everyone would know to

Tag their cups...

So the end of January Amanda said no more painting!

There were so many cute ideas we could have done...

But we had to stop somewhere.

I painted a really cute board that one of Amanda's

best friends little boy was going to carry.

But at the last minute he got sick an couldn't come...

It would have hung around his neck and it said

Here Comes The Bride!

This was Friday night and he felt so bad..

There is nothing worse than a summer cold.

Especially in all that heat, at almost 100 degrees that night...

To Be Continued...

Lynn

The Wedding...

Look at that look on her face!!!LOL

Is she going to smash that cake

all over his face???

Nope she was really good!

But I would have bet you it was going all over him...

Instead that crazy husband of hers...

Smashed it in his own face.

They did have fun...

"THE CAKE"

The cake was my biggest fear...

She wanted me to make the cake.

It just had to be small she said...

Only her and him would be eating it...

Remember everyone else would be eating the Cupcakes!!!

Than she would take one section to freeze and save

for their first anniversary...

But I don't decorate cakes I told her!!!

So fondant was my choice of frosting!

But I hate fondant!

That was until I found PINTEREST!!!

There was a new recipe for Fondant

It was marshmallow fondant!

I had never heard of it but it was worth a try...

Only Mini Marshmallows,Powdered Sugar and Water...

How hard could it be?

Actually really easy!

I looked it up on You Tube.

I love You Tube you can learn how to do anything there.

I always say I am a visual learner and watching the tutorials makes

it much easier for me!!!

This was my first try at this and I would do this one again

in two months.

Yea I made two of them...lol

No icing decorations

Just Hydrangeas and Raffia with a few Lemon Leaves

Topped with a birds nest.

Can you believe she picked the Hydrangeas last September

We did nothing to them but hang them

and they kept this much color.

I was amazed...

Oh I almost forgot the most important part of this cake...

The Cake Plate!

Last October I had just gotten home from school

and I heard a chain saw...

It was next door.

I looked out just in time to see the big pine tree come down.

It wasn't just any pine tree...

It was Amanda's Great Grandparents

Christmas tree from the 50's

It was huge!

I ran next door and ask the guy cutting it down

If he could cut me a couple of slices for us to save...

I knew at that moment it would be going under that cake!!!

Yea I not only married the boy next door,

we ended up buying the house next to his parents

and next to that was the house his grandparents built years ago...

Not a great picture but they are lit so you can see them.

A little closer look on this one..

Of course they had burlap and roses...

In the picture with them at the top...

If you look in the background on both sides of them

are the big arrangements

that had big branches that lit up

really beautifully.

To Be Continued...

Lynn



The Wedding

As I stand on an almost 50 year old braided rug

made by:

 Toms Grandmother...

Surrounded by Burlap and Muslin

I have to take time to reflect on the notion..

That a lot of my crafting started with my Mother-in-Law

getting me started doing craft shows with her

in the early 70's

I always loved to paint and started taking painting classes at age 12.

Sewing came easy when I started taking sewing classes in high school.

My mom was always sewing and making me cloths I loved...

But watching Toms Grandmother and Mom braid rugs from the time I was a young child always fascinated me. I even watched them make this rug in the middle of

Tom's mom's living room floor...

Now it is in our Family Room...

Oh by the way I married the kid across the street...

Literally!!!

So crafting,sewing,and painting was something I have always loved...

"THE DREAM"

This next project started with a dream, yea I dreamed about this one...

We already had the glass globes that went into these baskets..

I wanted to Incorporated them somehow with the roses...

In my dream I wrapped the burlap around them

to look like roses and the next day I tried them...

and shall we say the rest is history!!!

Here you can really see the roses wrapped round them...

Than you just filled them with lamp oil

and they would have burned for 14 hours...

We did the same with some single rose baskets that went on the head tables...

Roses Roses and more Roses...

AND LOTS OF HOT GLUE BLISTERS...

How would we ever survive without hot glue??? LOL

The Baskets were heavy,silver and rusty. So very rustic...

Something Amanda found at a Yard Sale for $.50 each..

So we knew we had to use them...

My girlfriend Paulette gave me a big bag of the tan grassy looking stuff

we filled the baskets with... It worked perfect...

Here one sat on that beautiful wall...

They really looked nice that night all lit...

The lemon leaves were another thing we found in

Grandma Lil's craft supplies...

There was a huge bag of them and we sure used them a everywhere...

As the tables were starting to be decorated...

Here sits one of the small baskets...

Again I can't wait to see the photographers photos.

They will be much better than just the quick shots

we took as we worked...

To Be Continued...

Lynn