When someone asks me what the most memorable events of my life have been it is easy for me to respond. Of course, getting married thirty one years ago to my loving husband is first on my list. The birth of each of my three children and my grandson would come in second. Planning the weddings of my two daughters would be next in rank. I can honestly tell you that the memories that were created during this time were unforgettable and all I have to do is think about them and it puts me on a "wedding high". So if you have heard horror stories from other people about how difficult and stressful planning and preparing for a wedding is, don't let that sway you. You can make your memories as wonderful as you want them to be and a highlight of your life that you nor anyone else will never forget.

My oldest daughter Michelle was married on June 26th 1999. My youngest daughter, Kari, was married on November 4, 2000. I only had five months to plan our first wedding. Neither I nor my daughters had any experience in wedding planning or coordinating. It was 100% pure excitement of the upcoming events that motivated us to just jump right in and venture into unknown territory. So at the end of January 1999 it was announced that our family had a wedding in our future just five months away.

Now if you are someone with a wedding in your future but have absolutely no desire whatsoever to take the time to plan and prepare it yourself and would rather hire someone to do it for you, you will probably not be interested in reading any further. But if you desire to create your own wedding and involve your close family members to help you if you wish, than let me invite you on a journey into my unforgettable wedding memories.

A wedding is one of the most important events of a person's life and whether large or small, you want it to fulfill every dream and desire that you have always had within your heart. The day Michelle's wedding was announced, my daughters and I just sat around the living room expressing our own ideas and writing them down. Of course there was no organized order of things as the ideas were just pouring out more and more as we talked. We discussed color schemes, wedding themes, catering or not, real china or fancy paper plates, flower arrangements, locations, wedding gown, bridesmaids dresses, etc. The important thing is to write down every thought and idea you have for the wedding. As you go along you will discard some of those ideas and add new ones. After putting everything down on paper, we knew that finding a location was the first thing in order as the rest of the planning would revolve around that. Through word of mouth from Kari's friend who was also planning a wedding, we found a facility in a small quaint town called Louviers, CO which is hidden away in the country only a few miles outside of the Denver metropolitan area. Louviers has a centrally located historical building in which they used for town get-togethers, plays, and picnics back in the 1920's and 1930's. It is surrounded by grassy acreage and very large evergreen trees. Inside the building they have a large foyer, two kitchens, one large open room with a stage, another large banquet room with a fireplace, separate men's and women's restrooms, and an upstairs level with old oak railing bordering the stairway. This site was perfect for us as we could have the building and the grounds for 4 days for just $500.00. Plus we had unlimited flexibility whether we wanted to have the wedding catered or create our own buffet of home cooked food. We had lots of time to do as little or as much decorating as we wanted in and outside of the building 3 days before the wedding. It had enough space to do either an indoor or outdoor wedding ceremony. The possibilities were limitless. The extra added benefit was that they had the wedding date open and did not require a deposit until two weeks before the wedding. So now we had a wedding date and a location within the first week of planning.

I saw an advertisement in the newspaper that a local bridal shop was having a big sale the next week. Michelle and I went and she had so much fun trying on dresses. I had fun just watching her. She wanted my opinion on each dress she tried on. We both agreed on one we just loved. It was covered with lots of sequins and beads and was sleeveless which we decided would be perfect for an outside summer ceremony. And the cost was only $400.00. They took her measurements for the dress and we put half down as a deposit. So two weeks into the planning we had a date, a location, and a wedding gown for an outside ceremony. We were well on our way.

Everytime I went to the grocery store I was picking up a new wedding magazine. The one wedding book that we purchased from Barnes and Noble which we got the most ideas from was Colin Cowie Weddings. I started going to Michael's and Hobby Lobby and just looking at all of the different flowers and ribbons and trims that we could possibly use. By this time we had decided we wanted the reception to have a "Titanic" flair to it as our whole family was still stuck on the Titanic movie and we listened to the soundtracks all of the time. So I was focused on buying ribbons and lace and pearls that would create a sentimental, somewhat antique atmosphere. I really didn't have any specific projects in mind yet, but started buying all kinds of trims and pearls as they would go on sale. Michelle had chosen ivory and burgundy for her colors so all of the lace, pearls, and tulle were ivory or ecru. Every week Hobby Lobby would have a different section of their store 50% off. I checked the weekly ads faithfully to see if I needed anything from that particular department. The week the silk flowers were half price is the week I bought three shopping basket loads of silk flowers of all kinds in burgundy and ivory as the main colors with splashes of purple, mauve, and sparkly gold vines and stems to put in the arrangements. Again, at this point I had no idea how many arrangements we would be making or what kind of bouquets and other decorations we would be using flowers for. I just gathered everything that jumped out at me as being elegant and beautiful and set my goal at three large shopping baskets full. My youngest daughter Kari is a seamstress so we started looking at patterns for bridesmaids dresses. Her future mother-n-law, Bev, offered to help Kari make all of the dresses. One day I went into Denver Fabrics just to see what they had to offer. The day I decided to go they were having clearance sales on all kinds of different materials for $1.00 a yard. I purchased a burgundy satin material to make the maid of honor's dress and three bridesmaid's dresses for only $20.00. Along with the lining material, each dress cost approximately $10.00. These long gowns were very sleek and elegant and one would have thought they were purchased at a leading bridal store. My mother and I went thrift store shopping one day not really intending on getting anything for the wedding, but much to our surprise we found white linen table cloths for pennies, silver platters, silver sugar and creamer sets, and silver candy dishes which would have certainly dressed a table in the 1st class dining room on the Titanic. We also purchased clear glass flower vases for ten cents a piece, enough for twenty tables. This is still only one month into our preparations.

I was reading through Colorado Bride magazine and noticed an article about a bridal shower given at the Molly Brown House in downtown Denver. How perfect that would be since we were creating a Titanic theme for the reception. I called and reserved a date for the beginning of June. The showers are held on the top floor of the turn of the century home in the "ballroom". They also serve a Victorian lunch and tea to all of the guests. Since my sister was going to give Michelle a shower with all of her family and friends, this special event at the Molly Brown House would be reserved for just the women in our family. The guest list included Michelle's sister Kari, her aunts, a great aunt, her grandmother, and a few close friends who were considered family. To make it even more special this would be a surprise party for the bride.

We had decided that we would invite 150 people to the wedding. We ordered a three tier Victorian wedding cake with white and ivory icing complete with cherubs. As for the dinner, my husband has a friend who worked for a food supply company to restaurants. He offered to sell us the food at wholesale cost and he would come to the wedding site and cook and serve the whole meal. My husband and I went to All Seasons Rental in Denver which I would say has the best selection of rental items for any event. We rented white linen tablecloths and napkins, china, silver place settings, roman columns for the ceremony, silver candelabras, silver punch bowls and serving trays, fancy silver serving chafers for the buffet table, antique street lights, and even a turn of the century popcorn cart to make and serve popcorn during the lag time between the ceremony and the reception. We contracted our friends who were wedding photographers to take pictures and video of the whole affair. My husband and son are musicians so we already had all of the equipment for my son Daniel to be the DJ. Within a month and a half all of the major plans and reservations were made. Now the real fun began.

My sisters and mother would gather at my house once a week to create beautiful flower arrangements, centerpieces, bouquets, and favors. We always had the Titanic music playing during our get-togethers and we videotaped everything. My mother made Michelle's veil which was special for both of them. Thanks to the inspiration of Victoria magazine, we baked and decorated Victorian heart-shaped sugar cookies. They were covered in fondant icing and decorated with the most delicate lacey designs. We also made white chocolate rose suckers individually wrapped and tied with bows for each person invited. Kari made the invitations and each envelope was sealed with wax just like they did it long ago. I made special invitations for the Molly Brown shower with a picture of Molly Brown on each one. I also made Victorian "tussie mussies" for each lady invited to this special shower and a week before I had baked and decorated individual miniature wedding cakes for each person. (The idea of miniature wedding cakes came from Colin Cowie.) I checked with every bakery I knew of and none of them would even consider a custom order of these delicately decorated cookies or miniature wedding cakes in the quantities that I needed. Plus, the cost would have been extremely high on my end even if they did because they were very time consuming to make. But I wanted them and decided it was well worth the time to make and decorate them myself. Where there is a will there is a way.

We started gathering special sentimental items from the grandmothers to sit on each table with a card attached explaining who it belonged to and how old it was. We had items dating all the way back to the 1800's. To name a few of the items we collected were hand painted bowls, porcelain vases, silver and crystal coffee and wine pitchers and a gold plated rose stem vase. We also found old Victorian looking shoes at the thrift stores and painted them ivory and decorated them with ribbons, pearls, and lace and placed ivory tulle in each one. Of course we would also have ivory candles everywhere and oil lamps on each table.

At the ceremony site, as people walked in the foyer they would be presented with a long table covered in a white linen tablecloth with old family photographs in antique and Victorian frames placed around an old family bible in the center. Next to it was another table with pictures of the bride and groom from infant stage to the present. The picture tables received high revues from the guests.

After five months of creating sentimental memories that we will never forget, the big day was here. The outside grounds were decorated with roman columns wrapped in vines and roses, archways, tulle bows, beautiful flower arrangements and a bright shining sun glowing through the tall evergreen trees. The inside reception room was elegant to say the least. It truly was worthy of being a first class dining room on the Titanic. Of course we had Titanic music playing in the background during a full course meal of stuffed chicken breasts with cheese and broccoli, baby new potatoes roasted in butter and dill, garden medley vegetables with snow peas and pasta, a fresh fruit platter, vegetable platter, Caesar salad, rolls and butter, Victorian lace cookies, and the main dessert, wedding cake which was alternately layered with marble - fudge and white with French cream. The guests were in awe as they were surrounded with such elegance and an atmosphere they expressed they had not experienced before at a wedding.

Creating a wedding like this is only limited to your imagination. One thing I discovered is that any idea I saw in a magazine or wedding book could be done for pennies on the dollar compared to buying it or hiring someone to do it. If you do not have a creative touch, you may have family members or friends that do and would be more than willing to help you create a beautiful wedding. It gives much pleasure to those close to you to be involved in such a wonderful event. And you can't trade the memories of such quality time and special moments with these people for anything.

The wedding was a great success and we captured unforgettable memories of a very special event in all of our lives. Now it was time to set out on the next part of our journey and start planning wedding number two. And the story continues on……