Ben & Jo's wedding is in four days!

My best friends Ben and Jo got engaged last year when E and I were visiting them in NYC. It was so romantic, so perfect, so wonderful. For awhile they didn't know where they wanted to get married, weddings are just so expensive! I was sharing their woes with my Grandma one day and she said "why don't they get married in my yard!?" I couldn't believe she was really offering, hosting a wedding is a huge task, especially for friends of mine, no hers.

I let her think about the idea for a month or so, and then when she still seemed sure, I brought the idea to Ben and Jo. They couldn't believe what a nice offer it was either, they were hoping to get married in Utah, and my Grandma's beautiful garden seemed like a dream come true. Almost immediately, they said yes.

Then we started talking details with Ben and Jo. Food? Flowers? Tables? Chairs? Music? My Grandma kept offering more and more of her time and knowledge. "We can cook the food!" she'd say. "For 60 people?" I'd ask, and she assured me it was okay. "We can order, arrange and coordinate the flowers," she'd say. Again and again things started to fall into place, with her taking the lead. Almost everything for the wedding we are doing ourselves. Our friend Becky is cooking the cake, E is in charge of the music, my Grandma and I are in charge of the menu, the flowers, the decorations and almost everything else. Ben and Jo are paying for all the materials for the wedding, we are just putting it together.

So, for the last 9 months my Grandma and I have been working like crazy. Over the last week we've been working extra hard. The wedding is this Saturday, and everything needs to be perfect. Last week she and I went to the liquor store, the super market, assembled all the paper lanterns (they turned out AMAZING!), cleaned the deck, and finalized our shopping lists.

This week is even crazier. Today we are washing all the windows and doing a sound set up. Tomorrow we are doing all of the shopping and finalizing the placement of all 32 paper lanterns. Thursday we are prepping all the food, and meeting with Ben and Jo for final prep. Friday we are picking up and assembling all the flowers, then I'm hosting a bridal shower for Jo and her bridesmaids (luckily the entire party is only four people, she wanted a very small shower), then we are having a rehearsal dinner. Saturday we are finalizing all the food, doing all the set up, taking photos and hosting a wedding! Wow!

You might be wondering where my standard group of photos is for this post. I've been taking photos all along to share with Ben and Jo, but they asked if I could keep them under wraps until after the wedding, because they want a lot of elements to be a surprise.

Let me just tell you though, this wedding is going to be awesome! When my Grandma heard Ben and Jo's color choices, she planted her entire garden in those colors. Plus, the linens, the dresses, the lanterns and all the other details are really going to bring it all together.

I better get going though, I'm off to wash windows so they sparkle for the wedding!

Oh, and one more thing. If you are in a weddingy mood after reading this post, remember that I organize all my posts by labels. So up above, under the title of this post, see where it says Labels: Wedding? Click it! You can read all my posts on my blog that I've labeled wedding over the years. Its kinda fun.