A Tribute to my Father

So I've written, and re-written this post several times.  I really wanted to capture this special moment for me, and perhaps for you if you find your self in this same life circumstance. 

When we were young children our father committed suicide.  I was in grade one and about six years of age and John was about eight at the time that my Dad took his own life, which means that we spent our lives missing out on what having a father would have been, the father daughter dates, him teaching John to play catch, hanging onto our seat bikes as we try to peddle all on our own.  Most importantly not being there for the big mile stones in our lives like marriage and children.

I have spent a lot of time emotionally trying to process what this means in my own life, trying to figure out my own emotions.  Trying to heal from the anger and loss and yet trying not to pass the hurt on to my own children.  I have tried to forgive, but mostly I have spent hours longing to know what it may have been like had he still been here.

Just after the marriage license had been signed it was time for family pictures, John had created a play list so music was playing in the background.  Just as it was my turn to have my picture taken with the bride and groom a song that I am unaware of comes on.  My brother leans over and tells me "This one's for Dad, he was an A@# and I love him" it's Danny Boy by the Pogues.  You see my Fathers name was Daniel. 

Here are the lyrics:

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling

From glen to glen, and down the mountain side

The summer's gone, and all the roses falling

'Tis you must go, 'tis you must go and I must bide.

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow

Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow

'Tis I'll be there in sunshine or in shadow

Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

But if you come, and all the flowers are dying

And I am dead, as dead I might well be

You'll come and find the place where I am lying

And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.

And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my grave shall warmer sweeter be

If you will bend and tell me that you love me
Then I will sleep in peace until you come to me.

Tears filled my eyes and for a moment I felt him there with us, I felt him smiling down on this gorgeous day.  I felt him sending his love and approval, there have not been very many moments in my life that I have felt his presence so near, it was beautiful. 

Later on I was inside speaking to the guests, and one of them let me know that during the wedding there were two eagles circling overhead.  Coincidence, maybe, but I like to think that my father sent one for me and one for John.

Thanks John for allowing that special moment to be just between the two of us, no one else got it but you and I.  This moment on this so very special day, I had so many emotions floating through me.  I felt gratitude for love, for peace and for happiness.  I was grateful to have been part of this special day to see you and Sue be so happy together. 

Mostly at this particular moment I felt so proud to see you be such a loving Father to your children.  It's not until I became a parent and learned the love for a child that I realized that Dad's loss was not in us not getting to have him in our lives but that he missed out on the joy of raising his own children. 

If any of you are out there and have suffered the loss of someone dear to you in your life in such a tragic way as we, know that peace and healing do come and life can still be beautiful and joyous.  This day was a testament to that.

The Wedding

I really hope I can capture the essence of this beautiful wedding day.  More so for me than any of you, but I hope in doing so I can share with you what a spectacular day this wedding was. 

The wedding was held in our home.  It was a small wedding with family and close friends.  What a perfect size wedding, and the fact that it was in our home allowed the guests and the couple to mingle and chat with everyone.  The sun was shinning, the weather was astounding, and those pesky black flies stayed away. (I live in the woods people they never stay away).  This gorgeous day was sandwiched between two weeks of rain, the Heavens were smiling upon us this day.

Waiting for his bride!

We really didn't rehearse the children walking down the isle.  Just minutes before we gave them some pointers and hoped for the best.

They did fantastic!  I loved that the children stood in for them.  They looked so sweet and they did so great!

Here is my brood coming down the isle.  I love that Buddy Boys has his hands in his pockets.  What a stud!

The Bride and her sweet father.

What made this day even more special is that my Hubby is the Bishop of our ward so he was able to marry them.  Really this was such a wonderful bonus.

Great job Buddy Auntie Nana is so proud of you, you did such a great job being the best man and taking care of those rings.  You are such a sweet boy!

As expected the sweet girls are all lined up in a row, smiling pretty and holding their poses!

And well the younger two.......they did really great as well.  I wish I new what they were plotting here cause it looks mischievous.

The signing of the marriage license.

And voila the wedding was superb!

The Bride's Dress

This is going to be a "Blog & Tell", sort of like the old fashioned show and tell.  You get it!  This is where my expertise steps out and her Sweet Mother's steps in, she made her dress and it was beautiful.  She did such a great job on it and so I'm going to brag about it for her here. 

Her jewelry was her mothers as well, it's something "Old", "Borrowed" and "Blue" and it's a perfect piece of jewelry too I loved it.

I loved the little added touch of colour to her dress and the rhinestone jewel in the front.  It was a sweet touch to the dresses simple elegance.  

Here is the ever so talented Mother of the Bride dotting on her daughter.  I love this picture.

The dress was sewn perfectly and fit her so well.  Oh the day was just wonderful in so many ways, all the details just came together so seamlessly, especially in the dress.

Ring Pillow

A few days before the wedding John & Sue came over to run over how things would go for the wedding.  While talking we realized that we hadn't thought of what to put the rings on for the best man Cruzer to carry.  Since he's ten and the wedding is going to be on the grass I thought it best to make a ring pillow. 

I really didn't think we wanted to worry about finding a ring in the grass.  I had some left over satin fabric from Coconut's baptism dress and I used the blue fabric left over from the girls dresses as well.  It didn't take me long and this was a nice added touch for the wedding. 

Tohoku Bridal Tote

When you buy fabric to make three dresses you clearly wind up with extra.  I had wanted to try to make the tohoku tote from I am Mama for a while.  I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try it and make Sue a tote for her to use on her wedding day.  The tutorial was simple to follow.  I took a few liberties when sewing but it looks the same finished.  I really want to make one of these for myself now it's really cute.

Groomsmen Ties & Vests

There were two of us sewing for this wedding.  I had the easy job of the dresses for the girls and the ties for the boys.  Sue's sweet, sweet mother had the difficult task of sewing her wedding dress, (phew I could have never taken that on) and the boys vests.  Don't they look handsome!!

I love the above picture of Tato, we had just put the binoculars away that he wanted to play with and was letting me know that under no circumstance was he going to pose for this picture.  And as Auntie Nana's should do, I quickly informed this sweet little boy of the impending cupcakes (you got it I bribed my nephew) and he quickly decided he was game on.  He & I had some funny conversations while he was here  I love that boy.

I made the ties with a tutorial I found online but the link no longer works for me to share it with you but there are tutorials all over the blog sphere to use.  Isn't my buddy boys handsome!

I loved that Sue's mom took the creative liberty to insert super hero fabric into the inside of their vests.  Seriously when Buddy Boys got his vest he asked "Papa" (John, my kids call him Papa too) if this was his to keep.  Papa told him it was and in his four year old mind I'm sure he thought he was invincible now.

Little Girl Brides Maides Dresses

The first thing John & Sue asked us was if they could have the wedding at our home.  Of course I was thrilled with this and we were happy to oblige.  Then the wedding planning started and Sue and I were off to Fabricville to pick out fabric.  She chose this summery floral print with a vibrant blue accent colour.  She asked if I would make these dresses for the girls.  

I was totally freaked out cause if she had seen the black dress I made Coconuts she wouldn't have asked thrilled and happy to take it on.  When it came time for the zippers I really was worried cause that is what I botched on Coconuts black dress.  I made round one of the dress and had a fitting with the girls.  The dresses were too big on all three of them so I had to re-adjust the bodice and take in the sides of the dresses to make them fit.  And they fit them like a glove. 

Here they are on the wedding day Bella, Coconuts and Duck and they looked stunning.  They loved their dresses and they knew they were made especially for each of them and they were so happy to be in them.  Sue you picked out the right fabric the girls looked stunning!

Wedding Favors

These sweet wedding favors were a labour of love from two of my good friends.  I had decided to have these made as a little take home for the guests.  It was crunch time and my sweet friends Monica and Lis punched out and stamped out all these favours and got them ready for the kids to put the candy in.

What great friends I have!  Really they step in to fill me up and help me out without even being asked.  The love I felt and the stress that was taken off my plate when these two came together is what friendship really means to me.  I love you gals!

The last step to this process was to get these little monkeys together to fill the bags with 18 mints, staple them and tape them to the inside.  And voila a sweet Wedding Favour.

Keep checking in as I continue to share this special wedding with you!  It really all came together so perfectly!

LOVE is in the AIR - Been Featured

Well we have a wedding going on at our house and there has been some party planning, dress making, food preping and all sorts of good things going on.  So many people have contributed in one way or another so I surely cannot take credit for it all, however I still can't wait to share it all with you. 

It's been fun to be a part of and you all know I love to throw a good party so come along for the ride as I get ready to share with you all the fun that went into the planning of this event.

It's been a wee bit stressful but a whole lot of fun and am sure glad I got to help in what ever capacity I was asked to participate. 

Oh and I've been featured here on Creative Itch!  Thanks for sharing my creativity with your readers

Easter Cupcakes

Alright so I totally had the opportunity to spend last night hanging out with some of the coolest teenage girls around.  The Young Women at my Church wanted to learn how to do some cake decorating.  I teamed up with "My Little Mama" Jenny and together we put a class on for them.

Jenny showed them how to pipe icing and gave them some low down on making an Easter bunny cake.  She made one as an example and it was fantastic.

Look at these girls, seriously don't you wish you were the one hanging out with them?  Sorry people I got to.

This one here has a contagious smile and totally got into making the fondant cupcake toppers with me.  She's a very talented gal, and her smile was contagious!  To boot she has a long drive from her home to come and hang out.  Loved that she's dedicated enough to do this!!!!

Check out these girls and their leaders.  I think they had fun too don't you.

Thanks gals for letting me hang out with you and share with you a little about what I also love to do.  Hope you learned something useful, but mostly I hope you had a good time, I sure did.