A Sneak Peek.....

Click on photo to enlarge for detail.

Wedding......Perfect.

Venue.......Beautiful.

Food.......Delicious.

Travels.......Safe.

Bride and Groom.....Happy.




Parents.....Exhausted.

We got home late Saturday night. The past 4 days were a whirlwind of events leading up to and including the wedding and reception for Jordan and Chris. I am sure now that I was in a zone of sorts...like autopilot...for those 4 days and am just now processing all that happened. It was just constant motion from the time we arrived in Phoenix on Wednesday morning until we boarded the plane yesterday afternoon. At some point on the flight home, the thought popped into my head, loud and clear, JORDAN'S MARRIED.

Jordan's married.

Jordan Hackney is Jordan Whitlach.

Jordan's married.


(It's like when you have a baby....and after the first days of euphoria wear off, you find yourself in Walmart buying diapers.....and the thought hits you like a thump on the head. I AM A MOTHER! I have a child! Gosh, I hope I don't forget the baby.)

We took lots of pictures.....but after I loaded them last night, I realized that settings had been messed with so most of them are not that great. At least not great enough to do the event justice. And I also realized, that to be present in the moment one cannot be walking around taking pictures.

Especially if that one is the mother of the bride. Will took most of the pictures that we have now but I tried to pick up the camera now and then.

Jordan's friend, Caroline Fontenot, was our professional photographer and I cannot wait to see her pictures from this wedding. Check out her site....she's very artistic and calm and high energy....all at the same time. Every time I saw her she was either shooting a photo or darting to the next place. In her silver glittery TOMS. Adorable.

Jordan was a beautiful, calm bride and Chris was charming and so handsome in his tux. When I asked her what was her favorite part (a game we play often), her reply was "everything." My thoughts exactly.

I know I've said this before, but what I wish I could bottle and put on here is the smells and the breeze and the sounds...the laughter, the background music, the conversations.

Get ready......here comes the bride......

Jordan and Will......not the groom, the brother. I would put one here with the groom but I don't have one before the reception. Jordan's dress was a very light ivory with a cummerbund and a large flower that I had made out of silk, satin and vintage lace on the back.


There's the groom....the first dance.



Cameron and I covered paper macheed letters with scrapbook paper in the colors of the wedding. They were placed in a large basket of a variety of balls.......from small to big and covered in ribbon, sequins, pearls and paint. We had a 15 foot table to decorate and this took up the middle space.

The guests lit sparklers and made a tunnel of light for the bride and groom to run through on their way out....outside of course. Jordan and Chris made cd's as wedding favors. This is the table where those things were displayed.

By the way....sparklers? So fun. The guests were acting like kids with those things. And it distracted us all long enough for Jordan and Chris to run away into the darkness (led away by their "shadow" toward their room). No one even noticed they were gone....we were all playing with our sparklers waiting for them to finally burn out. And the good news here? I did not burn my shirt.

This is the 15 foot table in the center of the reception room. In the center was the basket of balls and some photographs. On one end was the table assignments, then the other end were note cards and pens for guests to sign for the couple.



I may be falling in love with Spanish Mission style. It certainly works in Phoenix. And this place has done it well.




I am missing this today.





The cake.

The bride and groom table by the dance floor.

Mushrooms anyone?

Really....this is what most of our pictures look like. Sad.

The dance floor was never empty once the party got started and the dj....who was awesome...had the lights constantly going and glowing.
(Not your mama's disco ball.....it was high-tech lighting.)

The doors to the dining room were opened at 7:00....
this was taken before the guests came in.
Each table had their own server....and the bride and groom had their very own "shadow"... a very calming force to have around.

Table assignments. I searched long hours for ideas about how to display this. I found this idea on one of about a million places I looked...so I'm sorry I can't give credit where credit is due...don't remember. Easy idea....worked great. Strips of wood, painted, sanded roughly, drill tiny holes and curl up some wire leaving a tail to stick in the drilled hole.


The curled wire acts like a paper clip.

If a paper clip could act.

Cute napkins from Michael's. We bought way too many....as I seem to always do. I have come to the conclusion that people don't use napkins.

But where is one when you need it?

The bride and her maid of honor. Probably saying, "Can you believe Mama's out there on the dance floor actin' like a fool wit' her pants on the ground..."

(I was acting like a fool at times....but my pants were never on the ground.)

Jordan put on a green cummerbund with a green flower I had also made for the reception/party. I hope the bride doesn't mind this shot, but it's a great shot of the flower....and the dress detail....and a 24 year old body. And her sweet cousin Jack looking up at her.

Jordan surrounded by a group of her friends. She has made so many great friends in Phoenix....which was the big reason we wanted to have the wedding there....and Chris has lived there his whole life, so he has a ton of friends in Phoenix, too. Chuck and I felt strongly that this wedding should be about Jordan and Chris and their friends. And that the celebration should be a party that they planned. And it was. The hardest part for them was keeping the number of guests to a count of 100. But it turned out to be the perfect sized wedding.

The girls above? As sweet as they are cute. This is Jordan's Bible Study group. And their leader/pseudo mom/friend is Kathy....on the left in the pink sweater. I consider her a blessing because I know she has been there for Jordan this past year. When your adult children move far away, it's nice to know that there are wise adults looking after them.

Cameron hot footing on the dance floor.

Chuck with the bride and bridesmaids. He enjoyed every minute of the reception....after he got past the Father of the Bride's toast and the Father/Daughter Dance. That was so emotional for him and he had been dreading getting through it. Not because he didn't want to do it, but because he knew he wouldn't get through it without crying. Sweet man. He did a wonderful job with both of those things.

In a later post, I want to talk about those sweet bridesmaids....but today is just about getting some photos on here before the work week begins.

The wedding was everything Jordan wished for.

And everything Jordan wishes for, is what we wish for her.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Then Will got on the horse and went home.

Spoiler Alert: If you are an old boyfriend from my early 20's, you may want to look away now. It will make you feel old.

Because inquiring minds want to know....this is what I wore. An Eileen Fisher Tunic Jacket, with black pants.....and cheetah pumps. Which by the way were very comfortable....they stayed on all night.

Not the traditional "Mother of the Bride" look......but it was very elegant and also comfortable and so me.

Check back for more. The work week starts tomorrow so it may be a few days. As always, thanks for reading this little blog now and then.
Thanks for bearing with the bragging mama.

A very special thanks to my friends Karen, Debbie, Denise and Chip...as well as Pete and Rhonda....and especially my sweet sister Catha and her husband Kim and their family, who all traveled a long way and sacrificed time and money to enjoy this milestone with us.

ahhhhhhh.