Gatherings,  Our Family

An Arizona Wedding Reception for the Newlyweds

April 10, 2017 / 16 Comments

After all the planning and cooking, it is done. Seth & Jessica were married in Canada in February and because most all of our friends didn’t get to come, we gave them  an Arizona reception this past Saturday.

I have to be honest. I was somewhat dreading it. I am not the most creative when it comes to food presentation and for past graduations that I’ve had in our backyard, I have depended upon my sister. This time she wasn’t here to help with the food table so I stressed a little until my daughter-in-law, Hannah stepped in. She’s very creative and I love her style so I can see myself asking begging for her assistance in the future. 🙂

The backyard looked beautiful. We are just loving our waterfall, pergola and the green grass. It makes it so nice for entertaining!

Wesley thought of me when he saw this door at the fixer upper rental property he just purchased and brought it home. Perfect! I think it will have a new life here at our place and be put to good use.

 

I always have to get a picture of drink dispensers at a party. They always look so pretty.

(On a side note, I think I have finally figured out how to make tea concentrate and the right amount of sweetener to use. When you get a recipe figured out, it sure takes the fear out of making it.)

 

I’m not sure where I got the idea to plant oodles of pansies in peat pots but it was a lot of work.

 

If you notice at the back of the photo above, I had large pictures (20×30) printed at Costco from the wedding and mounted them on foam board from the dollar store. I couldn’t imagine having a small table with photos and 230 people taking turns trying to see them so enlarging the photos worked really well.

 

 

 

Hannah’s creativity at the food table.

 

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the entire food table.

The menu was:

Smoked Beef Brisket

Baked Potatoes w/ sour cream & butter

Pinto Beans

Slow Cooker Creamed Corn

Southwestern Caesar Salad w/ Chipotle Dressing

Homemade Dinner Rolls

Dessert: Ice Cream Bar

 

Everything tasted fabulous and you know how it is… many times when you’re the hostess, you are critiquing everything to the nth degree. So if it tastes good to you, you know everything turned out well.

 

 

 

It was great to see the swing set being put to good use. Kids were all over it, all day.

There were 2 sets of corn hole set up and that was quite popular, too.

All the Canadians came forward to sing the Canadian National Anthem.

Our loyal and faithful 4-H bidder for our kids’ animals at our 4-H/FFA EXPO came. He is such a great guy!

Dear friends from Oregon came.

Miss Audrey and her sweet friend from 4-H.

Russell and his second mom.  How she put up with him when he was single, I don’t know. You should hear the stories!

 

Precious friends.

Jessica’s mom and myself.

 

And besides it being windy (I don’t want to talk about that!) it was a perfectly lovely day.

We’re so happy to have Jessica as a part of our family.

 

 

16 Comments

  • Courtney

    April 10, 2017 at 2:43 pm Reply

    Ummm, I thought you do a wonderful job at food presentation…that food was presented beautifully in post where the guys worked on Wesley’s rental project😊Anyways, beautiful reception!😊

    • Elisabeth

      April 13, 2017 at 6:20 am Reply

      Thanks, Courtney. I’m trying to learn food presentation but at a big event like this when there are so many other things to think about, I just don’t want to have to think about that, too. For some reason, that’s a biggie in my mind.

  • Lucille

    April 10, 2017 at 3:45 pm Reply

    Loved this posting and seeing how it all went. Hannah did a great job in helping and you always do everything just right in my opinion. What a lovely place to host, have functions, events…you guys are the greatest. Always praying for you all, as you’re always giving of yourselves to others. It was a lovely time and I was wishing to see the wedding photos up close!!!

  • Donna Cook

    April 11, 2017 at 11:50 am Reply

    We feel honored & blessed to have been able to attend the beautiful reception you prepared to honor Seth & Jessica.
    They both radiate their love for the Lord Jesus,each other & the Message He sent in our day…that in itself is refreshing, as was the reception!
    So…it must have been lots of work, but lots of fun to prepare this beautiful day to celebrate their union!
    We thoroughly enjoyed the day, the surroundings, the guests, the food…couldn’t have been better…other than possibly including Russell & his yodeling in your program!
    May God bless you as you continue to bless so many others!
    With our love & prayers, Don, Elsie & Donna

    • Elisabeth

      April 13, 2017 at 6:18 am Reply

      Thanks, Mary.

      I think it was good that we had all these years to help us decide what we really needed for the types of entertaining we do. We are enjoying our yard so very much.

I love hearing from you! Thank you for taking the time to comment.