the next phase...Carlton's log

Eiffel Tower
Originally uploaded by Adrasteia9.

I love Paris in, well, France would be great, but our next stop and conference is across Las Vegas Boulevard at the Paris Hotel - Las Vegas.

This is the poor man's version of "Passport to Europe with Samantha Brown". Come, cross zee pond - um zee boulevard, vis S'mee as vee vaux Jacques Cousteau and gets al Fraunch!

Yeah, O.k. so I have a lousy French accent, what do you want for your trip to Vegas? It's been a weekend, let me tell you! Saturday we watched conference and after the last session went to a wedding. It was particularly sad because it was two of my seminary students doing the whole "till death do you part" commitments. I can say I am not surprised, not much example on either side of their families, but it was so sad to hear those words. And as long as I am on this wedding, what struck me most deeply was the lack of blessings for the new couple being civilly married as opposed to the ones we receive in the temple.

After conference on Sunday we again went to a wedding. This time for one of Thor's associates at work. The bride had been married before and had two or three little ones and the groom, I think this was his first. It was in a beautiful setting with all the expected t.v. type wedding things. Flower girls and ring bearer, a couple of brides maids and the goofy best man with an even goofier toast. They had a garden reception and dinner with dancing.

This reception had something for everyone. Drinks for the drinkers, food for the eaters, and for the kids? Well, they had their own little bar and food selections, and to keep them occupied colouring books and crayons. I thought that was a great idea and it did what it was intended to do.

Still sad though, even if they aren't members...maybe someday.

Thor and I got on the road late, and by the time we hit state line we had seen enough crazy drivers for any trip. One particular driver had his/her own personal police escort and another had several police escorts, in CA this is known as the slow speed chase and I am wondering if it got the coverage these things normally do. There was plenty of "escorts" following the small sports car with the headlights out.

Half way between Jean and Vegas we crawled along at about 5 mph for about five miles. The big deal was someone receiving a ticket on the right. Can I tell you this is one of S'mee's pet peeves. Hello folks, the cop is too busy with the guy at the side of the road to stop and give you a ticket as well. grrrr.

We checked in and got to the room about 12:30. Nice room, large bathroom, steam shower a plus, and a teen-einsie view of the temple....WHAHOO!

Our Big Fat Wedding begins....

Dateline: Thursday night. Two days after the endowment - which went GREAT, so cool, so wonderful to see your kid in the temple, doing the right thing and ready to be doing it. What a blessing from Heavenly Father!

So it's Thursday and we are now in the exact middle. 2 days after the endowment and two days before the wedding/sealing! Mother of the Bride (K) is going into high gear and she has a plan. Unfortunately her plan was tilted a tad by a very unpleasant false ceiling gal and her crew. "K" had seen the ceiling lady's work many times before and was impressed. A billowing cloud full of twinkle lights was ordered and expected. Long story short, the ceiling expert was miffed because "K" wanted this material instead of that material and what she eventually got was a flat ceiling made of tulle. 61/2 hours for a flat tulle ceiling. Ridiculous. More than that, ceiling lady made such a fuss about it that she refused to work if anyone was in the room, so all the help "K" had organized had to be sent home without being able to help at all.

At 12:00 midnight "K" decided to pull the plug on the ceiling and call it. It was what it was and there wasn't anything she could do about it. Let's all go home. Hmmm. Where's the doohickey that closes and locks the door? (search search search) At 12:30 a phone call was made, a Bishop was awakened from his sleep, and by 1:00 the doohickey was found, building secured and all out and headed home.

8:00 Friday: Day before the wedding. 2 moms, one bride, and one little brother are able to meet and set up for the big party. 18 tables, 180 chairs, 4 buffet tables, 2 gift tables, one cake table, and one punch table are set up and dressed. All tables have white brocade table clothes. All 180 chairs are dressed with floor length tailored covers. The large tables with floor length clothes as well. A runner of periwinkle and celery plaid is placed on all tables, the seating tables topped with floral arrangements of hydrangea, orchids, and star lilies in clear glass vases. They sit atop a mirror with 6 small tea lights and cracked "glass" chips for colour. The larger tables have double sided ribbon swags with small wreaths at the centers and corners made of tiny hydrangea blossoms, green baby apples, and eucalyptus.

The stage was draped with white fabric to resemble a "water fall" with twinkling lights underneath, tulle fluffs along the top edge, again with lights, and a floral swag of hydrangea, green apples, and eucalyptus. Behind the fluff were draped stands that held 9 photos of the new couple interspersed with three cut crystal hurricane lamps with candles.

The cake and buffet tables had the same effect as the stage with the "white water fall". The cake table was dressed with a large silver cake plateau. The cake was 3 tier, extremely smooth whipped cream frosting, decorated with woven pearls strands and pearl points. In between the tiers were full sized fresh hydrangeas and the top was the bride's mother's cake top, a crystal blown glass heart with doves.

The Punch bowl were placed inside green apple wreaths.

The buffet was decorated with lighted food stands, topiaries of green apple, and fruit skewers. All the tables had tulle fluff and the cracked "glass chips" along with fine glitter sprinkled over all for shimmer, and were lit from underneath with special lights to create a pretty glow.

Back drops were made by the groom out of wrought iron and painted black. They were "Shepard's crooks", 2, one on each side, draped in the center with periwinkle satin, gently gathered. They stood 7 feet tall and about 4 feet wide. Each curl on the crook held a small candle lit glass lantern. Behind the buffet there were five of these back drops and one each behind the cake and punch tables.

There was a fog machine and bubble machine that were set to work for certain dances to give it a terrific effect.

The entry table was placed in the foyer of the building under a large painting of the Savior's Second Coming. The blues and periwinkles of that picture along with the bridal photos blended perfectly and set the tone for the evening. A large vase of fresh hydrangeas, orchids and star lilies was placed behind the guest book and temple photos.

The surrounding walls in the reception hall were covered with draped and pleated tulle, topped with a fluffy border with twinkle lights behind. The tulle ceiling was still pretty flat, but the bride made beautiful crystal "rain drops" that hung all over the room, making the ceiling quite glittery and gorgeous. It was really great.

The room was lit well by the twinkle lights, up-lights, and candles (battery) quite well.

By 9:00 that night we were able to leave, satisfied with the result. Pretty.

By 9:00 S'mee remembered that she left the bridesmaids' dresses at the now closed alterations store without the ability to call because S'mee didn't have the phone number to call and if she did, HELLO! WE'RE CLOSED!!! A drive by the store revealed she does not work the weekends. Dresses would be hostage until Monday, 2 days after the wedding. Smooth one S'mee.