After the luncheon it was set up time!! Jaiden was the first of all of our children to do everything (sealing, luncheon, and reception) all in one day, and it was a lot! Of course that is what Rick and I did when we were married in the Jordan River Temple almost 32 years ago, and then we had another reception in Ogden the next night. Busy weekend!
Janika and Jase both had their wedding dinner (instead of a luncheon) the night before, and Jared and Janelle had their reception the night before their wedding. I remember when Jared said that they wanted the reception the night before the sealing. I was so against it at first, but then it worked out really well. Janelle and Bryton did that also, and it was nice to get all of that finished and just be able to focus on the sealing the next day. That would have made the set up process for the reception tonight much less rushed and stressful, but that's okay, it still worked out.
Rick took a little nap after the luncheon, and I really wanted to also, but knew I wouldn't have time. It was after 2:00 and we were supposed to meet everyone at the Venue at 3:00 to start setting up, which only gave us three hours. We only had the venue for a half day and so we couldn’t set up earlier than that – not that we would have been able to anyway with the sealing and luncheon earlier. It took three cars to fit all of the supplies!! We packed everything in my car, Brandon’s car, and Ethan’s truck. I had asked Rick to order food for all of the family and friends who would be helping set up the reception since there wouldn't be time to go out to dinner, and so after his little nap he went to pick up the food. I said to get enough for 50 people, but we had way too much. Anna and Seth also brought all of the leftovers from the luncheon and so we had plenty of food for everyone who came early to set up, but not much time to eat it.
I was really worried about parking at the venue. They had assured me that there would be plenty, but it didn’t seem that way when I visited the venue a few days before. He said that there was a big dirt area on the West side of the RV’s where people could park. I drove over to check it out. It felt a little sketchy, with rocks and wood here and there and loose dirt and was a fairly long walk from the clubhouse. I wasn’t even sure where people would park. I tried to count it out and figured 30 cars max could park there, and then 30 or so would fit at the parking near the entrance to the venue, and another 10-12 around the edges of the round-about.
At the luncheon I encouraged family and close friends who would be at the reception the whole time to park in the dirt lot and save the front entrance parking for people who would be "dropping in" to the reception. Then I was so busy running around before the reception that I didn't have time to move my own car there and so I don't know how many people ended up parking there.
We arrived and started setting up the tables. I love outdoor receptions, but it definitely adds more stress to the mix, with weather and so forth. I had been checking the forecast for weeks. The week of the event showed pleasant temperatures the first few days of the week and then hotter and hotter temperatures towards the end of the week. So I had asked the venue a couple days before if they had any canopies we could rent. They said they had four and I said, “We’ll take them all!”
We were trying to figure out where to put the canopies since the setting sun would cast shadows to the east. So we put one canopy off to the side of the arbor where the bride and groom would be standing, so that they (and people greeting them) would be in the shade. The only downside of this is that part of the canopy would show in the pictures. Thankfully our photographer (go Julie Freeman!!) was nice enough to edit it out for some of them. We put other canopies so that they would cover a couple of the tables and one in front of where the ice cream would be served since I knew that would be in full sun also. Here is a picture in the process of setting up...
Kitty Smith asked a month or so ago if I needed any help with the reception and I said YES!! So she agreed to help out for the evening. She was a HUGE help! Mari Purdy had helped at Janelle's and had been planning on helping at Jaiden's also, but had a death in the family and couldn’t come. I probably should have asked one or two more. Allison saw the need and stepped in also. I was helping too, especially at first, but they kept telling me to go and enjoy the reception!
Right before the reception I grabbed some of the bridesmaids and we hurriedly moved the whole hope chest display so that it would be right up against the clubhouse wall out of the wind zone. After the vase and little sign broke, I also moved the entry table closer to the clubhouse where it would be more protected if any more breezes arose. Jaiden and I had come months ago and laid out where everything would go, but I ended up changing most of those plans today due to the sun and wind.
Grandma Jensen (Rick's mom) has a tradition where she makes a gift for each of her grandchildren for Christmas each year for their hope chest. The kids are always excited to see what she will come up with. They open the gift and we take pictures. Several of the gifts are holiday decorations. Grandma then holds on to the gifts until the grandchild is engaged. We then display all of the gifts at their wedding. One of these is the embroidered name sign that she makes for each of them. She gives them money to have it professionally framed and then they can display it in their home. We received lots of comments about the hope chest display. Some were from older grandma's who said that they remember growing up with a hope chest. Others were from the younger generation who said they couldn't believe that Jaiden's grandma had made so many gifts for all of her grandchildren through the years!
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We had been planning on having the lemonade bar and the salsa bar in an open grassy area, just south of the ice-cream station. But I had come a few days before the event in the evening to see what areas would be shaded and what wouldn't. I noticed that our proposed food area would be in full sun for pretty much the entire reception until the sun went down near the end of the event, and with the temperature forecast to be a high of 96 degrees, that just wouldn't work. But the entire area east of the clubhouse, south of the BBQ area, was fully shaded the whole time. So we moved the food and drink tables to the east side of the clubhouse on the sidewalk of the wrap around porch, where they would be in the shade. We also ended up putting a few tables out on the east area since that area would be shady the whole evening. There was hardly any shade in the backyard area where we originally planned to have all of the tables and so that is where we put the canopies.
Jaiden is the one who did the cute writing on all of the chalkboard signs! (Except for the big one that says "Jaiden and Jason," Emily did that one!)
We also ended up putting the cake and cake table inside, so it would be out of the sun, and that was a good move too. Jared ended up setting up his DJ equipment right inside the big open glass doors of the clubhouse, facing the outside patio, and that worked well too so that he and his equipment were not in the sun. Also, after weeks of praying for cooler temperature and clouds, we were indeed granted that tender mercy. We don't typically get a lot of clouds in St. George, but there were clouds that night which cooled things down and made for a much more pleasant evening. We hadn't really discussed whether there would be a formal line or anything. I figured it would be the bride and groom and parents. But when the reception started I was still helping out with last minute details and there weren't a whole lot of guests right at first and so it ended up just being Jaiden and Jason for the most part.
We were so fortunate to get our own professional DJ!! Thank you to our son, Jared, for all of his work!
I thought the sun and the heat would be the big problem of the evening, but it ended up being something completely different – bugs. There were these little tiny oval bugs, about the size of a grain of rice, that were all over the tables and chairs. It was so weird! They must have been attracted to the bright white tablecloths or something. The tables looked like they were covered in black dots. If you waved your hand over them then they would fly away. I felt like I couldn’t even sit down. I didn’t notice them by the food, thank goodness, and didn’t really see them flying around in general, but they were on the tables and chairs -- at least the ones in the backyard. I wish I had known that bugs would be an issue because I would have come prepared with a bunch of bug deterrents or something! So that was my biggest gripe of the evening! Other than that I really liked the venue and would consider using it again, but probably only in cooler temperatures in the fall or winter when bugs (hopefully) wouldn't be an issue. They have fire pits and heaters, which would add nice ambiance in cooler weather.
The indoor space was pretty big though and we ended up utilizing it much more than I thought we would. If I had known that we would have used more of the indoor space I would have added tablecloths and centerpieces to the tables inside and brought more chairs in. I figured everything would be outside, and the indoor space would just be there if anyone wanted to go in and sit on the couches. When it was time for the cake cutting, many were already inside and Jared announced it to those outside in case they wanted to come watch. I was glad that they did NOT smash the cake in each other's faces! Then Jaiden did the bouquet toss, which was fun.
Then came the mother/son dance and daddy/daughter dance. Jaiden and Rick had put together a whole choreographed number and it was really cute! Our original thought was that everyone would be outside watching and so Jaiden and Rick would face those watching, and dance with the clubhouse behind them. But since almost everyone was inside the clubhouse at this point, after the cake cutting, we had Jaiden and Rick face everyone who was watching from inside the clubhouse instead. I actually ended up liking this better, because then they had the pretty mountain views behind them, which hopefully will make for more aesthetically pleasing pictures and videos.
The daddy/daughter dance turned out great! It was a little tricky for Jaiden because even with the bustle, there was still a little train and the dress was too long since she wore tennis shoes instead of her heels. So she was trying not to step on the dress. The dance number turned out really cute though and was a fun addition!
Then Jaiden and Jason had their first dance and then the dance party began! I didn’t get a lot of dancing in since I was visiting with guests. Everyone seemed to have a fun time dancing!
Around 8:30 Kitty and I started prepping the lanterns for the send off. There were some young kids who jumped in to help us gather the lanterns and make sure that they all had fairy lights and turned them on. I had charged all of the big solar lanterns for a day in the sun a few days ago, but I don’t know if my little helpers knew that they needed to be turned on for the candle inside to work. But regardless, they all had the fairy lights in, and those were turned on, and so it still worked. We had borrowed all of the lanterns (and tablecloths) from Christine France. She said that she much preferred them over sparklers for the send off. When I went to check on the lanterns I found them arranged in a circle on this table. I think the kids did that. So cute!
There were pros and cons to using the lanterns. The pros is that we could use the lanterns for decorations the entire night and also for the send off. And it was more relaxed since we didn’t have to try and light everyone’s sparklers at the same time and keep them lit while the bride and groom ran through. With sparklers you have a “one-time” shot to get it right. But it seemed to work out in the past because we got really long sparklers which stayed lit for several minutes. The cons is that the lids of the big lanterns were really difficult to get on and off and so it required extra prep work before and after to open the tops, turn on the fairy lights, and then close them after. If I did it again, I might try to get different lanterns that were easier to work with. The little lanterns were easy to open, but it just took time to open each little door, turn on the fairy lights, and close them again. Overall I think it went well and several people commented on the lanterns and how they made a beautiful send off. Then they hopped into their car and they were off!!
Now the big job of clean up began! Thankfully we had lots of helpers! We finally got everything packed up and brought home. I started bringing stuff in from the car, but Rick suggested we just go to bed and do it the next day. It was after 11:00 by this time. So we went to bed, but then I couldn't sleep! My body was exhausted, but my mind kept going through the details of the reception -- what worked well and what didn't. It was several more hours before I could finally go to sleep! I had lots to think about, but most of all I am grateful that Jaiden and Jason (and our four children before them) were married in the house of the Lord for time and all eternity!! BLESSINGS!!!
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