Wednesday flew by like a whirlwind. I went to work while Bill went to our house to pick up Pamela for some wedding and other errands. They were finally able to view the sample DVDs from a videographer we hope to use. Then they took off to get tags for Pam’s truck and meet me for lunch.
After lunch we went to a local wedding/party rental store to check out prices and availability. We aren’t needing very much, but Pamela wants table linens and a chocolate fountain, and Mom 
wants a little bit of decor not available from our church. This place in Montgomery had everything we need except the chocolate fountain, but we want to be good stewards of the resources God has provided, so we thought we’d better shop around a little. We were also hesitant about the color of the tablecloths because we forgot to bring a swatch of fabric to compare with. They gave us an estimate, and we were very pleased with our first impression of them.
We did check out another rental place, but they didn’t really have what we need. We discovered from looking online that many rental places don’t have showrooms, but rather books and websites. It’s hard to determine colors from a website, but the swatch books do help.
Then we decided to go to Garden Ridge, which was kinda a bust, but we did find one needed part of our reception decor. We purchased a few of the supplies to make decorations, but they sure didn’t have much that we needed. I was really surprised, since Garden Ridge used to be the place to go for the biggest variety, especially silk flowers; but they didn’t have hardly any flowers!
We left Garden Ridge in time to make Bill’s doctor appointment, which was a follow up to the December sleep study he did. There have been many glitches in getting this follow-up appointment, so we were glad to finally make it. Well, I say we were glad – Bill was NOT glad when he heard what the doctor had to say. Bill’s sleep issues are slightly complicated – no cut & dried diagnosis, but several problems combining to cause his lack of good sleep at night. One problem is that while he doesn’t actually have OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) because he is never completely obstructed, he does have to work very hard to breathe during the night. He also has RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) which causes his brain to work overtime at night. Well, the bad news for Bill is they want him to use a C-pap machine. He has been fitted for one before, but could absolutely not get used to it! He is very frustrated, but I’m hoping this doctor’s team of tech will have more insight and expertise in getting him comfortable with one. He doesn’t want to go back at all – I’m hoping he will. He did take the medication for the RLS, and is rationalizing that this will cure the whole problem. We’ll see….
Okay, back to our Wedding Prep stuff. After the doctor’s office, we headed to Hobby Lobby, one of our favorite places to shop! For one thing, it is one of the few stores whose music doesn’t kill any desire for shopping you may have had when you walked in their doors! It helps that it is Christian music playing, but in my opinion, any music played too loud is distracting and annoying!
We found the silk flowers I needed for the project mentioned above, but even better, we found these decorations ready made for less than I can make them!!! And in the right color! We were ecstatic!!! (Em, did I over-use the exclamation point here? 
) We also found ribbon and Pamela’s unity candle there. She used her Baby-girl eyes on her Daddy, and he bought her a tote bag, even though he kept asking her what she was going to do with it after May 9th, since it said “Bride-to-be” on it. She just made a cute face at him, and he plunked down the money (so to speak). We really felt great about all the Hobby Lobby purchases.
Yesterday I dropped by the first rental place to confirm our choices, and to match the colors with the swatch I finally remembered to put in my planner. Guess what? The colors DIDN’T MATCH!!! We are so crushed! And they don’t really have a color that does match. I went ahead and contracted for all the other stuff we’d looked at, but now we are having to search for the right color tablecloths again. So very vexing! I have found a place online that has what seems to be the right color, and am having a sample sent out. I just hate not being able to do this locally! Especially when our local folks were so nice.
Tomorrow is Pamela’s first shower. I’m so excited for this phase of the preparations to begin. Our very dear friends, the Watts, are giving her this shower. The guest list of this shower includes most of our homeschool friends that we have known for so many years. We are anxious to see them again. We are also going to have a Wedding Invitation Addressing Party after the shower. I’m providing pizza and pens, while Pam and Dannye’s girlfriends help us address the Invitations. The shower is at Grandmommy Watt’s, and she is so gracious about letting us set up camp in her home all day!
I promise pictures from our day tomorrow, and I’m pretty sure lots of words with plenty of exclamation points!
God bless your day!
pettybunch 
lots to do with a wedding, isn’t there? My son and daughter in law found a chocolate fountain at Bed Bath and Beyond. It was on sale, and they had a discount coupon. I am sure it cost less than renting one. It was set up during the reception and had more than enough chocolate in it. We had extra ingredients to refill it, as we thought it was smaller than a commercial fountain, but it lasted the entire time. Hope your hubby resolves his sleep needs. Our friend uses one of those machines and sleeps wonderfully. His wife says they just got used to it.
I think you should post pictures of your finds!
I am enjoying planning this wedding vicariously through you so much. I feel like I am right there shopping (but don’t really have to be-ha). I am glad things are beginning to fall into place and I know you will find your tablecloths. May I ask what color cloths you are looking for since you are having such a problem matching. I have to assume they are not cream or white. Also, when writing like you and I do, there can not be too many explanation points. It helps me understand your intent so much better. I could not type without my explanation points. ha If I were writing for a grade, I might be more frugal.Tell Bill that he needs to give this machine a real chance as it is the conclusion reached by his doctor after a lot of thorough testing. Time, it just will take time. Love you,B
Yay for purchases! And contrary to your statement, AB, 🙂 I have first-hand experience with grotesque and obscene amounts of exclamation points and question marks in particular. It is waaaaay too common and waaaay to overabundant, and WAY too difficult to read. One recent email had five or more exclamation points at the end of thirteen back-to-back sentences! I think overpunctuating should be banned. :)PS. I believe, Mama, that that was an appropriate amount of punctuation. 🙂
It sounds like so much fun! I can’t wait to see the pictures. 🙂 I’m like you — I’d much rather deal locally in most cases! It’s usually so much easier.
I wrote this once and did not realize it did not “take”. I think the use and non-use of exclamation points is as varied as people are. I write like I talk so have to use them since you can’t see my hands. ha. I normally use one, sometimes three and only five if I am stomping it on the keyboard. Five is usually not a happy number of exclamation points. Three means wonderful. ha Even numbers, like in decorating, do not work for some reason.
I am not sleeping with that gizmo straped to my face !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ALDOG1 – B, Pamela’s colors are red and black, but the red is deeper than plain red yet not burgundy. David’s Bridal calls it “Apple”.@suezzzque – I hope to get pictures soon, but am also trying not to give away too much before our guests get to see it in person. I think it will be beautiful, though!
@billseye – You said you’d pray about it – have you???
ohh, fun wedding stuff! Sorry about Mr. Petty. My mom has sleep issues, and sleeps with a C-pap, or something similar.
I agree with Susan, pictures please! I so enjoyed reading about your day…and the baby blue eyes…when I least expect it, Spence will buy our daughter unexpected things…two years ago he helped her buy a new car instead of the used one she could afford, and 9 years ago a pure bred puppy!Looking forward to following your daughter’s wedding plans!
I think my folks might have a chocolate fountain, I’m not real sure, but I think they have one. You might want to check with them about borrowing it.
Mrs. Petty, you might check with my aunt, Misti. They have a chocolate fountain, but I’m not sure how big it is and how big you need.
How exciting to have these wedding plans and projects.Heather