Have I mentioned that I come from a large family? I have 5 sisters and 1 brother. We are a pretty close bunch. One of the things we have always found the time to do over the years is to get together for 'girl's' weekends once or twice a year. When we were a little younger the rules used to be "no kids, and no men" - just us girls. In recent years we have sometimes turned our 'girl's weekend' into a siblings weekend so that we can include our brother.

And most of us have adult children now - and so we have allowed some 'kids' along as well.

This weekend Sara has her first appointment at David's Bridal in Portland Maine to try on wedding dresses. She most likely is not ready to purchase a dress yet. We don't even have a venue yet), but they offered her a discount on a purchase if she made an appointment (from the Bridal Show) and so we are going just for fun. A couple of my sisters are coming (Sara's aunties), and two of her cousins, and my son's wife Nicole. We thought that we could take this very 'girlie' thing to do, and turn it into a fun girl's weekend. We have a hotel room for the night in Portland. We'll make a weekend of it.

It also happens to be my brother's 60th birthday, and so he will meet up with us for dinner and drinks later in the day. We are kind of a crazy bunch, and whenever we all get together there are LOTS of laughs and goofiness.

So looking forward to a 'girlie', 'wedding-themed' weekend, with some multi-generational family fun thrown in, and a birthday celebration for my brother.

This could go in a lot of different directions...
I hope I don't cry (too much) the first time I see Sara in a wedding dress. Will post some pix of our weekend next week!

Ideas

After the holidays we began to talk about some of Sara's ideas, wants and wishes for her wedding. The 'where'...(they are hoping to have an island wedding on North Haven, Maine where Stan grew up, and where the two of them love to be. (There will be several challenges with island wedding logistics). The 'when'...(not until summer of 2014)...phew!!! We've got some time to figure this all out! The 'style'...(at this point Sara seems to be going for a kind of casual, even somewhat rustic elegance. She has some great ideas, and doesn't want to spend a lot.)

The first week in January, off we went to the Portland Bridal Show to look around, get some ideas, have a little Mom and daughter wedding themed fun, and to kick-start this journey we will be on together for the next year and a half.

Portland was fun. Especially the photo booth. I didn't realize that photo booths are a big thing at weddings these days!? (Sara won't be having a photo booth.) But we got to try one out anyway at the Bridal show.
Here we are in the photo booth - we really got the giggles. Fun.


(sorry - picture is a little blurry - that's Sara with the bunny ears.)

So...this is just the beginning of the journey. So much to figure out, decide, and plan.
I want to not be a worrier, I want Sara and Stan to not be super stressed as this goes forward. I want to be helpful in any way I can as THEY make decisions about their big day. I want this to be fun, and a wonderful memory - for my little girl - and her big day.

(here she is as my little girl).