Shortly before I left for New Zealand, I helped throw a bridal shower for Stephanie. In the craziness of moving, I forgot about these photos I took and just rediscovered them last night. Since today is Thursday in NZ, we’re going to do a little “throwback”.
For the 7 billion people that roam the planet, sometimes this world is a small small place. The Christian “circle” is even smaller. Stephanie is the sister of a good college friend, Micah. We had met at a couple of weddings, but last year she moved for a job and started going to the same church as my parents. Some time later, I moved to the same town and we ended up in the same Bible Study. Our personalities are like chalk and cheese – but we could talk for hours about our love for design, photography, and Jesus.
I had met her boyfriend, Taylor, six years earlier at a wedding of another mutual friend (small world!). So when he proposed to Stephanie I felt a weird sort of connection to them – like I was part of an inside joke or secret. I felt special. For no reason at all really.
About the same time, my sister and I had been talking about all the fun possibilities we had to throw events in our 100 year old church building. A cute, all white, t-shaped building, that had a lot of potential and hadn’t been utilized up until now. When the idea of a church bridal shower for Stephanie was raised, I told (not asked) everyone that I would be the decorator for the event.
Stephanie loved good design. I loved good design. This was a match made in heaven!
The plan was to decorate in a fresh way that hadn’t been done before in the room. To show people what could be done with this space. To inspire future events! (I know, I may be a little conceited here.)
Contrary to all past events, I wanted the room to be dark, trendy, and intimate. I planned and worked on this event for months… hand threading over 100 geometric shapes to hang from the ceiling. (Inspired by the candles at Hogwarts.) I couldn’t have done this on my own! Sean-a, Rachel and Devin spent hours with me the night before, helping set the tables and hang the shapes from the vaulted ceiling. It was a Herculean task. There were a couple tears shed and a few doubts along the way, but when I lit the candles and stepped back to survey the scene, all the work was worth it.
Besides the fun of creating a beautiful space for people to enjoy, I wanted Stephanie to know that she is loved by our church family and worth a beautiful room to celebrate in.
I can’t speak for everyone, but I think the night was a huge success. I would like to say it was all because of this magical, intimate, yet trendy room we were in, but the truth is that Stephanie and her love for Taylor would shine no matter where she was! She is a faithful friend and – no pun intended – an absolute gem to everyone who has the pleasure to know her.
Side note: All these red and gold geometric shapes are made from straws and curling ribbon. To get through the tedium, I watched a lot of Murder She Wrote and pretended I was a brilliant mathematician – experimenting with different length straws to solve complex geometry problems.
We even designed a special table for the few younger girls that came with their mommas.
Side note on the side note: This is my niece Rosie and she is the cutest girl in the world and I am not in the least bit biased. She’s ridiculously obnoxious and refuses to smile for photos – but absolutely loves blowing raspberries and giving me side eye.
