Wow.

That's really all I can say, is wow. It has been confirmed: my sister is Martha Stewart's soul mate. =)

I cannot even BEGIN to describe to you the work that went into this bridal shower and the great debt of gratitude I owe my amazing sister and maid of honor, so I guess I'll just start at the beginning and work my way from there.

First of all, they went to great lengths to keep everything a surprise, so I was frequently shunted out of the way while preparations were being made. I was actually confined to my room one afternoon while cooking was going on. It was a little strange at the time, but it all made sense once I got to the party. So, on the morning of, my family arranged for my future mother and sister-in-law who had flown in for the party, to take me to breakfast. We went and had a wonderful meal at La Madeline and then shopped a bit at the Galleria before making our way over to Miss Mickey's house at the appointed time.

On arriving in her beautiful home, the first thing I saw was a beautiful table draped in a white cloth with a guest book and a basket of daisies. Each daisy was attached to a name tag which read "My Name Is... And I Know Lacy..." the idea being that each guest could then identify their relationship to me. Mine read, "I Know Lacy because that's me!" =)

The living room was set up with lots of chairs and small tables for munching, and the entire dining room table was spread with an ENORMOUS quantity of food. Suddenly, I could understand EXACTLY why I had been kept in the dark. Emily, Mom, and the rest of the family and helpers had produced dozens of beautiful finger sandwiches in about six different flavors, fruit and vegetable plates, and desserts including bite sized brownies and petit fours. There was coffee, tea, and (the best bit in my opinion) pitchers and pitchers of Mimosas (champagne and orange juice).

Emily had made a little veil head band for me to wear so that everyone would know who was the bride (haha). As guests started arriving, the gift table got piled higher and higher. I was stunned. When they say that they shower you with gifts at these things, they really aren't kidding. After eating and chatting for a while, they made me open all my gifts in front of everyone.

The generosity was truly overwhelming. In fact, we got so many wonderful things that we will probably end up needing to add more things to our registry! Brandon's parents bought us all eight place settings of the china we registered for, and my parents gave us all sorts of wonderful serving pieces that they used at the shower! Just about everything on the table was a gift for us.

The best gifts, however, (for purely personal reasons) came from Emily who had already done so much. She made us two beautiful photo albums -- one for the wedding, and one for the honeymoon -- each decorated by her, by hand and absolutely gorgeous. She also decorated the guest book for us.

Of course, the gift that brought me to tears was the garter that my mom and sister gave me. It was originally made by my aunt Leslie for my mother for her wedding, and Emily and my Mom refurbished it a bit, adding a new layer of blue ribbon, but keeping the lace and the ribbon flowers from the original. They had to pour me an extra large Mimosa after I opened that gift so that I could sober up a bit. =)

As people were getting ready to leave, Emily produced yet another amazing and beautiful detail for the day. As party favors, she had made dozens of sugar cookies, cut and all iced to look like different wedding cakes and wedding dresses, one of each sealed individually in glassine bags with hand-tied ribbons. The guests went wild for them, especially when Emily said that she had patterned many of the wedding dresses after ones I actually tried on (because I certainly tried on enough of them!). She even made special ones for me: three purple dresses for my three bridesmaids, and a gingerbread man to represent Brandon. =D

It was a day I will certainly never forget, and an act of love and generosity that will be with me forever. All I can say is that when it comes time for me to do the same for Emily's wedding shower, I'm going to have to work AWFULLY hard to even come close to living up to the standard she set there this weekend.

Enormous thanks to everyone who attended. You all simply made my day just by sharing your smiling faces!!

Zana and Heather
Grandma
Marti
Leslie and Olivia
Gini
Mickey
Ginger and Julie
Carol
Allison
Amy
Megan

And of course, Mom and Emily!!