"84 Bottles of Wine on the Wall....."

I haven't written in this blog in so long. Life has been a non-stop merry-go-round of late and I just haven't had the time to sit and post creatively. But here I am in the middle of the night, unable to sleep because of so many things on my mind. Posting in my blog is something I can do in the wee hours of the morning, when I'm unable to make a lot of noise, make phone calls, or even sleep! You see, my darling daughter is getting married this weekend, and I've been consumed with wedding details and trying to make this the best party our family has ever seen.

That old song, "100 Bottle of Beer on the Wall..." has run through my head lately. Our version revolves around wine, and the 84 bottles that have resided on my dining room table for the last two weeks. This is how the story goes: when my daughter and her soon-t0-be Hubby of her Own had just started dating, it was quickly Christmas. Unsure what to get for this new lady, he bought her a bottle of wine, placed it in a lovely wooden wine box, and enclosed an invitation to a Wine Dinner at the Nashoba Valley Winery. It's a lovely little winery, making mostly fruit wines, and having a wonderful little restaurant. They had a marvelous time on that date, and have since gone back for special occasions. The last time they went, they strolled in the orchards first, and this is where Hubby of her Own proposed to my Darling Daughter. They had a romantic dinner there afterward, celebrating their betrothal.

Fast forward a year, to when they thought that the favors for their wedding guests should be a bottle of this Nashoba Wine. How fitting, they thought, to share with their guests something from a place so meaningful to them. The wine would be purchased in different types, so that when a place card was attached to each bottle, the guest would know which table he/she are sitting at. Perhaps at the Plum table, or the Baldwin table, or maybe the Maiden's Blush table. This however was a sizable project....

First we had to assign all of our guests to a table, then figure out who many bottles of wine were needed at that table. Each couple would receive a bottle, but we also had to give a bottle to each person coming as a single. Once we knew how many bottles of each kind of wine we needed, I called the winery to place the order (luckily with a 15% discount for such a large order!). Darling Daughter and I went to the winery and picked up the wine the next week.



Next, placecard tags had to be made for each bottle. Darling Daughter has a passion for lovely fonts, so the printing had to be just right. After hours at the computer, each guest's name and wine type were lovingly printed on their placecard. Each bottle was then put into a cellophane bag, tied with a light blue ribbon, and the tag attached. Here are DD and HOHO admiring the product of all our hard efforts, heads tilted to the side to read the placecards attached to the bottles. We laughed thinking about all the guests having to cock their heads to read their names!










Finally, each bottle had to be put into alphabetical order by the guest's name, and put into boxes for the trip to the reception venue. Today the wine will make its trip to the reception site where it will be placed on their big table, ready for our guests to receive.

This is just a snippet of life for me in the last two months. There have been shopping trips, bridal showers, phone calls, appointments, research, strategy planning sessions, and countless hours spent with my DD in preparation for this week. All of it has been fun, exciting, and filled with love. The love DD and HOHO have for each other, and the love we feel for them both.

Now the sun is coming up and another busy day begins. One day closer to seeing my daughter married. More to follow.....