Shelley Shepard Gray's Blog, page 2

A Christmas Bride in Pinecraft

The Amish Brides of Pinecraft series concludes with a story of forgiveness and trusting your heart…just in time for Christmas.  This RT Top Pick is on store shelves now!

“This is a beautiful story of friendship and a reminder that dreams really do come true. Not always on our own time but in God’s time…Beverly was so real she could be anybody I know. As a matter of fact, I had to keep reminding myself this was a fictional character and not a friend of mine. By the end of the series they all feel like friends you’ve known your whole life. I hate to leave Pinecraft but I know I will visit again and again as I re-read the series and share the stories with my friends.”  -Chastity Ray

“Shelley Shephard Gray never disappoints with character development, dialogue and vivid descriptions of the towns she chooses as a setting.  It’s such a pleasure to reconnect with old friends and that’s the talent of this author to craft characters that seem so real.  This is a must read for fans of Amish fiction. It’s a fantastic Christmas book that will warm your heart.”  -Cathy Cermele

Fresh Pick in October!

We are so excited A Wedding at the Orange Blossom Inn was chosen to be a Fresh Fiction Fresh Pick this month!

Reading, Reviewing, and Promoting in 2016

Join the 2016 Buggy Bunch!

I’m excited to announce that we’re inviting all interested readers to consider applying to be a member of my Street Team.

Not sure what a ‘Street Team’ is? That’s okay, a few years ago, I wasn’t sure either.

 Here’s some more information:

1) Street Team members are people who really like my books and like to talk about them, too! Right now, we’re hoping to have about 20 street team members. It will be a year-long commitment.

2) Members will receive advanced copies of books. After they read the books, street team members will need to post reviews on goodreads, amazon.com, cbd.com, barnesandnoble.com, or on their own blogs, if they blog. 

3) They’ll help me spread the word on Facebook and/or Twitter about upcoming releases, tour dates, and any special, out of the ordinary news. (such as one of the books making a bestseller list or receives a really good review). 

4) If they’re inclined, Street Team members might visit their local libraries and ask them to carry my books. Or give out bookmarks to bookstores and libraries.

Some of you already do some of these things! THANK YOU!  I’ve seen your reviews on various sites. I’ve heard that you’ve visited your library and asked them to carry my books. I’ve met cousins, neighbors, moms, and daughters who only gave my books a try because someone let them borrow a book.

If you are an avid reader, would like some free books, and are interested in telling other people about my books, I hope you’ll consider joining our Buggy Bunch!

If you’d like to learn even more information, please contact my assistant Laurie. She’s organizes and manages the group.  Please email Laurie at: laurie4ssg@gmail.com.

If this isn’t the kind of thing that interests you, I completely understand. I’m just glad you’ve given my books a try.

Wishing you many blessings this week!

Shelley

Bride Blog: Let Them Eat Cake!

Traditionally, wedding cakes were made to bring good luck to all the guests and the couple (according to Wikipedia, at least).  A quick internet search reveals that while the presentation of wedding cakes may have changed a lot over the years, some of the traditions and superstitions surrounding them remain the same. 

When Travis and I (Laurie) got engaged, his aunt announced she had been taking cake decorating classes specifically so she could make our wedding cake.  We were excited, so Aunt Paula and I immediately started talking about the cake design and flavors.  We decided to have one tier of chocolate cake and another tier of white cake with raspberry filling.  We selected lemon cake and spice cake for the other tiers.  I knew I didn’t want the tiers to be stacked, and Travis could have cared less about the cake–as long as it tasted good and I didn’t smash it in his face.  Referring to the stacks of bridal magazines I had accumulated over the years, I selected an arrangement that was unique to me at that time.  A 5-tier cascade wedding cake stand was required to achieve the look.  I located a cake supply store about thirty minutes from my home that assured me the had that exact stand.  Thankfully, it was available to rent on the date we had chosen for our wedding day.  Fantastic! 

When we arrived at our reception, Aunt Paula raced over to me with a look of panic in her eyes.  She explained that the cake stand was similar to what I had wanted, but it wasn’t the RIGHT one.  When I saw it, I didn’t care that one tier was “out of place.”  The cake was gorgeous!  We were so touched knowing how much time she had spent creating this beautiful cake for our special day.   And it was incredibly delicious!  In fact, years and years later, people will occasionally mention how tasty our wedding cake was.  

Jennifer Beckstrand

I love the wedding cake! It’s a work of art that we get to eat. When my first daughter got married, I was quite shocked at the price of a wedding cake, and we even got it at a discount because my daughter’s good friend made it for her. But, we also learned the hard way that you get what you pay for.

At my third daughter’s wedding, a relative generously offered to make the cake as a wedding present. We were very grateful, but when the the reception started, the cake had not arrived. About halfway through the reception, the frantic relative came and put the cake together right there on the spot. It got there just in time to take a few pictures and cut it. It was delicious, and better late than never.

Shelley Shepard Gray

We had a beautiful cake at our wedding. It was a surprise to me, as I’ve shared before, my father planned most of the wedding in Houston while I taught my first year of school in Arizona. I don’t really recall what it tasted like. Most of our reception passed in a blur.

However, I certainly remember two things about that cake after our wedding!

One was the top of the cake. I have no idea what it was made out of, but it was hard, felt indestructible, and could be used as a decoration. That said, I wasn’t sure where to put it. For years, we carried it from apartment to our first house, then our second house. Each time, I tentatively displayed the top of our cake in odd places.

It was big. It was girly, and to be honest, having a decoration sitting around that was once edible kind of creeped me out. We finally tossed the top of our cake into the trash before we got transferred to Colorado.

The second wedding cake memory was a piece of leftover wedding cake. We were supposed to eat on our one year anniversary. The caterer had cut off a HUGE chunk of cake and wrapped it in layers of waxed paper, foil and plastic wrap. It was about the size of a six pound roast.

Of course it had to be stored in our freezer. That would have been fine-if we had any room in our freezer. Our first year of marriage, we lived in a little apartment with a tiny freezer. The cake took up most of the space.

Our freezer literally held three ice trays and a giant piece of cake.

As the weeks went by, my husband kept asking if we ‘had’ to save that piece of cake for one year. Of course I said yes! (now I don’t even remember why we were supposed to save that piece!)

The afternoon of our first anniversary, I took out that piece to thaw, and after we came home from dinner we unwrapped it. It was soggy and stale. After we each had our bite, it went into the trash. The next day, my husband proudly bought some chicken and popped it in the freezer! Ha!

I haven’t thought about all of that in years. Thanks, Laurie, for the fun memory!

 

A Glimpse Behind the Scenes: Cover Art by Gail Dubov

I’m so honored to introduce to you the designer of the cover art for A Wish on Gardenia Street, Gail Dubov. She was kind enough to share how she came up with the beautiful cover, and I thought you might enjoy learning about it, too.

“A warm hello to you from Avon’s art department! I thought you might like to see the process in putting cover art together. It’s always a challenge to keep within the budget for ebooks but that adds to the fun of finding images that will make a cover work. 

Step 1

In the case of A Wish on Gardenia Street, I looked at photographs of the Pinecraft community (new to me, but very interesting) and tried to build a piece of art that came close to what Chelsey had asked for—an Amish woman walking down a street in the community.

Step 2

I found an image of an Amish woman in a field and knew that she would work, with some photoshop tweaking. I thinned her out, shortened the sleeves and added arms to her.  (I found another) stock shot of a woman—I just used her arms!.  She was placed on the street with some shadow added to anchor her to the sidewalk.

Step 3

I wanted to add a cottage to give it a sense of home.  I found a shot of a Pinecraft cottage and put it in the scene behind the fence.

Step 4

Then, of course we needed gardenias. Gardenia blossoms from a stock house helped create the gardenia bushes to make the cover complete.

It was really fun watching as this art fell into place. I think it made a perfect cover for the novella!

Bride Blog: Best Wedding Memory

This month we’ve asked contributors to share their best wedding memory.  While I have many fond memories of our special day, I’d have to say having my grandma there with us to celebrate is my best wedding memory.  Though she lived to be almost 102 years old, she was 95 years old when we got married.  Since she lived seven hours away from us, there were some logistics that needed to be considered.  Thanks to some of my dad’s cousins, my grandma was able to join us. 

Growing up, our family visited my grandma for Easter and Thanksgiving each year.  It wasn’t until I started dating Travis that I started seeing my grandma a little more frequently.  Knowing she was born in 1906, he would ask her question after question, and my grandma would start telling these amazing stories.  Through their conversations, I learned so much more about her and her life.  The two of them developed a special relationship, and when Travis was around, I saw a different side of my grandma–the ornery side! 

During one visit, my grandma asked if we could take her to get a new robe.  After getting permission from the nursing home and making appropriate arrangements, it wasn’t long before we were pushing her in a wheelchair to the appropriate section of the department store.  As my grandma and I were searching through the plush robes, Travis disappeared.  (So many years later, he’s still like a child in the store.  I always spend more time looking for him than I do actually shopping).  To my horror, he reappeared with a red and black lacy nightgown, asking my 95-year-old grandmother, “Are you looking for something like this?”  I.ALMOST.DIED!!!  But she giggled and giggled which I think was even more disturbing.  But as I recall the events that day, I realize that my future husband helped me get to know my grandma in many different ways.  Because of these conversations he initiated, she quickly became one of the greatest influences in my life.  We hope you enjoy the stories shared by the other authors this month.

Joanne Minutillo

Joanne is Shelley’s publicist at Harper Collins. We are so excited to invite her to share a story this month!

My husband, Phil and I have been married for 8 years – and our wedding day seems like it was yesterday!

Of course not everything happened without a hitch, here are some of the funny/memorable things that took place on our Special day:

Phil forgot the wedding rings. He realized early on when he was at the church.  One of his groomsmen had to borrow someone’s car and go back to get them, luckily this all happened before I walked down the aisle!
Everyone raved about the food, and I wish we could have enjoyed it too, but I think we each had one bite each of our entrée and that was it!
We had chocolate fountains as part of our dessert..and no, didn’t get to try that either!
On our shuttle bus on the way back to our hotel, our shuttle driver had no idea where he was going – and neither did we…so what should have been a 10 minute ride tops, turned out to be a 40 minute ride!

 All in all, it was such a wonderful day and I wouldn’t change anything, we were surrounded with our family and friends, in a perfect setting

 I think this picture captures it perfectly!!!

Beth Shriver

The best memory I had at my wedding was when my dad walked into the dance floor and took over my husbands lead. My Dad is a quiet and simple man so this was a great surprise for me;)

Mary Ellis
My favorite memory?? On our wedding day, my husband and the best man pulled into the church parking lot, running late.  Ken put the marriage license and keys atop his car when putting on his tux jacket. When he got back into the car to find the boutonniere, the license blew away, unnoticed. 
 
 After the service the whole wedding party searched the bushes fifteen minutes to find the license.



Kelly Irvin
Looking back one of the things I treasure most is the presence of a few close friends from my days as a newspaper reporter in the border town of Laredo, Texas. I had only lived in El Paso for a year when I got married. My family in Kansas didn’t make it down for the ceremony, but my friends from Laredo were like family to me. We’d worked together for five years in a town where none of us had family. We celebrated all the special occasions together and supported each other in down times like the newspaper being sold and closing its doors. They made the long trek from new jobs and towns so they could be there for me one more time. It was neat to be able to introduce them to this love of my life and see their reactions. Would they approve? (I think they did!) I remember sitting in the reception opening presents and they were wise-cracking and keeping up a running commentary just like they did in the newsroom when we worked together. It touched me that they took time from their busy lives to come. I didn’t know it at the time but I wouldn’t see them again for years—until we reconnected through Facebook, of all things. Our lives went in separate directions, but we had that one last great time together.


Shelley Shepard Gray

Though we had a lot of great moments at my wedding, I must confess it’s all kind of a blur. Tom and I were sure we didn’t need anything videotaped. If I could change one thing, it’s that we would have done that!  Like many brides, I wasn’t as worried about my dress or hair or even the actual wedding as much as I was worried about everyone else.

Because Tom grew up near Cleveland, Ohio, I grew up in Houston, and we met in Colorado, my future husband and I had friends and family spread out all over the country. The first time any of them met each other was at our rehearsal dinner. I was really concerned about my mom meeting Tom’s mom for the first time! Then there were all our friends from college-how would they get along with family members and high school friends? And what if people got rowdy? Would my father get mad? The whole idea of it all stressed me out!

I should have known that everyone would get along just fine! I later learned that Tom’s mom and my mother bonded outside the reception when they both had to sneak cigarettes in the 90* Texas heat. Tom’s fraternity brothers danced with sisters and high school friends. Tom’s uncles shared stories with my father’s friends. A good time was had by all. Thank Goodness!  

Amy Lillard
My favorite wedding memory…well, it could be my dance with my father. Or the toast my sister made. Or even walking back down the aisle as a newly married couple as some jaunty love song played. But none of that happened at my super-duper romantic wedding.

I joke a lot about my wedding, but as far as wedding vows go it was very traditional. I may have gotten married in the Sebastian County Courthouse by a man named Judge Bud, but the vows themselves were extreme old school.

Now keep in mind that I was very nervous and wondering why we had to do this to begin with. Why all the pomp and circumstance? Or in my case a quick trip to the courthouse with a select few friends and family? Why was a ceremony even necessary? But it was too late. I was standing in front of the judge with my friend blocking my escape…er, I mean, standing by my side.  So I settled into the fact that we were actually going to do this. Then it came time for Rob to say his vows.  We were facing each other, holding hands, and the judge told him to repeat everything. All was well until he got to “I plight thee my troth.” Rob turned to the judge and said, “What?” His tone implied that this was a deal breaker.

I almost died. I squeezed his fingers and said, “Just say it.”  And remarkably he did. But later he jokingly told me there was no way he was feeding the pigs!

Jennifer Beckstrand

I’ve had three daughters get married. They are all beautiful, delightful girls who fill my life with such joy. My favorite memory of each wedding is the way the groom couldn’t take his eyes off the bride, as if she were the most beautiful, angelic, amazing person in the world. I love that sentiment. Every bride should be adored by her groom.

Bride Blog: The Great Debate

Planning a wedding is quite a job!  Everyone has his or her opinion about how the event should look and feel.  Wedding budgets vary tremendously, and the size of the budget available often causes great debates between the bride and groom and the people footing the bill.  Do we splurge for fresh flowers or do we save money on flowers and spend the savings elsewhere (like on the dress)?  What are we going to do about music?  Do we hire a DJ or book a string quartet?

(This is Laurie).  There were only three hiccups that kept our wedding day from being perfect.  Three that I was made aware of, anyway.  By the time we started contacting florists, my husband and I had already confirmed many of the details for our wedding.  When I called the first florist, I discovered we had chosen to get married on Sweetest Day.  Ugh.  Thankfully I only had to make one or two more phone calls to find someone who welcomed our business.  During our consultation with the florist, I provided pictures of bouquets I had snipped from wedding magazines to help describe the desired look I wanted.  (I envisioned the bridesmaids’ bouquets looking very similar to the bouquet held by Jennifer Beckstrand’s daughter in the photo posted near her story below).  When the flowers were delivered to the church, I was initially devastated because the bridemaids’ bouquets were not what I pictured.  After the bridesmaids assured me the arrangement was beautiful, I decided I respected the florist’s artistic impression of the description I provided.  My bouquet was exactly what I wanted, and I couldn’t wait to walk down the aisle. The aisle…that brings me to the second hiccup of the day.  As I stood behind the door to the sanctuary, waiting to walk down the aisle with my dad, the organist suddenly stopped playing the music.  Nothing happened for what seemed like forever.  Later I would learn that at that moment, the Best Man was attempting to unroll the aisle runner.  Apparently the florist forgot to properly prepare the runner, and it would not budge.  It is quite humorous to watch the wedding video–you see the Best Man’s confusion…my brother steps in to help…they struggle for a few minutes…my husband’s aunt comes to the rescue…  But then a few steps down the aisle, there is an additional tangle…  Instead of bailing and tossing the runner to the side, my brother and the Best Man decide to kick the runner to unroll it the rest of the way down the aisle.  At this point, my dad and I were oblivious to what was happening on the other side of the door.  I remember feeling so relieved to hear the organist begin playing the processional.

After the ceremony, the photographer took some quick pictures of the bridal party.  Our guests made their way across the river to reception.  At the same time, our DJ was racing there to get set up before our arrival.  This was the third and final hiccup for the day.  When we originally spoke with him about our wedding reception, we were planning an evening affair.  Then we changed the time of the ceremony and reception so my childhood minister could officiate the ceremony.  The DJ approved the change, but I guess he accidentally forgot to update his calendar.  While the DJ got situated, the event staff piped music into the ballroom and began serving our guests hors d’oeuvres.  My husband and I waited outside in the sunshine with the bridal party, enjoying adult beverages that were poured for us by the policeman on street patrol.  I think the event staff feared they’d be dealing with Bridezilla under the circumstances.  But I was so happy to be married, I truly didn’t care. 

Love is in bloom, and the sound of love is in the air.   This month, your favorite Amish authors have shared some of their wedding experiences with us.

Kelly Irvin

Since Tim and I were on a tight budget, DJs and bands were out of the question for our wedding reception. We had a boom box sitting on the floor in the corner at the party house my mother-in-law rented. My good friend Shellee Bratton, who doubled as our videographer, was in charge of changing the cassette tapes (yes, it was the “olden” days before CDs or i-tunes.) My only memory of the music is when a song by Phil Collins came on. He was one of the favorite singers of a previous boyfriend who broke my heart. (Little did I know he did me a tremendous favor because the love of my life was still to come!) The only thing worse would’ve been ZZ Top, another of his favorites. I whispered in Shellee’s ear and asked her to change the music. She was taping at the time and on the video you can see our conversation, but not hear it. When Tim and I watched this wonderful video of our wedding and reception, he wanted to know what we were talking about. I smiled and said, “Nothing, honey!” Thinking of it now reminds me of how everything really does work out for the best. We’ve been happily married for almost 28 years now. God knew what He was doing!

Amy Lillard

This is one area where my wedding was amazing. I had a beautiful bouquet of real flowers for my nuptials thanks to my mother-in-law. Seriously. If it hadn’t been for her I wouldn’t have even thought about flowers. I just wanted to get to the courthouse and get it over with so I could get on with the rest of my day. I know…so romantic. But if I haven’t mentioned it before, I was a nervous wreck. The less time I spent thinking about the wedding, the fewer opportunities I had for a full blown panic attack. But she dragged me to Rheba’s House of Flowers and before I knew what hit me, I had a wedding bouquet. Of course, I wasn’t about to throw the beautiful arrangement to the one unmarried woman in our group of ten. So I kept it to myself. I recently, finally, threw the bouquet away. Well, what was left of it. Over the years and eighteen moves, it had suffered a bit at the hands of time. I suppose that’s the one down side of real flowers. They surely won’t keep as long as the silk.

The music for the reception was classic. Since we ate after the wedding at Pizza Hut (again, so romantic), the music was provided by the Wurlitzer that sat next to one of the exits. The actual reception was held a couple of days later in a fancy schmancy club called Cindy’s Beer Gardens. Well, you can only imagine the swank and once again Wurlitzer saved the day. I’m not sure of any songs that were actually played those two days, though if my husband had any say in it there was plenty of Van Halen. We didn’t have a first dance nor did I have a last dance with my father. But that’s all right with me. I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.

Jennifer Beckstrand

I love real flowers. I love them so much that I put them on my cake. My three daughters also had real flowers at their weddings. They die quickly, but they are so beautiful while they last.  Here are pictures of flowers from my three daughters’  weddings.

 

Be sure to check back in July.  In addition to the authors we’ve all enjoyed hearing from each month, Shelley has invited some ladies from Harper Collins to share wedding stories with us!

Bride Blog: The Bride’s Entourage

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.”  And I’m sure many of us have heard our share of bridesmaid disaster stories.  For years, Hollywood has capitalized from these tales–from a the bride’s sister donning an ugly bridesmaid dress so as not to steal the show to a best friend ensuring Bridezilla gets her dream wedding to a Maid of Honor who is secretly in love with the groom…  It’s probably safe to say that we’ve all shared some laughs while watching weddings fall apart on the big screen. 

I (Laurie) am relieved to say that I don’t have any bridesmaid tales to share from my own wedding.  I was, however, Maid of Honor in my girlfriend’s wedding.  The dresses she chose for us were gorgeous!  I immediately fell in love with this two-piece, floor-length gown in a beautiful shade of cloudy blue–and the embroidery!  The only problem with “the look” was due to a miscommunication with the stylist who did my hair before the ceremony.  I envisioned a few thin twists of hair held back with a sparkly accessory, curly tendrils romantically falling toward my shoulders.  As is clear in the photo, I ended up looking like a character from Star Trek.  One of my college mentors happened to be in attendance, and she approached me after the ceremony and said, “You look beautiful, but you might want to choose a different hairstyle for your own wedding.”  Gee, thanks!  Shelley’s Amish author friends have contributed their own bridesmaid stories for your enjoyment.

 

Beth Shriver

Here’s a picture of my SPIKEY headdress that looks more like a prickly pare. Because I’m the only one with one on it really stands out! Yikes! The things we think are a good idea at the time… 

Mary Ellis

Since I married at the end of the flower-child era, my four bridesmaids wore very bright floral dresses with wide-brimmed hats. Name a color and it was included in that wild print. Right after the service we went to the local park for pictures. A swarm of bees deviled us the entire time we were there. Two girls got stung, while I carried one bee back to the reception inside my bouquet.

Jennifer Beckstrand

I love elegant weddings and definitely knew what I wanted my own wedding to look like. While looking for a wedding dress, I walked into a bridal shop and saw the perfect bridesmaids dresses. Pink and fluffy and elegant. I fell in love. I don’t know if anybody else loved them, but I still think they are absolutely gorgeous. The four blondes in the photo are my sisters. It was truly a perfect day.

Kelly Irvin

I had a small wedding so no entourage. No bridesmaids. Only my maid of honor, my sister, and as I mentioned before she was late. Very late. The pastor had another wedding after ours and he was anxious and ready to bolt by the time Pam arrived with her two year old in tow and her husband. She was expecting baby number two. She said I would understand some day. Looking back, I’m just so glad she was there. She was the only member of my family able to be at my wedding. In the bigger scheme of things, being late was no big deal. Having my sister at my wedding was a very big deal.

Shelley Shepard Gray

We had a formal evening wedding. It was actually black tie, so all the guests wore tuxedos and gowns. To go with this theme, I decided to have my bridesmaids wear black dresses. This was in the late 1980s, so I felt very daring to have my wedding party in all black and white!  The best story about my bridesmaids  was my bridesmaids’ luncheon. It was the day of the wedding, and in a café in a fancy department store. Unfortunately, the power in the whole store had gone out right before we got there. Since we had no place else to go, we had our luncheon in a darkened restaurant, and everyone had salads. Weeks later, I discovered that many of the girls in my bridal party got sick from the food they ate there! Ack! It just goes to show you how sweet everyone was…no one said a single thing during the lunch, wedding, or reception. I guess I’ve always been secretly thankful that I was too nervous to eat much of that lunch…getting food poisoning on my wedding day would have been such a disaster. 

Amy Lillard

A wedding as fancy-schmancy as mine doesn’t simply happen overnight. It takes hours of planning, steadfast dedication, and tons of preparation.

Such was the case with my bridesmaids. If it wasn’t one thing it was another as we tried to get ready for my big day. Farrah took forever getting her bangs just right, Michelle was on the phone talking to some third world country while someone else
styled her hair, Reese was as gracious as ever. And J-Lo? Well, she was J-Lo. 

But what’s a bride to do when her bridesmaids are famous? Keep calm and carry on. After all, it was my big day. Regardless of the fact that I was surrounded by divas, I was determined to make the most of it. In fact—

What do you mean the photo looks faked? Of course it’s not faked! I’ve told you the truth all along haven’t I? I told you about my oh-so romantic proposal and my incredi-dress that I spent days trying to find. Why would I concoct some story this late in the game? Unquestionably not because I eloped and had no bridesmaids. That would mean no bridesmaids’ dresses and no lies about how they would be able to wear it again.

Why would I tell such tales? Obviously not because I didn’t want to be left out of the blog this month. And certainly not because if I didn’t come up with some story, then Shelley wouldn’t have included me.

Nope, here’s my very real wedding photo of my celeb-studded wedding party.  Don’t be jelly!

Haters gonna hate!

In June, love is in bloom, and these authors talk about the flowers they choose for their wedding ceremonies.

The Bride’s Entourage

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.”  And I’m sure many of us have heard our share of bridesmaid disaster stories.  For years, Hollywood has capitalized from these tales–from a the bride’s sister donning an ugly bridesmaid dress so as not to steal the show to a best friend ensuring Bridezilla gets her dream wedding to a Maid of Honor who is secretly in love with the groom…  It’s probably safe to say that we’ve all shared some laughs while watching weddings fall apart on the big screen. 

I (Laurie) am relieved to say that I don’t have any bridesmaid tales to share from my own wedding.  I was, however, Maid of Honor in my girlfriend’s wedding.  The dresses she chose for us were gorgeous!  I immediately fell in love with this two-piece, floor-length gown in a beautiful shade of cloudy blue–and the embroidery!  The only problem with “the look” was due to a miscommunication with the stylist who did my hair before the ceremony.  I envisioned a few thin twists of hair held back with a sparkly accessory, curly tendrils romantically falling toward my shoulders.  As is clear in the photo, I ended up looking like a character from Star Trek.  One of my college mentors happened to be in attendance, and she approached me after the ceremony and said, “You look beautiful, but you might want to choose a different hairstyle for your own wedding.”  Gee, thanks!  Shelley’s Amish author friends have contributed their own bridesmaid stories for your enjoyment.

 

Beth Shriver

Here’s a picture of my SPIKEY headdress that looks more like a prickly pare. Because I’m the only one with one on it really stands out! Yikes! The things we think are a good idea at the time… 

Mary Ellis

Since I married at the end of the flower-child era, my four bridesmaids wore very bright floral dresses with wide-brimmed hats. Name a color and it was included in that wild print. Right after the service we went to the local park for pictures. A swarm of bees deviled us the entire time we were there. Two girls got stung, while I carried one bee back to the reception inside my bouquet.

Jennifer Beckstrand

I love elegant weddings and definitely knew what I wanted my own wedding to look like. While looking for a wedding dress, I walked into a bridal shop and saw the perfect bridesmaids dresses. Pink and fluffy and elegant. I fell in love. I don’t know if anybody else loved them, but I still think they are absolutely gorgeous. The four blondes in the photo are my sisters. It was truly a perfect day.

Kelly Irvin

I had a small wedding so no entourage. No bridesmaids. Only my maid of honor, my sister, and as I mentioned before she was late. Very late. The pastor had another wedding after ours and he was anxious and ready to bolt by the time Pam arrived with her two year old in tow and her husband. She was expecting baby number two. She said I would understand some day. Looking back, I’m just so glad she was there. She was the only member of my family able to be at my wedding. In the bigger scheme of things, being late was no big deal. Having my sister at my wedding was a very big deal.

Shelley Shepard Gray

We had a formal evening wedding. It was actually black tie, so all the guests wore tuxedos and gowns. To go with this theme, I decided to have my bridesmaids wear black dresses. This was in the late 1980s, so I felt very daring to have my wedding party in all black and white!  The best story about my bridesmaids  was my bridesmaids’ luncheon. It was the day of the wedding, and in a café in a fancy department store. Unfortunately, the power in the whole store had gone out right before we got there. Since we had no place else to go, we had our luncheon in a darkened restaurant, and everyone had salads. Weeks later, I discovered that many of the girls in my bridal party got sick from the food they ate there! Ack! It just goes to show you how sweet everyone was…no one said a single thing during the lunch, wedding, or reception. I guess I’ve always been secretly thankful that I was too nervous to eat much of that lunch…getting food poisoning on my wedding day would have been such a disaster. 

Amy Lillard

A wedding as fancy-schmancy as mine doesn’t simply happen overnight. It takes hours of planning, steadfast dedication, and tons of preparation.

Such was the case with my bridesmaids. If it wasn’t one thing it was another as we tried to get ready for my big day. Farrah took forever getting her bangs just right, Michelle was on the phone talking to some third world country while someone else
styled her hair, Reese was as gracious as ever. And J-Lo? Well, she was J-Lo. 

But what’s a bride to do when her bridesmaids are famous? Keep calm and carry on. After all, it was my big day. Regardless of the fact that I was surrounded by divas, I was determined to make the most of it. In fact—

What do you mean the photo looks faked? Of course it’s not faked! I’ve told you the truth all along haven’t I? I told you about my oh-so romantic proposal and my incredi-dress that I spent days trying to find. Why would I concoct some story this late in the game? Unquestionably not because I eloped and had no bridesmaids. That would mean no bridesmaids’ dresses and no lies about how they would be able to wear it again.

Why would I tell such tales? Obviously not because I didn’t want to be left out of the blog this month. And certainly not because if I didn’t come up with some story, then Shelley wouldn’t have included me.

Nope, here’s my very real wedding photo of my celeb-studded wedding party.  Don’t be jelly!

Haters gonna hate!

In June, love is in bloom, and these authors talk about the flowers they choose for their wedding ceremonies.