Wish You Were Here...

There are a lot of people I wish we were still living, but throwing a wedding really brings those people to the forefront of my mind. All those wonderful, colorful people in family tree that are together in heaven. It's not just that I miss them because that's always the case. It's also the realization that they would have each had something to contribute to the big day.

My Uncle Billy for example (who I'm quite sure I get most of my creativity from) who made the most amazing Ernie and Bert cake for my birthday one year. He was an artist in a lot of ways and he would have made an absolutely breath taking wedding cake. He would have made it his mission to exceed all of my ridiculous expectations. My Grandpa would have acted very calm and collected and I'm sure gotten all choked up when he saw me in the dress. My mom's cousin would have been a joy to have at your table with his lively stories and interesting point of view. My grandmothers that I never got to know, but whose love and support has always been felt. Uncle Ed who was a tough old goat, but he would have stayed up until 2am making centerpieces or favors in a heartbeat.

The list gets a little long I'm afraid. I'm sure they're all up there rooting for me. It would be nice to acknowledge them somehow. When I was young we had special candles we lit on Christmas for each missing family member. I don't want to do something with candles. I'm not allowed to use them at my venue anyway. I'm thinking something like this:

These people, and most that I've seen, lost only grandparents so they used wedding pictures. I think that's lovely, but Mike I have lost people close to us who were not grandparents or married in some cases, so that's out. Maybe instead an object for each missing loved one or a big photo collage of everyone. I'm not sure at this point. I just miss those folks. I know they'll be with us in spirit, but it would nice to have something physical there too. If it were a Halloween wedding or I was marrying into the Addam's Family I suppose we'd just dig/wake them up.