Last Saturday, the Hartleys hosted a wedding shower for Jared and Alexandria, my nephew and his fiancé.  Jared and Alexandria are getting married in November.  It is a small wedding and no one seemed inclined to have a wedding shower for them, so my sister asked if we would be willing to host one.  We talked to John and Jackie and decided to make it a joint venture.

We set the date a good while ago, and made sure that everyone in the family knew about it.  Jared and Alexandria wanted something small and informal.  After some brainstorming and back and forth, we decided to have an “I Do BBQ” at John and Jackie’s house.  We only invited family and it took a little while to compile all the addresses.  I ordered invitations from Zazzle, on Jackie’s recommendation.  Jared and Alexandria recently bought a house and they requested Lowe’s and Target gift cards as gifts.

We wanted to rent a tent and tables.  A backyard BBQ in August can be hot.  After checking out tent prices, we decided to buy a couple of 10×10 tents that we could keep for other uses.  Then we rented the tables and chairs from Buckeye Tent Rental.  We would have rented the tent from them, but we wanted the tent on the driveway and they only put tents in yards.  Buckeye Tent Rental was terrific.  They have great customer service and their prices were the most reasonable in the area.

We got the invitations sent out, then Jackie and I took care of most of the details.  She ordered some wedding shower games on Amazon.  John and Jackie got the drinks.  I put together some prizes for games and made centerpieces for the tables.  Tom and I ordered the food from City BBQ.  Mom, Julia, Alexandria’s mom, Kim Goldie, and I all brought cookies.

The weather for the wedding shower was nice, in the low 80’s with a breeze.  Everyone who had said they were coming showed up.  We had a nice group of 20 people between the extended Clymer family and the Goldie family.  The food was great and we had a good time playing the games.  It looked like Jared and Alexandria were enjoying the laid back atmosphere.  It was a shower for them but they weren’t in the spotlight most of the time.  We had cornhole and lawn darts set up in the backyard and some of us enjoyed playing those.

The shower started at 1.  About 3 some dark clouds started to move in.  Most of the folks started to head out because some severe thunderstorms were in the forecast.  Jared and Alexandria, Devon and Erin, John and Jackie, Lauren Goldie, and Tom and I cleaned up the outside area quickly when it started to rain.  We moved into the garage for a little while, but then headed indoors when it started to rain harder.

Tom and I packed up some of our stuff and headed home so the younger generation could enjoy each other without us.  We love seeing John and Jackie enjoying their cousins and their girlfriends.  John and Jackie are both looking forward to Jared and Alexandria getting married so they won’t be the only young marrieds in the family.

The wedding shower was a wonderful time with the families.  It was nice to get to know the Goldies a little.  They are a nice family and we have enjoyed Alexandria in the family for a while now.  We are looking forward to the wedding.