Love Letters From Ladybug Farm - Donna Ball [92]
At ten fifteen, florists’ trucks began to arrive. The bridal bouquet, the bridesmaids’ bouquets, the groomsmens’ boutonnieres, the mothers’ corsages, and the loose flowers that Bridget intended to use to decorate the cake were all stored in the supplemental refrigerator in the cellar. Giant potted ferns were placed strategically around the porch and on either side of the garden arbor. Silk dogwoods defined the reception area and screened the barnyard. Lindsay set up a workstation in the cellar, where it was cooler, to start trimming, arranging, and storing the dozens upon dozens of Apricot Delight roses that piled up in columns of boxes around her.
The tents were erected on the back lawn, the scrim was secured, and the folding tables rented from the party supply company were set up beneath them. One hundred folding chairs were snapped into place along a precise fan-shaped path that Paul had outlined in the rose garden—and not a single rose, flower bed, or tree branch was disturbed. Noah assembled the twenty-five decorative table rounds that Cici had purchased at the dollar store, and arranged them around the dance floor. Tomorrow they would be covered with ivory satin and decorated with tulle-wrapped candles and apricot roses. The wedding arbor—a lacy affair built of bender board and balsa wood that Lindsay had spotted in the florist’s shop and purchased on the spot for a hundred dollars—was decorated with silk ivy, white roses, and satin ribbon. Anchored in place in the center of the rose garden, it framed the mountains and the vineyard in the background, and the fountain and the reflecting pool in the foreground. The three supplemental arbors that Catherine had insisted upon were suitably decorated with tulle, ribbons, and silk ivy. Roses were deadheaded, petals were swept off the rock paths and the grass. Satin ribbons were wrapped around one hundred funeral chairs. An altar table—which was actually a butcher block repurposed from Cici’s workshop—was set up for the unity candles. Cici had to admit—as she stepped back with her arm around Noah’s shoulders to admire their work—that it was magnificent.
The six cake layers that had been deemed perfect enough to make the final cut were removed from the freezer, filled with lemon custard, carefully wrapped in the fondant that Bridget had been working on all week, and—with breath suspended—arranged with cake separators on a wheeled cart, and then stored carefully in a corner of the butler’s pantry with dire warnings from Bridget regarding what would happen to anyone who dared even breathe in its direction. The bride was bringing the cake topper to the rehearsal dinner, and it would be decorated just before serving with fresh flowers and fruit, in keeping with the “simply organic” theme.
The turkey was removed from its brine, garlic and herbs were inserted under its skin, and it was wrapped in apple-wood bacon and put in the oven to roast. Bridget left Ida Mae with the recipe for the cheese biscuits and the dressing for the three-berry appetizer while she prepared the strawberry crumble and mixed the ice cream for the rehearsal dinner, and put two hams in the second oven for the wedding reception. They were working together like a well-oiled machine, and Bridget reminded herself to apologize to Ida Mae, when all this was over, for whatever unflattering things she had thought about her over the past several weeks.
Lori reported that the entire bridal party and several of the guests had already checked into the Holiday Inn, the gift baskets had been delivered to the appropriate rooms, and Catherine was on her way with the wedding dress. Lindsay snapped a freshly ironed white tablecloth over the giant dining room table, lined the center with magnolia leaves, and set the table. She used the plain white china Paul had brought, a mixture of their own three silver patterns, and sparkling glassware