Very interesting tradition of the Amish wedding dress. My great-grandmother was a Seminole and they had different tradition. If you look at the woman on the left in the photo I've linked you'll see that she wears a large collection of bead necklaces. Upon birth a Seminole female would receive a bead necklace, and over the years she'd add more necklaces. At middle age she would start removing them one by one until at her death she would be left with the original necklace she received at her birth. Seminoles also had their own version of the birthing room. If a death occurred in the confines of their village the would abandon the village and find a new spot to set up camp. Infant mortality was quite high in those times and in order to keep from moving constantly they would set up a small shelter just outside the boundaries of the village as a birthing shelter. Here is a link that might be useful: Seminole Women boiling cane sugar

I have searched and searched for the pix of DD's wedding-I have scrapbooked them, so I KNOW they exist...just can't find them. I tried to scan the book she had made, but can't get that to work either. Sigh. The wedding for DD1 is going to be lakeside (did I already tell this?) and much less fancy than her sisters. But a FUN party in any event. We're planning things like lawn Yahtzee, and instead of a guest book, we'll have a 'photobooth' where the guest can write a sentiment on a large card, then have their photo taken. The kids will always be able to put a face to the name. I'm having it catered, it's just so much easier than trying to figure out the logistics of bringing in food. We might do huge bunches of lavender and tiny pots of succulents for the centerpieces. She's bought a bunch of paper lanterns that are battery powered, covered with orange & red cherry blossoms, and we're going to use a lot of bright orange, pink and purple-Indian colors. Her wedding will cost about 1/3 of her sisters, but that is mostly due to the different setting, number of guests and photographer. DD2's wedding had a premier DJ (best money spent EVER), pro photographer, and catering for 125 ppl. We spent a total of maybe $1000 for decor, flowers, favors, etc. Most was all done DIY, but it was fantastic. The owners of the ballroom had asked if they could have pix for their promotional materials! As soon as I can figure out where those pix are, i'll post them. And start posting the ideas we have for this next wedding. Oh, and by the way-that light fixture is hideous, IMHO.

I did wedding cakes for 25 years but one of the neatest ideas I suggested to a gal who was on a VERY tight budget was this: I baked a 2 tier cake for her & the groom to cut-a small 10" with 6" top tier on seperator posts, for the cake table. Then for the guests-(she had 100 guests seated at 10 tables-) she purchased 10 8" double layer cakes from the grocery bakery-all simply iced and a top & bottom border. She paid about $6 per cake. She borrowed 10 pedestal cake plates from friends & family and placed one cake on each table-and she added a small fresh rose (fully opened-not a bud), w/baby's breath in a flower vial (bought at a florist shop) & put in the center of each cake. By adding a little greenery at the cake plate base and a few rose petals scattered around each plate-it completed a nice table presentation.Each guest table could cut their own cake-they loved the novel idea! Got away with the entire thing for around $100. The caterers provided the cake plates, serving knives, etc. for each table.

I know that but it's no fun to see her drag her kids into it. I'd love to grab her, shake her or pound her head against a wall and yell "look what you are doing to your kids!!" " Don't you care????" and I know that I can't. Her relationship with her kids is her business but it doesn't make it any easier to watch. If she had called me, that's one thing. But, she involves SD by asking me through her daughter and she does that a lot. She's also got SD very excited about the wedding and SD brings it up frequently. I could be wrong, but I believe she has created a fantasy in SD's mind that everything will be wonderful when she marries BF... they'll be a family & she can go live there with them, etc. but that isn't going to happen. The craziest part of all, she HATES when SD and I get along. (more insecurity about that) but the more she ignores SD, as time goes on, SD turns to me more & more. I not only spend more time with SD, but I talk to her, I listen to her and even though she has an attitude with me, she knows she can count on me when she needs me. As she is realizing that, she has less attitude with me and we are actually becoming closer because of the way BM treats her. That only upsets BM even more, but instead of giving SD more attention, she has chosen to give less time & attention. It's really sad all the way around. I've also noticed other things she does to mimic our (DH & me) life. We ride ATV's, she went out & bought new ATV's for everyone last Christmas. We went to San Francisco for a weekend, she was going to do the same. We have an SUV, she went out and bought an SUV as soon as she moved there, even though her BF has a mini van that would accommodate all of them. She already had a new truck that her mom repossessed a few weeks ago. We've gone on a few cruises & now she's talked of wanting to take a family cruise. It's really humorous at times. She has no job, her BF's motorcycle & his kids dirt bikes were repossessed, her mom took back the truck she signed for because BM wasn't making the payments, they are about to be evicted & she can't or won't pay the $216 a month in support or any of the medical bills, but she is planning a grand wedding & all these trips. I think it's all in her head & she wants to create an illusion that she has a perfectly wonderful life. I'm not sure if she sees reality slapping her in the face... or if she just pretends it isn't happening. It will go away?