82-L«ncaster Firming, Saturday, May 15,1993 Wedding Ideas Wi LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Farming Staff ELIZABETHTOWN (Lancas ter Co.) Since Rudy and Reba Wolgemulh are immersed in the agriculture lifestyle, they wanted their wedding to reflect it. At the same time, they wanted their wed ding to be memorable without costing a fortune. The couple managed to make it just that and Reba is willing to share her creative ideas with other brides-to-be who are appalled to hear that the average wedding costs $16,000. Cutting costs, Reba found, does not mean a bride needs to settle for a drab affair. For starters, Reba said, “Forget now placed above the farmhouse’s bridal shops.” inside doorways. Money can be saved by purchas- The bases for the table center ing a wedding gown at a consign- pieces are one-inch slabs of wood ment shop. Many of these gowns sawed off a fallen tree at Reba’s are new from bridal stores’ unsold homeplace. The wood was sealed slock. Some have been worn, but a with tree seal and a hot glue gun gown that is only worn one day and W as used to attach the candles and then dry cleaned appears new. flowers around the base. Reba said that the savings are sub- R e ba stresses the need to start stantial. She stitched on a lace early in preparing for the wedding, applique to give the gown a new she, herself, had only a three look. She also formed the bridal month engagement in which to headpieces with star stalice and plan, arrange, and finish a myriad baby’s breath. of details. The March blizzard “I wanted guests to feel honored almost caused a disaster when it and special,” Reba said. For her, struck on the day Reba planned to that meant a wedding that offered a cut floral bases from an overturned personal glimpse into the lives of tree. With difficulty, she managed the bride and groom, and a wed- to brush the snow aside to reach the ding with lots of flowers with- tree and finish her project, out pricey flowershop costs. As guests were seated to await The best way to accomplish this, the ceremony, they watched slides she decided, was to do most of the 0 f the couple from babyhood to flower arrangement and to use silk present to the strains of organ mus and dried flowers. She had picked ic. While music from “Lord of the up some flower-arrangement Harvest,” played, slides were know-how from a vo-tech course, shown on the sanctuary wall of but much of her ability seems to farm shots from Rudy’s work out reveal a natural eye for design, west. Pictures of the couple doing She chose to coordinate her things with friends flickered to the wedding colors with those of the strains of the music “Friends.” farmhouse, which she and Rudy While the music and pictures renovated. That way the flower were sychronized, one thing that arrangements could do double was not planned but in retrospect duty. proved to be ironical happened The cascade of white roses that' while the soloist was singing “... Reba carried down the aisle, now with shaky knees we stand before adorns the exposed beams on the y0u....” It was at that point that “I can do anything with a pattern,” said Ruth Akers who concentrates on sewing bridal gowns. bathroom wall. The unity candle surrounded by mauve and blue flowers sets on the bathroom van ity. The milk can that overflows with flowers, first set in the church foyer during the wedding and is now a focal point in the dressing area. The dining room centerpiece had been one of the table decora tions at the reception, the others were given as gifts to those who helped with the reception. Country twist bows tied around bunches of eucalyptus, baby’s breath, and greens were first used at the end of each church pew. Reba turned the bows sideways to change thd vertical arrangements into horizontal ones, which are Bridal Gowns By A Farm Woman A Farm Woman’s Touch The bridal bouquet was designed to do double duty as a bathroom focal point in the Wolgemuths’ farmhouse. Reba fainted. She attributes her lightheaded ness to packing too many last minute duties into the final hours. Some duties could not be averted. Since cows don’t stop giving milk when it’s time for a wedding, Reba milked the cows on the morning of her wedding day then rushed to the church to decorate and put some finishing touches on the food. Other than a few shaky moments during Reba’s lighthead ness, the wedding went on in style. Scented candles were used to give a fragrant aroma throughout the church for the evening wedding. The walls during the reception were decorated with a large heart shaped grapevine wreath covered with greens and miniature lights. Wheat swags and wedding bells hung from swags of greenery. LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Fanning Staff SOLANCO (Lancaster Co.) "I love weddings,” Ruth Akers said. Perhaps that is why Ruth spends much of her time surrounded by filmy fabric and yards of lace as she stitches bridal gowns and veils. Ruth has been sewing for others since she was 18 years old, but it’s only been during the last seven years that she has been concentrat ing on bridal gowns. Ruth got her start in the bridal business when she sewed her own wedding dress. Later, she did the bridal gowns for two of her daughters’ weddings and a daughter-in-law’s. She finds that her tension relax es when she sets at the sewing machine. Despite pressing deadlines with her seamstress business, Ruth has a much more demanding business on the farm. “I can sew and let the cleaning go. but I have never missed a milk ing,” said Ruth, who helps her hus band Curtis on their Solanco Acres Dairy of Distinction. With 60 milking cows, Ruth helps morning and evening. She also pampers her pet sheep of mix ed breed heritage. Now, married more than 30 years, Ruth said she met her hus band when she was a milk tester A large stuffed satin heart was made from a plywood base. Glue glitter was scrawled across the satin with the words, “Congratula tions Rudy and Reba.” The wedding cake had the tradi tional bride and groom top, but the middle and bottom cake layers were decorated to reflect the occu pations of the couple. Because Reba likes to garden, she made sugar molds of com, pumpkin, tomatoes and other produce for the garden. A Gleaner combine, rep resentative of Rudy’s custom com bining business, was surrounded by fields of cornstalks and grains. Reception food included beans and pickles that Reba had pre served from her garden, meatloaf butchered from their own beef, fruit salad made by family mem bers, mashed potatoes that a local restaurant prepared for pick-up. from Bedford County and tested milk at Curtis's farm. “It was love at first sight,” Ruth conceded. The couple married and farmed on shares the first year and then purchased the farm on which they now lived. The farm is 159 acres. In previous years, Ruth helped with the Held work but now that one son is farming full time, Ruth no longer does Held work. “My yard is big enough and I have a garden that I keep saying I’m going to cut back, but my girls like the leftovers (produce) so I keep planting a big one,” said Ruth who has four children and six grandkids. Although she doesn’t tire of sewing, Ruth admitted that sewing seven bridal gowns in all the same color and style does get boring. “I’d say most of my regular cus- This spring, she had six bridal par- ~ . _ D ... ties who chose pink fabric. (Turn ,0 P,fl * B 14) “I’m ready for a different col- and homemade bread that a friend made. The strawberries in the Jell- O salad had also been preserved from Reba's garden. The dinner was served by church friends of the couple. “I think most people are eager to help a bride and groom by helping with the meal in order to make the day special,” Reba said. Reba suggests that wedding photography be taken before the ceremony so that everyone is fresh.'Children, she said, usually behave better if pictures are taken ahead of lime. Photo costs can be reduced by choosing smaller-size prints instead of Bxlo or larger ones. But one cost that is difficult to avoid is tuxedo rental. Reba said that if you marry out of the wed ding season, rentals are cheaper. (Turn to P«fl» B 14) or,”*she said. According to Ruth, velvets and velveteens are the most difficult fabrics to sew. “I can do anything with a pattern interchange pattern pieces and make other alterations but I don’t sew without a pattern. “I think I have a bom talent,” Ruth said of her ability to sew slip covers, draperies and other items. “There’s not too much I can’t do. Maybe that sounds like I’m bragging, but I don’t mean to, it’s just that I figure that I’m never too old to learn to sew something different.” Ruth charges by the job rather than the hour a detriment if the pattern turns out to be more tricky than she estimated or if there is a problem with the fabric.
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