Our 20-year anniversary, marriage vow renewal celebration was truly a “Homestead Wedding!” My sweet husband got down on his knee in front of the whole church on our 19^th anniversary this past fall and proposed a vow renewal wedding to me to be held on the 20^th anniversary of our first date in January. His proposal came complete with a new ring! Since we eloped the first time, we were not able to enjoy a nice ceremony to include our friends and family and most importantly honor God in His House.

            Planning and preparing was a valuable experience for my two teen daughters to share with me as well. We headed out shopping the day after Christmas with a “Winter Woodland” theme in mind. Avoiding the holly and poinsettias, we still found an abundance of pine boughs and pinecone adorned items that would be just perfect and at giveaway prices! Candles and lights were at cheap too. I even purchased woodland stationary to use for invitations at an office supply store for only a few dollars.

            We planned and prepared for only four weeks, and it all came together beautifully that final evening. One hundred and fifty people had kindly RSVP’d either by phone, email, or returning the slips that we put in our church bulletins. We hadn’t anticipated a last minute winter storm that kept all but about 90 people at home! My daughters, our pastor’s wife, and I put everything together the day of the wedding. My husband graciously stayed home with the two little guys and my oldest son helped clean home for our friends who would stay to baby-sit that night while the newly remarried couple honeymooned.

       Attire for our theme was very easy and inexpensive- warm, wintry clothes in greens, browns and reds. The few new items we needed to purchase were very inexpensive with the winter markdowns as well. My daughter had just knitted me a gorgeous shawl that was a perfect touch! At the beginning of the service as guests were arriving, we played a gospel CD recorded by our friends. For a guest book, we used a simple leather-bound journal given to us by a friend. Thankfully, our church sanctuary had been newly renovated so not much decorating was required. We dimmed the lights and put electric candles with pine candle rings in the windows. For the end of every other pew I made an olive green satin bow and attached a spray of pine and berries. These cost under a dollar each. We used simple pillar candles, with Mason jar lids under them to catch the drips for the “Unity Candle Table” and set them up on extra hymnals with a pine garland across the front of the table. There was an unlit candle for each member of our family and one center candle lit in the middle. After our pastor preached about God’s design for marriage, we exchanged the renewal vows which we had carefully selected from various ideas we found online. We and our five children then each lit a candle from the center one representing God, the Center of our family and whose light is spread through the testimony we each live for Him. Afterwards our children sang the hymn, “The Longer I Serve Him.”

            As the guests were standing in line for food in the reception area they could view a skinny primitive tree that I hung with photos. One photo of my husband and me for each year that we had been married. I used a stamping/scrapbook idea guide and embellished each photo like a mini scrapbook.        The 16-ft guests’ tables were simply covered with white paper table-covering and a red paper placemat was at each place with simple plastic cutlery. Down the center of each I placed a 10-inch wide strip of burlap about 6 feet long. In the center was a pillar candle in a beautiful pine candle ring (only $2.49!) Satin gold-edged ribbon with pinecones and berries printed on it streamed from either side of the centerpiece down the burlap for a nice contrast. I sprinkled large pieces of natural potpourri across the table also. The smell filled up the large gymnasium.         For wedding favors I purchased rusty tin snowflake ornaments from Oriental Trading at only $3 per dozen. These were tied to a card which read: “Like each unique, yet perfect, snowflake which falls from the sky, your love and friendship is a special blessing to us from above.  We thank God for you!”

Three friends graciously offered to help serve the food. Three tables with white gathered skirts were lined up and covered with burlap across the top. Under the burlap, I stacked reams of paper, and the large boxes the paper comes in, in varying tiers on which to place the serving dishes and give them depth. Around the stacks under the burlap, I strung white Christmas lights to shine through the holes. Across the front of the tables I placed pine garlands. Two pine tree centerpieces were a nice touch on the bread table. 

       The first table was for three different kinds of soup cooked in and served from 18- Qt electric roasters: Broccoli and Cheese, Potato, and Vegetarian Chili.         The next table was for baskets of three kinds of breads- cornbread muffins, parmesan herb muffins, angel biscuits, butter squares, crackers, and spiced pecans with a square of plaid homespun fabric under each container. 

        Embellished cards labeled the different kinds of foods.

       The last table held the cake along with trays of wedding cookies and a framed 5X7 photo of my husband and me on our wedding day and a family photo taken this year. My talented aunt made our cake for us. Since we were planning for so many, we decided to make one small beautiful cake that could be viewed and enjoyed with the eyes through the whole reception.  Two large, plain white sheet cakes were kept in the kitchen to be cut and served to the guests. They tasted just as yummy as the original. We ended up not needing the main cake and it was served the next day for my daughter’s ballet recital reception.           One more round table off to the side held the iced tea, coffee, and hot spiced wassail. The bowl of ice was set in the center of a Christmas wreath. My son and his friend played traditional Appalachian flatpick guitar music while we were enjoying the food and fellowship. We received so many complements about our wedding and reception. One friend even said it was the most beautiful wedding she had ever attended. I couldn’t believe how little we ended up spending. All the decorations can even be used next year for our first Christmas in our new log home! All the work in planning and preparing was worth the effort to celebrate 20 years of blessings from the Lord!

 There are many websites to help determine serving quantities. Basically, I planned on 12 oz. of soup per person along with two muffins. I multiplied my usual recipes until I had enough. I prepared the wassail in an 18-Qt. electric roaster as well. I did as much pre-chopping and mixing as I could the night before. My daughters thought to use an apple peeler for the 10# of potatoes that went into the potato soup. It worked wonderfully, saving time effort! The nuts and cookies were made a few days ahead. Here’s a few of the recipes I used:

Hot Spiced Wassail

1/2 gallon apple cider
 4 Tbs Lemon Juice
 1 Cup Orange Juice
8 whole cloves
 A  few pinches of ground allspice
4 cinnamon sticks, one-inch each
Dash of nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

Place all liquids in pot on stove, crock pot, or coffee pot.

Place remaining ingredients in tied in a coffee filter.

Simmer 20 minutes until ready to serve.

Remove spices.

Yields 1/2 gallon.

Parmesan Herb Muffins

1 egg

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup low-fat milk

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cornmeal

2 ½ tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 375 degree F. Grease muffin tins or line with paper cups.

In large mixing bowl, whisk together egg, olive oil, milk, parmesan and herbs. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, and baking powder.  Mix with fork and then add to liquid ingredients. Stir just to combine and spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes until tester comes out clean. Makes 10.

Vegetarian Chili

1 12 oz. bag of Morningstar Farms Griller Crumbles

1 (48 oz) can tomato juice

1 (29 oz) can crushed tomatoes

4 cups cooked kidney, red, and black beans mixed

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped green pepper

1/8 cup chili powder

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp sugar

Sauté the onion, celery, green pepper in some oil until tender. Add the Griller Crumbles and sauté a little longer. Add mixture to rest of ingredients in large soup pot and simmer until heated through and flavors blend, about 30 minutes.

Wedding Cookies

1 cup butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

6 Tbs confectioners’ sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, cream butter and vanilla until smooth. Combine the 6 Tbs sugar and flour; stir into butter mixture just until blended. Mix in the nuts. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes, until just beginning to brown. When cool, roll in remaining sugar. May be rolled a second time.

Spiced Pecans

1 egg white

½ cup sugar

1 tsp water

¼ tsp salt

1 pound pecan halves

½ tsp cinnamon

Blend egg whites sugar, water, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Add pecans and coat evenly. Pour pecans into roasting pan and bake at 225 degrees for 1 hour. Stir every 10 minutes. Cool.