Wedding Blog

I have gone back and forth, and back again when it comes to ideas for table numbers. I started out thinking I’d want to do something with wine bottles, for instance, we’d name every table after a different type of wine. Then I thought about incorporating our engagement photos, but ultimately decided that I’d use those for our guest book.

Then I came across the cutest idea from another wedding blogger! I could incorporate 3 of the most important things in our lives into the table numbers: our dogs! Mr. Lav and I have 3 Labrador Retrievers that are our “babies”. We seriously consider them our children.

Dixie, the golden lab, is about 11 years old, and Chris got her back in high school. He found her after keeping an eye on a box of puppies left behind in a park by someone. He came back at the end of the day to find only one left walking around all by herself, and decided to take her home. He initially had to hide Dixie from his mom until she “warmed up” to the idea of having a dog. She grew up to be the perfect dog that basically takes care of herself. You’d be hard pressed to find her doing anything wrong.

Here’s Dixie ready for Christmas gifts! She had already gotten a sniff of the Milk-Bones awaiting her!

Madie is our purebred black lab. Mr. Lab got her for me for our second Christmas. She was one of the last two puppies left from her breeder. When we went to pick her out, she was the one that ran out of the front door to greet us. Her breeder proceeded to warn us about Madie being the “stink pot” of the bunch. I ultimately picked her because she seemed immediately attached to us, like she knew she had to work it to go home with us! Madie is definitely the smart dog of the group. We quickly found out that Madie can also be a bit of a diva. She’s picky about what she eats, who she likes, and even when we can pet her. She never sleeps on the floor and once even nipped my butt after I spanked her as if to say, “You’re not the boss of me!” But I love her so much, anyway! I even found out we share the same birthday when I was filling out her AKC papers! She was meant to be a part of our family!

Madie thinking she can drive. I guess she just wanted to give Mr. Lab a break as we drove back home from a 4 hour trip…

Gabby is our newest addition. She originally belonged to my little brother who got her as a gift for his now ex-girlfriend. Then my mother took her in until my oldest brother (a police officer) decided to put her in K-9 academy. But there was another labrador already there that basically showed her up and Gabby was kicked out. That’s when we decided to take her in. Mr. Lab and I had been talking about getting a chocolate lab to round out the bunch and to give Madie a friend (Dixie’s getting old and can’t take Madie’s rough-housing). The idea of a 2 year old, house trained dog with all her shots and already spayed really appealed to us. So exactly 2 years after we brought home Madie, we brought home Gabby. I’ve never met a dog that is as loving as Gabby in my life. She cannot stand not being touched. But that’s okay, because she’s also the softest dog in the world. Too bad Mom didn’t mention Gabby’s knack for “dumpster diving”. We’re always having to hide garbage because little miss piggy will get into it!

Gabby doing what she does best: begging to be pet. She’s literally bugging Mr. Lab as I type this!

Here’s the inspiration for the “doggie table numbers”:

Photo Source

Photo Source

I really like the look of the first one, but there’s really no way I’m going to be able to get shots of all three dogs together like this. They’re just too impatient. So I’m thinking I may just do a montage of different photos of each dog. I’m definitely going to plan a day to take them for a walk in a pretty park so I can get ton of photo options of them to do something along the lines of the second inspiration photo. I’m not sure yet if I’ll put the photos in frames, or use some kind of stand as pictured to raise it up for better viewing. All I know is that I’m excited for another DIY project that will enable us to include our “children” in a very special way!