Joy: Our Wedding – The Flowers
Written by Sara on August 20, 2010 – 9:06 am -After leaving the hair salon, my maid of honor Kristen and I headed to The Flower Shop in Sioux Falls to pick up our bouquets.
Remember those inspiration boards that I created for my bouquet and my girls’ bouquets on Style Me Pretty’s Style Circle? I brought these to Twyla, our florist at The Flower Shop, to use as inspiration for our florals.
Well, I can’t wait to show you how our lovely flowers turned out!
In the top picture, notice the sunflower bouquet on the left; that was my throw-away bouquet! It was wrapped in burlap and was simple but beautiful. The other bouquets in that photo are my girls’ bouquets; they turned out perfectly! Very organic – they look like they were just picked right from a field before the wedding! The bouquet with the succulent is Kristen’s, to make hers a little special, as the maid of honor.
As you can see in the bottom picture, the girls’ bouquets were wrapped in ribbon, and I had Twyla attach a brooch to each of their bouquets (I spent the months before the wedding searching flea markets and antique stores for brooches!)
And now, a peek at my bouquet (more of the full bouquet after I reveal my wedding gown!):
I had Twyla wrap the stem of the bouquet in burlap, to echo the organic, nature-inspired feel of our wedding (as well as the burlap on the reception tables!). I then wrapped a piece of lace around the stem – my great-Grandma Sophie made the lace! As you can see from the bottom picture, I also had Paloma’s Nest on Etsy make me a bouquet charm (my something blue! notice the blue string?). I just LOVED the bouquet charm; it says “i carry your heart with me,” after the e.e. cummings poem we had read during our wedding ceremony. I also attached to the stem of my bouquet a little brooch that Kristen gave me – it was perfect!
In my bouquet, Twyla used sunflowers, succulents, dusty miller, billy balls, lisianthus, spray roses and much, much more. It was literally the bouquet of my dreams – I couldn’t have been more pleased!
A big plus – I had Twyla ensure to utilize as many locally grown blooms for our flowers as possible!
Stay tuned for what’s up next: me and my girls (and Jordan and his guys!) getting ready, plus a full list of make-up products that my sister-in-law used to achieve my bridal look!
[Inspiration boards made by me on Style Me Pretty's Style Circle; all photos by the amazingly talented Creative Kindling]
Tags: bridal bouquet, bridesmaids bouquets, e.e. cummings, Etsy, Paloma's Nest, Sioux Falls, Style Circle, Style Me Pretty, succulent bouquets, The Flower Shop, vintage bouquets, wildflower bouquets
Posted in Adornments & Embellishments, Eco-Chic, Flowers, Inspiration & Insight, Our Wedding, Photography, Vintage Beauties, Wedding Recap, Weddings | 6 Comments »
Our Wedding: Ceremony Readings
Written by Sara on April 15, 2010 – 9:00 am -
This past weekend, Jordan and I began designing programs for our wedding ceremony. We’re embracing the booklet style of DIY wedding programs, and we spent countless hours this weekend designing each page (while simultaneously watching The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy…which was rather fun!).
While we’re not yet ready to show you all the design of our programs, I can tell you that one page features printed versions of the readings we’ve chosen for our wedding ceremony. We haven’t yet discussed these with my uncle, a retired Methodist pastor who will be officiating our ceremony, but I’m excited to share our chosen readings with you all!
First, Jordan and I wanted to include a Bible verse to reflect our Christian faith. One of my favorite verses is Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, which reads: Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, they are warm; but how can one be warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. We’re hoping this verse will be the basis of my uncle’s ceremony message to us as newlyweds.
I graduated from college with a bachelor of arts degree in English and journalism and a minor in philosophy. I love to read and to write, and I firmly believe that the power of the written word lies in helping us to understand life’s complexities through story. Therefore, it was important to me to select two secular texts to also include in our wedding ceremony.
The second reading is an excerpt from Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit, and I owe many, many thanks to Ami Elizabeth from the lovely Elizabeth Anne Designs for this particular variation:
“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a person* loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.” “Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit. “Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.” “Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?” “It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” **
The third and final reading that we’ve chosen to include comes from the wonderfully creative e.e. cummings – “i carry your heart with me”:
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it (anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet) i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
What readings have you chosen for your wedding ceremony?
**wording slightly modified from the original version
[Photo: www.weddinganswers.co.uk]
Tags: Bible, e.e. cummings, Ecclesiastes, i carry your heart with me, Margery Williams, The Lord of the Rings, The Velveteen Rabbit, wedding ceremony readings
Posted in DIY, Inspiration & Insight, Our Wedding, Personal, Weddings | 2 Comments »