Weekend

 What an awesome weekend we had!

The wedding was beautiful. Rain was forecast for 70% chance at the ceremony time, so on Friday the decision was made to have the wedding and reception in the tent. Thankfully it is a large tent!

We had a bit of logistical maneuvering to do but it all worked out just fine. The chairs for the service were moved, the rest of the tables put into place, and by the time the receiving line in the back of the tent was finished, everything was in place.

My photos of the flower tower are dark but you can see how beautiful it turned out! It was supposed to be just outside this space to greet all the guests coming in from the ceremony but with everything in the tent, it became a focal point inside the tent.

 Here is a close up of the flowers. The daisies were added last minute as the groom's mom had them left over from the rehearsal dinner, and the bride loves them.

It was very popular for photos and people were enthralled with it! They are a very new thing, so the bride is a trendsetter in their circle of friends! One gal told me that another guest at the wedding was trying to figure out how to make one for a wedding they have coming up! 

Rachel is in the green dress. She and the bride have been friends for about 12 years. These other girls are the groom's sisters and a sister in law. The brides' sister was the matron of honor, but I couldn't fit her in this shot. This was taken while the parents were up praying over the bride and groom.

Rachel's bouquet in the evening. These flowers really were thirsty! They sucked up the water like crazy!

We sent the bride and groom off with sparklers lighting the way, and then clean up began. I will show you more photos as I get them. I can't believe I didn't get any of the bride and groom!

The people of their church pitched in to help, and it was all clean and tidy in no time! I took this photo as Tim, Kyle and I left. Just a few trash cans to put away and chairs to place. They were ready to have church the next morning.

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday, and so I made her favorite cake and some family came over to celebrate!

Today is Weston and Rachel's Anniversary! Two happy years of marriage!

I love how each bride is unique in what she wants for her florals. My bride this weekend wanted the look of flowers cut from a meadow. They were so lovely.

Oh and I forgot to say that the rain did come on the wedding day, and some photos had to be taken in a pavilion, but the rain did stop, and they got their bridal party photos and couple photos outside!

I hope you had a great weekend, too!

Information Friday

 It's going to be a busy day, so mostly screenshots!

Sneak peek at the florals for the wedding this weekend!

See you Monday!

Let's Chat

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 I have to go pick up the flowers, for the wedding this weekend, in a bit, but I wanted to do a bit of a chit chat. I'm excited to get my hands on the flowers for the wedding this weekend! 

Kyle is working with Tim today, just up the road from us. An elderly woman lives in her home, and started having issues last week with flushing a toilet. Turns out that she had a big septic issue due to their system not be attended to properly over the years. It had not been pumped in many, many years, a pipe needs to be replaced and more. If you have a septic system take good care of it! It will cost you thousands, maybe tens of thousands, if you don't.

There is a lot happening in our nation. If you don't see that things are being done purposefully to bring our nation down, I'd ask you to stop watching the legacy media and read other sources of news. It will open your eyes.

Have you heard of the movie 2000 Mules? It's been playing to packed theaters. There are places to stream it online, and I hope to get a chance to see it next week. The movie makers used geofencing and cell phone tracking (like the intelligence agency's use, and the CDC) to follow people who were visiting ballot drop boxes repeatedly. They put in parameters such as having to visit 5 offices of places like political headquarters and visit 28 different ballot drop box locations. These were the only people they tracked. These people didn't just drop off one ballot each time, which would be bad enough. They dropped off many. It shows clearly that this is one way they stole the election in 2020. They didn't follow or track anyone who visited 5 offices and only 10 ballot box locations, for example, so just imagine the amount of ballot harvesting that went on! You can watch the trailer for it {here}.

Many news agencies are trying to say this kind of tracking isn't reliable, etc, but it is! It is exactly what the FBI did to track down people who had been at the capitol on January 6th.

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I went to Whole Foods yesterday, and I saw mature tomato plants for sale. I think I'll buy one this week, or maybe two, and get tomatoes early! Nothing like home grown tomatoes!

My strawberries have some flowers on them in the pot on the deck. I'm excited that it is almost time for local strawberries!

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I grew up in Southern California and everything we ate came from the grocery store. It was all bland, and hybridized to handle shipping without rotting out. Local food is where it's at friends. The flavor can't be beat. We eat local veg, local fruits, local meat, local eggs. I encourage you to seek to buy locally grown food, or grow some yourselves! Even if you live in a small apartment you can grow herbs in pots, tomatoes in a pot, strawberries. Do what you can! People even grow potatoes in bags! Have you seen that?

With food processing plants burning down, and baby formula plants shut down, people are realizing how reliant we are on big systems to provide food for us. 

We bought this book years ago, and learned much from it.

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We didn't do all the things, but it shows just what you can do. We did somethings for many years. Growing veg, having chickens. Everyone can do something. It's about independence. During WWII everyone was encouraged to keep chickens and grow a garden. The reason was that the country was sending so much of the other food to the soldiers overseas. That's why the people here at home had rationing too.

Well, I guess I've given you enough to chat about with me in the comments! Have a great day!

Wedding Week

 

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This week is wedding week!

Our friends Brooke and Andrew are tying the knot on Saturday. I am doing the bridal florals, a floral pillar, and I'm coordinating the day of activities.

This bride and groom are very organized and have a timeline written for the day, and they've created seating diagrams for the reception, and a rain day alternate seating plan.

Their church (his dad is the pastor) purchased a giant tent in 2020, to have outdoor services. They've continued to use it these last two years as their indoor sanctuary is too small for the size of the congregation. 

This is a great thing for the weddings at their church, too, because in addition to an outdoor service space they have the tent for the reception, or for both if it rains.

There is a chance of rain on Saturday, before and after the ceremony time, and if it thunders, we have to abandon the tent altogether.

So if it is to rain, I pray it rains lightly in the morning, and not at all in the afternoon and evening. It is an afternoon wedding.

The brides inspiration colors are these, and the bridesmaids will be wearing various shades of these colors. Rachel is a bridesmaid and she is wearing the olive green.

Brooke is not a traditionalist, so she is not a fan of 'typical' wedding florals such as hydrangea, roses, peonies.

We are using ranunculus, feverfew, queen anne's lace, astrantia, stock, and spray stock. The greens will be eucalyptus, in two varieties, Italian ruscus, and for the bride a few magnolia leaves.

Here was her inspiration photo.

The inspiration being that she wanted it to look like we'd gone out into the meadow and gathered white flowers.

It's going to be beautiful. The bridesmaids will be similar, but smaller, and no ranunculus.

The floral pillar will be a lot of the same greens, but also fern, and variegated pittosporum. Many of the same florals as the bouquets, but also a lovely large chrysanthemum. I am excited to make a pillar!

I pick up the floral order tomorrow, and clean the stems and then get them into water to start opening up. 

In the next several days we'll finalize the seating chart, too. Friday is the set up day, and the debate is whether to set the tables on Friday or wait until Saturday morning. My vote is Friday. The tables will a long time to set. Thirty tablecloths, several kinds of greens laid down the center of the tables, candleholders and candles down the tables, table numbers and holders, too. It will take hours. I'd rather not do day of even though there would be time. The issue is there won't be people to do it. They will all be in the bridal party and getting ready for that!

I may be making number cards for the tables, and writing up the seating chart, too.

As I tell my brides - It will all get done, and be lovely. Do not stress. This bride is very laid back, and is not one to add more details, thankfully!