Floral Arrangements

If you've been to our house in the last two years you'd have seen our succulents. They started as one scraggly bushel of grey-purple desert roses, super creepy and crawly. Since they've come to live with us they've multiplied and thrived like no other plant in our garden.

That is not to say that this thing has been babied. It's in prime punching zone. Johnny has stumbled and grazed it, Barack has knocked it off the shelf. After each assault I pick up the broken buds and put them in various pots full of dirt. This one is my cactus graveyards:

They started as little leaves or tiny flowers and grew with the occasional lazy hand scooping around in their dirt.

Their origin story? Johnny remembers being a little boy in Georgia, swinging on a tiny seat suspended from his Grandfather's workshop. His father worked for the railroad and brought home several pieces of railroad storage containers. His grandfather turned these storage boxes into pots that he suspended from ropes to the workshop roof. He planted succulents for Johnny's Grandmother. These plants grew from their hanging plant holders for two decades before I came along and said: "Ooo. Those are so pretty!" And Johnny's mother, Gloria, passed one along to me!

We've decided we want to begin separating off some of the larger flowers and planting them individually. Over the next ten months we hope to have upwards of 40 and we will use them as the primary floral arrangements on the table centerpieces.

I plan to keep my eye out for decorative pots and plant holders. My collection of antique bottles has already grown. I'm looking for tiny shabby chic pots, victorian looking teacups and pots, the famous ivory granny boot plant holder, tin buckets, etc.

We will pot all of these and offer them up to guests as goodbye gifts when the reception ends.

We know we won't be able to take them with us all the way to Pittsburgh. It could very well be the end of them. It would be so incredible to know that they're going on, living various lives and always carrying a memory of our wedding and our life in this house together.

wedding porn

Is it wrong for me to obsess over someone else's wedding? I'm totally in love with this offbeatbride goth/victorian wedding. The bride is GORGEOUS and her ladies in waiting are absolutely lovely. This is definitely inspiring.

bearberry.

while reading an article on new york flora and fauna at work the other day, i found this charming little plant that i thought you would like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearberry

Playing around in Photoshop...

Photography

I got a cup of coffee at Edgewood Bakery this morning and found a really nice flyer for a photographer. I came home and checked out the website only to discover that this girl does really great work. Photos were copyrighted and couldn't be pulled from the website so check it out for yourself: HERE. 

Taking Advantage of the Time of Year

I think I'd like to line the outside of the venue with white pumpkins. It's pretty there, but the area around the entrance and down the sidewalk need some sprucing up. I mean, it's where we'll make our first appearances and it should be lovely. I was thinking we could pull out the stems on the tiny ones and fill them with tea light candles. 

Decorating with tree branches?

This probably sounds bizarre... but does how about decorating with tree branches? Okay, so I don't mean throwing a bunch of sticks on the tables or on the ground, but what about finding some tall branches, putting them in pots (or bundling them with ribbons, leaning them against the walls, etc?) and decorating them with ribbons, lace, hanging ornaments, and crows? Maybe we could paint them? Oh yes, it definitely sounds bizarre.

Maybe some pictures would help.

I haven't seen the wedding site yet, so this may be totally inappropriate for the setting, but I thought I'd see what you guys thought about it.

-Pitgirl

So it's been a few weeks and things have calmed down. We booked a venue in St. Augustine. It's the Riverview Club in the St. Augustine Shores. It's not the top of the lighthouse or the Lightner House ballroom, but it's really quite nice and it is very much a blank slate for us to doll up with our ideas. I have high hopes for this wedding. And, it is as Johnny says: "I don't care where. I don't care when. I just care who." I think no matter what it looks like, it'll be amazing. 

However, we're pretty damn fashionable so let us make it the Party of the Year ! 

Above is a beautiful shoulder wrap that I think I might have to work in to my outfit. The woman who made it has an incredible shop on Etsy. Check it out here. It's pretty affordable, and totally adorable. I imagine that some of these crochet dresses and camis could fit pretty weird, but this shrug looks like it's doomed to be beautiful. 

I also found this dress (above) on Etsy and thought it would be really gorgeous on Anna. It also looks capable of being accessorized to fit the wedding. I think it was vers 150, but I'll have to look it up.

The other day Johnny made mention of veils being 'mysterious' and he said it in that way that meant he thought it was cool, if not hot. This seems to be my favorite veil thus far. It's called 'The Jackie'. I'd like to try some on before committing, because they all seem capable of looking very strange. 

And lastly, I believe I've chose Dupioni Silk as the fabric for my corset. Pitgirl and I discovered it while browsing Joanns last week. I can't pin down a specific color, but I did find this website and I plan to order several swatches. They have so many beautiful shades of purple and pink.

Overload

Anna sent me the link to that DIY website, and I'm so overwhelmed with awesomeness I feel I'm going to puke.  See what I mean:

Rock Candy Chandelier

How-to DIY Rock Candy Chandelier

Tasha, you wanted a mission and you got it. These are so beautiful and I'd LOVE to go candy shopping !

Inspiration

I was telling my roommate about the theme for A&J's wedding, and asking for her advice & creative ideas. She directed me to Once Wed & it is simply the best wedding-for-less inspiration that I've seen. It is a great resource for DIY weddings. There is even a menu for inspiration/documentation of dessert ideas, favors, dresses, etcetera. More importantly, there is a list of vendors, so if you see something you like, its origins are well documented.

Have fun, ladies!

Corset Basics

More and more fabric ideas. I need someone else to input or I'll never be able to choose !

I went shopping with my mama today. We scored huge.