A Day of Sweet Memories

It all seems like a dream now, but only 2 short weeks ago our darling daughter ~ our little girl ~ our only child was married. A year of planning and preparing and it all went by so quickly. It seems like things started out slowly over a year ago when Natalie told us Jon asked her to marry him. They had been dating for 5 years at that time. Soon after the proposal, the prep began for the major things like securing a venue for the wedding and reception, the music, the photographer, the dress, etc. Then, for what seemed like forever, things just seemed to stand still. And all of a sudden, about two months before the wedding, the whirlwind of all the little details and deadlines started to make my head spin. The details are the part that I love to work on ~ you know, the little things that when put together create the aura, the look, the feeling that you want the evening to exude. But the details are the part of the planning that can be exhausting and stressful because you want everything to be just right for this one special day in your little girl's life.

The wedding gown Natalie picked out was magical ~ like something a fairy princess would wear. Afterall she is OUR princess and always will be. All of the flowers were amazing. . .Natalie's bouquet was exquisite. The cream roses, calla lilies, and hydrangeas matched the champagne color of her dress beautifully and the brownish foliage added the perfect touch for a fall wedding. The florist was such a joy to work with. She understood exactly what we wanted and "got it" right away with out hardly any explanation at all. Even her proposal was a piece of art, as it was handwritten in the most beautiful penmanship. For us, flowers are such an important part of a wedding. My own wedding flowers (many moons ago) were the most beautiful that I had ever seen ~ until my daughter's wedding, that is. The bridsmaids wore beautiful truffle brown dresses with sweetheart necklines and the best part of all. . .pockets hidden in the side-seams!

I made the necklaces and earrings for the girls using pacific opals, freshwater pearls and a single wire wrapped Amazonite pendant.
And more bouquets of cream roses and these have blue-green hydrangeas and foliage all elegantly ribbon wrapped. These bouquets lasted a full 10 days and have dried into the most beautiful arrangements which I have sitting in mercury glass bowl vases in my studio. Lucky for us, a couple of the bridesmaids left their bouquets behind at the reception, so both Natalie and I have them to treasure.
I'll have more to share in the upcoming days, so stay tuned. . . .

I can't believe the enthusiastic response you all have had to the kits I put together for Joli Paquet.

Thank you SO much. . . .you guys are the best! I've listed a couple more kits in my Etsy Shop and I have a few more that I can put together this weekend if you know anyone who still wants one.

Today I was busy packing up the ornaments I made for the swap my friend Heather from Speckled Egg has been organizing. We couldn't decide on just one theme for the swap, so our "assignment" turned into a combination of our favorites ~ create an ornament that is a little vintage, a little glittery and all done up in pastel colors. I can't wait to see what everyone dreamed up!