Ideas and personal touches from Kathleen Eagle   For My Daughter's Wedding
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Chapter 2:  Waltz of the Flowers

First comes love.  Then comes the engagement.  And then the planning begins in earnest.  Tons of bridal magazines, visits to shops, and the choice of the dress sets the stage.  The next choices were the flowers.  Elizabeth had chosen black "tuxedo style" suits for her attendants--something, she hoped, that they would be able to wear more than once--and she knew that black and white would set off her choice of accent colors--shades of purple.  John had given her Sterling roses early in their courtship.  They were to be the focal flower.  We wanted to get as much use out of every arrangement as we could.  The candelabras in this picture were rented from the florist.  They were moved to the reception after the ceremony.  Only the memorial arrangement stayed as a gift to the church.


 
The florist supplied table clips which allowed the bridal bouquet and those of the six attendants to serve as decoration for the head table and kept them in perfect shape throughout the evening.

 
   
Corsages and boutonnieres identify the wedding party, parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters--you can extend this courtesy as far as the budget allows.  I wish we had ordered them for all the aunts and uncles, too.  But we had lots of aunts and uncles!  Here you see more Sterling roses and accent flowers, along with the herbs I grew myself and supplied to the florist to personalize the arrangements and add special meaning--not to mention scent.  We used rosemary in the corsages for remembrance and sage in the boutonnieres for wisdom.  There I am on the far left--chattering mother of the bride.  Our sons served as ushers.  Meet David, our firstborn, Elizabeth's handsome older brother.


 
Fresh flowers and herbs decorate the wedding cake.  Can you find the white chocolate roses amid the real irises and delphinium?  More cake pictures to come, but notice the curly willow, sprayed silver?  Those were my creation.  We used them again at Christmas.  The lattice panels, decorated with tulle and white lights, came from the florist

The toss bouquet decorated the guest book table.  The groom's aunt (signing) could not have guessed that the bride would later use the flowers in the blue pitcher for the traditional bouquet toss.  What's more, there were actually six small bouquets in one.   They were released with the tug of a ribbon and then tossed, so that six surprised girls caught flowers.  The wedding issue of Martha Stewart's "Living" magazine gave us this idea.  We also found a guest book that accommodated messages as well as photos taken of the guests at the wedding.  Single-use cameras (we found purple ones at Target!) were placed on the tables with cards attached (made on my computer from business card stock) asking people to take lots of pictures, especially of each other.

 


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Chapter 3