Wedding time!

It's been awhile since my last blog entry, but Andrew and I will be married in just a few weeks, on May 16th, and finding time to blog hasn't been easy. I now realize just how much is involved in planning even a relatively simple wedding.
Choosing the venue was easy, but the menu less so, even though I can't remember a single meal I have ever eaten at a wedding, and I never expected to spend so much effort contemplating wedding food. In the end, we picked 3 simple entree choices. I would rather spend time picking out the wine, anyway.

The invitations have been sent, and RSVPs are coming back daily. Most of the big decisions, like the venue, caterer, flowers, and cake were made months ago. In fact, since it's been 6 months, I'm not sure I remember exactly what we ordered, except I recall 3 tiers, buttercream, various flavors of mousse, lots of peonies and green hydrangeas.

My dress was, surprisingly, one of the easiest decisions of all. Not bad for someone who's not much of a girly-girl, and who laughed out loud while trying on and tripping over the merengue-y gowns at the bridal shop. Ladylike in a fancy dress, I'm not. But, once I found The Dress....ahh, the dress!

The dress alterations are almost done. I had no idea it would take at least 3 visits to the alterations shop to get it all right, since the seamstress honed right in on the 3 issues with the dress at visit #1.
First, as with with every wedding dress I tried on, the bust area needed to be taken in. At least with this particular dress, unlike some of the gowns I tried, it was not an insulting amount, just a bit. (A couple of dresses I tried at the bridal shop, I could have put 2 grapefruits down the front, easily, and still had room).
Then there was the issue regarding the sash ties, which were insanely long, something like 8 feet long. I don't even think an Amazon in 4-inch heels could have worn this dress as-is with the sash that long, even with it tied in a big flouncy bow in back. So, the sash was #1 item on my list of things needing tweaking, because I'm not a big-bow-over-my-butt girl, either. But now the long sash problem has been expertly taken care of, too. The sash ties are the perfect length, and now drape very gracefully and simply straight down, just brushing the floor, sans bow entirely. Perfect! I am a happy sashed and bowless girl!
Finally, the bustle. I'd heard of them, even seen them, and never thought I'd ever have one, or need one, but apparently I will, and I do. And, I'm actually excited! Needless to say, every time I have gone back to the seamstress to try the dress on- yet again -during its stepwise transformation, I have gotten all teary-eyed, it's so beautiful, and I hardly recognized the person wearing it. I guess this is what weddings are all about, and why brides go to all this trouble.

So...where things stand: we have our venue, our officiant, our vows (well, almost), our photographer, music for the ceremony, and music for the reception. We have food, cake, flowers, beer, wine, and champagne. We have table linens, favors, and decorations. We have (we think) a way of arriving and leaving in style. We have family, friends, and, hopefully, some surprises.
And, we definitely have our rings!


Meanwhile, outside of wedding planning, life goes on. Some photos from the garden:


Meyer lemon blossoms. Is there anything better than the scent of citrus trees in bloom? I didn't notice the ladybug until after I uploaded this photo.


Aloe vera plant in bloom. Talk about a hummingbird magnet!


Madame Alfred Carriere, our newest rose, which now has dozens of buds and blooms after a good pruning. The pale pink blush is very evident in this photo. The fragrance is wonderful, too.



The tried-and-true Blush Noisette, with lots of flowers and new buds.

Our newest rose bed.

This front corner of our yard is very sunny and was full of weeds of types that grow nowhere else in the yard (which makes me think the soil is especially BAD in this particular spot).

But, it has now been transformed into a rose and herb garden (mainly a rose garden, but we needed a place for the basil), after much digging and cutting out tree roots (sorry, maple tree).

The concrete chunk flower bed border is my own design. I have similar beds elsewhere in our yard, mainly because for some inexplicable reason, our grass-covered driveway percolates up (belches? vomits?) chunks of concrete, from where I have no idea. But, they just keep coming. It's sort of a reverse sinkhole. I admit it was kind of unnerving at first, having blobs of concrete push up from beneath the grass, but now I wait until a few appear, then pry them out and stack them in a pile until they are needed.

The chunks are, oddly, nearly all triangular or trapezoidal in shape. Maybe someone who knows more about the physical properties of concrete can explain this. Maybe you can also explain the apparent anti-gravity property of concrete, too, while you're at it.

Nevertheless, most of the pieces are small enough to pick up and move easily. They work wonderfully as edging stones, seem to last forever, and, best of all: they are FREE!

Although I love to garden, I never tried to grow roses (standard hybrid roses, that is) until about 2 years ago, because the heat, humidity, fungus, and insects here in Florida make rose cultivation a high-maintenance, costly, and potentially toxic endeavor. Growing roses just never sounded, in my opinion, fun or relaxing. And, besides, my philosophy about plants has always been: plant it; if it lives, keep it. If it dies, don't buy one of those again. So, I always avoided roses, until....

I saw a tremendous wall of deep crimson roses in my next-door neighbor's yard, the neighbor whose yard is left "natural." The neighbor who doesn't own a lawnmower, doesn't water or use pesticides or store-bought fertilizer, yet somehow has amazing roses, and seemingly does NOTHING to them. Her secret? Old garden roses, which are not grafted and therefore grow from their own roots, unlike most nursery and mail-order roses. Own-root, antique roses are known to be hardy, even here in Florida. In fact, I have since become a collector of own-root Southern roses, and have several varieties that thrive here, including

Louis Philippe (my neighbor's crimson beauties), known locally as "Cracker roses." And, yes, that is where the Cottage got its name!

The photo above is of one of our just-planted Blush Noisettes, one of 3 in our various flower beds. Isn't she lovely? And blooming like mad after only being in the ground for one week!