Or I could go in a completely different direction...

I saw this and quickly decided against it, but if you wanted but color and function from a bouquet, then this may be for you. Click here for link to a different take on the bridal bouquet.

It would be awesome during a long ceremony if you found yourself hungry.

Orange Blossoms?

So my lovely sister posted a comment about using Orange Blossoms in the bouquet as this is traditional and she used them. I had never heard and had not come across any mention of it in all of my Internet reading. So of course I have to find out what this is all about. According to factmonster.com (a link Ann sent me):

"Orange Blossoms Worn at Weddings
The Saracen brides used to wear orange blossoms as an emblem of fecundity; and occasionally the same emblem may have been worn by European brides ever since the time of the Crusades; but the general adoption of wreaths of orange blossoms for brides is comparatively a modern practice, due especially to the recent taste for flower-language. The subject of bridal decorations being made a study, and the orange flower being found suitable, from the use made of it by the ancient Saracens, it was introduced by modistes as a fit ornament for brides. The notion once planted, soon became a custom, now very generally adopted by those who study the conventions of society, and follow the accepted fashions."



My original plan was a dark red bouquet but orange blossoms are white. And I told Ann this. In much to my surprise, she answers and has included an image from the Internet that looks like this.




This is not orange blossom but stephanotis (close enough) and this bride does not look happy.

Side note: I would like to note that yesterday I read the fecundity three times (once in this definition and twice in a book) and fecund once. I still do not know what it means.

Random Old Photos

While my sister was visiting my uncle, they were going through old photographs. And because I find them funny and cute, I am going to share them with my adoring fans.

(I assume Uncle Billy took all these photos and deserves credit for anyone wanting to use them)

Here is me and my cousin Jen on the kitchen table. Because that is where you put babies in the 70s. And I think that is a can of WD-40 on the table with us which explains a lot.

My brothers Rich (left) and Bill (right) with our older sister Ann.

And my siblings with our other cousins, Karen (far left) and Kevin (far right).

April Showers bring May Flowers

While this may be true, it doesn't help me pick flowers for a November wedding. In order to find a florist, I wanted to send them examples of what I wanted in a centerpiece and bouquet. All the advice on flowers say to select flowers in season to save on costs. So I had to figure out what flowers were in season during the fall. So I go to the trusty Internet and read up on flowers that are available during November.

Unfortunately, I am not a flowers person. I don't know what the names mean so I have to google everything: Amaranthus, Amaryllis, Callistephus, Celosia, Crocosmia, Dahlia, Echinops, Gladiolus, Gomphrena, Sunflower, Hypericum, Kniphofia, Physostegia, Saponaria, Scabiosa, Sedum, Solidago, Zinnia. This becomes too tiresome.

I also read that roses and Gerbera daisies are available all the time. So I just Google images of wedding pictures with those two in them because I know I like them. I compile a bunch of ideas like these:















For centerpieces, I liked these:




However, we won't finalize the flowers until next September. So don't hold your breath.

The DJ and the Lesson I Learned

So I mentioned in my previous post how we divided up the to do list -right? Well my first lesson learned comes in choosing a DJ. B is in charge of the music and the DJ falls into his list of responsibility. He had emailed a few people that I had found on the Internet (before we made the list) and the DJ his sister used. He would tell me what was emailed back and I would reply to his informative email with 3-4 more questions about prcing, what he is asking/telling the potential vendors, also points to consider, etc. It was after doing this a few times that I realized I have to give up control. I didn't want to make all the decisions and B wants to help.


I had to let him choose the DJ just like he had let me choose other vendors. Because if I did this for every thing he is in charge of, he will either stop doing things or I will feel like I am doing it all. Neither is good for anybody's stress levels during wedding planning. And it is not like I have such discriminating tastes that he can't pick vendors up to snuff. And he wants a good DJ just as much as I do, at least I hope so. I sent him an email that just "Whatever you decide is fine" and left it at that.


In the end, he went with the DJ his sister used and the DJ takes direction very well and won't play the songs we don't want played. Also he is a known quantity. For all the weddings we have gone to, not many have been in New York. We didn't have a large list to pull from (among those we have already seen in action). And while most have showcases, we were not going to drive to New York to go to see various DJ's pretend to be at a wedding and excite the crowd. I just keep thinking of the movie "The Wedding Singer" when Jon Lovett performs for Drew Barrymore and she just watches him. It seems like a showcase would be awkward.

The Decision Making Process - Who is in Charge?

So we have the wedding planning items divided up between the two of us. And in our budget spreadsheet each item has an E (me), B (him), or T (together) in the first column and the letter indicates who is responsible for that line item. And as it stands now, I hold responsibility for 23 items, B 13 and together we decide on 5. Now some of the items are at a granular level such as flowers (E) - the spreadsheet has it broken out by centerpieces, bridal bouquet, bridal party bouquet, groom's boutinneires, groomsmen's boutinieres, etc. B has music which encompasses ceremny music, cocktail hour music and reception music. So that means I have to find the vendor and then choose the flowers for each line item. We each get to pick out our own ring which can be fun - our bands do not have to match. In fact, for the wedding in general I am not into matchy matchy. I guess the bridal party dresses will be matching but they don't have to be.

The reasons for doing this was:
1) So I didn't feel like I was doing everything for the wedding
2) I don't have to hand out things for B to do, he has access to the list and I hate micro-managing
3) It reminds me what I have to do as well

I figure I won't allow myself to ask B how his tasks are coming along until I am notified by the Knot (they have this checklist of tasks and items and each month I get an email about what should be completed in that month) that the item needs attention. And according to the Knot, we do not have any outstanding items for October AND November. So we are free until December in theory. Unfortunately, people and vendors book up fast in NYC so I am using the checklist as a guide.

Color Me

I am not a big pink kind of girl. And on some level I didn't really care about the wedding colors. So how we went about picking them was more about the colors I didn't want - which is actually how I make a lot decisions in life. I am a chronic process of elimination girl.

I am somewhat old fashioned and didn't want my bridal dressed all in black so I was down one color. Next I looked to the season - fall - for inspiration. This eliminated pastels. Then I decided I didn't want blue. So I went to the David's Bridal web site because they have a color pallette on the web site and I started to look at the dresses by color. This helped me see what the actually colors looked like - for the most part. So in searching I realize that I don't like any dress in green. So that is out. Then I stumble upon the reds and while I never would have picked red out as the bridesmaid dress color, the wine/merlot color looks really nice and I think it is a great fall color.

And while we were at the caterers I looked at the tablecloths and liked the brown ones they had out. I decide the wine will go nicely with brown and there you have it - our wedding colors.

Now there is one downside, it turns out that I am not original. Wine and brown are very popular color choices on the November 2008 board on the Knot. Oh well. I already changed the date, I am not changing the colors as well.

Image taken from a web site: