In Memory

I'd like to start off by saying that I have been blessed with the most amazing grandparents ever. My dad's parents have been happily married for over 60 years now, which was amazing to grow up with them being nearby.

My mom's parents were married almost as long, for over 59 years until my grandmother's death on December 26, 2006. My grandpa died this past year as well, and I miss them terribly.

All the little rituals I had with each of them that my parents didn't know about when I was little. How I'd go to church with grandpa on Sunday morning so I could stay with him on Saturday night and play checkers for Andes mints he kept in an old check box and watch the Lawrence Welk show with him and grandma. How they taught me the words to the songs. Helping grandma put together her intricate puzzles.

I wanted them to be at my wedding this June.

I'm going to carry them with me, instead. Yesterday I bought a locket pin from Ebay, and I'm going to shrink copies of the pictures of them that always sat on their dresser at their house to put in the frames. I'll attach it to the ribbon binding my bouquet.

Here are some pictures of the locket in it's current state:

Everything's Coming Up Roses

To me, this picture represents the perfect wedding bouquet. Orange and pink roses, combining to play off of the lovely blue and white background of my wedding dress. And looking surprisingly good together, at least compared to what I originally thought when considering a floral color scheme.

This is the bouquet I'm asking my florist to create for me, and she's said she can and will. No fillers, no unnecessary greenery, just roses. Though to cut costs a bit the bridesmaids' bouquets will contain orange astrolomeria.

The church is pretty enough to not need extra floral ornamentation, so there will be no altar arrangements, and the reception ones will primarily feature rose petals and floating candles.

I do hope my florist understands that I was serious about following family tradition with at least a few simple, loose-rose arrangements in the hereditary beer bottles.

Yeppers, I just referred to beer bottles as wedding decorations. In fact, they are an established tradition on my dad's side, spray-painted and used in every wedding at least since my own parents' over 26 years ago. For mine, I have asked that they go from black to white, and intend to tie blue ribbon around the necks. Orange roses against the black would just be a little too dark, too Halloween-ish, and definitely too strong a reminder of my high school days (orange and black were my high school colors...even though we were the Dutchmen and not even I could invent a reason that color combination went particularly well with our mascot).

we'll go over more details later, but now at least I have a florist for my wedding day who charges what my mom considers reasonable prices. (I haven't purchased flowers nearly as much, so I still get sticker-shock.) At least now I have set ideas and a color scheme, leaving minor details to be sorted out as we get closer to the day.