Texas loves its wildflowers. (Specifically the bluebonnets.)
A lot. There's a rumor that it's illegal to even PICK the bluebonnets, but as I have discovered through moderately reliable resources (here's one), this is false.
On a recent trip (I use the term "trip" loosely here, since Texas is big and it was only a three-hour tour), Matt insisted that I pull over on the side of the road so we could take pictures of the wildflowers. Er. In the wildflowers. Or both. After a bit of his encouragement (read: pouting), I pulled the little car over on the shoulder -- OF A HIGHWAY! A GREAT BIG HIGHWAY! WITH FAST CARS! -- to take some misleadingly serene photos.
We had to artfully pose in front of some rogue roadside trash.
Above: Note the absence of trash.
All those flowers made me start to think (that's right, wedding buffs... START... as in, I have not previously thought about this topic because I must have failed my "Being A Girl and Imagining Your Dream Wedding as a Child 101" course) about wedding flowers. The following questions bubbled slowly to the surface:
1) Why do I need flowers? I'm getting married outdoors in August. Does that count?
2) Aren't the bridesmaids supposed to carry something?
3) Aren't I supposed to carry something? And then inevitably throw it?
4) Do any of the things we carry have to be flowers?
I had this crazy idea about crafting my own bouquet-type objects, but now I'm at a loss for what to make, how to make them, and if it even matters.
Thoughts?
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Dude, there's so much about this on offbeatbride tribe. There's a whole thread on non-floral bouquets. Buttons, feathers, origami, you name it. Get on it!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many simple flower arrangements that can be used. Carry one single beautiful flower, have the bridesmaids do the same; or a "nosegay" I think they were called in the olden days when the bridal party picked wild flowers and tied them with a simple ribbon.
ReplyDeleteAlso for centerpiece: at one time I was planning a wedding (mine, if you must know - before I smartened up about that guy), I bought different glass bowls of all shapes and sizes at consignment shops, antique stores, tag sales, and got a bunch of floating candles on clearance. (For that matter, you can get wax and molds inexpensively on the internet, now.) The idea was that every table at the reception would have a different bowl with water in it and floating candles, and whatever flower was in bloom at the time that would float that I could either get inexpensively or out of friends and family's gardens (roses, begonias, etc.).
Hope this helps in some way.
Found this about making your own "nosegay"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ehow.com/how_4472011_make-nosegay-wedding-bouquets.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art
Also this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.save-on-crafts.com/sinflowbouq.html
I promise I'll stop now!
Ooh! Ooh! Yes -- Off Beat Bride, lots ideas! GO!!!
ReplyDeleteOr you can be like me: pick some flowers and tree leaves and tie them together 15 min before the ceremony. It totally worked. I would even do it for you. With leftover bedsheets, to boot. :)
(Really, for me, it was all about having something in my hands. Hands are so awkward without props.)
Dir Meredift,
ReplyDeleteThis iz whut we callz non-braynr. So OK yu don't needz flowrz on the taybulz cuz yu gots flowrz evrwher aroun dem.
But fer that thingy yu personal gots to throw...Mom ben tryin to splain to me the boookay. An it seems eezee. Her's whut yu do:
Yu gotz to get a buncha strawrs. Then yu gets a buncha moussees full of the 'nip. Then you tayps the moussees to the strawrrs. So la, la, la, yu martchiz down the hall (mom sez ai-ull) wift the moussees tatched to the strawrs. Yu gets all marreed an stuff. Then, when is tim fer yu to thro the booookay, you throwz the moussees, whyl still holdin tigt onto the strawrs. So the moussees go flyin into the mob o' happee frends, and sins they'r yer frends, is lik they gots kittee peeples at hom, rigt? So they goez hom wift cool 'nip moussees fer their kittees. Everboddee happee.
Cuz mom sez that whol "chik whu catch the flowrz getz marreed next" is full o' litter. She catchd a booookay in 1997 or so and she still onlee hadded 2 or 3 boyfrends and not the marryin kind. So moussees fer kittees whu kin plae wift them is probabul betterer than flowr boookays fer chiks whu is jus goin to watch them gits brownd.
Mom sez I'm too litterl. Too bad, I sez. Yu askd fer halp an I givs it.
Luv,
Yer nepfu,
MUSASHI