flower power.

"To know someone with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts unexpressed... That can make this life a garden." -- Goethe

When I was in a bookstore the other day I stumbled upon another wedding magazine cover with a beautiful, yellow bouquet. This particular cover bouquet is of ranunculuses (Persian buttercups) and calla lilies, both of which I love. Since this is the cover of the summer issue of Pacific Weddings, I was surprised to learn that ranunculuses are not in season during the summer! This was quite sad news to me because it means I probably will not be having them in my wedding bouquet since I've been reading a lot about how choosing flowers that are in-season saves a lot of money.

So alas, I wised up and restarted my flower search looking for flowers that I like that would be in-season in August (as opposed to flowers that just looked "pretty"). Based on our color choice of yellow (with blue accents), here are some of my new favorites:

• yellow dahlias - very soft and modern looking
  
• white tuberoses - small and sweet
• blue delphiniums - cute and blue
  
• blue hydrangeas - small flowers but full bundles, plus these grow at the house where I grew up, so it would add a homey feel
• yellow zinnias - similar to dahlias (I like round flowers)
• yellow freesias - my favorite flower, luckily in-season

And as promised, more polyvore! Here's a collage of some of the flowers mentioned above (plus some ranunculuses and calla lilies, too)

Click on above image to see individual images

"That fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like a fig ripe before harvest— as soon as someone sees it and takes it in his hand, he swallows it." -- Isaiah 28:4

my "n.f.t."

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens / Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens / Brown paper packages tied up with strings / These are a few of my favorite things" -- From The Sound of Music

Every now and then I stumble upon my so-called "new favorite thing," which is code for a fun-new-way-to-waste-time. Well, it's been a few weeks, so I'm about due for another "n.f.t." As if on cue, enter polyvore-- the online mix-and-match collage website that allows you to search thousands of online photos to bring any vision to life. The best thing about polyvore is that each picture that you add to the collage is always linked back to the source image so you can keep track of where each dress, flower, etc. came from (which is quite useful when you are considering buying such things). Also, the different search options (category, color, website, etc.) make the site very user friendly and time efficient (as if there is a time efficient way to waste time?). So here's my first polyvore creation (many more to come):

It's kinda crowded, but if you click on the image (or here) you will be directed to the polyvore link, which will allow you to click on each of the different photos or at least see where they came from (see page right). This collage is my first inspiration board, which is a new trend used by brides-to-be to help (their wedding planners) make their wedding vision a reality (click here for some amazing examples).

"Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel" -- Proverbs 20:15

a blog about blogs...

"And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise." -- Sylvia Plath

So apparently wedding blogs are cool... or maybe just popular. A google search for "wedding blog" returned over 8 million sites. Wowzers. There are blogs for all sorts of weddings: preppy weddings, offbeat weddings, ethnic weddings... the list goes on. As someone who is in the midst of planning her own wedding, I think I am justified in spending (perhaps a little too much) time browsing such sites. And I'm happy to say that I've been getting lots of different ideas along the way. To spare you the experience of hopping from blog to blog in hope of finding treasures of inspiration, I'll summarize a few of my favorites:

• Snippet & Ink - great pictures, real weddings, budget tips
• Something Old, Something New - creative ideas from things old and new
• The Bride Cafe - more pictures and real wedding stories
• Oh Happy Blog! - lots of cute dresses, random ideas
  
• Style Me Pretty - I've mentioned this one before...

And last but not least... all the best bridal blogs in one place! And no, it's not your imagination. Future brides, you can thank me now for this find. I plan to keep blogging until someone puts me up on that list.

And here's a little inspiration in picture form from Snippet & Ink (the yellow makes me happy):

click to enlarge

"Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll" -- Job 19:23