The Wedding Bouquet

This email is being sent to all my "crafty" friends. If you are reading this - you are one!

Where were ALL of you when I said "yes" on that fateful May afternoon? I'll tell you where - miles and miles away from me! I needed your talents to create what I said I would do!! In my yes response, I was only providing the materials - I needed my crafty friends to create my idea!

You might as well brew a pot of coffee or tea and sit on a comfy chair. Y'all know I don't tell a SHORT story and this is no exception!

This is the long version of why I'm feeling stressed right now. Jen is a really good cook and loves to use fresh herbs in her cooking. And she also dries fresh herbs for later use. I gave her lots of my garden herbs last year because I don't know how to use them in cooking, nor do I know how to dry them. When she said she and Tom had set a wedding date, I jokingly said to her she should have a wedding bouquet of herbs. This is a second marriage for both of them - they are having a family picnic and getting married. He comes from a big close family, her family is just as close but isn't as big. The count is about 48 family members (counting extended) and 6 or so friends.

Ok, that's the background. Sometime after I made that comment about her "herb" bouquet she asked me to provide her wedding bouquet from my flowers. Yikes! Of course, I said yes without thinking! Other than a few annuals we planted, I have no blooming flowers! I thought to myself that I would just go to Sally's floral shop and buy a wedding bouquet for her. Piece of cake! No sweat!

Then on another day, she told me how special it is to her that she was having flowers from someone's garden. She just wanted a little something to hold because she thinks she will be nervous. OMG! Back to square 1, nixed buying flowers for her! Let the stress begin!!!!

I gave her the chance to change her wedding date (move it up) because I could provide lovely double bearded irises. She didn't like that idea (she liked the flowers, but couldn't change the date). And she wasn't interested in moving the date to a later time when I would have perennials to choose from. I told her then it's a herb bouquet. And this year, due to lack of energy, motivation, and desire I only bought two herb plants - dill and cilantro and numerous edible kale plants. And for some reason, I bought one ornamental kale plant. The universe was looking out for me!!!

I told her if she wasn't flexible with the wedding date, then she would be carrying a kale bouquet with dill seed pods. She was fine with that. I said we could eat it afterward, we laughed.

What I thought was my "ace in the hole" - my two Gerbera daisies - were not producing many new blooms. That prompted me to buy a pot of Gerbera daisies hoping to improve my chances. I'm thinking, who doesn't love a Gerbera daisy?

I found out she likes purple and what size ribbon she wanted. The date is approaching and the stress keeps mounting. What other plants am I going to combine with my kale to make an attractive bouquet? She tells me not to worry, it will be special because it's coming from a friend. And I think to myself, she has no idea how "special" this bouquet may become! It may be so special that she will want to save it and NOT use it!!! LOL!! I have crafty ideas but not the fingers to turn those ideas into reality!

So where are ALL my crafty friends, that can take all my odd ideas and turn them into reality? They have left me high and dry. I'm flying solo on this adventure! And the stress keeps piling on!!!!

Yesterday I happen to look at my ornamental kale and say "my prayers have been answered"' or maybe they were Jen's prayers! It already has a nice bouquet shape and adding my deep purple petunia petals to its leaves looks very nice in my opinion. I'm thinking, "I'm on easy street", I can make this bouquet "carriable" - a new word!

I put a few petunia leaves on its petals and I grab the pot and take it to show Jen. Her first reaction is that it is too big - larger than what she wanted. I say we can cut off some of the bottom leaves. From my photos, I show her my other choices, my dill pods, my coriander seed flowers, my delphiniums that aren't yet blooming, and my edible kale. She says yes to all of them. I'm thinking to myself, how do I add all of them to the kale? Somewhere during our conversation, the ornamental kale grew on her and she really liked it. I said she could throw it away after the ceremony and she said no, she wanted to use it as a centerpiece. Further, she said she was going to post a picture of it on Pinterest - she thought it would get a lot of reposts. I chuckled and said I didn't think there were that many or any other "herb loving" brides.

Finally, the universe takes pity on me! On another day, Jen mentions that her mother is an ace at flower arranging and always has a lovely garden. But, because her parents have quite a distance to travel she didn't ask her to bring any flowers.

I was doing my happy dance!!! The stress just rolled off of me! In fact, I almost wet my pants I was so happy to ONLY be responsible for bringing the kale, herbs, petunias, etc.

All I have to do now is keep everything watered and nurse the gerbera daisies into blooming at the appropriate time, and buy all the needed supplies. I purchased green floral tape, floral wire, floral picks, corsage pins, ribbon, and flower vials. I thought the bridesmen and best man (Jen and Tom's adult children) might want to wear dill and cilantro boutonnières to complement the herb theme.

Because the wedding was in a campground 20 miles away - Al and I had to leave on Thursday to make sure we would be there on time!!! You know how slow we go!!! - and it keeps getting slower! LOL!

As were "loading" it dawned on me that I needed to be extra careful with the ornamental kale. It was the bride's bouquet! - and I only had one!!!!

Since we left on Thursday, I only brought the gerbera daisy and kale plant with us. I had to guard and baby them. I was afraid that the other plants wouldn't hold up until Saturday afternoon. I would return early on Saturday and make the final cuts.

Hallelujah, the kale plant arrived healthy and ready to shine on its big day! Oh no, we had no cell phone coverage! No way to connect with Jen and arrange a time to meet with her Mom. Oh well, I'll call when I go home to cut the other flowers and plants.

By the time Saturday rolled around I'm thinking Jen is wondering if she will have a bouquet. I called on the way home and left messages on both phones. Well at least she knows she'll have flowers, but I have no idea when to meet her mother.

Oh well, I just kept checking the pavilion and eventually made the connection. I found out that Jen hadn't given up on me, she had told her Mother I was bringing the "herbs" and it was her job to arrange.

Since I had had no further conversations with Jen, I didn't know if she wanted table arrangements or just the bouquet. Better to be prepared than sorry! On Saturday I gathered almost every vase I had because I had enough dill seed pods and coriander seed flowers to fill all my vases and then some. I also cut some red geranium heads and colored flowers from my neighbor because Jen had mentioned that she would be wearing multi-colored shoes - a gift from the "hubby" to be.

After making a connection with her mother, I went back to the campsite and gathered all the supplies and plants.

Once again the stress left my body!!! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Unfortunately the writer of this story was experiencing too much stress to have the presence of mind to photograph all of the plants used in this story. With the exception of a couple flowers, they were all tended by her in her backyard. She had no idea that she would write a story of this experience, but she is glad she did. It has made her more appreciative of all the details that are involved in a wedding or any big celebration. The concept of eloping is very appealing.

The Colorful Shoes: