#103 Beauty is so fleeting...

As I write this, the flowers from the wedding are beginning to wilt and fade, their beauty spent. I'll be posting more pictures with details of the wedding over the next week or so, but for today I just wanted to show you the two bouquets I made - the larger one with the pink roses was Megan's (the Bride!) and the smaller, cream one was for Emily (the Maid of Honor):

Photo by Jeff Benzon

Megan's bouquet was made up of Prince Jardinier garden roses (so fragrant!), Carla Romantica spray roses - both ordered online from Whole Blossoms, Vendala roses ordered online from Sam's Club, seeded eucalyptus, and rosemary from my sister's garden. I wrapped the stems with a wide satin ribbon dotted with pearls, securing it with a line of pearl corsage pins, and gracing it with my great-grandmother's sapphire and pearl crescent pin for the perfect old/borrowed/blue touch.

For Emily's bouquet I used mostly Vendala roses, a few of the Carla Romantica roses, and green hypericum berries (also ordered from Sam's Club) and just a touch of the rosemary. I wrapped the stems with a soft olive green wired ribbon, finishing it with a line of pearl corsage pins like I did for Megan's flowers.

I was really anxious about how the flowers would last in the heat of August, but they did beautifully and were much hardier than I could have imagined. Next time I do something like this I won't be such a worry wart!

Here's another pic (taken by her friend Sarah L. Smith) that shows Megan with her bouquet and her handsome husband Andrew:

I've gotten very little done since the wedding - I just keep looking at the photos! She and Andrew are such a wonderful couple and their love and happiness just leaps out of the picture, doesn't it???

-karen anne

#102 And more...

Jeff Benzon added a few more photos of Megan and Andrew's wedding on his Facebook page.

Click and be dazzled!

What a talent Jeff has, huh???

Her friend, Sarah L. Smith took this one and posted it - I love that Andrew's mom, Sylvie, is over Megan's shoulder (in the beautiful teal dress) and I'm over Andrew's:

-karen anne

#101 They take my breath away...

The wedding was all that I hoped it would be. Megan was an amazingly beautiful bride and Andrew an incredibly handsome groom. I'm so tickled with how her dress came out - the most exquisite garment I've ever had the opportunity to make. It was pure joy to work on, knowing it was for my sweet girl. The flowers that my mother and sister did were also absolute perfection. (I'll post pictures another day.)

Here's the "sneak peek" photo that the photographer sent Megan this morning:

 
He hopes to have all the rest ready next week...stay tuned! Jeff was a high school friend of Meg's and is now wonderfully talented professional photographer. I can't wait to see the rest of the shots he took!

-karen anne

#100 What says "love"???

Ain't NUTHIN' says "love" like hanging 50 million freakin' teensy white lights in the garden. In the wretched heat and humidity. With mosquitoes. And spiders. Just sayin'...

But...oh my....they look sooooo pretty all lit up and twinkling! Perfect for an evening wedding reception!!!

(photo captured from: http://autumnpark.myaptportal.com/around-town/festive-december-around-charlotte)

- karen anne

#99 Today's Thought

Inspired by an antique a dear friend has in her kitchen, this is a reminder I wish we could all heed. With so much harshness in the world these days, a little gentleness would be so healing, wouldn't it?

-karen anne

#98 Another project completed!

Got the slipcovers made for the sofas in the living room. I swear that I will never make slipcovers again. But that's exactly what I said after the last time I made slipcovers. I even made a pattern for them. Just in case. Sheesh. Go figure. 

Anyway, as promised, pictures:

 

Boy does it feel good to have these off my to-do list!

Now that they are finished, it's full speed ahead on the wedding gown. What a treat to sew on lighter-than-air silk after wrestling with these bears! They weighed 10 lbs. each so it was quite a workout trying to finesse all that fabric through my sewing machine and serger. Found some new muscles I think...

Now to get ready for a bridal shower that Emily and my sister Kristan are hosting here for Megan this Saturday. Promises to be a lovely event and I'll post pictures next week.

'til then...

-karen anne

#97 Working against myself...

All my recently completed projects have not helped my momentum to complete others. I've created too many wonderful places to pause...to sit...to contemplate my navel...

Case in point: the Summer Kitchen. I gave Emily the wing chairs that had been there so she could take them to Texas for her new apartment and brought down two chairs that were meant to be together but that had been separated in different rooms. (I can clearly remember climbing up on the tufted one - the one on the right - when I was two or three years old. It was HUGE back then and I love that I can remember thinking it was tantamount to Mt. Everest!)

I brought down the large red ottoman that I had recovered, too.

And the great bright yellow lamp I bought at TJ Maxx that has been living in one of the guest rooms.

What was I thinking???? 

The light from the skylights is soooo intoxicating... I mean, would you want to leave and go make slipcovers??? I sure don't!

And then there's the porch. Aaaaaah, the porch....now replete with a vase of flowers that includes snapdragons, echinacea, May Night salvia ,and Bridal Pink hydrangeas. White wicker and hydrangeas... please, please, PLEASE don't make me go upstairs and work!!!

I could sit here for eternity:

I've got to get busy, though - 41 days until the wedding!

-karen anne