One of the Two Weddings from This Weekend

Saturday

This Saturday was busy busy! First I did flowers for a small wedding. I love this bouquet...peonies, old garden roses (O'Hare), mini roses (porcelina), white roses (polar star), and white peonies with a hint of blue grey dusty miller here and there.  I love dusty miller in bridal bouquets.  It's so feminine and lacy!  The O'Hare roses actually smelled wonderful.  Which is an oddity for the roses I can acquire as a florist....love these roses!

I loved them so much I made a bouquet for our church....and instead of sharing them like I usually do...I brought them home!  They make my heart melt and my eyes all dewy....no really they do!  Just Gaaargous!...as my youngest sez!

...and here is my youngest...inspecting the chair I took out for Maw Maw Vero to sit on when we had a blowout on the trailer on our way to Mississippi.  There's my Byron changing it in five minutes flat....he is the man....well I made the girls get out of the car and move away from the interstate for "safety".  Then I got the bright idea that if any of them needed to "pee" they could take advantage of the tall weeds on the side of the road......

.....thanks for a very observant Tera Bear (my oldest)!  She noticed a BLACK WIDOW!...and then...

...ANOTHER...AND ANOTHER...AND ANOTHER...We counted 10 in all in a small area.  Black widows dutifully protecting their egg sacs!   Oh quiver quiver!  We'd probably have been safer in the car...no one was bit thankfully.  Byron said it was a good thing no one needed to "pee".  It might have been awkward in the emergency room!

So we made it safely to Mississippi to check on our property, water the trees we have planted and do some work.  So far we have planted 2 camillias, 12 blueberries, 4 pecans, 3 peaches, 3 plums, 1 quince and 1 apple...  Next will be pears, figs, and more apples.   I'd like to build a pavilion for an outdoor kitchen soon.  The roof will catch rain water for use, and I would like an attached pergola for growing grapes.

I've finally identified this tree.  It's mayhaws!  and the property has plenty of them.

I can't get around without my handy boots.  Before my Father had his stroke...he asked when was I going to quit wearing those "ugly boots".  When they wear out...that's when!

This is an area of the hill that was cut and damaged somehow.  Maybe when they clear cut it.  Anyway the water rushes this direction down into the creek.  We're trying to stem the erosion by placing small trees we cut down across it, planting shrubs and plants, and seeding grass.

The blueberries are really doing well on the slope.  They seem to love being right on the edge of the larger forest.

The trees are helping as well.  You can see the sand beginning to cover the edges of the tree.  So I'm hoping this soil is no longer making its way into the creek and away!

The trees are doing well also.  Here is one of the pecans.  We mulch the base of the trees with boughs cut from other trees.  This helps to retain moisture.

Wonder what kind of berry this is?

Here's another little tree doing great.  We gave them all a nice drink of water while we were there.  Hope it lasts.  There's no rain forcasted for the next ten days and it will be well into the 80's.

Today's Visitor and Wedding

No he or she (I haven't learned how to tell alligator gender.) wasn't a guest at the wedding....But he/she did visit my yard!  It was just at dusk.  This little guy was probably over two feet.  I didn't get too close.   You wouldn't believe how fast these guys can move!

 Run in a zig zag!  Run in a zig ...ackkkk!  Really, who can remember to run in a zig zag pattern if an alligator chases you (that's the common advice from those locals who supposedly know how to escape the intentions of an alligator)....and I'm under the impression that by the time the thought makes it to your mind you're already lunch!

The little guy actually lunged at my cat.  So fast I didn't see it coming....luckily my cat is fast as well...and she has amazing survival instincts.  My cat adopted us after Katrina...which she survived...and has lived despite coyotes, bald eagles, dogs, and alligators that skirt and occasionally cross our property.  I was inclined to let 'em stay (the alligator), but when my cat almost became the appetizer or injured anyway...Byron captured the little guy with a net and we located him to a canal a few miles down the road.  The largest gator we've had in our yard to date was over 5 feet.

Here's some pics of today's wedding I did.  I'm a florist in case any didn't know.  I love the gardeny wild arrangements on pedestals in the back....here's the cake.....

....and a close up.....

....every table had a centerpiece....the  bride was from Argentina....she said in her country very few flowers are bought for the wedding party...most of the floral budget is spent on table centerpieces....yep....I'm fine with that!  She carried a lovely small bouquet of white french tulips.

Yummiest Blue Berry Pie Recipe Ever and Recent Wedding

My sister NeeKee gave me this recipe for blueberry pie and it's the bestest ever!!!  Everyone adores this pie...some people even steal it from funerals (snicker...Miss Riya!)....

Blue Berry Pie

1 pie crust

1 1/2 cups frozen Blue Berries

1 stick melted butter

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup all purpose flour

Put blue berries in crust.  Mix all other ingredients, pour on top and bake 1 hour at 350 degrees!

Wow that's easy!  But more yummy than easy!

Pictures from the recent wedding I did at the New Orleans Botanical Gardens....such a lovely night....the wedding was perfect!

This Weekend's Wedding

The flowers I did for the wedding this weekend were bright and beautiful.  They contrasted nicely with the steady green of the golf course.  The colors certainly needed to be bright to compete with the heat!  It was 97 degrees!  The ceremony was at 7:30 so luckily it had cooled down to a lovely 89 degrees....I smelled myself after setting up this wedding!  I did wait until the last possible minute to put the flowers in the wilting heat.

These roses....lovely!

Pomanders punctuated the candelabras....I love my black iron labras....so New Orleans....

Tera helping me set up....

I didn't spy any gators....although I've heard there are some there....

Bridesmaid's bouquets....

...and an adorable flower girl that insisted on holding her pomander like a bouquet....guess she wanted to be like the big girls...

....this little guy didn't want to walk in a stupid wedding....

....especially not with any dumb girls....

...and to be greeted by huge grinning people is just plain scary...

....my husband called this the "walk of shame"....the little ring bearer was not happy and he let everyone know!

...then always the best part...the Bride and her Father....

...the pomanders served double duty as centerpieces later....a nice way to save a buck.

This Saturday's Wedding

I so enjoyed doing the flowers for this Saturday's wedding...I love the delicate ultra feminine look...here is a pic of the filled silver tussie mussies the mothers carried....sweet...

The bridal bouquet was a teardrop of blue hydrangeas and white roses...um....um....I am so ready for the strapless look to exit the wedding scene...it's been ten years!!!...arghhhhhhh....something different please designers....designers?.....designers?....are you listening to me?!...anyway the bride was beautiful....

...the bridesmaids carried a swanky arm bouquet of callas and peacock feathers wrapped in gold ribbon...it reminds me of the '20's for some reason.....really like them....especially since it is a departure from the round pave' bridesmaid bouquet look....

This is the bride's son....he was an adorable stinker....I overheard this conversation....

...between him and this little girl....boy, "...I hate all this..",  little girl.." you bettah not say dat...you remembah what ya mamah said huh?...Let's go have a convahsation?!"  ...hmmm?  I guess his mammah had been having some convincing conversations about proper wedding behavior!   Oh, too cute....I adore, adore, adore, children in weddings......

...making sure the musician has his equipment set up and in working order before the wedding begins...

Simple delicate cake topper....I love this location for weddings...It's a shabby chic plantation home and an old church...The weddings take place in the house or the grounds and the reception in the church...huh?...but I love it!

...the giant old palms and cypress trees are breath taking...Looks like the groom is saying..."c'mon guys line up!"

...this is the front of the home.  These old plantation homes were designed to be seen from the Mississippi river when they were built long ago.  Now the levee blocks the view of the river, and the back of the house faces to highway.  If you climb to the top of the levee you can imagine how beautiful the view of the plantation homes must have been from the deck of a steamboat.

This particular home "Woodland Plantation" has the particular fame of being the home featured on the Southern Comfort bottle...

...there's also a beautiful swampy area complete with gators and snakes...ha ha...no really...there are gators and snakes....did I mention this place is kid friendly?...

...the ceremony area presided over by a great old Louisiana bald cypress...

...and a simple bouquet of blue hydrangeas to adorn the church....

Click here to see other wedding flowers I've done.