A Wedding Planning Update: Decoration

We are in the throes of wedding decor planning - my favorite part!

However, that means I am not here visiting with you.

I miss you.

After getting all the initial foundational stuff out of the way (finding a venue, finding a marriage commissioner, finding a photographer, finding a dress!), we are moving on to the more decorative aspects for our June wedding.  Everything hinges on everything else, so let's begin with the venue!

~ Our Venue ~

Our venue is a historic city garden with a charming small cafe.  We will be married in the garden and then have our reception inside the cafe after some photos.  The venue isn't as posh as I first wanted (I envisioned chandeliers...), but it's so pretty, relaxed, and removed-from-the-world that it captured our hearts.  The interior space has great light, with windows on three sides, making for good interior photos in case of rain.  And the food at the cafe is insanely good and so well-received - all local and carefully curated...very hand-made gourmet.  And of course, the gardens are gorgeous.

  It was also perfect for a small wedding - ours is the only wedding that day, unlike ALL the other venues we considered.  Yes, small weddings are very hard to find a venue for, as you end up competing with the wedding for 250 in the room next door.  And with this venue, everything is contained at one site - ceremony, photos, reception.

~ Tablescapes ~ 

We are still sorting out the floor plan and tables, which has a big effect on tablescapes.  But we needed to start sourcing china and silverware.  I didn't want to rent china and dreamed of using vintage white or white and gold bone china.  But no one rents that here.  And buying enough for 24 was tougher than I thought, without the benefit of great estate sales and antique stores here in town.  

So we ended up renting china, but I found a pattern I really like and I think you will too.

To mix with the rental bits, we've chosen some lovely vintage and vintage-inspired items to create a "warm garden elegance" feel, as my event stylist, A. J. from Pink & Honey, calls it.  Although our tablescape plan is just beginning, it's getting prettier by the minute.

Neither Snow Calligraphy

~ Flowers ~ 

Weddings mean flowers and I cannot wait for this part!  We are meeting a floral designer soon to start talking about flowers for our tablescapes.  I am envisioning large, slightly wild, and flowing arrangements of English roses and peonies, dahlias and ranunculus, mixed with trailing foliage and textural elements like blackberries, hypericum, and feathery species like astilbe.  

Magnolia Rouge Magazine Photo: Rylee Hitchner

I'm even more excited about our bouquets and boutonnieres.  I think this is one of the prettiest bouquets I've seen in a while.  Our flowers will be mainly whites, pinks and peaches, but I love a note of darker pink, navy, or golden yellow mixed in for contrast.

Belathee Photography, via Style Me Pretty

~ Invitations ~

Invitations are also underway.  We've found an amazing artist/calligrapher to hand design our invitations and hand-letter all our envelopes.  We are just about to start the design process and I couldn't be more excited.  Her style (free and fun) is different from mine (more formal and serious), so I'm excited to jump outside my comfort zone and do something fresh and pretty for our invitations.  

Neither Snow

In the meantime, I am still looking for wedding shoes and accessories and David needs to find his suit and tie fairly soon!  We also need to source a wedding cake and plan our ceremony!  And in April, we'll get started on menu planning with our venue once they open for the season.  Then we will do final paper goods, like our printed menus and wedding programs.  And begin alterations on my dress.  So much to do, so little time!

I will try to share more soon.  And later I will share the names of all our vendors and suppliers.  But if I am absent, you will know why!

A Party & A Painting

Today we prepared most of the day to host a Mother's Day get-together tomorrow!

We're having an afternoon tea!

Today we made ingredients for various dainty tea sandwiches and I made chocolate cupcakes and a lemon cake will follow tomorrow.  We'll also have salads, tea and coffee.

(My favorite part of parties is the decorating, if you didn't notice). 

I'm sending this arrangement home with my mother-in-law.  The darling vase is actually a small hurricane (candle holder) I picked up today at Crate & Barrel:

I bought very posh paper for her gift.  Mothers deserve to be spoiled. 

I have a few favorite vases, including this large urn and the small crystal vase (that I bought at Rob Kurkut's gorgeous shop) which is brilliant for left over short stems:

I think pink is very festive for parties.

In other news, I have taken up painting:

A small abstract painting I made today

I took a full year of art in university but have not put medium to paper in 20 years.  It felt really good sitting down at a blank canvas again - I loved it.  I will share more paintings soon and tell you more about my previous art studies.

You can also see another of my paintings in the first photograph at the top of this post (hanging to the left of the mirror).

And most of all...

Happy Mother's Day

(especially to my beloved and most cherished Mom!)

xo Terri

Birthday Pretties

Last week was my birthday and last weekend we celebrated with a small party!

(I really need a celebration in the wintery middle of March).

I had a really bad headache the day of the party and will admit that by the time the guests arrived, I would rather have laid on the sofa with an ice pack and a warm blanket than entertained guests.

But I forged ahead and made things look pretty while David cooked an amazing gourmet meal.

I bought a pretty mirror a short while ago, and although it's a bit small for the sideboard, I really liked the prettiness of it, which made the space look a bit like a lady's dressing table.  

There is a part of me that likes a very elegant feminine style and it's revealing itself now (as much as I sometimes strive for a more austere look):

I removed the long white runner from the sideboard.  It was so nice to see the lovely wood on the sideboard top, although it probably all seems too *brown* to some of you who are mixing in lighter woods.  

I love buying assorted flowers and putting them together in lively bouquets all around the house:

Eva Zeisel lidded bowl (left) and a very old Limoges bird plate (back)

The one great thing about having neutral walls and furniture is that I can add and subtract colours easily.  

A blue moment in the living room:

In the background, you can see the fun party banner I put up in the dining room

I like to keep the table very plain with white linens since I have a small living and dining space and don't want things to get too busy with all the girlish floweriness (hehe) going on:

Only one tiny arrangement for the table:

The flowers sit in an old crystal tabletop lighter I removed the top from...

The pretty sideboard mirror has a deep bevel.  It beautifully reflects the dining room chandelier:

David surprised me with two beautifully wrapped gifts (he is getting to know my favorite colour schemes):

I received lots of cards and money (lucky me!) - these two cards are from my aunt and darling mother.  The sweet little bone china fox is from David's mum: 

Here is the bounty the next morning - more cards and presents (a bottle of perfume on the left and a tiara, which is odd since I am not at all a princess):

I also got several decorating books, including "The Great Lady Decorators" from my sister-in-law and brother-in-law:

And this one from David:

Everyone gets a book list about two months before my birthday.  That way I get what I want and no one has to wonder what to buy me, although there are always some surprises thrown in.

Hope you have a lovely week...!

Gardens Etc.

Despite my winter torpor, I am thinking about gardens.

We are leaving for Florida in two days, and somehow this sunshiny future has inspired in me a burning desire to renovate our garden.  So I've been ordering gardening books left and right, and scheming over colours and textures.

This got me thinking that I failed to post about my mother's visit this past September and our idyllic visit to the inimitable Butchart Gardens in Victoria, where both my aunt and dear friend M. live.

To whet your appetite, here is a view of the sunken garden, which was once a quarry:

I think this might be what heaven looks like.

The rose garden was a treat, as I always visit in spring and it's not in bloom.  This time it was in bountiful bloom and simply perfect and romantic:

One of my favorite gardens is this little English garden, which is often overlooked, as I think it's only visible from the restaurant:

Sorry it's overexposed - it was sooo bright that afternoon...not the best for photography!

Speaking of restaurants, here we are enjoying lunch on the veranda of the Dining Room Restaurant.

This is my lovely and amazing Mom (left), and my dear friend M.(who is travelling in India right now):

And this is me:

The menu was lovely and simple, and the food was divine:

I had the mushroom bisque and the caesar salad.  It was as good as it looks:

The gardens are heavenly.

The dahlia garden is insane - it goes on and on and on, a riot of colour:

And there are giant sunflowers, which I always find very funny:

There are also lovely ponds, surrounded by dreamy trees and flowers:

If I lived in Victoria, I would buy an annual pass to this astounding garden.

Hope your winter is not too grey and this helped to brighten your day!

Love, T.

  

A (Little) Party!

(A special hello to the lady who spoke to me at the mall yesterday and said she reads my blog.  Hello!!!  I am sorry I did not get your name...I was so surprised you recognized me!  Drop me an email or comment if you have time as I would love to learn more about YOU!)

*
We hosted a very small dinner party tonight.  As we were setting up for dinner, I snapped a few photos.

I love these (inexpensive) Alstroemeria (Peruvian lily) that I picked up at the grocery store. There seems to be shockingly little flower selection post-Christmas (and what was left was mostly red).  

These often overlooked flowers are so pretty in their soft pink and green and work with the Christmas decor, which is still in place:

The small soup plate beside the flowers belonged to my great grandmother, Mary Ann.  She died before I was born, but had some lovely old china that my grandmother used when I was a child (and which went into the back of the cupboard as I got older).  I wish I could have met her, as she seemed to have a taste for pretty things and was also quite a character (or so I am told). 

You can see the Christmas tree in the background:

I set the table very plainly, using a set of very soft white linen napkins I bought at the Georgetown flea market two years ago:

While taking photos, I thought I would show you a little keepsake (from Scotland) that my sister-in-law included with my Christmas gift.  These little pieces of embroidered cloth were included in tobacco pouches many, many years ago.  I don't know much about their provenance, but must learn more.

I am planning to frame this in a small, pretty frame with a linen mat.  I also just noticed I put the flowers back in the sleeve upside down!  Oops.

And last but not least, here is my constant companion (who is always either underfoot or never more than a few feet away):

I hope you are enjoying your holiday.  I started a list of new year's resolutions but after twenty items, I gave up.  After all the parties and dinners this month, I think my #1 resolution is to eat only vegetables for the next month.  And with my chronic headaches, my #2 resolution is to try a few new ideas for headache relief (although this disease does not seem to be within my control).  

In other words, good health is on the agenda!

Happy New Year!

A Green & (Blue &) White Party

The past month has been a flurry of activity.  I took 3 weeks off work with headaches as they have been debilitating lately.  Shortly after that, my dear Mom came for a visit.  I will share photos from our trip to Victoria soon.

After delivering my Mom to the airport for a 6 am flight on Saturday (really), we came home and prepared a birthday bash for David. I thought I would share some photos of our little party.  I had a crushing headache the entire day (sorry to sound like a broken record) but did take pleasure in taking some pretty photos for you after neglecting you for so long...!

I set a simple table, using leftover ribbon lengths to tie my (very old and soft) linen napkins:

The plates are Haviland Concorde:

The silverware is my favorite pattern, Danish Princess:

I brought some hydrangeas in from our garden (sideboard) and dismantled a grocery store bouquet to make two more arrangements, including a low one for the table.

I am going through a green and white phase:

I have been trying small arrangements for the table:

And using my pottery collection as containers:

The salad/dessert plates (a gift from my mother) are also Limoges and are very old.  They are quite fragile.   I love using them for dessert.

The next day, I moved the flowers to the living room, to sit next to the beautiful little blue and white Chinese bowl (*love*) my mother bought me in Victoria.  
The new chair, which arrived last week, sits in the background:  

Nothing beats a party as an excuse to buy some flowers and make your rooms look pretty (even if you are feeling supremely crappy): 

We are off to Paris on Wednesday for 10 days.  I hate flying (I get migraines and nausea..how wonderful!), so I am both dreading and highly excited for our trip.  I am not over-planning this time but have a few goals, like hitting all three flea markets I love (St-Ouen, Vanves and Place d'Aligre) and the Orangerie. 

Mostly we'll go where the wind blows us.

And I am reading restaurant reviews...

More soon.  Blessings, Terri 

Shop Love: "Rook & Rose" in Victoria

While visiting Victoria in February, I discovered a darling flower shop that I've been meaning to blog about.  It's a total treasure!  If I lived in Victoria, I'd buy flowers here every week!

Welcome to Rook & Rose

(visit their website here):

The young owner is a flower styling goddess!  

You can't teach style like this - subtle, graceful, feminine, old world, utterly beautiful arrangements:

Who can resist a little bundle of prettily-wrapped spring flowers?:

So many variations, all exquisitely colour-coordinated...

Bright colours are also available (sunflowers in February make me seriously happy...)

Or maybe a bundle of roses suits your fancy...

I was smitten by these tiny bouquets in vintage-looking bottles, so I bought one for my hotel room!  It added so much cheer on a dreary February evening...

So when you're in Victoria, drop by Rook & Rose and be inspired!

Happy shopping!