Flowers for Royal Weddings

Our Perfect Christmas Tree

2011-12-21T08:37:00.000-08:00

It's just a few more days 'til Christmas, and our perfect tree has been decorated for a few weeks now. The search started in late November when I ventured to a local tree farm in Okatie, SC. You have a choice there of Leland Cypress, Red Cedar, or Virginia Pine. We find that the Va. pine is a good fit for us because they look like old fashioned Christmas trees, and because they look best with our vintage lights and vintage glass ornaments.

Since there is a definite lull in royal wedding activities and in my own wedding business this time of year... thought I would post some pics of our Christmas tree... showing that everyone has a different definition of the perfect Christmas tree.

So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Terry.

We really go for the Shiney Brite vintage look on our tree with tinsel garland, bead garland, and the finishing touch of real lead icicles. The lights are all C7 ceramic and bubble lights, makes it warm and nostalgic in our living room. And, for the first week or so, the tree gives off this very powerful pine scent... not so much after a couple of weeks have passed.

Enjoy the pics of our perfect Christmas tree for 2011.

Royal tid bit of the day... Christmas trees used at London's Chelsea Hospital are donated by HM The Queen. The trees are cut from the forests surrounding Windsor Castle.

Flowers for October Weddings

2011-11-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

During the lull in Royal Weddings, I was out creating a little wedding magic of my own. September and October were very busy wedding months for me flower-wise, but, none of the weddings I participated in embraced the traditional Autumn floral themes so popular during these months. Instead, hot pinks, purples, yellows, pale blues, and shades of green were the order of the day. One wedding specifically requested a Sunset Color theme, close to Autumn with oranges and coral tones, but incorporating purples, blues and lavender. They all turned out beautifully... so here is a little photo sampling of the past few months... enjoy!

These are from the Sunset wedding...

Here are a few photos from the purple, hot pink, etc. wedding...

And finally, the wedding using yellow/gold, green and pale blue...

Congratulations to all of these brides and grooms, it was a pleasure serving their floral needs for their very special occasions. And super extra thanks for my best flower-friend.. Lauri Leber, owner of Flower Shop Bluffton, for he invaluable assistance in the execution of these lovely events.

Terry.

Royal Bride - Zara Phillips gets her day...

2011-08-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

The eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth has finally gotten her day to shine as a royal bride. This wedding that took place in Edinburgh on July 30th, was in total contrast to the wedding we saw take place in London in April of this year. Zara Phillips, daughter of The Princess Royal, Anne married footballer Mike Tindal at Canongate Kirk... the royal place of worship located close by Hollyroode Palace. Hollyroode Palace, or "house" as it is also called, is the official residence of Queen Elizabeth when she travels to Scotland's capitol.

This royal wedding was quite subdued, and photographers and t.v. cameras were not allowed inside the church. However, there are plenty of pictures of the lovely bride and her beautiful flowers. Zara chose a rather rustic hand-tied bouquet of miniature white calla lilies, Lily of the Valley, Echinops Thistle, Dusty Miller foliage... all based with white hydrangea. I think the combination of simple tones in white and grey is wonderful to compliment her ivory gown and the more informal setting. But, the most dynamic aspect of the flowers are the many varying textures among the flowers and foliage. Most appreciated is the use of Echinops Thistle... as a nod to one of the national emblems of Scotland.

I think we are seeing a trend starting... having one's bridesmaids attired like the bride and carrying identical but smaller versions of the bridal bouquet. Also, it appears that a more mature bridesmaid has been included to perhaps corral the younger members of the wedding party.

This blogger loves Zara's bouquet, and really appreciates the family traditions among the royals... as Zara is wearing a tiara on loan from her mother, Anne. Well done Zara and Mike!

Three of the bridesmaids.... all in ivory, one with the palest blue bow on her dress, each one wearing flowers in their hair, arranged accordingly to suit the style of their individual hair styles.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day.... The last royal wedding to take place in Scotland was the wedding of Princess Anne, when she married her second husband, Timothy Laurence. Then as well, a floral nod was made to Scotland as her bouquet was a nosegay composed entirely of heather.

Duchess of Cambridge's Bouquet - The Royal Replica

2011-07-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

Just recently a royal exhibit has opened at Buckingham Palace. The featured attraction for the summer's tour of the palace is the currently most famous wedding dress in the world, that of The Duchess of Cambridge, formerly Kate Middleton. Many thousands of advance tickets have been sold, bringing in money to support the renovation and repairs needed at the Palace.

In addition to the dress, other wedding items are on display as well... The Duchess's wedding shoes covered in the same handmade lace as her gown. The diamond earrings commissioned by her parents as a gift can be seen as well. The actual wedding cake, with the top three layers replaced, is also on display in the banquet room. The crowning feature of the gown display is the veil and Cartier tiara that Catherine wore on her wedding day. Finally, and not at all least important to this blogger... a replica of the bridal bouquet is also on display in the same case with the shoes and the earrings. The original bouquet's designer, Shane Connolly, has recreated the bouquet in faux flowers. The replica is so realistic, even this seasoned designer is pressed to see any difference in the two when pictures are compared.

Mr. Connolly has explained that the inspiration for the bouquet was the dress. The intricate lace detailing of the Catherine's gown lent the suggestion that delicate flowers were needed. Lily of the Valley, the bouquets main component were chosen for their very delicate features... massed together in what as been described as a "shield" shape with individual Hyacinth florets, delicate white Sweet William, and the ever traditional myrtle foliage always present in royal bouquets, the bouquet is finished quite simply with a small bow and ribbon wrapping on the handle.

With the wonders of the Internet, the identity of the florist for this wedding was well know months before the event. While doing research on the florist for the royal weddings in the 1980's, there was months of searching and researching through old floral magazines and books. Then to finding someone at the Worshipful Company of Gardeners that was helpful in getting me connected with David Longman. Logman was the designer of the bouquets for Diana Spencer and Sarah Ferguson. Then correspondence by old fashioned mail proved productive. Now for the past four years, this blogger has been privileged to call Mr. Longman a friend. He has shared with me the techniques used in Diana's bouquet, and some interesting stories about his involvement with the royal weddings some 30 years ago.

Now for the next quest. To contact Mr. Connolly, and ask him some questions about the most recent famous royal bridal bouquet. It's certain that my search for information will be made much easier considering the massive progress made in information accessibility in the past few years. It seems that we have known every detail about every aspect concerning the Cambridge's wedding. I for one am grateful that so much interesting information has been made so accessible to those interested in Royal Weddings.

If I manage to contact Mr. Connolly or his firm, I will certainly share any interesting pieces of information with my blog followers.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day... Coming up this weekend is yet another royal wedding. The Queen's first grand daughter, Zara Phillips will marry Mike Tindal. Though Miss Phillips carries no royal title, at the request of her mother Anne, The Princess Royal, she will be afforded her share of the royal limelight. Zara's wedding will take place in a few days, in Edinburgh, Scotland. The location for the wedding is the quaint (compared to Westminster Abbey) Canongate Kirk. Where the royal family worships when at Hollyrood House, official royal residence in the Scottish metropolis. Below is a picture of the church.

Photo Credits: Shane Connolly still and close up bouquet still: The Royal Wedding Dress: A Story of Great British Design. The Royal Channel, YouTube, July 25, 2011.

Canongate Kirk photo: bestofedinburgh.com

Royal Wedding In Monaco... more on the Monegasque wedding...

2011-07-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

In Euroupe like in England, they seem to do weddings just slightly different from Americans. The most recent royal wedding, the one that took place in Monaco last weekend, was no exception. The newly married Princess Charlene had her attending bridesmaids dressing in traditional Monegasque costumes. What a wonderful touch. Someone told me they weren't to thrilled with the hats, but I do think they add a nice touch, especially since the wedding took place semi-outdoors, as it was held in the large central courtyard of the palace in Monte Carlo.

Upon closer inspection of the pictures showing the bridesmaids, their flowers are nosegays that give the impressions of being recently gathered by the girls. They are arranged simply gathered with roses, ivy, galax leaves, and what looks like to be lavender freesia. I do really like the nod to the old traditional attire of the location. The freesia is a nice touch as it adds a continuity from the bridal bouquet, which relied on white freesia as it's main component... here is another photo of the bridal bouquet, on the altar in the chapel in Monte Carlo.

Royal Wedding tid-bit of the day... Much disscussion and conjecture ensued in 1923 when Prince Albert, Duke of York prepared to marrie Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. The reason for the controversy? Palace officials oppsosed having the ceremony broadcast on the "wireless" (radio). They feared that the sacred ceremony would be heard by gentlemen, in pubs, still wearing their hats! I do wonder what those palace officials back in 1923 would think of the global expossure given to the most recent Abbey wedding?

Photo Credit: both from Zimbio.com

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene ... Cascade bouquet making a comeback!

2011-07-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

So, it was Monaco's turn this past weekend to show the world how to do a royal wedding. It was a different type of affair for sure, in contrast to the British royal wedding in April. This time the reigning Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert was getting married to his long time fiance, Charlene Whittstock. The new princess Charlene was quite a vision in her Armani gown. I was particularly happy that her bouquet was of the more regal style... a cascade unlike the bouquet of Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge. But, like Catherine's, Charlene's bouquet contained some very traditional bridal flowers. White dembdrobium orchids helped form the slender cascade portion of the bouquet, while a tight cluster of white freesia and Lily of the Valley formed the round, main portion of the arrangement.

Finally, and with relief, we have pictures of a royal wedding bouquet that show in close up, the details of this special floral piece. The bride left her bouquet on a chapel altar, and a photo-op was born. From the photos, we can see the flowers in great detail, and see something rather unusual. The bouquet stems are wrapped with black ribbon. I am anxious to research and find out if this nontraditional color for a royal wedding has any significant meaning. Or, could it be the floral designers special mark, making this wedding quite different in style and expression from other royal weddings.

Royal wedding tid-bit for the day... A slew of European royals attended Saturday's royal nuptials in Monte Carlo. On hand from the British Royal family were Edward and Sophie, The Earl and Countess of Wessex. In tomorrow's post, we'll take a look at the bridesmaids serving at this most recent royal wedding.

Thank you to Zimbio.com for the pictures so lovely posted on their site for us to see.

Queen Mother's Bridal Bouquet

2011-07-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

During my last few years of researching royal wedding flowers, one mystery that I kept hearing about was the Queen Mother's bouquet. The then Duchess of York left her bouquet on the tomb of the Unknown Warrior as she entered Westminster Abbey during a delay of the processional... when a abbey staff member fainted prior to the ceremony. Thus, after the ceremony, back at the palace, there was no bridal bouquet in the formal portraits.

Some sources say that there was white heather and white roses, another I read said the bouquet contained carnations, fern, and two lilies... but, all sources reporting in on the subject stated that there are no photos of the bouquet to found, so the bouquet's contents cannot be confirmed.

Well, there may be no photographic images of the bouquet, but I thought, what about the film reels of the event? Knowing that I had seen silent footage of the royal wedding in 1923, I decided to review those films on You Tube. And, I wasn't dissapointed, as the first film I viewed shows an image of the bouquet being carried by an attendant of the Duchess, following right behind the father of the bride, The Earl of Strathmore. If I have found it, then, I have another bit of royal flower sleuthing under my belt. So, from that film I have tried to capture the frame where the bouquet is most visible. And, to my eye, it does look like a round bouquet of all white roses, gathered with white ribbon. The white heather may be in there, but, you really can't confirm that by the image on film. But, I think that I will believe that the heather and rose account is the correct description of the bouquet.

AH HA! there, it worked! A film clip capture... thanks very much to my new computer snipping tool, then to a little file conversion with Photo Shop, and there we have it, an image of the Queen Mother's bridal bouquet, just there, to the right of the coachman... the large white puff above and to the left is the plume on the Earl of Strathmore's hat. Yep, looks like some really precisely arranged white roses! Thank you to The Royal Channel on YouTube! Check out The Royal Channel for many film reel and video images of history royal events, some as early at 1901 with film footage of Queen Victoria's funeral. I am really excited to have this image clip as it really coincides with the above image in this post, having taken place just seconds after the above picture was snapped.

Royal wedding tidbit for the day...

This past weekend on PBS, a documentary aired entitled "British Royal Weddings." The first part of this series dealt with the wedding we see featured above, then the wedding of they current Queen, Princess Elizabeth back in 1947 when she married, and then, the wedding of Princess Margaret. Very refreshingly, this documentary dealt with some really interesting and minute details such as the flowers!! And, for the first time, I got to see my friend, David Longman, in person, well... on video really, as he discussed the bouquet his father designed for Princess Elizabeth, sans Gardenias, since Princess Margaret was allergic to them. How nice to see David on t.v., after years of writing, finally glad to have a face to put with the man from the emails.

Mother's Day... wedding flowers from the past

2011-05-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

It just wouldn't do for me to stop posting on the blog now that the wedding of the century has come and gone, leaving us with roughly 89 years to wait at least before there could be another wedding of the century. I for one don't plan on being around for the next wedding of the century. So, things may not be so royal for a while.

Wanted today's post to be about someone special to me, and honoring all mothers everywhere. Every woman is special and many are the best mothers in the world. When it comes to their wedding day, they looked particularly beautiful. Before "we kids" came along, most of our mothers had their day as a princess in a beautiful dress and a bouquet of lovely flowers to carry.

Here's my mother, lovely as can be on her wedding day in 1964. One of my favorite pictures of her.

Mother's boquet consisted of white Fuji mums and white Cymbidium orchids with pale pink throats. The rest of the bouquet was a wired and taped bonanza of tulle, ribbon, lace, love knots, and faux Lily of the Valley. The two orchids in the middle were actually a corsage that detached from the bouquet, and mother wore that on her lapel as she left the church after the reception. Now, that's a floral trick from the past if there ever was one. Maybe I should try to revived that technique!

Royal Wedding Tid-bit of the day...

Two of the bride'smaids from last weeks wedding have very close royal ties. The two girls pictured here are Lady Louise Windsor, grand-daughter of Queen Elizabeth, and Margaritta Armstrong-Jones, grand-daughter of Princess Margaret. Both carried out their royal brides maids' duties to perfection on April 29th.

Princess Catherine's Bouquet... a close up view.

2011-05-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

It's not just with royal weddings, but with most weddings... you never get to see the back of a bouquet very well. Of course I may be the only person in the world interested in seeing the back view a bridal bouquet. But, something about the construction techniques used in floral design simply fascinates me. In the picture above, we get what will probably be the best view ever of the back of this particular bouquet. I can see for sure where the designer/manufacturer were going here... if indeed the "shield" or "heart" shape was intended, then it makes sense. They probably started out with the longer stems, obviously, and added shorter stem lengths as the fan of the stems grew wider. At one point the taped wires were simply bent downward at a certain point to make the handle, and the handle being well concealed with ribbon and a rather smart and understated bow at the turning point. Interesting and simple, this bouquet doesn't have the typical "top half" that most all wired cascading bouquets would have... those stems wire and inserted so that they go upward towards the bride's face... all of the stems here are going down. I dare say once the wiring and taping of the individual stems were finished that pulling them together in the order of longest to the shortest was not too hard of a task. But, I know that no matter the simplicity... if I had been doing it, tension and stress would have been very high.

And so, the bouquet found it's way back to the Abbey. Or, one of the bouquets, as I am assuming that more than one was made for the event.... Princess Diana had three identical bouquets. This, in my opinion is one of the most poignant royal traditions. And, for this royal wedding, one of the most talked about... would she or wouldn't she lay down the bouquet. From the news reports and blogs I've read this week, some were surprised that Princess Catherine didn't lay the bouquet there on their way out.... But, go back and watch the videos and film clips... Sarah Ferguson, nor Princess Anne, nor the Queen for that matter laid down their bouquets on the way out of the Abbey. There bouquets are returned to the Abbey later in the day by palace staff.

Another information buzz is the still the dress... and it's striking similarities to two other vintage gowns that are the height of style and "Grace"... and one that wasnt' exactly an asset to the Abbey. ;)

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this...equals

THIS!

Royal Wedding Tib-bit for the day...According to my wonderful friends, the Lloyds, in England... the BBC did and interview with the woman responsible for making the big floral displays in the Abbey. Apparently the whole theme was to be as natural as possible with nothing imported from outside England. So the big trees, maples and horn beams were grown in England. The other flower displays were done by senior members of NAFAS (National Association of Flower Arrangement Specialists) and were told of their role just a very short time before the wedding. NAFAS are a group of British flower enthusiasts, work non-commercially in an amateur status. Another way this wedding was kept local and kept green. All who worked on the floral and other decor did a Smashing job!

Kate's Bouquet... the wedding of the century!

2011-05-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

So the big day we had all been waiting for has come and gone. What a day it was! Princess Catherine, as she will now be referred to on this blog, was quite a vision in her dress. After discussing the dress with a few people... while the wedding was still in progress... we had some very similar takes on the design. First, that we loved it. Second that it was perfect for her age and our modern age, while still capturing the elegant, formal, and royal style that this wedding demanded. Many media commentators reflected on it's similarity to that of Princess Grace of Monaco's (Grace Kelly) wedding dress. However, upon seeing Princess Catherine emerge from the car... I thought, Maria VonTrapp a la "The Sound of Music". I think there are many similarities in cut, style and presence.

Now for what this blog is all about............... flowers for royal weddings may have reached it's pinnacle. Even before the grand car reached the abbey, the television cameras were able to pick up some pretty good shots of the bouquet, Princess Catherine waving with her "bouquet-free" hand. Immediately it was apparent that the grand cascade style would not be making a comeback... (but I hate that word) ahem... will not be making a "return", there, that's better.

I was really hoping for trends to set with this bouquet, and I will be honest and say that I was just a little bit disappointed with the bouquet. The flower content will be difficult to emulate. With the majority of the flowers being Lily of the Valley, pricing this bouquet for a proposal would send any bride into fits of distress. Then the Hyacinth pips... lovely and fragrant, but only available for such a short time each year. Interestingly, Sweet William was included for obvious reasons. Actually I have never thought of adding Sweet William to wedding work ever, so there might be a good idea to try and go with. If a bride today would ask for this bouquet, I would definately suggest using stephanotis as a substitute for the Lily of the Valley, if for nothing but the fragrance factor. I will say that even though the size was slightly disappointing, I did very much like the shape. The official wedding site from Clarence House is describing it as "shield" shaped, but I am going with my first impression of "heart shaped" which certainly is more a romantic description.

Surely everyone noticed that Pipa Middleton carried not one flower, only wearing flowers in her hair. Of course she had charge of the two youngest bridesmaids, so out of necessity, her hands had to be free. Let's hope this does not become the trend.

Another notice to take is that none of the women, mother, step-mother, aunts, cousins, or Majestic Grandmother... none of these ladies wore a corsage! This is a trend that I wouldn't mind having catch on.

white Hyacinth pips

Lilly of the Valley

Sweet William

So many similarities... I do hope that this dress will wake up the thousands of brides to be and show them that traditional can be elegant, tasteful, and most importantly... fashionable!

Royal Wedding Tid-bit for the day... just hours after the conclusion of the wedding, I heard from a good friend in England, by email. She tells me that news shows there report that the trees from the Abbey aisle will be replanted soon at Highgrove, Prince Charles' country estate. Nice way to keep it GREEN!

Kate's Royal Bouquet... maybe some Lilies?

2011-04-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

In 1934, princess Marina of Greece and Denmark married Prince George Duke of Kent (uncle of Queen Elizabeth) at Westminster Abbey. Above is a picture from the mandatory balcony appearance at Buckingham Palace following the Abbey wedding. Princess Marina chose lilies for her bouquet... the bouquet appears to be an arm bouquet arrangement of all Longiflorum or Easter, or St. Joseph's lilies. I am sure that bouquet was very fragrant.

I think it would be a wonderful and striking choice for Kate to have these Easter time lilies in her bouquet since her wedding to Prince William will fall less than a week after Easter Sunday. Churches this weekend will be filled with these bright white blooms with their very distinctive sweet and powerful fragrance. Often Easter lilies have very large blooms, and the way they grow parallel to the ground would require removing the blooms at the stalk and subjected to very heavy wiring... in order for them to cascade properly in any hand carried arrangement.

With only a week to go before the big day, I can only imagine the controlled chaos that must be happening at a few of En glands floral design studios. I hear that three florists have been chosen to share the flower duties. You have to consider the importance of the bouquets that will be seen, some closeup by estimated billions of television viewers. Also, the Abbey will be decked out with very large floral displays, then there are all the floral decorations required back at the palace for not one but two receptions to be held next Friday, April 29th.

Kate, like all other royal brides will not be tossing away one of her probably three identical bouquets, but rather, will send one back to the Abbey by some of the palace staff to lay on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior that lies just inside the great west doors of the Abbey.

Royal Wedding Tid-bit of the day... when Marina of Greece and Prince George married in 1934, one of the attending bridesmaids was an eight year old Princess Elizabeth of York, who in the matter of 2 and a half years would become the heir presumptive to the throne when her Uncle David a.k.a King Edward VIII would abdicate the throne making Elizabeth's father, Prince Albert of York, the next King... King George VI.

Maundy Flowers... More Research Completed.

2011-04-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

Well, if I had done the research first I could have lumped it all together in today's earlier post. But this gives me a great opportunity to visit the blog dashboard more than once during the day.

Here is what I have found out about those fragrant nosegays carried by the Queen and others on Maundy Thursday. The Maundy tradition of giving alms (money) to the poor had it's start as far back as King Edward I, in the 13th century. Way back then, the monarch, like Christ before the Last Supper, actually washed the feet of the poor in his kingdom. However, the tradition of foot washing was halted in the 17th Century during the reign of James II.

As for the nosegays.. they too have a long tradition, as well as served a purpose in the early days of the Maundy services. The nosegays are always composed of fragrant flowers, freesias and daffodils usually are included in mass numbers. Fragrant... why you ask, well simply to keep the "smells" of the poor at bay during the foot washing and alms giving. I don't think the Queen has to worry too much about the odor of the poor these days, but the tradition of carrying the nosegays is a lovely one.

The official nosegay maker for the Queen, currently is Rosemary Mason. She received her royal warrant as nosegay maker to the Queen in 2008. Mrs. Mason also holds the secret receipt for the nosegays, apparently there is quite a bit more to be included each year than the freesia and daffodils. The nosegay maker only makes the nosegays this one day of the year and makes 12 nosegays, taking about 8 hours.

Royal Flower Tid-bit Bonus of the day... Worthy servants of the Church of England are the recipients of the Maundy money these days... but the number of recipients is significant. This morning in London, 85 men and 85 women received the bags of coins from the Queen. A man and a woman to count for each year of the Queen's life so far, which, as of this morning is, 85.

Photo Credit: This Is Leicetershire, Norcliffe Media Ltd., Maundy Thursday edition, Friday, April 10th, 2009.

Maundy Money, Maundy Flowers April 21, 2011

2011-04-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

Happiest of Birthdays to Her Majesty the Queen! Soon Elizabeth will be setting records for eldest monarch as well as longest reigning... surpassing George III and Victoria, two of her predecessors that reigned just slightly longer than she has to date.

It's a busy month for the the Queen and her family. First, today is her true birthday (the "official" State occasion is celebrated in June with the Trooping of the Color - June has better weather in England apparently). Then, next week her favorite grandchild is getting married in the most celebrated wedding since 1981. Finally, and possibly most importantly, this Sunday is Easter Sunday. Which means that today the Queen has distributed the traditional Maundy Thursday purses to well deserving British subjects. This mornings ceremony, which was a tradition carried out as far back as King Henry VIII, took place at Westminster Abbey... possibly a test run for next Friday's wedding.

Of course when the Queen and other royals are about, there are flowers involved. In the above picture, the Queen, Prince Philip and the Dean of Westminster are seen carrying very sculpted and uniform nosegays. Very traditional are the doily collars backing the flowers. The flowers are composed mainly of freesias in purple, yellow and white. I will be doing some research into these bright and fragrant arrangements and try to find out their significance to Maunday Thursday.

Everyone have a great Easter!

Royal Wedding Tid-bit of the day... Kate Middleton has reportedly paid her respects to William's mother, Princess Diana. Reportedly, the couple, getting married in 8 days, paid a private visit to Diana's grave on the island located on the Altrop estate... and laid flowers at the grave.

Photo Credit: ABC World News, http://www.abc.com/, April 21, 2011.

Kate's Dress and Flowers... a look back at a 1953 wedding.

2011-04-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

So much speculation going on now that we are coming up on one week until the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Yes, I do realize after next Friday that we will need to refer to her as "Catherine". But, protocol or not, we still refer to Sarah Ferguson as "Fergie".

Speculation over the dress Kate will wear has grown to a feverish frenzy of ideas from color (ivory or white) to style (large skirt or more fitted) to the decoration (sequins, pearls, and crystals or simply undecorated silk or taffeta), that from all the media, it's getting confusing to put all the ideas together. Also too, and thankfully many of the networks have put together many documentaries covering the wedding. In these t.v. specials, often there are retrospectives where the royal wedding gowns of the past are featured. Seeing these old pictures and sometimes movie footage has given the royal watching novices a great lesson in royal weddings of the past.

Just this week I have seen a royal wedding documentary that featured movie reels from the royal wedding of 1923 when Prince Albert of York (King George VI) and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). It's just a few seconds of movie footage, but you get to see what I believe was her bridal bouquet. Over the years I have read several accounts of that wedding day... but none of the stories seem to agree on what flowers were included in this royal bouquet. As the bride left her bouquet on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior near the west door of the Abbey, the bouquet was not present for the photographs taken back at the palace after the wedding. However, in this few seconds of film showing Lady Elizabeth leaving her London home and being helped into a carriage for her trip to the Abbey.... you see a woman walking behind her holding her flowing train, and holding a large bouquet of what appears to be white roses and plumosa fern tied with a wide white ribbon. So, the mystery may have been solved. Accounts of the bouquet describe it containing white roses, but also some say pink carnations, and some say Heather from the bride's native land of Scotland... all of which I think would have been appropriate.

But back to the dress for Kate. Most everyone seems to have an idea of what they want Kate's dress to look like. Above is my favorite for it's regal style and vintage traditional design. This dress is being worn by Jane McNeil as she weds the Earl of Dalkieth in Edinburgh, Scotland, the year, 1953.

Jane's bouquet, upon closeup examination appears to contain roses, Lily of the Valley, and stephanotis still clustered on their stems. Of course, in 1953, the construction of the bouquet, I am sure is totally wire and tape. It's a gorgeous little bouquet that really highlights the floral-in-lace pattern of the gown. So, as for me, I think this is what Kate should wear next Friday!

Royal Wedding Tid-bit of the day... with all the media/Internet coverage concerning the upcoming royal wedding, it's hard to choose a tid-bit... but, here goes. Although Kate's brother James isn't officially a part of the royal wedding party, as Prince William will only have Prince Harry as a supporter, James will have some benefit from his sister's "marrying-up". The Middleton family has been honored with it's own coat of arms. This newly designed family emblem will be of use to James as well as all his descendants.

Making Diana's Bouquet

2011-04-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

The bouquet above is a recent re-creation of Princess Diana's bridal bouquet. This replica was a made for a German documentary on royal weddings. My friend Mr. David Longman was interviewed and consulted during the making of the documentary.

While Mr. Longman is responsible for the design of many royal boquets, there is a person, a different person who actually puts the flowers together, actually building the bouquet. Ther person who acutally created Princess Diana's bouquet was Doris Welham. Miss Welham worked for Longman's for 36 years before retiring in 1991.

Knowing the skill and patience involved in making a bouquet such as this, I consider Miss Welham a hero in the floral design world. She's my idol.

This past weekend, I got the rare opportunity to create a bouquet for a bride that was somewhat on the proportions as the above famous royal boquet. Fully wired and taped, all flowers and no foliage... at the request of the bride... it consisted of nearly 60 stems of white dembdrobium orchids (most removed from the stems and wired individually or in pairs or in threes) and 25 stephanotis blossoms with pearl centers.

From the picture below, Miss Welham had a handfull of helpers while constructing three almost identical bouquets for Princess Diana. I however did all of my own wiring and taping, so the bouquet I made this weekend took me nearly 6 hours to make. But, the result was well worth the labor. Here is a pic of the bouquet that I made.

Lastly, I have found a picture from the internet on a website dedicated to Princess Diana. I recommend taking a look/read of this site, as there is much interesting information about Diana there and it's called "Diana Forever" here is the web address... www.dianaforever.com/granday.htm and here is the picture of Doris Welham and her staff at Longmans assembling one or three bouquets for the princess.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... Not even a princess is immune to mishaps on their wedding day. On the morning of Nov. 20, 1947 just a couple of hours before her wedding at Westminster Abbey, Princess Elizabeth's (Queen Elizabeth II) tiara snapped in two! Hastily the jeweler was sent for to make the last hour repair before she departed the palace.

Kate and William... 30 days and counting!

2011-03-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

We have reached the one month mark on the royal wedding countdown. As the day gets closer, more details about the big day are becoming available. The details we are most concerned with here are the flowers. Us Magazine.com is reporting, along with ABC news, that the flowers have been chosen. The color is white for the royal blooms. The traditional choices for royal weddings will be there, roses of course, gardenias, Lily of the Valley and delphinium. Delphinium doesn't exactly come to mind when I think of bouquets, but the tall stalks of blooms would be perfect for the larger arrangements in the Abbey. Here is an example picture of white delphinium...

Also revealed by Us Magazine.com is the name of one of three florists chosen to make the arrangements for the wedding of the decade. Floral designer Simon Lycett is one of the chosen few. Mr. Lycett was the florist that supplied the bouquets and other arrangements for the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla at Windsor in 2005. There will be white and there will be fragrance.

Royal Wedding Tid-bit of the day... ever mindful of others, William and Kate will be leaving the floral arrangements in Westminster Abbey so that tourists and visitors will be able to enjoy the flowers and take pictures days after the wedding. This is a nice thing to do and shows the thoughtfulness of the new royal couple. They have also listed several charities as recipients of monetary contributions instead of wedding gifts. Very nice indeed.

Kate's Bouquet... what I think it should look like.

2011-03-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

After many weeks of thinking about it, I have come up with my own idea of what Kate Middleton's bouquet should look like. First, I thought it should be sizable, as Kate is not a short woman, and given the expanse of the venue, Westminster Abbey. Most important for me to realize is that without knowing what the dress will look like, any ideas on the bouquet are surely predictions and guesses, as the wedding gown is the most important factor to decide the shape, style, and composition of the bouquet.

I started with a modern approach to the look, with a single long trailing vine acting as a base or carriage for the flowers. Next, I added what is reported to be Kate's favorite flowers... Lilies. Other popular flowers for royal bouquet were added next... roses, orchids, Lily of the Valley, and finally sprigs of myrtle, of course, perhaps from a garden in Kate's home town/village of Bucklebury.

My bouquet is a somewhat modern design with a construction of old methods of wire and tape on every flower. I realize that the vine to be the base structure may be somewhat hard to come by, but I think it could easily be constructed with a heavier gauge wire covered in brown tape and then brown grosgrain ribbon to give it a softer look. This bouquet would be easy to carry as it would be light weight. Preferably, the roses would be a ivory cream or pale yellow David Austen rose variety. The lilies... well, I prefer the white Asiatic variety. This type of lily is the palest of ivory in color, and one of the few lily varieties that do not have a fragrance. I understand that Miss Middleton is allergic to horses, so I wouldn't want to take any chances on the lilies giving her a headache on the way to the Abbey.

Royal Wedding Tid-bit of the day... It is being reported that the royal wedding cake baker has been chosen. Fiona Cairns is the pastry guru who has been chosen by Kate Middleton to create the multi-tiered confection. As tradition goes, this cake will also be several fruit cakes stacked up and decorated with white and ivory frosting. Kate has chosen flowers to decorate the outside of the cake. Other traditional items such as flowers of the United Kingdom will be used... roses for England, shamrocks for Ireland, daffodils for Wales, and finally thistles for Scotland.

At touch of the modern will be represented by Prince William having the royal families first groom's cake made of crushed tea biscuits (cookies) and dark chocolate cream, all molded into the shape of a cake.

Diana's Bouquet... Then and Now

2011-03-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

Here is the last couple of weeks, I have noticed a deluge of information concerning the floral arrangements for royal weddings. Most mention are articles mostly speculating on what type of bouquet Kate Middleton will carry. Also, looking back seems to be the trend as well with many journalists and media outlets bringing back stories and pictures about "The" Royal Wedding of 1981. I have read many articles both in print and online, and have seen a couple of documentaries expressly concerning the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. What fun, reliving the magic again. Most happily, some of the articles I have read deal specifically with Diana's bouquet. Lists of the flower content, bouquet size, who designed it, who made it, the special meaning of the flowers, how many were made. I have been waiting for years to see this kind of information available. I am going to insert a link below taking readers to an article that features a story about a documentary that was made last year. The documentary was leading up to the wedding of Princess Victoria of Sweden, and in it was featured a segment where Diana's bouquet is recreated. My good friend Mr. David Longman (Longman's Ltd. of London made Diana and Fergie's bouquet as well as the Queen's) was consulted and helped set the stage for the bouquet being replicated, some 29 years later.

Here is the link to the article on the remake of the bouquet...
http://www.capelmedia.co.uk/news/fit-for-the-queen.html

And a picture of the replica bouquet...

Second part of my blog post today... there were a few bouquets made for Diana's wedding, one she carried during the ceremony, one used for a rehearsal the night before... and still a third used back at Buckingham Palace for the formal portraits. The picture way above shows the bouquet coming out of the cathedral. The picture below show the/a bouquet in the formal portraits... can you tell the differences between the two? I can. Obviously, or maybe not to some, there was more than one bouquet that day. Now I am wondering which of the bouquets made it back to the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey, and the one that didn't go... what happened to it? Wonder where that second bouquet ended up?

See the differences???

Royal Wedding Tid-bit of the day... The gold used to make the royal wedding rings from Queen Mary down the years to Sarah Duchess of York, all came from the same large of gold, from a mine in Wales...in fact the only gold mine on the British Isles.

Choosing a Bouquet for Kate Middleton

2011-03-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

So, did anyone sit and watch the video link from the last blog post? Well, I have watched it a few times. So rarely does the media focus on wedding flowers, that I thought it a very good report. However, like I mentioned there was some erroneous material. The one most glaring error in the report was concerning the traditional sprig of myrtle included in all royal bridal bouquets. The gentleman from Organic Bouquet.com states that "the sprig of myrtle comes from the Queen Mum's garden, a tradition dating back to 1840." Well, there are a couple of things wrong with that. First, the sprig of myrtle was most likely first used in 1840, yes, but it surely didn't come from the Queen Mum's garden... as the Queen Mum, or Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother (The current Queen Elizabeth's mother... confused yet?)... herself did not exist until the year 1900. Therefore, her garden couldn't have existed in 1840. So, here's the story. When Queen Victoria was married, a sprig of myrtle was added to her bouquet of Snow Drops, as a remembrance of her favorite residence, Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight. Tradition followed through the years and a very small sprig of myrtle was used in every royal bouquet since. So, it wasn't the Queen Mum's garden, but the gardens of Osborne House, belonging to Queen Victoria, that are the origin of the myrtle sprigs. Here is what a "sprig of myrtle" would look like... and an image of Osborne House, Queen Victoria's favorite residence.

Now, let's talk about that video a little more. The representative from Organic Bouquet.com, seemed very knowledgeable about his floral product, the free trade roses, and Kate's favorite flower. However, I don't think he is a designer himself. If he were, I think it would have been obvious to him that the center bouquet featured as a cascade fit for a royal bride was grossly over sized and out of proportion. Sorry folks but it looks more like a casket spray to me, instead of a bridal bouquet. I'm sure the designer responsible was going for the most grand appearance trying to emulate the grand scale of Diana's bouquet from the royal wedding of 1981. The bouquet shown couldn't be dragged much less carried up the isle.

I was impressed by some of the facts given, that I have learned over the years from a very singular source and haven't heard repeated much from other sources. This fact being that for Diana's wedding... and possibly for Kate's... that three bouquets were made. One for the rehearsal, one for the ceremony, and one for the photos. And, one of those would be returned to the Abbey for placement on the tomb of the Unknown Warrior. Also, the video insert of Sarah, Duchess of your mentions that she carried an "S" shape bouquet... which I know is a fact... learned from my friend David Longman, the man who designed both the royal bouquets in the 1980's.

Hopefully soon, I will be able to show you all what I think/ hope, Kate's bouquet will look like.

Royal Wedding Flower Tid-Bit for the day... The practice of placing the bouquet on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior began in 1923 by Elizabeth, Duchess of York (in the future to be The Queen Mother) as she recessed down the aisle of Westminster Abbey after her wedding to Albert, Duke of York (in the future, King George VI). The Duchess's brother was one of the casualties of World War I.

Kate Middleton's Bridal Bouquet...

2011-03-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

It would be difficult to speculate on what Kate Middleton's bridal bouquet will look like on April 29th. So many factors that go into the design of a bride's bouquet simply wont be know until Kate steps out of the car at Westminster Abbey. Until then, this blogger/floral designer will just have to guess at what the bouquet will look like.

The biggest unknown that will decide the look of the bouquet is of course, the dress. I think that it is quite impossible to design an appropriate bouquet for any bride until I know what the wedding dress looks like. In fact when I begin the consultation process with any bride, my first request is to see a picture of the dress... preferably with the bride wearing the dress. The length, cut, style, color, decoration, and size of the wedding dress ultimately decides the style, shape and size of the bouquet. A bride very well may have her favorite flowers in mind, but until the dress is revealed, how to arrange those favorite flowers is a mystery.

A bridal bouquet should act first and foremost as the ultimate accessory to the gown. The gown's style, whether it be formal, traditional, contemporary, elaborate or simple are the deciding factors involved in designing a bouquet that best compliments the bride's attire for her ceremony. Simply, the bouquet has to coordinate with the dress and fit the overall level of formality of the entire wedding.

I think for the first time on this blog, a video will be featured. This video is a special report segment from ABC News leading up to the next royal wedding, and it originally aired earlier this week. During the lead up times to royal weddings much is said about the venue, the dress, the conveyance to and from the palace, the guest list, etc. But, rarely have I seen much attention given to the flowers for a royal wedding by the prime time media. Although the following video clip contains some, well, erroneous information, I think it is a great clip that introduces us to the the world of wedding flowers. I'll let you all watch the video here, and in my next blog post, I'll discuss the video and it's information be it true or false... enjoy the video clip.
... and here is the link to the video from ABC News....
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/24524331

Royal Wedding tid bit for today... When Queen Elizabeth, then Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip in 1947, among her 9 bridesmaids was Lady Pamela Hicks, daughter of Earl Mountbatten of Burma. In 1981, Lady Pamela's daughter India Hicks was a bridesmaid to Princess Diana. In many of the videos you can find on the Internet of Princess Diana's wedding, India Hicks is the younger bridesmaid assisting Diana as she comes out of the glass coach before she enters St. Paul's Cathedral. Diana's Maid of Honor was Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, Princess Margaret's only daughter.

A little royal wedding mystery...

2011-03-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

It's a lovely gift... a porcelain covered dish... with the logo being used for the commemoration of the upcoming royal wedding. A beautiful keepsake, but... I don't know who sent it to me!

The box came from London, looks like a residential address, the box was packed with gold shred, and the whole thing was stuffed in a gift bag from Buckingham Palace. No card was enclosed and there is no person's name on the return address in London. I haven't a clue who is responsible, but whoever was so thoughtful... Thank you very much. Hopefully the sender will see this post and let me know who they are!

Terry.

A very different royal bouquet...

2011-03-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

As the years go by fashions change, and not just the fashion for clothing, but for other things like cars, interior decor, art, and also floral fashions change. The picture above is of Princess Martha Louise of Norway, she was married in 2002. Over the years floral fashion changes and floral fashion is often different in other parts of the world. So, the Nordic countries have a slightly different idea of what looks bridal when it comes to bouquets.

The challenge for me here was to find a photo that showed Martha's bouquet up-close enough to discern the contents. The bouquet is in an almost heart-shaped cascade with a drastic tear-drop trail. The mass of the bouquet is of Lily of the Valley. Strangely enough there are two or three Phaelenopsis orchids placed over the mass of flowers, and even more strangely appears to be a single white lily, a lillium longiflorum (Easter Lily) kind of just poking out of the bouquet. It gets more interesting... as the bouquet make the drastic turn towards the floor, the trailing end seems to be bound or wrapped with some sort of wire or thin vine. I am guessing this may be bullion or some other type of wire. I often think what the conversation was when this royal bride met with her florist. And, just who's idea was this for a very unusual bouquet.

Royal Wedding Flower tidbit of the day ... from a blog post a few weeks ago, another Nordic royal bride, Mette Marit of Norway has a similarly strange bridal bouquet. It's just a different world over there. Here is her bouquet...

The Queen in Purple

2011-03-09T06:29:00.000-08:00

It sure is spring in our part of the world. From the looks of the Queen's purple outfit, she is also ready for the warmer temperatures and the many flowers that spring will bring. Her Majesty must meet thousands and thousands of school children each year, and most of them present her with flowers. Alwasy gracious The Queen often carries a couple of the flowre bunches during her walk abouts. More than a handful, the flowers get eventually handed off to a lady in waiting who always travels with Her Majesty. Once the Lady in waiting is loaded up, the flowers are haned off to equirries standing by to help. The Queen's favorite flower, I have read is Daffodills... maybe because of their bright and vivid yellow that signals the beginning of spring.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. How appropriate that the Queen in this picture is dressed in purple, the typical color of the Lenten liturgical season for most Christian churches.

Royal Flower Tidbit of the day... I have heard it said that while The Queen adores flowers and loves receiving them... she does not prefer the celophane wrapping that typically accompany the bunches of blooms. Note to all you royal watchers, the next time you present flowers to the Queen, leave the plastic wrap at home!

BY THE WAY.... ONLY 52 DAYS TO THE BIG DAY!!

Par Avion

2011-02-28T16:32:00.000-08:00

O.K., so this post wont have much to do with flowers for royal weddings, but, above is a little something special I received in the mail today. Any member of the royal family can be sent correspondence and their mailing addresses are very easy to find on the Internet. For example, simply use Google and search for "write a letter to the Queen." Many sites will appear that give you the addresses for the principal members of the royal family, and many others. The staff at each royal residence dutifully respond to all letters. The letter I received from St. Jame's Palace was in response to my letter of congratulations to Prince William and Catherine Middleton. It will make a wonderful souvenir to add to my collection, next to the letter from Her Majesty's penned by one of her ladies in waiting, postmarked from Balmoral two years ago.

Too bad it's not an invitation to the wedding!

Royal Family Tidbit for the day... We normally only hear the names Prince William and Prince Harry... but, Harry's real first name is Henry. Harry being the popular nickname for Henry. If you click on the above image, you will see that the letter is from the residence of Prince William and Prince Henry of Wales.

Favorite Flower of the Week... Cymbidium Orchid, variety "Jade"

The Belgians - Matilde's big foliage bouquet...

2011-02-25T09:46:00.000-08:00

Prince Phillipe and Mathilde d'Acos were married in 1999 in Brussels, the religious ceremony being held at The Cathedral of Saint Michel.

I have read many criticisms of Mathilde's bouquet... "too bushy" was one comment. Agreed that the size and scale are a bit off for her dimensions, but, I understand the look the designer was going for. I would probably have kept with the same materials, but only tapered the bouquet in order for it to better compliment the cut of the gown. There is a lot of foliage there, and the white flowers are so small that it is difficult for this florist to determine exactly what type of flowers they are. Perhaps they are white freesia. I do really like the look of the trailing jasmine vine. Someone was definitely going for the "natural" look... and they got it.

I myself have created a similar bouquet... the bride specified lots of interesting foliages and with a grassy look, she also instructed, "all white flowers", but "no roses, orchids, or lillies", so it too some work to come up with a flower combination that did not include those three traditional flowers. That bouquet ended up containing things like lisianthus, freesia, Queen Anne's Lace, bouvardia and stephanotis, and it was lovely.

Royal Wedding tid-bit of the day.... with the big day for Prince William and Kate Middleton getting closer, the wedding party has been chosen, and the invitations have gone out. The bride's family in this case doesn't handle the invitation list, however, the staff at the palace have the job of issuing the roughly 1,800 that will go out to some very lucky people, and the Queen herself doesn't even have to lick any stamps! The Lord Chamberlain's office at Buckingham Palace follows the orders of the Queen and sends out royal wedding invitations. And, two celebrations are planned for April 29th following the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. First, Her Majesty the Queen will host the traditional wedding breakfast at the palace... which will hopefully be proceeded and followed by balcony appearances by the newly wedded couple and the rest of the Royal Family. Later in the day, the father of the groom, Prince Charles will be hosting an evening party/banquet, to be held at Buckingham Palace as well.

Camellias, lovely, but challenging...

2011-02-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

Down in our part of paradise, this time of year we she the beautifully stunning Camellias, so many varieties and colors dot our landscape. We are fortunate to have all of them that are surviving a particularly difficult winter.

A blog follower of this blog, Colleen, asked how to use camellias in arrangements, other than floating. Well, then I had to really think about it. When I was very young, my grandfather cultivated about, I would think, thirty or so camellia bushes on his property in south Georgia, USA. They were of every color and variety. Grandaddy let us cut the ones we want, he would wrap the stems in wet paper towel and cover them with tin foil, which we would take to our school teachers the following day. They were little nosegays of big brilliant flowers.

But, the blooms grow at odd angles, making vase arrangements very difficult to construct, even for a seasoned designer. So, if you don't want to float them, they can be wired or pinned to branches or willow or birch, lying flat as a long table centerpiece or stood upright in a vase or basket arrangement. Sorry that this idea involves wiring, and removing the blossom from the stem. There will be no water supply and the camellia will be short lived, but, aren't they all once they've been cut. Do wish that I could find a picture of an arrangement like this.

Some flowers are just really difficult to use in arrangements. Two others I can think of are daffodils and gardenias. Daffodils have such a bent-head problem that wiring is almost necessary in order to get a face on view of the flower. And daffodils are extremely short lived in vase arrangements and their growing season. Gardenias, normally are cut down to the short fleshy stem, off of the plants woody stems. Floating is always a popular use of gardenias, but, in an arrangement, newer longer stems need to be made from wire and tape.

I hope my suggestion on camellias was helpful Colleen!

Royal wedding tidbit for the day... Kate Middleton has chosen her 27 year old sister, Pippa (that's short for Phillipa) as her maid of honor. Traditionally, only younger people below the age of 15 or so, are chosen for attendants in royal weddings as bridesmaids and pages. Lady Sarah Snowdon, daughter of Princess Margaret was maid of honor to Dina Princess of Wales in 1981. And, a very young and mischievous Prince William acted as a page at the wedding of his uncle, Prince Andrew, Duke of York in 1986 when he married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.

Day for Hearts

2011-02-11T13:31:00.000-08:00

Before this blogger gets too bogged down in Valentine's day arrangements, wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day. Monday is the big day, but floral designers everywhere are digging in for a very busy and probably exhausting weekend. Hundreds of thousands of roses will pass through flower shops this weekend and their way to intended and fortunate recipients.

Remember to be kind to your florist during these busy times. Patronize locally owned and operated shops, order promptly, be expectant of higher prices, and always give your professional florist a good amount of freedom to arrange the best of available flowers for you. Giving a florist a little more freedom helps avoid problems especially when rose quantities are so in demand. Remember that though what you must have is Red Roses, that when you order late, the red roses may all be spoken for... pink is a wonderful substitute and comes in many beautiful shades. Also, consider letting your florist express your thoughts with a more interesting arrangement... something other than the standard vase of one dozen roses. Options can be mixed vases with red, pink, and white flowers. Planted flowers such as tea roses, or tulips, orchid plants, etc.

Composite arrangements, smaller vases with massing of roses in one or mixed colors are a beautiful and contemporary alternative to the traditional tall vase of long stemmed roses. However, consider, there are many more roses in this type of arrangement and will cost considerably more. Small doesn't always mean less expensive!

Royal wedding tidbit for the day... With the next royal wedding(s)... Zara Phillips is getting married too!... coming up, many folks are looking into Westminster Abbey, interest in the ancient church has been surging since Prince William and Kate Middleton announced their plans to marry there. But, did you know that some of the most popular monarchs and members of the royal family were married in other locations? Queen Victoria wed Prince Albert in The Chapel Royal, London and more recently, Prince Edward and The Countess of Wessex were married in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Lily of the Greek Valley

2011-01-31T13:08:00.000-08:00

I heard so many good comments on the recent post about Lily of the Valley. So, I decided to feature another royal bridal bouquet made completely out of this tiny sweet smelling flower. In this picture, King Constantine of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark. This royal couple was married in 1964, in Athens, Greece. Constantine had been king only about six months when they married. However, by the year 1974 the monarchy in Greece was abolished. The King and Queen live in exile in London. Recently, one of their sons, Prince Nikoloas was married. The Prince's bride, Tatiana Blatnik, choose Lily of the Valley for her bouquet as well, but also included stephanotis and white freesia.

Royal Wedding Tid-bit of the day... The Greek and Danish royal families have many ties, as do most royal families of Europe. Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, prior to renouncing his royal titles of birth, was a prince of Green and of Denmark. Philip gave up his claims to the Greek royal throne when he prepared to become a British subject and marry Princess Elizabeth in November 1947.

The Norwegians... the flowers were a sign of the times...

2011-01-17T15:35:00.000-08:00

It's not often that we jump to the Nordic nations for our wedding flower analysis. However, during research I reviewed some photos of the 2001 wedding of Crown Prince Haakon and Mette-Marit of Norway and thought these royal wedding flowers were definitely worth commenting on. The couple were married on August 25th at Oslow Cathedral. And, there was some controversy... of course, it's royals getting married, there is usually some controversy. The bride has a child from a previous relationship. Many Norwegians, especially in the media felt that Mette didn't make an appropriate bride for a many who will someday be their king. However, Crown Prince Haakon didn't relent, and asked the media to step back on the negative reporting on the bride's past and her young son.

For me, most interesting here is the choice of flowers. Some might call the bridal bouquet just plain bizarre. But, you know what? I like it. Yes it's strange, and the flowers are dark, but, I think it shows some interest on the part of the bride in not being the same old thing. Also, the floral designer here really took some chances... I mean, if I were making the bridal bouquet for the woman who would be the queen of the country some day... I dare say I would have been too afraid of criticism, and not gone forth with such an av ant garde design for the bouquet. From descriptions I have read, this bridal arrangement consisted of orchids and other small florals affixed by wire and adhesive to a form of willow and moss. Certainly it's not seen often for weddings, except perhaps in "conceptual" work possibly to be used in design competitions and bridal shows. This bouquet really shows off the designers imagination and great skill in forming such a mechanically intricate piece. Again, the bouquet I think is also a reflection of the generate floral trends of the early part of the last decade. Unusual uses of botanical and natural elements other than flowers was extremely popular nearing the end of the '90's. After reviewing floral work from European floral designers, I see where the influences come from. Most floral designers in Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands really moved into using some out of the norm materials and design concepts. I have even seen a bridal bouquet by a German designer that used a real bird's nest for it's central focus.

At another time before their wedding, Mette-Marit and Haakon posed for this photo above, I see here how the floral designer has kept a similar style them with the flowers, but has adjusted for the setting and wardrobe. Excellent job Norwegian floral designers!

Royal Wedding Tib-bit of the day... the line of royal succession for the British throne is far reaching. The royals of Sweden and Norway are also in-line for the most famous royal throne in the world, though, most are far down the list, all due to the marriages abroad into other royal families by Queen Victoria's children and grandchildren.

Another Day Down... Laura Parker-Bowles-Lopes

2011-01-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

Great, another day down... in the countdown to the royal wedding of the century. Yesterday we took a look at Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's bouquet, from her wedding in 2005. Of course, she had been married before... she just got tired of waiting for Prince Charles, so she married another guy. Wondering what Camilla's first bridal bouquet looked like? Well, here is a picture of Camilla and hubby #1, Andrew Parker-Bowles... the bouquet looks to contain white lilies and Stephanotis.

But, the topic for today's post is Camilla's daughter, Laura. Laura PB married Harry Lopes, a former Calvin Klein model in 2008. She had a very simple choice of flowers for her bouquet, all one type of flower, and her choice was Lily of the Valley... and lots of it. Laura's bouquet was in a cascade shape, and surely was the result of some floral designer going home with terribly aching fingers and hands. Each spring of L O V has to be individually wired and taped, and with meticulous care, for their stems are very fragile. I would think that a team of designers and floral shop employees teamed up for the wiring and taping of all these tiny stems, probably to be brought together into one bouquet just hours before the ceremony. Lily of the Valley, not only fragrant, delicate and pretty, is also difficult to keep fresh once the smaller shoots are cut from the main stem or "pip". At any rate Laura's bouquet is a lovely one, and well worth the intense labor and technique involved.

Royal Wedding Tid-bit of the day... Westminster Abbey, the venue for William and Kate's wedding has been hosting royal weddings for some time... the first is believed to have been the wedding of King Henry I and Princess Matilda, formerly Edith, of Scotland. This first royal wedding in the Abbey took place in the year 1100 on November 11th. And, Princess Matilda, upon her death, was buried in the Abbey as well.

Royal Bouquets... Countdown To The Big Day.

2011-01-12T13:23:00.000-08:00

What big day you say? Well, April 29th of course, when we will see Prince William marry Miss Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London. I am looking forward to this event for many reasons. Honestly though there is one reason in particular that is holding my fascination. The big question for me is what will the bouquet look like, and what flowers will be used for Kate to carry. Also, I am intriqued by what design will be used. I realize that the design will rely heavily on what the dress will look like, and of course we wont know what the dress will look like until Kate steps out of the carriage at the abbey. So, we will all have to wait, and wait, and wait.

As we countdown the days, I thought I woud feature or re-feature some of the royal bouquets or near-royal bouquets of the past. I realize that I have not given a lot of attention to the Duchess of Cornwall, so, today I will post a pic of Camilla's bouquet which she carried at the blessing ceremony after her civil marriage ceremony to Prince Charles. The blessing ceremony took place at the centuries old St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in 2005.

Camilla's bouquet consisted of Lily of the Valley and primroses in a variety of colors, all of which complimented the blueish, silver, and gold tones of her gown. From this picture, we can see that the bouquet's construction is of a traditional wired technique, evidenced by the narrow carrying handle. It was a lovely, and often overlooked royal wedding bouquet. And, I am sure very fragrant with it containing such and abundance of Lily of the Valley.

Royal Wedding Tid-bit of the day... The flowers for Camilla's bridal bouquet (her second one), are said to have been grown in the gardens of Prince Charles's estate, Highgrove. One wonders if Prince Charles possibly had been talking to these particular flowers to ensure their cooperation on the wedding day.

My Old Flocked Tree

2010-12-16T05:23:00.000-08:00

Remember from yesterdays posting? I talked a bit about having a silver tip tree while living in California? Well, here is an old pic of that silver tip that I had flocked. I think this pic is from the by-gone year of 1998... can't believe it's been almost 13 years since this pic was taken. So, you can clearly see how much weight the flocking and the lights added to those poor tree branches. This tree was so difficult to decorate. Hanging the ornaments was a real challenge as the hanging hooks had to be gouged into the flocking material to secure them to the tree. It was beautiful to be sure, but certainly a big hassle. This was the one and only tree I ever had flocked and probably never will again, as flocked trees just aren't seen in my part of the world. The next pic is of the same tree but with more of the decorations added. My good old friend Bret was there to help, along with about 20 other folks helping us celebrate the season and decorate the tree.

Flocked tree tid-bit for the day... the tree skirt is a special one. My mother made that tree skirt by hand and sent it to me in SF, CA that year, especially for this tree in it's blue and white theme. It's made of taffeta, with a tiny snowflake pattern. I have used it since on the years that I had a white, although artificial tree. It is still lovely, and special since it's hand made by my mother... I am saving it for the day when the house is big enough for two trees... a white and blue tree in the living room, and a fresh green tree in the den.

Christmas At The Movies

2010-12-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

Picture it, 1947, a cold and always dark city somewhere in New York, and Loretta Young is out in search of a Christmas tree. There are many great old movies who's plots revolve around the celebration of Christmas, one is "The Bishop's Wife" with Loretta Young, Cary Grant, and David Niven. And, in that movie is my favorite and I think the best of all movie Christmas trees. Loretta buys the tree in the first scene at her local florist, ordering it to be delivered late on Christmas Eve... yeah, who waits to put up a tree on Christmas Eve these days? At any rate, the tree eventually gets decorated in a "heavenly" fashion by Cary Grant.

Often in old movies and old t.v. shows as well, the trees seem to be of the same type/variety/species. I think I can offer some insight to why Hollywood move and t.v. trees always see to be perfectly shaped with open spaces and completely horizontal branches. The trees used are "Silver Tips" or "California Red Fir" trees. In the past, it was the Christmas tree that everyone seemed to use in California. With most old movies and t.v. show being filmed or taped in California... I am assuming that the prop departments simply chose the trees that were most readily available.

One of the few pleasant memories I have of living in California was that these "perfect" trees were still available in the 1990's, sold mostly on corner lots and lumber yards and garden centers. These trees were perfect for ornament hanging, open spaces for icicles to hang just right, and very fresh with long lasting qualities. However, even in the late 1990's these trees were being phased out for the more desirable, fuller, bushier and more fragrant Douglas, Noble, and Frasier firs. Well, times and tastes change. But, of the seven. Christmases I spend in CA, three of those were "Silver Tip" trees. Also, I will mention that the silver tips were very much more expensive than the more popular shorn and shaped trees from the tree farms. Their growing cycle is much longer than typical trees, and require the higher elevations of the mountains to grow, therefore harvesting and shipping were more expensive.

Just about every year since then I have researched the Internet for a grower in No. California, Oregon or Nevada that has these Hollywood Trees, however, I have never had any success in finding a grower willing to cut and ship just one tree.

Posted below are some pictures I have found of silver tip trees on Google Image search, some are of other silver tip tree appearances in the movies, others are from growers. Enjoy.

"Christmas In Connecticut"

1945 starring Barbara Stanwick and Dennis Morgan

An artificial Silver Tip... see how the ornaments hang just right...

from "A Summer Place" 1959 Warner Bros. Starring Sandra Dee and Richard Egan

"I paid $20 for it... it should last 10 years."

Here are some other examples of these great but scarce "silver tip" Christmas Trees...

Silver Tip tid bit of the day... like I said, I had three of these wonderful trees over the years... and, being in California, one year I decided to go as tacky as possible and have the tree flocked... and flock it they did. By the time the flocking, lights, and ornaments were one, the poor thing was weighed down so much that most of the limbs pointed down to the floor. I recommend that if you are going to flock, then flock a stronger tree!

Photo Credits:

The Bishop's Wife: from http://www.beseaandscene.com/
A Summer's Place: http://www.imdb.com/
Holiday Inn: http://www.imdb.com/
Christmas In Connecticut: http://www.imdb.com/

Daddy of the House

2010-12-14T13:04:00.000-08:00

We all have some very memorable story about Christmas Time. Some of us have inherited these stories from our parents or grandparents. Some of the stories just don't fade away because they are so touching or just plain funny. Today, I am going to share with all of you my personal favorite Christmas time story, as related by my mother and aunt. This story revolves around a most devoted father, and a store bought Christmas tree.

It was probably the late '40's in Port Wentworth, GA, a small community just to west of Savannah. As with most children at Christmas my mother and her sister were very keen to what was popular and the "in thing". Typically at Christmas my grandfather, saw in hand, would head out to the woods behind the house. Those woods led to the banks of the Savannah River, and were once the grounds of The Hermitage Plantation, famous for the location where the Cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney in the lat 18th century. Those woods were scattered with pines, holly trees, and cedar trees. This family always had a real live cut pine tree from the woods. But one particular Christmas my mother and her sister wanted a store bought tree, just like other people, their friends in the neighborhood. It was starting to be "the in thing" to buy your tree from a Christmas tree lot set up for season, the trees, most likely cut weeks before and shipped in from the north, as coastal Georgia was not the location to find a live, growing traditional Christmas tree.

So, after much asking and begging, my grandfather caved in to his daughters want to have a store bought tree. As my mother remembers, it was a standard balsam fir tree. I would imagine that in those days, and it being the first time a purchased tree was being used that a tree stand full of water may not have been in the picture, and that freshness wasn't necessarily a concern of tree vendors in the late '40's. But, the much begged for tree finally made it into the living room. Grandaddy got it put in, stood it up in whatever stand he must have fashioned and began the lighting process. But, as the lights started going on the tree, the needles started coming off the tree at a rapid pace. In a short amount of time, that poor, ill-fated balsam tree was absolutely needle less. When the tree stood there with lights and no needles, my mother and her sister, as any child would do, started pitching royal fits at the state of their tree, no needles... just brown brittle branches and a couple strands of lights. As my mother tells it, there was much crying and anguish over the situation. But, my grandfather, completely exasperated at this point, began to have a little breakdown. After giving in to his daughters many passioned requests for the tree, and for spending money that was scarce anyway, had finally had it. He was a quiet reserved man of few words, but was pushed to the limit of frustration and exclaimed..."why was I ever the daddy of this house?!".

I imagine that at this point, Grandaddy must have tossed the bare naked tree out the door and stomped off to the woods to cut down a tree for his daughters. Over the years, whenever one of the family has found themselves in a situation where the rest of the family if frustrated and disappointed with a project gone wrong, usually the person responsible blurts out "Why was I ever the Daddy of this house?!"

Since I was of the height and age to stand on a ladder putting lights on the tree has usually been my job. I normally decorate at least two trees a year, one for me and one for my mother. These days I have the assistance of my two nieces, ages 11 and 8. Believe me, at some point during that process I usually think of Granddaddy and end up saying... "why was I ever the uncle of this house?!"

Tree decorating tidbit for the day... Would you believe that electric lights were first strung on a Christmas tree in 1882. The visionary was Edward H. Johnson, Vice President of Edison Electric at his New York City home. The first lighting consisted of eighty egg-shaped lights in the color of red, white, and blue. Below is a picture of that first lighted Christmas tree.

Story and Photo Credit to: www.jimonlight.com , thanks Jim for the fascinating information!
and Google Image photo stock; 1930's Christmas tree, source site unavailable.

Engagement Excitement... and some other excitement!

2010-12-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

The Today show is counting it down, only 139 days until the Royal Wedding of the century... unless, William and Kate's first child is more wildly popular than they are... then, that wedding will be the wedding of the century...what? probably some 30-35 years from now? Prince William chose a photographer that so famous captured his mother so movingly in pictures just prior to her death. I think it would be hard for anyone to argue that the couple pictured above is truly in love, and that their future will be happy and peaceful as a married couple. I have heard so many people talking about them as King and Queen. It's hard for me to look quite that far ahead, especially with William's grandmother still on the throne of England, not to mention that his father will be king before him. With Prince Charles's attitudes towards healthy living, who can tell how long it will be before William is eventually crowned?

On a quite different note, an image of the royals that we are not used to seeing in the media. Protesters attacking the Prince and Duchess's car? Really, the look on the Duchess's face really tells it all as far as how surprising the incident was. I wonder who was in charge of choosing that route to the theater?

Royal Tidbit for the day ... Prince William will be marrying a commoner, it's sounds kinda mean, but in England, Kate Middleton is neither a member of the Nobility/Aristocracy, nor the royal family. Royal marriages to commoners are rare but a previous king, King James II married Anne Hyde in September of 1660. Princess Diana, daughter of the 8th Earl Spencer, was of noble birth, yet, not royalty. After Dian's father died in 1992, her brother Charles became the 9th Earl Spencer.

Christmas: Vintage is the way we go...

2010-12-05T14:28:00.000-08:00

So, all is not royal weddings at my house... especially during December. The weekend finally came and we got to bring the tree inside to decorate. Vintage, vintage, vintage. That's the way we have been going decoration-wise for the past few years. All it takes is a steady collecting of old decorations, anything that reminds you of your childhood Christmas celebrations. I don't keep a lot of stuff, with the exception of photos and Christmas decorations. I am very proud of a few things on the tree in particular... one, the angel. The tree topper, pictured below belonged to my grandmother bought, I think sometime in the late '50's... there is still a K-Mart price sticker reading 68 cents on the original box that it came in from the store. Another ornament is a glass ball, belonging again to my grandmother, this one is depression era we think, faded color on the glass and a rusty fixture on the top for hanging. They are most treasured, along with some ornaments that were on the tree when I was young.

Along the way, I went back to using the big C7 colored lights, bubble lights, light reflectors, tinsel garland and the true, heavy, shimmering lead icicles. It really gives the tree a vintage look. EBay is the best way to go vintage when it comes to Christmas. Just search "vintage Christmas decorations" ... there are literally hundreds of pages of old things to buy or bid on. Good luck with creating your vintage-look Christmas tree.

Royal Tidbit of the day ... Kate Middleton is about to spend her last Christmas as a commoner, after she is married, she will be a Princess as well as rumored will become the Duchess of Cambridge. For years to come she will probably be spending the holidays with The Royal Family at Sandringham, in Surrey, or at Balmoral Castle. Good luck Kate!

A Holiday Diversion

2010-12-03T07:47:00.000-08:00

What with all the royal engagement news in the past weeks, some might be finding it hard to concentrate on the holidays coming up. Not so at our house, we are giving equal attention to Christmas and to Wills' and Kate's big news.

This year we decided to give ourselves a little rest break between Thanksgiving and the decorating for Christmas. Normally our tree and outside lights would go up on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, but, this year we have waited a week. However, I couldn't resist buying the tree the day after Thanksgiving. While buying a tree for my mother's house in Savannah, I spotted a great tree that would be just perfect for our living room. Typically we travel not far to a local tree farm to cut our own Virginia Pine. But, when I saw the tree, pictured above, I just had to have it. This tree will be perfect, with its sparser branches to really show of the many vintage ornaments we have, as well as the fantastic lead tinsel/icicles we have collected.

Buying this tree was an adventure. After choosing my mother's tree, hauling it to her house, decorating there... I return to the tree lot in Daffin Park, in Savannah. My little tree that I spotted earlier in the day was still there. I will admit that many people wouldn't have given it a second look, but I knew right away it was the type of tree that really reminded me of the old-timey Balsam firs that we used to get in the '60's and '70's. These days all that are available on tree lots in our area are the super trimmed and super perfect Fraser Firs from. However, this tree lot gets it's whole supply from a North Carolina farm that doesn't believe in shaping the trees to such an extent. The weather had turned ugly by the time I went back for my tree, but I was determined to have this one. So, after getting it securely tied to the top of my rather small car, I drove back to Hilton Head in a dark driving rain. Our tree is good and watered, and has been waiting patiently on the back patio for a week now.

We can't wait to start decorating tomorrow. I will be sharing pictures of the finished product, as well as posting some other interesting pics that I have come across. Also, some of my own pics of Christmas trees from past years.

Hopefully this will keep us occupied while we wait on further details of the upcoming royal wedding.

Royal Tidbit for the day... The Christmas trees that grace royal residences such as Sandringham, Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, and Frogmore were typically cut from the woodlands of Windsor Great Park adjacent to the castle. These trees were mainly Nordman Firs, the most popular choice in England for Christmas trees.

The Countdown Begins!

2010-11-23T05:26:00.000-08:00

The date has been set... and the location! Friday, April 29th, 2011, in London. The day that royal watchers and royal wedding fans have been waiting for since 1981. Personally, I am happy that it is sooner than later, no need to keep the world waiting longer than necessary. I just hope the English Spring weather is over and done with so Wills and Kate will have a pretty day for their event.

Also, this royal wedding fan is very pleased that they have chosen Westminster Abbey as the venue. Perfect size for a "non-state-event" royal wedding. And, it keeps things in London where the media will have easy access, and the world will have a better view of things. I would imagine that things are chaotic if not at a high excitement level on the grounds of the Abbey this morning (afternoon there). All the planning that will be needed for this event will surely start immediately. So much to do, and so little to do it all. Most weddings these days take around a year to plan and execute, and none of them will have the elaborate details that this wedding will entail. Music, staff, security, attire, horses, carriages, banners and flags, and FLOWERS! I am hoping to hear from my dear friend David Longman (legendary London florist, maker of Diana's bouquet) to see if he has any inside information on who the lucky florist will be. I could speculate all day as to what Kate's bouquet will look like, however, without knowing what the dress will look like, the bouquet would be difficult to plan. Wondering if there will be a sentimental nod to Princess Diana some how in the style of the bouquet and it's contents... possibly Lady Di roses? Who knows, only time will tell, and we will find out for sure early in our morning on April 29th, 2011. Don't forget to set your TiVo's and DVR's.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day... in 1947, there was so much curiosity over Princess Elizabeth's wedding gown, that designers tossed bogus designs and patterns in the trash bins in order to distract and confuse the media so eager for a look at the dress.

Congrtualtions to Wills and Kate!

2010-11-17T05:11:00.000-08:00

Like this blog posting... the royal engagement has been a long time coming. I know that several fall weddings, vacation, work, etc. has kept me from my blogs, but what took William so long to pop the question? All is forgiven now, as we get set to count down the days to the next royal wedding.

Yesterday's announcement had the world and the Internet abuzz. Excitement on both sides of the pond, this story taking the lead on all the news stations. Well, it has been almost 30 years since Diana and Charles got married, and the world is truly in need of the spectacle, pomp and pageantry of a British Royal Wedding.

So, we are left without a wedding date, therefore we can only speculate as to when they will actually get married. Speculation too for where the wedding will take place, what style of dress will Catherine wear... and most importantly, WHAT FLOWERS WILL BE USED IN HER BOUQUET!

I did some reading yesterday, snippets from all the news stories, there was so much information, it was hard to take it all in. One story suggested that Catherine will eventually, with any good luck, be the most famous Queen Catherine since Catherine of Aragon, first wife of King Henry VIII... with no doubt, as Miss Middleton will have the benefit of the Internet and 24 hour news to get her story out to the world.

About the ring... so many opinions on using Diana's engagement ring. I can easily see how many would think using this ring is not a good idea. I have read, morbid, creepy, in bad form, ghoulish even. I think we really have to consider Williams great love and respect for his mother. Obviously, he wanted to use her ring as a special symbol and respect for his mother. Superstition would have some saying that this ring has a negative aura since Diana's marriage ended, shall we say tragically. However, consider that for even a short while the ring, for Diana was a symbol of love, happiness, and hope for the future.

Both prospective brides wearing blue and the grooms in grey suits... some times the past repeats itself. But, this blogger is hopeful that the royal family, especially William has learned many things from the past, and Catherine will have a much easier time dealing with things than Diana did.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day.... it is speculated that prior to the wedding the Queen will give the happy couple new titles and they will be known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

American Royalty...

2010-08-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Clinton family, Chelsea is married, yay! It's been a couple of years since we had a First Daughter wedding... the last being Jenna Bush in 2008. No matter what you political affiliation, it seems that a Presidential family wedding can cause excitement in the U.S., somewhat like the excitement that is generated for a royal wedding. Face it, the Presidents and their families are the closest things we Americans have to royalty. If not for their heritage and royal blood line, then for their ability to make news and stir up controversy and plenty of photo fodder for the Paparazzi.

I fully approve of Chelsea's style choices for her wedding. The location was stately and secluded, the guest list was studded with famous friends, and her choice of flowers was flawless. From the pictures I have been able to see of the bride, her bouquet appears to be made of all Gardenias.... Superb Choice! However, upon closer viewing, I believe the Gardenias are supported by a base of white Hydrangea. You can tell from the picture above that the rather thick green stems belong to some other flower besides Gardenias. I really like the choice of all white flowers for the bouquet that is a perfect compliment to her Vera Wang gown. Also, in perfect royal understatement, the groom's boutonniere is simple with a single white freesia, and low and behold for an American wedding, the groom's boutonniere is an appropriate size.

At this point, we can only look forward to a time when the Obama daughters are of marrying age... sigh.

Presidential Wedding Tid Bit for the day ... on August 6th, 1966 (great year by the way) Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of then U.S. president Lyndon Johnson, married John Patrick Nugent at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C., the bride carried a small nosegay of Lily of the Valley.

The British just have a way with weddings...

2010-07-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

I have said it before, and I'll say it again... the British just have a way with weddings. Can't exactly put my finger on it, but they just look different, when compared to American weddings. Possibly, it looks as if they aren't trying too hard to pull it all off. They are dressed somewhat formal, yet, the atmosphere seems relaxed and and not forced. Their outfits aren't matched to death, yet every one's attire seems appropriate to the occasion and the surroundings. A wonderful friend from England has shared these pictures of her daughter's wedding from June. After viewing all of the pictures, it is very apparent that it was a special occasion where each guest had a wonderful experience.

Again, nothing looks forced or orchestrated, though, I know that much planning and work went into this wedding. Congratulations to Penny and Ken on their daughter, Sarah's wedding!

here are a few more of their pictures... thanks Penny for allowing them to be part of my blog...

Wow, orchid plants as the table centerpiece... wonder who suggested that?? ;)

Finally... a picture of the lovely bride with her bridesmaids.

Good luck Sarah and Nick, from everyone here on Hilton Head!

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... Princess Diana's bouquet contained quite a few varieties of flowers... one was the Gold Medallion rose... for her wedding it was referred to as the Lord Mountbatten rose, in respect for Lord Louie Mountbatten, special friend and confidant of the Royal Family and Prince Charles..

Lord Mountbatten had been assassinated roughly two years prior to the Prince and Princess's wedding in July of 1981.

It's Sweden's turn to shine...

2010-06-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

... and shine it did... the wedding of Crown Princes Victoria and Daniel Westling, uh-hem 'scuze me, now Prince Daniel. They were just married yesterday, so I have only seen a few pictures and a little coverage on he news channels. Looks like it was a perfect day, and from the looks of this picture, the Crown Princess could not have been happier.

Her bouquet is certainly a lovely all white cascade of what looks to be Amazon Lilies, clusters of Stephanotis blossoms and some Dembdrobium orchids. Hopefully, this will signal the return of the cascade bouquet as a popular choice for brides, royal and not so royal. The groom looks very dignified in his formal wear, and as usual with royal weddings, some medals of recognition and rank are being worn instead of a boutonniere. Video on the Today Show highighted the reception at the palace for the guest count of about 1,000. Some of the centeriece were vases filled with lavender Sweet Pea, simple, elegant, understated: the signature of royal wedding floral style.

Just a short mention about the head wear. Loved the coronet of cameos the royal bride wore...fantastic and so unusual... I wonder if that was her something old?

The British royal family didn't miss the event all together, as Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex (Sophie) were in attendance. Other royal guests included kings, queens, and crown princes and princesses from Jordan, Spain, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... Crown Princess Victoria's wedding party included two future queens! They were Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands and Princess Ingrid-Alexandra of Norway.

Thanks for checking in... sorry for the absence... this thing with Fergie had me distracted. Terry.

A little dissappointing... the York saga continues

2010-05-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not news anymore, but the shady dealings of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York are spread over every news medium on the planet today. I have to say that I haven't been this disappointed in a member or ex-member of the Royal Family, in quite some time. In fact, I am quite shocked. Somehow, I believed that all the really bad press plaguing the family was in the past. Minor rows and rifts here and there by the grandchildren, yes, but this? Come on Fergie, shape it up and start living within your means. What must your daughters think? Not to mention, Her Majesty the Queen... doesn't she have enough to contend with already? .... Poor thing.

Trying not to judge here. I can imagine that when driven into desperate times, some succumb to taking desperate measures. I do feel for the Duchess and hopes that she finds some sort of happiness in the future.

The picture above is the wedding day of Sarah Ferguson's parents, Ronald and Susan Ferguson... not a good close up of the flowers, but definitely appears to be a wired and taped all-white flower creation, typical for the mid-50's style wedding. Sarah's parents divorced in 1972.

Royal Wedding tidbit of the day... Sarah, Duchess of York was very much the designer of her own wedding gown... she had the dress makers embroider many symbols and images on the 15 foot train, bumble bees, helicopters, flowers, etc. Also, she had Prince Andrew's first initial "A" emblazoned in the very center of the train. Most critics likened the large "A" to the Scarlett Letter. It wasn't a good omen.

Turquoise - It's this years pink...

2010-05-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

Is it really the color of the year? Turquoise, I mean for weddings... well, it's not, then more people should choose this bright and interesting color for their wedding color theme. When first presented with this color by a recent bride, my brain had to go into overdrive to figure out what color flowers to use, as there isn't much to my knowledge that comes in turquoise... or even close. My best strategy proved as success by asking the bride for a favorite color (other than Turquoise). Pink was the answer. I also considered the setting/venue, time of year and time of day of the ceremony. Outdoors was the location for the ceremony, and since we are in a coastal/semi-tropical region, I thought that pink and hot pink/fuscia would be a good match. As you can see form the pic of the centerpiece, things went very well. I stuck with the tropical theme and suggested orchids for the signature flower for the day, with lilies (a favorite of the bride) being the second flower choice. Sensible centerpieces, though containing many elements were fairly easy to combine. However, you have to have a good recipe and patience to get the water the right color. Green and blue (in the right measurements) makes turquoise! A late afternoon ceremony gave way to an early evening reception, still light outdoors, but not so light that many votive and floating candles helped make the setting all the more romantic.

Congratulations Courtney and Steven! married May 15th, 2010.

Royal Wedding tidbit of the day... King George VI, amended the rules a year or two after his daughter Elizabeth married Prince Phillip of Greece. Earlier in the year 1947, Phillip had relinquished his title, nationality, and religion (Greek Orthodox) in order to marry the then Princess Elizabeth. At the time of the wedding Phillip would have been a commoner, and his children would have no right to a royal title. But the King granted Phillip the title Royal Highness, Duke of Edinburgh... subsequently before the birth of Prince Charles in 1948, the King furthered the move declaring that all off-spring of Elizabeth and Phillip would be considered royal.

And here is one more pic from the turquoise and hot pink wedding.

Recreating the royal bouquets...

2010-05-10T17:23:00.000-07:00

Recreating the magic... in this case a royal bouquet. The first pic is of Princess Mary of Denmark on the day she married Crown Prince Frederick on May 4, 2004 at Our Lady's Cathedral in Copenhagen, Denmark. Denmark is home to the oldest European monarchy. The princess, Mary is a native Australian, and the first Australian woman to ever be in the line of succession to become a queen.

Our other bride... my cousin Jordan immediately after her wedding in June of 2009 in Lincoln, Nebraska. I see the similarity in the bouquets now, nearly a year later. Honestly, I spend so much time analyzing the British royal weddings, that I tend to overlook the royal weddings on the continent. Jordan's bouquet is made of all white/ivory Eskimo roses, some crystals and pearls were added to coordinate with the detailing on the dress and the crystal choker, which was handmade by my cousin, her new mother-in-law. Her bouquet was a round nosegay, but she wanted some ivy, so I added many long strands of English ivy, making it essentially, a cascade. Similarly, Princess Mary's bouquet is a round nosegay of what appears to be white roses, freesia, and stephanotis... though from the picture it's hard to tell for sure. However, just like Jordan's bouquet, the Princess's bouquet became a cascade when the trailing jasmine was added.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... There was a time when it was unheard of for a member of the royal family to marry someone who was not "royal". However in 1923, Prince Albert, Duke of York married Elizabeth Bowles-Lyon... Elizabeth was a commoner, Lady Elizabeth. Since the Duke was not expected to ascend to the throne, not too much bluster was raised at the match. However, the abdication crisis of 1936 caused a bit of a jolt, to put it lightly. When Edward the VIII abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, Prince Albert Duke of York became King George VI. So, literally, King George VI was the first British king to be married to one of his subjects. Surely enough though, Lady Elizabeth, Duchess of York became Queen Elizabeth. She was queen consort however, and did not reign, her husband was the reigning monarch until his death in 1952. His daughter Princess Elizabeth then became Queen Elizabeth II.

Happy Mothers' Day... and, more about Peter and Autumn

2010-05-09T15:30:00.001-07:00

I thought this couple deserved one more post, not the most recent royal wedding, technically, but truthfully, there weren't too many pictures of the flowers from Freddy Windsor's wedding to talk about... so, here are a couple more from Peter and Autumn's wedding at Windsor Castle. A royal wedding wouldn't really be royal without the horse drawn carriages, and here is Autumn and Peter making their get-away in an open landau.

I think this first picture gives a great perspective on the bouquet as well, rarely do we get to see them from the side view. I heartily approve of the construction of this bouquet, as it is wonderfully multi-dimensional and looks very well proportioned even when viewed from the side. A florist in Windsor has great skill in making these traditional bridal bouquets, heavy with "wire and tape" technique.

Another picture here of Zara Phillips as bridesmaid for her new sister-in-law. A small pic, but you get to see the attendant's bouquets of all white flowers, Zara's being stephanotis. Kudos on the dresses for the bride's maids. A lovely color, and a much more modern design than those chosen for royal weddings in the past.

Royal Wedding tidbit for the day... the wedding of Peter and Autumn Phillips took place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. The chapel, not only venue for recent royal weddings (the trend seems to be moving to more low key, so not taking place at Westminster Abbey), but also the final resting places for many of the remarkable Kings and Queens in Britain's history, including.... King Henry VIII, King George V, King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Kissing Cousins ... and their Grandmother

2010-05-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

Prince Harry sure was the kisser at his cousin Peter Phillips' wedding at Windsor Castle. The affectionate prince is show kissing the cheek of his cousin Zara Phillips (Princess Anne's daughter) and also giving a peck on the cheek to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth. This is surely something we don't see very often... Her Majesty showing any sort of affection in public. I would say it's very rare as the Queen usually upholds the highest level of decorum and modesty. But, the young princes, Harry and William are very much comfortable with showing their emotions and making physical contact with people they meet. So much like their mother, Diana.

I would never say that the Queen is unfeeling or cold.... but, during the years when she was raised and became queen, such public displays simply weren't the norm. I feel that people criticize Britain's Monarch excessively and unfairly for her conduct in public... hey, it's the way she was raised! And how often do we all use that as a reason for our conduct?

Now, about the flowers, I chose this picture to show the "kissin' cousins" as well as to get a closer look at the attendant's flowers for Peter and Autumn's wedding. All the bride's maid's bouquets are composed of all white flowers. Zara's bouquet is all Stephanotis, with many of the buds still closed. I can imagine how wonderful a fragrance that bouquet emitted.

And another thing! look at the way they are dressed.... can't Americans take some clues from the British when it comes to what looks good to wear to a wedding?

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the Day ... St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle has played host to many noteable royal wedding ceremonies... Edward VII and Queen Alexandra were married there, as well as Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, as well as the current hier apparent to the throne, Prince Charles, when he wed Camilla Parker-Bowles, known know as the Duchess of Cornwall ... more about Camilla later. ;)

Peter and Autumn Phillips.

2010-05-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly... Married on May 17, 2008, a royal wedding with a lovely traditionally styled and constructed bridal bouquet. The bouquet is of an elegant length in a trailing cascade. Upon examining the pictures of the bouquet closely the contents appear to be roses, Lily of the Valley, stephanotis and the ever popular foliage... ivy. This bouquet reminds me so much of the bouquet carried by Princess Diana at her wedding in 1981. Not many brides these days choose a large cascading bouquet like this. The trend these days still seems to be smaller rounded clutch bouquets with a more varied color palate. I really prefer the all white bridal bouquet... and of course don't mind color when it comes to the attendants. Pictures of this wedding that will appear in later posts will show that for Autumn and Peter's wedding, the bouquets are in all white as well.

Peter and Autumn were married at St. George's Chapel in the compound of Windsor Castle. Peter is the son of Princess Anne and her first husband Timothy Philips, whose marriage ended in divorce. Peter is also the eldest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... In order that Peter Phillips would not have to give up his place in the line of succession for the throne, Autumn Kelley denounced her Catholic faith and became a communicant of The Church of England. Interestingly enough, Peter and his sister Zara are the first grandchildren of a monarch not to hold royal titles.

Giving Wallis Simpson her day...

2010-04-30T05:19:00.001-07:00

Sorry folks and loyal followers, that is has been so long since the last posting. I guess spring just got away from me... sitting and anticipating the warm weather kinda got me distracted. Plus, other distractions like the still circulating rumors that a royal engagement will be announced in June, and Her Majesties birthday last week... things that keep a royal blogger distracted. I hope everyone will forgive the lapse in blogging.

So, today we give The Duchess of Windsor, a.k.a., Wallis Simpson her due. Looking at this picture her wedding day didn't appear to be an especially happy day. But, she had her King, err, well her former King on her arm. What more could a girl want? How about to be Queen? The look on her face seems to say it all... "I should be the queen right now!" That is simply not what history had in store for Wallis and Edward VIII. From all I have read over the years, the abdication crisis in December of 1936, was the most serious event and potentially destructive event in the life of the British royal family for many years before and after. Abdication, almost unheard of. Normally, monarchs died and the next in line took up the crown as their duty. But, I realize, often making great personal sacrifices of happiness in order to fulfill their duties. Clearly King Edward VIII saw something truly wonderful in Wallis Simpson, in order to step aside and let his younger brother take the throne. It is a story for all the ages, as one of the most uncertain times in the great and long history of the British Empire.

Now, for the flowers. Clearly from the picture, the bride neither carried nor wore any flowers. The groom, by this time styled as the Duke of Windsor appears to be wearing a carnation boutonniere, classic and stylish in his morning suit. The flowers present to the right of Wallis seem to be peonies and delphinum. I think an appropriate combination that is quite fitting for the french chateau where they were married. The wedding location was Chateau de Cande, near Tours, France, and the wedding date was June 3, 1937, just six short months after the abdication on December 10, 1936. The Windsors were married first in a civil ceremony performed by the local mayor, then married again in a religious ceremony conducted by the Rev. Jardine... while being serenaded by the great organist Marcel Dupre in the music room/salon the the chateau.

What a scandal and what sadness, since the bride was an American and twice divorced, she was not at all deemed an appropriate wife for a king. Edward VIII, having not yet been crowned in a formal coronation ceremony, elected not to be king without the woman he loved. Edward's mother, Queen Mary refused ever to receive her daughter-in-law, and brother Albert, now King George VI paid a final insult to his brother's choice of bride by refusing Wallace the style of Her Royal Highness, she was simply The Duchess of Windsor.

Royal Tidbit of the day ... for years after the abdication crisis, Wallace and Edward were snubbed and ignored by the royal family. The Queen Mother reportedly held a heavy grudge agains Wallis, believing it was Wallis' fault that she and her family were forced into becoming King and Queen, the stresses of duty, leading to the premature death of King George VI at the age of 56.

Azaleas around Hilton Head

2010-04-10T12:13:00.001-07:00

Now that spring has come, and decide to stay, the azaleas are popping out all over. Each state has it's own state flower... if there were a flowers of The South, I would vote for the Azalea. There are plenty of varieties, colors, and sizes to please anyone. Growing up, my home was hedged in front by the big fuchsia azalea hedges. Along with the large bright pink blooms came the big bumble bees as well. Hilton Head's azaleas are exploding just now, right in time for The Heritage golf tournament. Unlike the Bradford Pears and the dogwoods, the azaleas will will be with us for several weeks. Hopefully our first spring storms wont be so strong as to knock the blooms off the bushes. The second pic is of the ever familiar Harbour Town Lighthouse. Harbour Town and all of Sea Pines plantation are preparing for the influx of golfers and golf fans. Preparations are underway to make sure that everything is perfect for the the tournament, readying for the eyes of the nation to be focused on Hilton Head Island for a whole week.

Royal Tidbit of the day... on the last occasion of investiture of Garter Knights, Prince William was invested as the 1000th Knight of the Garter. The investiture ceremony takes place in the month of June each year at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. P. William is currently the youngest Garter Knight, but not the youngest to be invested. Prince Charles was made a Garter Knight at the age of 19.

Easter Flowers 2010 - And Royal Wedding Rumors!

2010-04-08T12:48:00.001-07:00

Easter 2010 has come and gone, but I have these wonderful pics, thanks to Stan and his camera. Helping out part time at a flower shop certainly has it's benefits. Namely, having access to great floral supply and selection of the freshest flowers available. When I get an idea for what I want my centerpieces to look like, first I search out the desired containers from my home stash... then, just give a list to my part time boss and flower buddy, she has them come in when I want them. This Easter, I went with lots of tulips...why? Because to me, besides Easter Lilies, tulips are the quintessential Easter flower. Some might be wondering, "why the red roses?", since mostly those remind us of Valentine's Day or Christmas... well, our hostess just invested in new dishes... red glass tableware that really sets off some delicate red accents in her newly renovated and redecorated home. So, red roses it was, to coordinate and really bring out the new tableware.

All of the containers this year were clear glass, but each in an unusual shape and dimension. This grouping of containers inspired me to create a real "toss up" of styles and combinations, and including some interesting textures and accents. For instance, one vase simply had tulips and nothing else. Another incorporated Kiwi Vine as an armature to help hold the flowers upright in a very shallow container. Also, I had the idea to completely hide the mechanics on one arrangement by encircling the inside of the shallow vase with bamboo. This last technique I described was extremely labor intensive. Cutting the bamboo into small pieces all the same size too some time. I would be sure to charge a worthy fee for anyone wanting this look in their arrangements. But, it these arrangements for our Easter celebration were a labor of love, and I enjoyed every minute of the design process. Thank you again to Colleen, Kent, Whitfield, and Ross for a wonderful Easter celebration.

Royal Wedding tidbit of the day... Hopefully I was not the only one who noticed the Buzz the last couple of days over the possibility, maybe, might or might not, desperately needed, royal engagement of Prince William to long-time girlfriend Kate Middleton. I haven't seen that much royal attention on the Internet since Prince Harry was found to be deployed in Afghanistan.

Well, for me, I surely hope that there will be an announcement of their engagement, and really do hope that, if the speculators are correct, that by the end of 2010 there will have been another major royal wedding. Sources suggest that if they are engaged in June, that a wedding would very likely follow in roughly six months, they are thinking November of this year.

Blue Roses for your wedding... you can't go wrong

2010-03-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

Spring is in full swing, and I am handing out my wedding flower suggestions to anyone who will listen... no matter if they are getting married soon or not. Hey, you gotta have your wedding flowers planned out and get your look together.

If the Good Lord hadn't intended for roses to be blue, he wouldn't have invented food coloring. What I am saying to brides these days is, "if you have chosen any shade of blue for your bridesmaid's dresses, then you are in luck. Yes, in luck, as roses, those time-honored most respected of flowers, are available in blue! Don't be afraid of tulle puffs and baby's breath either... your mother wasn't why should you be?

Here are some other Hot Wedding Flower Tips for y'all considering gettn' hitched and want'n to decorate the reception hall to the max.

1. Feathers and balloons are real pretty, cheap, come in all colors, and you can find them anywhere!

2. No jackets for the guys? That's o.k. y'all, boutonnieres can now be attached with magnets through the thickest of shirt fabric.

3. Don't waste the money on flowers for your wedding cake, fake doves and over sized wedding rings made of tin (but painted to look like gold!) are easy to find at any party supply store.

4. Don't let that little tummy bulge keep you from wearing the gown of your dreams... Now most every wedding dress place these days has a maternity department!

5. Remember, Pink is a good fall back color for your wedding. In case you can't find carnations in that special lavender tone you're looking... remember, pink goes with everything!

Enjoy your Spring, and this first day of April!

Floral Disaster Tidbit of a royal magnitude... Once I was working at a flower shop in California, it was Valentine's Day. A customer came in and requested a dozen roses for his "old lady". The customers last request was ...wait for it... "don't forget to put some baby's bottom with them." After that, you kinda forget the woes of Valentine's Day in a flower shop.

Would you call that pink, or Flamingo?

2010-03-31T08:48:00.000-07:00

Some many good pictures and videos too, from this past weekend. The flamingos were the first exhibit we saw at the zoo in Columbia. These birds were amazing, so colorful, and a bit loud. Their call sounds very much like geese. These flamingos have a brilliant color, much more vivid than the standard pink that you see on most flamingos, those not in somebodies front yard!

All of the animals were wonderful, I think I was most impressed by the giraffe exhibit. There you can purchase lettuce to feed them, and they are not shy. They will take the food right from your hand. The zoo has graciously provided hand sanitizer stations in that exhibit. I had lots of giraffe saliva on my hands when the feeding was done.

If anyone is in the Columbia, SC area for a visit... I highly recommend the Riverbank Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day... Westminster Abbey has been the scene for several royal weddings. But, the first royal wedding to take place in the abbey occurred on November 11th in the year 1100. The happy couple was King Henry I and Princess Matilda of Scotland. The current Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II was the 10th member of the royal family to be married in Westminster Abbey.

Zoo and Gardens in Columbia, SC - Who knew???

2010-03-30T12:01:00.001-07:00

Now, I have been traveling through Columbia, SC for over 40 years... mainly as a way to get to Gastonia, NC. Too bad I had taken it for granted for so long. I never knew there was a zoo and botanical gardens of such quality and beauty located in the Palmetto State's capital. The Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Gardens was the second main event to our Carolina Cup weekend. Most fortunate for us is that currently, all of the spring flowers are in bloom... tulips, thousands of them, daffodils, pansies, violets, Japanese Tulip trees, cherry trees, almond trees, Spirea, Jasmine, Heleboris (Lenten Rose) were among the hundreds of varieties we were able to see blooming on Sunday in the gardens. Also, the zoo! Most of the animals were risin' and shinin' so there was lots of activity going on. Even got to fee a baby Giraffe.... now, that doesn't happen every day. Such a great weekend. Thanks especially to our friend and blog follower Sandra who scored us the tickets for the zoo/gardens. Sandra, we really appreciate it! Terry.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day...when Prince Edward married Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999, there was a break in tradition when he was created the Earl of Wessex... unlike Charles and Andrew, who were granted Dukedoms when they themselves were married. However, the Earl of Wessex, it is speculated, will be created Duke of Edinburgh, when that title reverts back to the crown.... ahem... in other words... when Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh dies. **It has also been decided (by who, I'd like to know!) that any children of Edward and Sophie will not carry the title Prince or Princess. Sounds like a bum deal to me... for any of their children. But, since that was decided there have been two children born to Ed an Sophie... a daughter, Lady Louise Windsor, and a son, James Viscount Severn. Edward is Earl of Wessex and Sophie is Countess of Wessex.

Carolina Cup - Horses, Fashion, and blooming trees!

2010-03-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

It was off to the races this past weekend. The annual running of the Carolina Cup took place in Camden, SC this past Saturday. Through the generosity of great friends, I was able to attend for the first time. Simply couldn't get over the size and scope of this race, especially for our region. Over 77,000 in attendance! Most racegoers were decked out in their South Carolina finest. I hadn't seen that much madras in one place since I worked a brief stint at Brooks Brothers. Now, I have never been a race fan, but, I couldn't help but get caught up in the spirit and excitement of the Carolina Cup. The weather could not have been more perfect. Our infield location (held for many years by that generous friend) allowed us to see the races when they were run, and see all the people and the wonderful outfits they all had chosen. It appears that Bow ties have really made a comeback, especially among the college age crowd. The whole thing was like "Kentucky Derby Light". I had a blast, people watching mostly, but the races and the trip up and back afforded us a closeup view of the mid-South Carolina countryside. Since most of our trees are in bloom (Bradford Pears, Red Buds, and some Dogwoods), there were glorious floral displays to be seen. I am going to fit in a few more pics here of the day at the racetrack, the fashion and some blooming trees. Enjoy the pics of a truly traditional and southern experience. Terry.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day... during the wedding of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, the interior floors of Westminster Abbey were covered with new carpet specially for the royal wedding day... the only area not covered was the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, just inside the West door entrance to the abbey.

First Day of Spring 2010 ...FINALLY!!!!

2010-03-20T12:06:00.001-07:00

It's finally here, Spring, and long overdue if you ask me.

Sorry for the lapse in blog posts, it's been a crazy busy week at work, so the gumption to sit down and write some words just hasn't been there. Plus, Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day. In my part of the world that is a huge deal. So, there were some crazy early hours mid-week getting to Savannah for the parade, and then getting back home early enough to have our regular Wednesday night meal with family.

Our Island is bursting with the white blossoms of hundreds of Bradford Pear trees, this one here, just a few hundred feet away is one of the most vivid I have seen this week. The unusually cold months have really kept the blooming to a minimum so far, and the pears are usually the first to appear, except for the azaleas, which haven't shown any signs of blooming yet. Just has been too cold, I guess.

So, this year was like the 184th St. Patrick's Day celebration in Savannah, GA. I have been to the parade many times, and it's always a family event for us. I started the day by getting over to Savannah around 7 a.m. and was blessed by all the Irish saints with a great parking spot very close to the parade route. Then, headed over to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist for mass. After that, back to our family campsite at State and Abercorn Streets, where I watched the parade from start to finish... about 3 1/2 hours of bagpipe bands, marching bands, Irish families, dignitaries and such. It was a great day... cold, but the rain stayed away until the parade was over. We are really looking forward to St. Patrick's Day 2010 when the parade will be on a Saturday... and we are hoping to be in the parade that year. We were in as a small family group way back in 1977 with my grandfather, long ago, but remember it as being lots of fun... really looking forward to that.

Royal Tidbit for the day... Queen Victoria's favorite flower was Snowdrops, and carried a bouquet completely made of snowdrops for her wedding in 1841. The current British Monarch... Queen Elizabeth II... well, her favorite flower is daffodils. But, her wedding bouquet was made entirely of exotic varieties of orchids, all grown in England.

I Like Carnations....there, I said it.

2010-03-07T14:09:00.001-08:00

Yes, I do like carnations... they have gotten such a bad rap over the years. I like the way they really fill in some space for just a little bit of money in an arrangement.

Our Fresh Market had a great floral selection today, so I loaded up. Obviously. These dark burgundies, crimsons, and pinks really spoke to me. I decided to add some lily grass and a wrap of ivy to give some interest with foliage. The last flowers from Fresh Market lasted almost three weeks. I hope I get as much time out of these. By the way... second photo today... Reuse, Recycle, Reduce. The roses had to finally go away, but these crimson asters made another great arrangement with the Kiwi vine as a support system... profusion!

Now on to royalty... yesterday I was browsing YouTube and came across some clips of Prince Edwards wedding to Sophie Reyes-Jones in 1999. I don't know where I was or what I was doing during this wedding, but I missed it completely. I am thinking that they were playing down the royal family events in those days, since it was so soon after Princess Diana's death. Not to mention that the Countess of Wessex looks so much like Diana, it was kinda strange to watch.

I an not a big fan of her bouquet. I read somewhere that they had a local florist in Windsor make the bouquet and other floral decorations. Just not a big fan of the larger standard size Calla lilies wired into a carried bouquet. I did like the construction, size and shape, from the videos you get to see if from the back... nice and neat construction in wire and tape. I will have to study up on this wedding a bit and report back later.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... since Eddie and Sophie were married in the week after the Garter ceremonies, the bridesmaids' and pages' wedding costumes were made to look like Garter ceremonial costumes... Nice touch I think.

Love Knots

2010-03-04T16:53:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of examples of "love knots", those are the little slip knots that florist used to tie in the ribbons hanging from bridal bouquets. Often the knots were used to tie in small flowers, tulle tufts, or other ornaments for the bouquet.

The pic to the left is of Queen Ingrid and King Frederik of Denmark on their wedding day in May , 1935. They were married in Stockholm Cathedral. At the time they were married, Frederik had not yet ascended the throne, so they were know then at Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Denmark. Ingrid was the daughter, wife, and aunt to kings, and two of her daughters would become queens. Quite a resume I would say. It looks like her bouquet is made completely of Longiflorum/St. Joseph/ or Easter Lilies and myrtle branches, and the long trailing ribbons have small bits of myrtle leaves tied in the love knots.

The picture on the right is of my mother on her wedding day in 1964. I know for a fact that the love knots in her bouquet ribbon were tied around tulle tufts and sprigs of Lily of the Valley made of fabric. I know this for a fact... why? Because, before she tossed that bouquet away to history... I snipped some of it's ribbon and love knots to keep as mementos. Some of the salvaged ribbon wrapped the stem of my brother's boutonniere for his wedding in 2002.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... After their wedding in May 1935, Ingrid and Frederik were chauffeured to a cemetery in Haga, Sweden, where Ingrid placed her bouquet on the grave of her mother, Queen Margareta.

Catching Up on Pamela Mountbatten

2010-03-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to go back and make any corrections from a couple of posts-ago. The picture here is the wedding of Pamela and David Hicks in 1960. Pamela is the daughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten, uncle of Prince Fillip, and Edwina Mountbatten. Note to self, never site down to do a blog post without my research material close at hand.

Photo Credit: "Free Spirit", Majesty, February, 2010, pg. 19.

Flower Profusion

2010-03-01T17:22:00.000-08:00

If I had to describe my current personal preference in design style, it would be profusion. I am talking about lots of flowers arranged very close together in any container.

I remember the "airy" open style of preferred design back in the early days of my floral career... that was the mid 1990's. I am glad to see those days are passing us by. Large arrangements where flowers were set far apart with large spaces left open. Curly willow branches and fillers such as Queen Anne's Lace and bear grass were used to give arrangements that open and airy look. A floral design friend of mine used to say... "you have to sell air". Quite opposite is the style I prefer now. The close compact look, I think, really suites weddings well. Large bowls or cube vases packed with roses and other similar shaped flowers give such a rich look. However, one has to be rich these days to afford a rich look in the arrangements. This type of arrangement requires an abundance of flowers. Most times, there is no greenery or fillers to take up the space, so, all the space has to be occupied with flowers. The first arrangement shown here is one I made back at the end of the summer. I am no flower snob, so I am not beyond using large mums or carnations to fill in the space when budget is an issue, and roses are very pricey. I am not a flower snob at all. In fact, I have just completed a wedding floral proposal consisting mainly of dense gatherings of daisies. The bride loves daisies, and the rustic outdoor setting for the wedding lends itself to these basic but well loved flowers. That wedding takes place in May, I hope to be able to post some pics of the arrangements after the wedding.

The second pic is a good example of the style I am talking about in this post. I took apart an open airy arrangement, cut the roses down, and arranged them so they would rest on the top edge of the vase, accented and supported by a gathering of Kiwi vine. I really like this look, and hope that others might as well. It's looks contemporary and somehow traditional at the same time. The roses have a great name... the variety is "Twinkle Bride" ... I wonder who gets to sit around and think up the names for all the rose varieties?

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day... On her wedding day, Sarah, Duchess of York carried a bouquet of Gardenias, Lily of the Valley, pale yellow roses, and freesia... the bouquet was designed by David Longman to be in the shape of the letter "S" for "Sarah" giving that arrangement it's distinctive crescent shape, produced at Longman's Ltd. of London. Mr. Longman also designed the bouquet for Diana, Princess of Wales.

A Catch Up Blog Post

2010-02-24T18:01:00.000-08:00

It has been some days since the last post, just wanted to check in and catch up. My Mother has been ill this past couple of days, so I haven't been home in the evenings, out of town really and at the hospital a lot. I am sure things are going to be o.k.

I have some really faithful followers, and I wanted them to have something new to read when they stop in.

The pic today is one of the daughters of Lord Louis Mountbatten, he was uncle to Prince Fillip and a cousin to the queen. So sorry to post a pic without the backup research, but I find myself away from my research materials, I promise to post again soon with more info on the people in this picture. However, easy to spot is the Queen Mother seated to the left of the bride. The flowers, I think it looks like a nosegay of all lily of the valley and maybe gypsophilia (baby's breath, yuck) or some similar small white flower. and the little bridesmaids are all wearing floral crowns and carrying very small nosegays of the same flower.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... in this picture... double click on the image to see a very closeup version... that is Princess Anne and Prince Charles, both seated on the floor to the far right lower corner of the photo.

After St. Valentine's Day

2010-02-20T12:55:00.001-08:00

Technically it's not Spring yet, but, even down here in the south we are pushing it after such a cold winter. The best way that I like to bring Spring on is to select and arrange some great flowers of my own. Our local market had a great selection of roses, even after Valentines Day... normally the stock is very depleted after that rush for flowers for your sweetheart, but, I found to wonderful selections. First, the exquisite "Twinkle Bride" standard size rose whose color varies from rich cream, to the palest green and to a blush pink at the edges. Great strong straight stems and very few thorns. I decided on a more contemporary arrangement in a rectangular glass vase, and used a gathering of Kiwi vine to anchor the arrangement. The next flower I found was a very bright bunch of hot-pink spray roses, although the variety wasn't labeled on the package, I don't have a name to tell you for these. In any case both these arrangements have brought the joy of an early spring into our house. And, I have fun making the arrangements.

Sorry for the gap in blog posts. Last week was a busy week and weekend. Something to do every night of the week, plus, I helped out at a local flower shop. So, it was red roses, red roses, and more red roses in what seemed like an endless line of vases, greenery and roses walking out the door. It left me exhausted, but a good exhausted as it is work I love to do. Hope to be back in the swing of things with more Royal photos to post, and more flower commentary. But, now that spring is in the air, there may just be more posts about the flower arrangements I have created for us here at home to enjoy... I promise to share the pics with you all.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day... Although Queen Elizabeth's engagement ring, designed and given to her by Prince Philip, is not nearly the largest diamond or composition of diamonds in her jewel collection... however, it is said to be her favorite piece of jewelry. Awww, isn't that sweet?

Photo Credits: ME!

Cousin of the Queen - Mary Whitley

2010-02-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

First off Happy Valentine's Day to everyone... sorry for the absence, I have been working pretty hard the past week, and the blog posts just weren't coming. We've had a lot going on, with the Olympics starting and a freak snow fall here in the south, I was more than occupied in the evenings when I usually do my blogging.

Many thanks to Stan for his gift to me last year on Valentine's Day, a subscription to Majesty, a wonderful monthly magazine concerning news and history of the royal families of the world. What a treasure trove of information is has been, and so very helpful in maintaining my blog.

The picture today is a great shot of a royal wedding bouquet. This couple is Mary and Peter Whitley. Mary was second cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, and Peter served at one time as a member of the world famous Grenadier Guards (the guards in red tunics and bear skin hats that guard Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace in London, as well as serving in combat on the front lines).

Mary served as bridesmaid to the Queen at her wedding to Prince Phillip in 1947. Mary's father was Prince George of Teck, brother of Queen Mary, the current Monarch's grandmother.

Her flowers... I really do wish that brides today would be interested in bouquets like this, not only for their beauty but for the challenge of the artist/floral designer that would be charged with creating such an intricate floral piece literally hours before the wedding. The bouquet is a classic cascade style and appears to contain roses, Lily of the Valley, carnations, orchids, stephanotis, and gardenias. Near the tail end of the bouquet, it is very easy to see the wired and white tape construction. I guarantee you this one was not going to fall apart, nor leak water on to the bride's gown.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... before Mary was Elizabeth's bridesmaid in 947, they both served together as bridesmaids at the wedding of the Duke of Gloucester and Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott in 1935... at that wedding, the both carried nosegays of pink roses.

Photo Credit: "Mary Whitley", by Robert Golden, "Majesty", February, 2010, pg. 32.

More on Princess May of Teck

2010-02-08T18:28:00.001-08:00

In her life, Princess May of Teck held many royal titles and roles. First as Princess May (a nickname after the month in which she was born), then, Duchess of York. Later, Princess of Wales, then Queen consort, finally, dowager Queen after the death of her husband, King George V, during the reigns of two of her sons, King Edward VIII (abdicated) and King George VI, finally, during the reign of her granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II. The photo here is of her and the Duke of York on their wedding day, July 6th, 1893. The wedding took place at the Chapel Royal, St. James Palace, London. The flowers here are quite abundant, even though her bouquet is not shown, I have read that Princess May's bridal flowers were white lilies and white roses. The bridesmaids are carrying cascading bouquets of roses and other white flowers, as well, the bride and her attendants have flowers attached to their dresses and in their hair. Lots of royal wedding flowers here.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... Also married at the Chapel Royal, St. Jame's Palace, London... Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, on Feb. 10th, 1840.

Another Missing Bridal Bouquet

2010-02-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

Another very well dressed out royal wedding party. Nothing like having the bridesmaids really coordinate! Interestingly enough there was no worry given to the fact that the bridesmaids wearing veils wouldn't set the bride apart. However, the bridal gown here is floor-lenght, and the train is visibly very long, so, there is the difference... so much for bride's maids not being allowed to wear white. This is the wedding of Princess Mary (daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, formerly Princess May of Teck) and Viscount Lascelles, later titled the Earl of Harewood. This wedding took place on February 28th, 1922. Interestingly enough, here is another royal bride without her bridal bouquet... so, what happened to it? Like the Duchess of York (The Queen Mother) and Princess Elizabeth (QE II), Princess Mary's bouquet is absent from the portrait taken in the throne room at Buckingham Palace. I would think that possibly it was left at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey, but, from what I have read, that tradition wasn't started until a year later in 1923, when the Duchess of York (Queen Mother) left her bouquet at the tomb in memory of her brother who died in World War I. In any event, without the bouquet, there are still plenty of flowers in this portrait. It looks like the bridesmaids are carrying classic 1920's waterfall/cascade style. It's really hard to tell what the flowers are from this picture, so I am going to assume that some roses are in there, along with plenty of plumosus fern for the waterfall/cascade effect.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day ... Princess May of Teck, later Queen Mary was initially engaged to Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avandale, but just weeks after their engagement, Prince Albert died of pneumonia... Queen Victoria encouraged a match between Princess May and Albert's younger brother George. George became King George V. Princess Mary became wife of a king, mother of two kings, Edward VIII and George VI, and grandmother to Queen Elizabeth II... whew!

Photo Credit: A Royal Family Album From The Days Of Queen Victoria to H.R.H. Prince Charles of Edingurgh, by Marguerite D. Peacocke, Pitkin Pictorials Ltd., 1948.

Fancy Shmancy... and just homemade

2010-02-06T13:34:00.001-08:00

It's one of those grey winter weekends, and what I find takes my mind off of there being another couple of months of winter ahead is to bring a little spring-time into the house. So, the just home-made centerpiece to the left is one I threw together today. We are fortunate to have a Fresh Market here, that maintains a very good selection of fresh-cut flowers. So, to drive away the winter blahs, I made this spring centerpiece of Jade roses and very fragrant purple stock... just the ticket, especially since we are having guest for dinner tonight. What a contrast to the ultra "fancy schmancy" floral arrangements in Queen Elizabeth's wedding photo. All the bridesmaids carried very elaborate cascading bouquets of many varieties of orchids. I imaging there were several Longman's Ltd. employees up all night wiring and taping the flowers for these quite detailed bouquets. Also, each bridesmaid is wearing a coronet of bouvardia... still more wiring and taping. So, flowers can bring joy and amazement in many forms, from the very simply homemade centerpiece to the very elaborate and intricate wired cascade bouquet.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day... On her wedding day, Princess Margaret was escorted up the aisle or "given away" by her brother-in-law, Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh... since the princess's father, King George IV, died in 1952. Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong-Jones in 1960.

Flowers of Diamonds

2010-02-03T18:23:00.000-08:00

What's royalty without some diamonds? Well, a little side track from wedding flowers tonight, I wanted to feature one of the most beautiful pieces in the Queen's jewel collection. The George the IV Diadem was created by London jeweler at the direction of George IV, for his coronation in 1830. It turns out the he ended up not wearing it at all. I have read that many deemed this crown to feminine for the King. However, following Monarchs have put it to good use. Victoria wore it often, then Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, The Queen Mother, and the current, Queen Elizabeth II. It is said to be the most recognizable of the royal jewels, mostly because it is the crown that the current Queen is wearing on the postage stamps and many denominations of currency throughout the Commonwealth of Nations. The frame is gold and silver, two bands of pearls make up the circlet. There are four crosses pattee, the forward cross is centered with a rare yellow toned diamond. The other decorations are clusters of shamrocks, thistles, and roses, traditional symbols of Ireland, Scotland, and England.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day .... Both Princess Elizabeth (QEII) and Princess Anne wore The "Diamond Fringe Tiara" affixed to their veils on their wedding day.

Always A Bridesmaid...

2010-02-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

Two great pictures here today. Both feature the current British monarch in her childhood, the Princess Elizabeth of York. Yes, the Queen did her service many times as a bridesmaid. One the left the wedding of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester to Lady Alice Scott. Here, the future Queen carries a very generous nosegay of all roses, the adult attendants are carrying very large cascades of the same roses, while the bride carries a large and lush somewhat crescent shaped bouquet of all white flowers, I think I see some white Antherium in there with what must be a collection of various orchid varieties. This wedding took place in November 1935.

Second, the picture on the right, the future Queen again acts as attendant to a royal bride, this time, at the wedding of her uncle the Duke of Kent to Princess Marina of Greece in November 1934. King George V and Queen Mary are present in both photos. Princess Marina is the only carrying flowers here, a very simple, but impressive arm bouquet of all white longeflorum lilies, tied with a wide white ribbon with it's own floral cluster accent.

November was a very popular month for Royal Weddings in those days, as Princess Elizabeth herself would be married in November of 1947.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day...Like Princess Victoria, Princess Royal and daughter of Queen Victoria, ... Princess Elizabeth used the ever popular "Wedding March" by Mendelssohn as the recessional during their wedding ceremonies.

Photo Credit: "A Royal Family Album From The Days of Queen Victoria To H.R.H. Prince Charles of Edinburgh", pictorial booklet, 1948, Pitkin Pictorials Ltd.

Another "not British" Royal Wedding

2010-02-02T06:37:00.001-08:00

Here we have a royal wedding from the European continent... that of Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia, in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2004. Just as classy and beautiful as a British royal wedding. The gown is incredible, but of course not garish or inappropriate, and the groom's attire, again appropriate for his military rank and standing in the Spanish royal family.

THE FLOWERS - carried by the bride...a beautiful bouquet of white lilies and other white flowers, that are a little difficult to identify... I have posted two photos today, and maybe some of my blog followers can help me identify the mystery flowers. I think they may be Lily of the Valley, but, from these photos, it is hard to tell. Also, in the first photo... since it shows the back of the bouquet, you can see the wire and taping construction technique that was used. Wheat stalks have been included (a traditional floral symbol of fertility). In addition, I really appreciate the use of the gold ribbon to tie off the bouquet. It serves as a contrast and disconnect between the all white flowers and the white gown. But, the gold ribbon is a wonder coordinating compliment to the gold gowns of the attendants. Bravo and well done!.. to the designer who put together the floral look for this wedding.

Strangely, the bridesmaids are not carrying flowers at all. I wonder if this is particular to weddings in Spain possibly? Someone educate me on this tradition or lack there of. But, notice the wonderful columns of flowers attached to the stone columns of the cathedral... all white, I am assuming lilies and roses and some other long lasting and hearty flowers. I shutter at the thought of the mechanics and time that went into those arrangements. But, the effect is spectacular.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day ... Prince Felipe is next in line to the Spanish Throne; his father Juan Carlos is the current reigning Spanish monarch. This wedding took place with extremely high security in place, as the terrorist train bombings in Madrid had taken place just two months before the wedding.

http://personales.ya.com/fororeal/marcindexrw.htm

Photo Credit: People: "The Royals, Their Lives, Loves, and Secrets"- People Specials - 2005.

Off the Isle - Royal Wedding in Jordan

2010-02-01T18:09:00.000-08:00

We are taking a trip off the British Isle, in fact out of Europe to the Middle East for today's blog post. To the left, a wedding day picture of King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan. Their wedding took place on June 15, 1978. The bride wore a very simple white gown, but carried an elegant cascade of white Phaelenopsis orchids and trailing plumosus fern. I love this bouquet for it's simplicity, and for the fact that the construction of the bouquet would be incredibly simple. The orchids themselves, the way they grow on their stems truly lends itself to a longer draping cascade form. These orchids are extremely delicate to begin with and being able to leave them on their original stem is beneficial to keeping the orchids protected. When wiring these orchids for corsages or boutonnieres, there is a tricky process of getting the tape covered wire in and around the very, very delicate stamen and anther areas. I have found that wiring individual blooms with white chaneele stems (pipe-cleaners) is the safest way. If using regular wire, then the lightest gauge will be necessary as to avoid damage to the orchid's large but terribly light weight petals.

Royal Wedding tidbit of the day... I, personally had the privilege of creating floral arrangements for Queen Noor of Jordan, while working at Floramor Studios in San Francisco, CA. The floral arrangements we accents to the Garden Court at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. The Queen was there to greet Jordanian nationals, her step-son's subjects, then living in California. It was an honor, and very exciting... my closest Royal Incident to date.

Photo Credit: People, "The Royals, Their Lives, Loves, and Secrets", People Specials - 2005.

Lights...Camera...Action... Margaret!

2010-01-27T18:09:00.000-08:00

The wedding of Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones, was the first ever royal wedding to be televised. What an appropriate royal family member to bring the British royalty into the lime-light of the camera lens. Princess Margaret, before and after her marriage led an exciting life and counted many celebrities as close friends. The princess was famous for many bits of scandal along the way, but as one article concerning her funeral in 2002 stated... "she was always royal." The princess and her husband, The Earl of Snowdon were eventually divorced after 18 years of marriage. The first divorce of a major royal family member. In fact, divorce and the shame that was associated with it was the reason that the princess's first love did not end in marriage as the man she loved was previously married, with two children from that first marriage. Princess Margaret led an exciting and sometimes daring life. But, in the end, she pre-deceased her mother, The Queen Mother, by six weeks. Many illness including several strokes ended her life at the age of 72 in 2002. Reportedly, the Queen was overcome by grief and publicly wept for the loss of her beloved sister, something the Queen just doesn't do... publicly display grief. I can understand her not holding back on this occasion, loosing a sibling must be terribly difficult.

The picture above is of Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon, just after their wedding. They, like so many royal couples before them, and a few after them, took to the balcony at the front of Buckingham Palace to greet the well wishes below.

Royal Wedding tidbit of the day... one her wedding day, Princess Margaret arrived at Westminster Abbey in the Glass Coach, the same coach that her sister, Queen Elizabeth, used to arrive at the abbey for her wedding to Prince Phillip in November of 1947.

Photo Credit: The Wedding of Princess Margaret, " Royal Family AlbumFrom The Days of Queen Victoria", 1960, Pitkin Pictorials Ltd.

More of Princess Margaret's bouquet...

2010-01-24T14:29:00.001-08:00

here is a rare pic... the only color pic I have seen of Princess Margaret's wedding. It looks like one of those black and white old movies that Ted Turner decided to colorize... anyway, you can see some of the color of the orchids' throats in the bouquet. The are a very small Japhet type orchid with yellow and orange throats... if anyone knows the exact name of these small orchids, please let me know.

I thought I read somewhere that the groom had allergies and they supposedly used flowers that weren't too fragrant to keep him from sneezing through the wedding, I don't know how much of that is true, since the bouquet contains freesia, stephanotis, and Lily of the Valley... all very fragrant flowers.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... David Longman of Longman's Ltd. of London created the bouquets for this wedding, he also was responsible for the bouquets of Princess Diana and Sarah, Duchess of York. Great work Mr. Longman!

Photo Credit: The Wedding of Pricess Margaret, "A Royal Family Album From the Days of Queen Victoria...", 1960, Pitkin Pictorials Ltd.

Young Victoria's Wedding Flowers

2010-01-19T11:18:00.000-08:00

We saw "Young Victoria" this weekend. I highly recommend this movie for anyone... but, especially if you have any sort of interest in things royal.

I have done some amount of reading on Victoria, and with only a few exceptions, the movie was quite accurate. Not to mention that the scenery and costuming was exceptional.

A good friend went with us to see the movie, she wanted to see it with people who knew something about the subject, so after it was over, I was able to tell her that I noticed two things that I thought, or knew were inaccurate. First, and the movie makers clearly admitted this... that Prince Albert was not wounded by a gunman in the assassination attempt on the young queen. Secondly, I noticed that in the wedding scene, Victoria's bouquet was not correct, or at least I think it wasn't. I have read from many sources that her bouquet was composed entirely of "snowdrops", apparently her favorite flower. In the movie, Emily Blunt, playing the queen, carried a small nosegay of all stephanotis. O.K., so stephanotis is close to snow-drops, they are small, and they are white. However, the floral tiara in the movie appeared to be of orange blossom and myrtle... which seems to be accurate from all I have read. The picture above is of Victoria and Albert, I think this photo was made in 1857, however, not their wedding picture. They were married in 1840.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day... reportedly, due to her station as the sovereign, Victoria proposed marriage, not Albert. In any case, their marriage was a happy one, they had nine children!

Here is a pic of snow-drops, supposedly Victoria's favorite flower and used as her wedding bouquet.

Princess Margaret- getting a handle on it...

2010-01-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the 2010 blog posts... it's been a nice vacation. I received many vintage royal publications as Christmas presents. The pic here comes from a commemorative book published just after Princess Margaret's wedding in 1960. There are some great pictures, many I have never seen, that give a new and different view into the Princess's big day with the Earl of Snowdon.

This pic although small, the scanner is not cooperating, shows a rare glimpse of the rear of the bouquet where you can see the carrying handle and the exceptional construction technique... wire and tape all the way. Her bouquet contained miniature orchids, stephanotis, and Lily of the Valley. The handle of the bouquet is very trim... the designer who put this on together had great form and content. It's a smallish sized bouquet, but the condensed form of the materials, surely was very labor intensive. What a princess... lovely with that diamond tiara.

Royal Wedding tidbit of the day... when Anthony Armstrong-Jones married Princess Margaret in 1960, he was created the Earl of Snowdon by Queen Elizabeth. Their children are Viscount David Lindley and Lady Sarah Chatto.

Photo Credit: Princess Margaret's Wedding Book, by Neil Ferrier, Purnell & Sons, Ltd., London, 1960, photo pages.

Dec. 31st 2009

2009-12-31T20:24:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to get in one more post before the end of the year and the end of the decade.

I am hoping that everyone leaves 2009 with some happy memories... and hope that all of you are blessed with much happiness and good health in 2010.

I hope to be back into the royal wedding flower thing once the new year gets into full swing. Stan gave me many new "royal" books and publications for Christmas, so I have much new research material and many photos to scan and share here on the blog.

Happy New Year and God Bless! Terry.

St. Stephen's Day 12/26/09

2009-12-26T16:09:00.001-08:00

Just have to say.... thanks to my Aunt Sibbie... she is such a sport. When I first posted the pic on the left, I expected some backlash and tongue lashing... but, she took it in stride. So much so that this Christmas she voluntarily recreated the scene. Way to go Sibbie.

And so, to everyone, a Happy St. Stephen's Day. St. Stephen was the first martyr of the church or the "Proto-Martyr". St. Stephen was stoned to death for professing his faith in Jesus, and as he died, saw a vision of Jesus standing by God the Father in witness to his sacrifice of faith. Here's hoping that everyone is continuing to have a Merry Christmas, as the new year of 2010 grows nearer. Later, Terry.

Christmas Day 2009

2009-12-25T15:05:00.001-08:00

Well, the big day has finally come. No more days 'til Christmas, but now the Christmas celebration has officially started, and will go until Epiphany on Jan. 6th... that's when the three wise men/kings visit the manger.

Our Christmas started out with an evening vigil mass, then dinner with family and friends. We stayed up much later than usual to watch some wonderful Christmas musical shows and the beginnings of the midnight mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Wash., DC. This Christmas morning brought rain and wind to our island, and even tornado warnings. We braved the weather to drive to Savannah have brunch with Dad and Martha at the Westin's Savannah Harbor Resort. The hotel had beautifully unique decorations in browns, silver and aqua tones. The brunch was incredible with the most varied buffet I had ever seen... from oysters on the half self to creamed rutabagas, and everything in between. It was a great Christmas day spent with family and loved ones, no one could ask for a better day.

My gifts this year took a royal theme, and I received several vintage publications commemorating many special events in the life of the House of Windsor. I can't wait to dive in and read, as well as use much of that information when I resume my discussion of royal weddings and royal wedding flowers... which I hope to return to in 2010.

Thanks for looking during your holidays, and during my special blog segue into vintage Christmas trees and their decorations. Peace and Happiness to everyone in the new year. Terry.

Dec. 23,, 2009 Santa's Helpers

2009-12-23T19:20:00.000-08:00

The wonder years of the sixties, what a great pic here. Mother, working 'til the wee hours, helping Santa of course. I think she was about 27 yrs. old here. I think this was our first Christmas in the house on Wilmington Island.

Here is another one of those great balsam trees with big lights, and the great old glass mix-matched ornaments. Not too much tinsel/icicles on this tree. Boy how that room has changed over the years. The room in the pic is the den. For some reason in those early years in that house, the Christmas tree was set up in the den, on the back of the house. I don't remember when, or why the tree eventually moved to the living room on the front of the house facing the street. That is something I will have to investigate. So, tonight with just 2 days to go 'til Christmas, I have been, like Mother in this pic, getting ready by "helping" Santa too. Lots of last minute wrapping being done tonight, making a centerpiece for Christmas Eve dinner, and fantasizing about sleeping later than usual in the morning.

Days 'til Christmas ......... 2!!!!!

Remmberin the Snow in Savannah...

2009-12-22T18:06:00.002-08:00

12/22/09 - another 20 year milestone this week. It was 20 years ago that Savannah saw it's first white Christmas in recorded history. Snows starting on the 22nd, and ending early on the 24th of December. It was truly strange, let me tell you.

We had already had a sad week, since my grandmother has passed away on the 18th, and her funeral on the 19th. We were not ready for any such surprise as this. I don't even remember being mindful of the weather forecasts at the time. We were all home from work with the holiday vacation already starting, and from taking time off for the funeral and many out of town guests. As the week progressed on towards Christmas, we just stayed inside, made chili and jambalaya and watched it snow. Looking back now, I kinda feel like the world was sending us this beautiful sight in a way of comforting us at the loss of Nana. And, it was beautiful, so quiet, so peaceful. For years I felt sorry that Nana missed what would have been her only white Christmas in all of her 84 years... but maybe, it was God telling us, our little family, that something great had occurred, and this would be a sign that we could always remember it by. Her great beautiful presence had left us, but for a few days was replaced by the beautiful snowfall, to give us a few days of comfort and joy.

Certainly I can say without a doubt that in the picture above, this was the only time that Mother's house saw snow and Christmas decorations at the same time. Maybe, another white Christmas will be in our future, one that I will live to see.

Wow, it's getting really close! Days 'til Christmas ................. 3!

Those Crazy Christmas Gifts!

2009-12-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

We just can't figure out for the life of us, 1. Why Nana wanted a picture of this on Christmas morning 1964 and 2. Why Sibbie would have posed for the picture in the first place. We all have been laughing over this old picture for the past few weeks. Certainly those wouldn't have fit her!

Some years you get those crazy gifts that, though well intentioned, just end up collecting dust, mold and whatnot in the top of the closet. The spirit of giving the gift is the most important thing, especially in the Christmas season. I try not to think "what were they thinking", but rather "what were they intending". I know that all the gifts I receive, no matter the size, expense, or usefulness, was chosen with the intention of bringing me happiness. Most important, since the greatest gift we as Christians have ever received was small, and not wrapped in fancy paper, but swaddling cloth, and not in a big fancy container, but in a lowly manger... now, there is Christmas.

I know, kinda weird to have the deep spiritual commentary right next to the picture of "The Ghost of Christmas Panties", but, it's my blog and the ideas just come when they come.

Days 'til Christmas ............................. 5!

Christmas Tree Backdrops 12/19/09

2009-12-19T07:06:00.001-08:00

Christmas trees make wonderful backdrops for family photos. If you look through most peoples photo albums both old and new, you will probably come across many snapshots where folks are gathered in front of the decorated tree.

Here is our Christmas Card pic from this year. Marvin was getting a little anxious prior to the camera snapping.

It's our 6th anniversary, a great day to celebrate all the blessings and gifts of the last six years. Thanks to Stan and Marvin for making my life so wonderful!

The second pic here, one from the past, with my brothers, Jerry and Dan, left and middle. I am guessing thiswas about1977 or '78. I was about 11 or 12 that year. I think, a little to old for footed pajamas! Anyway, it must have been cold to have called for such warm sleepware. Goes to show you how the climates have changed. It was normally cold in December back then, even way down in Savannah. Have to mention the great old balsam tree with plenty of tinsel. I can even still see the old "snow-ball" lights still being used on this tree.

Days 'til Christmas ........................ 5!

December 18, 2009

2009-12-18T18:59:00.001-08:00

Most people wouldn't think that remembering the anniversary of some one's passing as a happy time. Here in this picture is my Nana, she was the center of our world for many years. Today marks the 20th anniversary of her passing. I couldn't find the words to describe what she meant to me and my family, and here, now twenty years later, her memory is still a part of my thoughts everyday.

When she died back in 1989, I thought how rough it would be to loose someone so close and loved right at the Christmas holidays. Yes, it was a strange and in many ways sad Christmas that year, having just gone through a funeral after her long illness, but now, as my brother put it today, we can smile and feel extremely grateful for all the years we had her with us. She was a true Southern lady, gentle and very well mannered. She imparted her special wisdom to her children and grandchildren on a daily basis. Nana also had a strong Christian faith that strengthened her and led her through many personal trials... the death of two of her children and husband, illness, loss, and the economic difficulties of the Great Depression. She also had her special brand of family history through storytelling and many photographs. She instilled in us a deep pride of family history and a knack for tradition building, especially for Christmas. Many of her cherished, and very old, Christmas ornaments hang on my Christmas tree and the Christmas trees of my brothers, Mother's, my aunt's and cousins, all the way from Maryland to Nebraska. I still do miss her everyday, but my memories of her strengthen me and reassure me, putting the initial grief of loosing her very much in the past. I'll post one more pic for this special blog post... a picture of Nana's Christmas tree angel... it goes atop my tree every year and it is probably my most cherished possession and "Nana" Christmas tradition. Nana... all my love, and thank you for everything. Terry.

Day's 'til Christmas ............................................6!

December 17, 2009

2009-12-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

It's a low country Christmas for us here... down in South Carolina, at one time, cedar trees were the popular tree to use in the house. Why, well, they were and still are plentiful. And, they were cheap, as in they grow out in the woods here, and along the banks of the rivers and marshes. So, just go cut one down. The "red cedar" that grows heartily here is not really a cedar but a variety of juniper.

I only had one cedar tree for a Christmas tree, back in the early 80's. I have to tell you, they don't hold the big lights well at all. the limbs are quite flexible and even droopy. So, heavy ornaments are out of the question. We ended up using clear miniature lights when we found the cedar we had cut wouldn't hold our big C-7 lights. This pic here isn't the tree we had, but an old image found on the Internet. We did however have strung popcorn on ours, it's light weight and the white popcorn looks very nice against the dark green foliage. If you do choose a cedar, do keep it well watered, as they drink lots of water and can dry out really fast. My cousins in NC always had a cedar cut from a field, I didn't like the look of them back then, but now, I can appreciate the down-home look of a cedar Christmas tree.

Days til Christmas............................. 7!!! Wow, it's getting close.

December 13, 2009

2009-12-13T18:43:00.000-08:00

Those dreaded family Christmastime gatherings... I used to wonder what people were so angry about... Christmas Eve at my grandparents house with all my cousins there, was my favorite night of the year. But, as we got older and we were more aware of the adults behavior... well, I started to understand why people didn't want to be anywhere near their relatives on Christmas!

There are a couple of happy faces here in this pic, but the look on my cousin Dawn's face kinda sums up what the coming years would bring... maybe she knew something then that would take me years to be aware of. We were only 6 cousins at the time, but there would be two more added for a full compliment of 8. Some of us are still in contact from time to time, but, with the passing of years and the passing of the grandparents and one uncle, the family dynamics have changed dramatically, everyone making their own families and taking on new traditions and types of gatherings.

One comment on the tree... my grandparents were too picky. They let the grandkids decorate the whole thing. I was the oldest, so as usual the oldest and tallest got the lighting detail. They used the same old "toilet brush" style artificial tree every year, and it always looked lovely, a great Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandaddy's house every year.

Days 'til Christmas........................ 12!

December 9, 2009

2009-12-09T13:16:00.001-08:00

It's not all about the trees you know... "Who said that????"

Yes, I like to consider garlands one of my specialties as well. People don't realize how much you can decorate with them. Some rooms that are too small for a whole tree can most times accommodate at least one decorated garland. Door frames, fireplace mantels, foyer entrances, window frames, large mirrors, portraits or pictures. Any place a garland, fresh or artificial, can hang safely and securely can become a display. The one pictured here is just one room away from the Aluminum tree and chandelier decor on the previous post. This house really lends itself to red and gold, and non-traditional green tones. The touch of red lights, not white, give it some added richness. You can make all the garlands through the house coordinate with the tree, or choose a different decor from room to room. Gooooooo Garlands!

Days 'til Christmas............................................. 15!

December 6,2009

2009-12-06T18:04:00.001-08:00

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Well, the holiday season is rolling right along, and decorations are going up everywhere here on our island. One of the best parts of the Christmas season is getting to help others decorate their homes in preparation for the great celebration of Christmas.

My special holiday blog about Christmas tree wouldn't be complete without a real retro aluminum tree. Big advantage here, no lights to string! This one belongs to my favorite sister-in-law with a house on a creek. She and her family went through a total house renovation earlier in the year, and the finished product gave them this great dinning room with views of the great oaks outside and the creek beyond. We did a little something special on the new chandelier in the dinning room... with the addition of some great vintage ornaments, and some gold wire, a great effect was achieved in the new hip surrounds. What fun to help others decorate!

Day's 'til Christmas ........................... 19!

December 4, 2009

2009-12-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

Here is one of my favorite pics because it has my Nana in it. That's us at Nana's house in Savannah and, it's Christmas 1970. Another great, stick thin balsam tree with icicles and all of Nana's great ornaments, a couple I can see in this picture are on my tree right now.... the red one with snow on the top, as well as the funny pink snowman (bottom limb) are two of my Christmas treasures, because for so many years they were on Nana's tree. You can't see the tree topper in this one, but I am sure it is her angel, again that angel is on my tree and has been the topper of all my trees for the past 12 years. I will treasure it always, so, the second pic today is Nana's angel.

Days 'til Christmas...................... 21!

December 2, 2009

2009-12-02T06:09:00.000-08:00

Another "what says Christmas more?" pic, here is one, two cute babies in rocking chairs infront of their Christmas tree. This is Christmas 1967, so I am about 1 yr 5 mos. at this point, and I think, yes, I think, but not certain that I am the one on the left. At that age, not even Mother can identify which on is which.

Love this pic for other reasons too... the old timey balsam tree is great... bet is smelled real Christmassy in there. Also, a sign of the residential architecture in the mid-late '60's, those aluminum framed louver windows in the living room and in the front door, along with some plastic sheeting over them... must have been cold that December.
And... those curtains, they moved with us the next year to the island house, about 10 miles out of town. Really miss those old balsam trees... and I really miss my red pajamas too!

Days 'til Christmas .................................... 23!

What's up with that tree????

2009-11-29T18:21:00.000-08:00

I am going to guesstimate that the year was, oh I'd say 1978 or so... but anyway, what's up with that tree??? It looks like it's about to fly away. I don't know where we got this one from, but those bottom limbs are too much. Oh well, it left plenty of room for presents to go underneath. Somebody did a good job on the tinsel, however. Also, it looks like sports/workout wear was really in that year along with curly perms and feathered hair!

Let's start a new countdown shall we, how about ... Days until Christmas? ......... 26!

ChristmasTree 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-28T17:47:00.000-08:00

365 days in the making, waiting for the appointed time, and now the countdown to Christmas Tree 2009 is over. Again this year, it's a masterpiece. We trucked it out to Okatie, SC to our favorite tree farm and tromped the field for about a half hour before finding our tree. From in the house to finished decorating took about 7 hours. To be honest, I got real tired out and left about 1/3 of our ornaments in the boxes. This year's tree is bigger, maybe better than the last two years. The addition of two new boxes of old lead icicles really helped finish it off. Thanks Stan for helping me cut the trunk again when we got home... if anyone needs a gift idea for us... a sharp new saw would be the trick. Enjoy the pics and some more commentary below.

Here is the tree just in the house after the traditional and soul-tyring struggle with the stand. Yeah, it looks a bit wonky now, but I love a tree-challenge, we are much preferring the natural look from the self-chopped tree.

Coming up in this month's blog... some more great pics of Christmases past. Thanks for stopping in. Terry.

7 hours later, and all the finishing touches are in place, except the tree skirt, I notice now. What a great effect the old icicles give the tree.

Nothing says Merry Christmas like shredded lead hanging on pine branches!

Happy Thanksgiving! 11-26-09

2009-11-26T08:04:00.001-08:00

Here is a great tree I decorated back in my seminary days... early '90's... Mother posing with the tree with her super long '90's hair. Yes, that is snow outside the window. This was taken in the last week of December, the DC area got a huge amount of snow that year, a few days after Christmas.

The tree was a Fraser Fir, from a nursery in MD. The decorations, mostly glass ornaments from years and years built up in the seminary house's attic... it all made a lovely tree.

It's Thanksgiving Day 2009. Hope everyone has a great day with family and friends and hope and pray that all people today have enough to eat, and that hunger will become a thing of the past, nourish your body, and nourish your spirit on this day that we are all most grateful for.

And... since the turkey day is here, that means that our going to get our tree day is even closer. Days til we get our tree.........2!

Nov. 24,2009

2009-11-24T17:49:00.000-08:00

Goose Feathers!? yes, these old trees, the first of the artificial trees around. made of delicate yet rigid pin feathers of geese. The feather trees were the ultimate in displays for hanging the most select ornaments. Though the true feather trees are hard to come by these days, some can be found in antique stores or on web-bid sites like e-"you know". But, if you do find one and want to buy it, be prepared to pay extraordinary prices for them. The picture here from the '30's is unusual in that the tree is rather large. The true feather trees I have seen in person are quite small, table top sizes. There are substitutes out there, same shape and size, but made with pvc tree material like the standard artificial trees today.

Days til we go get our tree.................. 5!

Sunday Nov. 22, 2009

2009-11-22T06:55:00.000-08:00

In just a week the house and halls will be decked-out for the Christmas celebration. The tree pictured here came from a site on the Internet. It's a great tree, the kind I like with long wide spaced branches, plenty of room for the handing ornaments and icicles.

I don't think we will find this sort of tree in our area, at our local Christmas tree farm. But, I am confident that we will find the right tree for us. For the past two years we have selected and cut a Virginia pine. The needles are long, about 3", and the foliage is a dark green with a blue tint. If you have ever seen the movie "A Christmas Story"... who hasn't? Our trees look pretty much like that tree that Ralphie and his family choose from the tree lot. That's the kind of look I have been going for in my trees recently. I like the vintage look of the Christmas trees from the late '30's and the '40's. I use the big C7 ceramic lights, some thin tinsel garland, and lots of lead icicles. However, unlike Ralphie's family, we don't wait until Christmas eve to decorate the tree... yep, we are all about getting things started the Sat. or Sunday after Thanksgiving. When a time is so wonderful and happy as Christmas comes just once a year, I say, why not enjoy it as long as possible. Happy Sunday everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving!

The picture here to the left is another great decorated tree from my childhood home. This one is another of the perfectly shaped and fragrant Fraser Firs. Mother uses a pearl bead garland on her trees that really gives it an elegant and traditional look. And, in this pic, it looks like Santa has already made his visit.

Days til we go get our tree ................... 6!

November 20, 2009 In the Pines

2009-11-20T18:26:00.000-08:00

So, a pine tree may not be the ideal tree you think of for a Christmas tree. Fir trees are the standard these days... as they are readily available and shipped in from NC and VA. However, before the advent of the massive home store retailers and nursery/greenhouses offering trees for sale, most people had to go out and cut one down, so, it goes to reason that you cut down what was available in your local area. For instance, when Mother was growing up they always had a pine tree, not sure of the variety, but my grandfather went out into the marshy woods along side the swampy Savannah River. From what I hear, he set out with an axe and came back with a Christmas tree, home/locally grown, natural, and free. From this pics, these naturally grown pines can offer some difficult decorating challenges... few branches, long and up swept branches, extremely long needles, and often crocked trunks. All these things might give us pause these days when decorating. But, when having a tree in the house for the holidays, really does it matter if it's not perfectly shaped and grown on a picturesque snowy hillside in Virginia? No, these days, I am for "the homey-er, the better" look in a tree, and accept the decorating challenges. It makes me feel like I am being a part of the past when we go out and cut down our pine tree. It's one of the ways that Christmas has become more of a special time of the year for us. Again, I am going to post the picture from my mother's childhood home in Port Wentworth, back in 1950, one of those pine trees that Granddaddy cut down with his axe from the woods aside the Savannah River.

Days til we go get our tree............. 8!

The Trees Are Here! Nov. 18, 2009

2009-11-18T18:12:00.000-08:00

Just can't believe how fast the holidays seem to be coming this year. The fresh cut trees at the lots appeared today in our area. With the warm weather, I hope they last and stay as fresh as possible.

All of the tree-lot trees in our area are the ever-popular Fraser Firs, making the trip down from North Carolina. The pic here is of a Fraser Fir, at Mother's house, I am going to say in the mid to late '80's. We thought we had arrived when you could get the fragrance of a Balsam with the near perfect and full shape of the Fraser Fir all in one tree.

Now my tastes have turned to a more traditional look in a Christmas tree, so I am not preferring theses bushy trees anymore... not enough open space for the ornaments to hang properly, in my opinion.

That popcorn garland on the tree pictured here is real. It takes a lot of popcorn and lots of patience. Note to the brave who will take on this task.... you can't string popcorn that has been popped in oil, it must be dry popped! It's simply impossible to string the oily buttered popcorn. But, once done it adds the most amazing smell when combined with the fresh tree. Try it if you dare.

Days until we go get our tree...10!

Dreaming of a White Christmas Tree Part II

2009-11-17T18:25:00.000-08:00

See yesterday's blog post for what this tree looked like before it was decorated! The poor tree under all that white fluff really took a beating. The weight of the flocking, the lights, the bead garland, and all those blue and silver ornaments really took a toll on that poor skinny tree. But, it really looked snow covered now, didn't it?

That's Bret in the pic, one of my best friends from the CA days. God often blesses us with tremendous friends all through our life, and Bret has remained a good friend and loyal communicator for the past 8 years. He is a hoot, one of the funniest people I know, and talented to boot. B, I hope you don't mind being out there in the blogsphere. That was a fun night, the night that tree was decorated. It turned out to be quite a wild party, about 12 of those ornaments got smashed, and a couple of ashtrays and cocktails glasses got broken as well. But, it was great fun. The next picture is not the white tree, but it is the closest pic I could find... that shows what this tree looked like before it got flocked!

Thanks for checking in and reading my special holiday blog posts.

Days til we go cut down our tree...11! Temps are still in the '70's here, we have the windows and doors open, whew, it's warm for November.

I Was Dreaming of a Whte Christams Tree!

2009-11-16T16:10:00.001-08:00

Temperatures were in the high '70's here today, so, again, kinda hard to get in the mood for tree decorating. I am hoping for a gradual drop in temps. as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches.

So, when I lived in CA, they would do just about anything to a Christmas tree. The flocking would come in many colors at some tree lots. One year I decided that I was finally going to get a live tree flocked white and use all blue decorations. Here is that very tree, a "pencil" noble fir as we used to call them in the SF, CA floral world. However, the "flockers" went a little overboard and the spray on snow really weighed the branches down. I will have to locate a pic of this tree completely decorated to show you what it looked like finished. Well, they just don't do flocking down here in the south, but, I think that one flocked tree per lifetime is plenty... really.

Days til we go and cut our tree...12! Come on cool weather!

November 15, 2009

2009-11-15T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are on the beach, Sat. Nov. 14th... can't believe that in just two short weeks, we will be out looking for our Christmas Tree.

It's kinda hard to get in the holiday spirit for decorating and gift shopping when the temps are in the '70's, but we will put forth an effort to get in the mood for the season, cause, yes, we are those annoying types who use the days off after Thanksgiving to deck the halls and start wrapping the gifts. Christmas is such a joyful time of year filled with happiness and love, that I want to experience for as long as I can, before the dark of winter and the long cold months really set in. Not to mention that to me and mine the Christmas season, preceded by Advent is very important to our spiritual lives as Christians.

Here is a pic of last year's tree... when getting ready to get ready for the tree pick'n it might be good to remind me what a nice tree we had in 2008... kinda raises the bar on the tree search for 2009.

Days til we go get our tree for 2009... 13!

Looking for the PERFECT tree...

2009-11-14T17:26:00.000-08:00

I found this picture on some other site. It made me think of what the Perfect tree means to me as far as choosing the just right tree for your holiday home. Years ago, before the advent of toady's "family adventure choose and cut your own" we always headed to Daffin Park in mid-town Savannah. Daffin park played host to about three or four tree lots during the season. Some were The Italian Club, the YMCA, St. Michael's Church, etc. These were the traditional , every year organizations that offered fresh cut trees to the citizens of Savannah. Many years we made the rounds of all the tree lots in the lot before choosing our tree. Most of the time they were the good ole Balsam trees that more than likely made more than a thousand mile journey from Nova Scotia or some other farm supplier in southern Canada. Anyway, we were strict Balsam folks, always shunning the scotch pines, we thought them an inferior tree. You know, too bushy and full, not enough space for "hanging" ornaments. Anyway, these days, the balsams can't be found, they have been replaced by the full and flawlessly shaped Frasier Firs from North Carolina. They are great trees, and I have had many of them, but I am really longing for the old Balsam days, a little less perfect tree with more room to hang all those ornaments I have. We will go to our regular tree farm this year... in about 2 weeks! Yikes it's coming up so soon. (we always decorate the tree on the Sat. or Sunday after Thanksgiving.) We'll get us a home grown Virginia Pine, grown in South Carolina. If it's too bushy, well, we'll just trim and thin it out a bit to make room for all the ornaments so they'll hang just right. The second picture is of my parent's first tree in the house we live in when I was born, it's one of those great old Balsam trees, more than likely picked out from one of the tree lots in Daffin Park, decorated with lots and lots, and lots of tinsel icicles. That's dad way back in 1964, putting some presents under the tree.

And, again one of those great old 3x3 snapshots with the date of developing printed on the outer frame. Looks like it was a busy winter as this pic of Christmas 1964 wasn't developed until June of 1965.

November 12, 2009

2009-11-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks, just a short posting tonight. Sharing another vintage pic from the family archive. This tree was for Christmas 1962, back at the grandparents home in Paradise Park neighborhood of Savannah. It's a pine tree of the typical variety, most likely my grandfather cut this on down himself... not sure where he would have cut it since the family had moved to the suburbs by this time. Again with the lead tinsel! Looks like someone got golf clubs for Christmas. I like the way the film developers used to post the date on the side of the pics... looks like it took Nana a few months to get this roll developed.