I Heart Map Wall Art

What do you get for someone who is getting married for the second time, already has a home, and has requested that donations be made in lieu of gifts?  Well, I guess, technically you just give a donation, but given the circumstances my sister and I wanted to do something more personal.
My youngest sister passed away from breast cancer two years ago (you can read my tribute to her here) and her husband has met someone new.  From all reports his fiance sounds like a gem.  It isn't easy accepting the previous wife's family and she has been wonderfully kind and generous to us all.  I couldn't be happier for my brother-in-law and am looking forward to meeting his fiance and celebrating their wedding this weekend out in Winnipeg.  
Unfortunately my other sister is not well and won't be able to attend the wedding.  I know my brother-in-law and his fiance don't want people giving them lots of gifts given that they have both been married before, but I wanted to help my sister who can't attend the wedding feel like she is celebrating the event too.  

After some consideration we decided to make the new couple some map wall art.  You can see some examples here, here and here.  The cost was minimal and it really is a personal gift.  
We printed off maps from the internet that reflected where the new couple met and live and the two places they have visited together.

We traced a heart-shaped cookie cutter onto the maps and cut them out.  Then we attached them using double-sided tape onto some linen cloth and framed them.

This is just a little way we can show that we are pleased with the new marriage and wish them well.

Farm Wedding Details

Yesterday I posted about the environmentally-friendly flowers from the wedding we attended on the weekend (which you can read about here).  Not only were the flowers gorgeous, but the wedding took place on a farm so it was such a pretty setting. We were under the trees for the ceremony which made it a little cooler and thankfully there wasn't any rain.

The chairs were set up near the edge of a field and coloured ribbon were wound around the edges of the chairs near the aisle.

Across the front of the area for the wedding ceremony there were garlands of hearts hung from the trees.  They also had made fans out of the programs which were glued onto painted stir sticks.

When it was time for the bride and bridesmaids to come up the aisle they were driven in a tractor-drawn wagon with a sign that said "Here Comes the Bride".  They each had a white umbrella that hid them until they arrived.

The tables were decorated with a carafe of candy and a huge lollipop in the middle with the table number on it.  We were encouraged to nibble snarf the candy during the speeches.  Each place-setting had a small pot of homemade strawberry jam for everyone to take home.  I love strawberry jam and have been enjoying mine on toast.

The shed where we ate dinner was hung with balloons in the wedding colours and strings of mini-lights.

After dinner we were taken on a wagon ride around the farm which had some lovely views from a cliff overlooking the city of Hamilton.

This is why you chose to have your wedding on a farm - what a gorgeous pastoral scene with the sunbeams peaking through the clouds!

I tell everyone this couple's "how we got together" story because I think it is so funny and so them.  I will call the couple Anne and Michael.  

Anne and Michael met and became friends at university. One summer when Anne went home to Thunder Bay to work for the summer, Michael thought he and some of their other friends should drive up and visit her so she wouldn't be lonely.  Micheal had the use of his grandmother's car for the long weekend so, despite his mother's warnings that it was a 16-hour trip EACH way, they made plans to drive up and visit her. On the Thursday before the long weekend Michael's mother came home from work to find their son and a bunch of his friend's around the kitchen table getting ready to go.  There was one person she didn't know and when she was introduced to the new friend named Anne, she said "Anne! The Anne they are going to visit?" To which Anne replied "Yep the road trip sounded like so much fun I flew down here to join them on it".  It was on the road trip that Anne and Michael took a little more notice of each other and soon became a couple - and the rest is history.

Isn't that crazy? You would have to know Anne and Michael to know how well suited they are for each other.  When Michael and Malcolm (our son) were in high school together, Michael said to Malcolm "hey do you want to go for a walk?"  It turns out that his idea of a walk was to walk from where we live in the suburbs to Toronto - a distance of 46 kilometers!  Since Malcolm was game for a "walk", they started planning their route.  I suggested that they should raise some money for a charity - so they did. Together they raised $1500 for AIDS orphans in Tanzania and were even interviewed for a local cable TV station and were in the newspaper.  See what I mean - Michael and Anne both love crazy schemes.  Life isn't going to be boring for them.

A Green Wedding Bouquet

On Saturday we went to my son's friend's wedding.  They incorporated a lot of unique and creative ideas into their wedding - many of them environmentally-friendly.  One of the things that I was looking forward to seeing at their wedding was the flowers because I had read about the concept behind the florist and loved the idea. 

The bouquets were made by a one-woman business in Toronto called My Luscious Backyard. The woman who owns My Luscious Backyard, Sarah Nixon, grows organic flowers in residential back and front yards around Toronto.  It is a win-win situation as she gets the use of many small plots of land scattered around her neighbourhood to grow the flowers she uses to make beautiful fresh bouquets for offices, dinner parties, and weddings.  In return the owners of the plots of land have beautiful intensely-planted flower gardens to enjoy, maintained by someone else.  
My Luscious Backyard is a part of a new wave of urban farming, known as SPIN - small plot intensive farming.  SPIN farming is gaining in popularity in cities across North America as a result of the eat local movement.  Growing flowers for a local market is a natural extension of the intensive urban vegetable gardens.  I had never heard of anything like this, but am captivated by the ingenuity of this unique urban land use.  Have you heard of SPIN farming in your area?  
According to Sarah, the bouquets are best for people who are willing to be flexible about what flowers are used.  When flowers bloom depends on the season and on mother nature and can therefore be hard to predict.  The advantage of a small local business is that in addition to the usual flowers, sometimes non-traditional flowers can be used in the bouquets creating a unique look.
Sarah has gone out of her way to create an environmentally-friendly florist company. The flowers are:

• grown organically
• germinated in coconut husks  rather than "unsustainable" peat moss
• arranged in vintage or locally-made vases rather than using flower foam (which is not biodegradable) 
• wrapped in minimal packaging 
• grown locally so they haven't used a lot of fossil fuels getting to their destination
• tended, harvested, and delivered locally by Sarah using a bicycle with an attached trailer

The colours at the wedding we attended were purple, orange, and green.  You can see the bridesmaid's bouquets in the photos below.  The bridesmaids wore purple dresses (each one was different as the attendants were free to pick their own dress as long as it was purple) and their bouquets contained orange dahlias, white flowers and green berries.  I'm not up on the names of all the flowers used, but as you can see they were gorgeous.

The bride's bouquet was a little larger than the bridesmaids' and was tied with a trailing white ribbon.  In addition to the orange dahlias, the white flowers, and green berries, her bouquet also had lovely purple alstroemerias to tie in with the bridesmaids' dresses.  

Stay tuned for tomorrow as I'm posting more of their wedding ideas as well as how the couple met - it is seriously one of the best "how we got together" stories.  

A Few More Wedding Photos

Life has been busy and I haven't had the time or energy to post much recently as I'm sure you've noticed.   I'm going away for seven weeks in just one month -yikes- and there is still so much to do.  Not to mention dealing with all the other curve balls that life throws at you.  I hope you are able to bear with me.  


One of my most recent obsessions distractions is pouring over the wedding photos that we got from the photographer on the weekend.  I'm in the process of making a photobook, which I love doing.  I thought I would share some of my favourite photos.

And just in case you think I only like photos without faces, here are a few others I adore.

And this last one brings tears to my eyes.

Linked to Good Life Wednesday at A Beach Cottage

A Lovely Relaxed Wedding

Yesterday was Malcolm, our oldest son, and Christie's wedding.  The bride and groom radiated joy and happiness.

The weather was misty and rainy and created a beautiful soft backdrop to the photos taken in the gazebo.  Fortunately we got the outdoor photos taken before it really started to rain and the weather didn't really interfere too much with the rest of the day. 

The flowers worked out well and Christie and her sister, who was the maid of honour, were thrilled with them.  

My friend came over on Friday and helped Kate and me make all the bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres, and flowers for the centre of the tables.  Together we were a flower making machine as we had everything made by noon.   Not only that, but I had bought all the flowers from our local grocery store and had had to eyeball the quantity as I wasn't sure how much I would really need.  I figured I could go out and get more if we ran short.  After we were finished making everything I gathered up the leftovers and there were only ten flowers remaining!


On Saturday we went early and had photos taken before the wedding service so it wouldn't interfere with the rest of the day.  After we had finished taking the photos we all needed some coffee.  You can see in the photo below the bride and groom standing in the coffee shop with their timbits and coffee.  Oh so Canadian!

The wedding service was personal and lovely.  The fathers of the bride and groom served communion, friends played the piano, sang a solo, and played during the signing of the register, and my brother read a scripture reading, and my Mother said the prayers.   I loved how the church was decorated with colourful banners - such a gorgeous backdrop for the wedding. 

The reception afterward was an afternoon tea, which perfectly suited Malcolm and Christie.  

There were several types of tea along with coffee and punch.  There were sandwiches, crackers and cheese, veggies, scones with a variety of jams, a dessert table,

and cupcakes instead of a traditional cake along with a fruit bouquet.  It was delicious and casual and fun.

I had suggested to Christie's mother that we give each other's child a special cup to use at the afternoon tea.  Christie's family is from the Netherlands so her Mother bought Malcolm a cup from the Dutch shop in town.   I decided to go with a sentimental cup.  My Mother and Father were given many tea cups at their wedding 55 years ago (some of which she has given to me) so I asked my Mother is she would be willing to give one to Christie, which she did.  So my Mother selected this one for Christie from her collection.  You can see Malcolm and Christie using their special cups in the photo below.

Malcolm and Christie had sent out an email ahead of time letting everyone know that they would kiss at the reception, but not when people clinked on glasses.  They would only kiss when someone sang a song, told a story, recited a poem etc.  Everyone was very creative and it was a lot of fun.  Jonathan and I told three stories about how smart, charming, and frugal Malcolm is and how we can see these same qualities in Christie and what a great match they are and how we have enjoyed seeing them grow in love and affection for each other.

 We wish you well Malcolm and Christie!

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

I'm Going to the Chapel

The flowers have been sorted out and bouquets and corsages made.

The food has been ordered and the cupcakes are being made.

I have my dress.

And the bride and groom have been counting down for ages.


Tomorrow's the day -  Malcolm, our oldest son, is getting married to a wonderful girl.  I will be there with a smile on my face, joy in my heart (and between you and me a tissue in my purse - just in case). 


Details and pictures coming soon.

Wedding Flowers for the Tables

Today I'm guest posting over at Doberman by the Sea.  I spent a day this past weekend practicing arranging the flowers for my son's upcoming wedding in May.  Come on over and have a look at how the table arrangement worked out. 


And just so you know - they involved using all of these and then some.

Linked to Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch
Inspiration Friday at At the Picket Fence
Friday Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense