Learning to go with the flow!!

One thing I am learning when things go awry in wedding planning is that you have to learn to go with the flow. And for a complete control freak like me let me tell you that's quite hard!
We all had quite a shock recently when we went for a fitting of the wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses we had ordered last year.

 Don't worry the wedding dress was fine and still fitted the bride, which was a great source of relief I can tell you. However the bridesmaids dresses were the wrong colour. As we all stood there feeling slightly shocked, panic was beginning to grip my mind, did it matter?, what had we ordered that matched the colour we had chosen? Would  we able to change the dresses in time? All these questions rushed into my mind as I stood there thinking "flip" or words to that effect!

Now to be fair to the lady who was dealing with us she was equally shocked as we were. We had fortunately been given a swatch of the colour we had chosen; so that's a good tip for you, always ask for a swatch! The problem seemed to be that someone had written the wrong colour down, a simple mistake but one that was going to have repercussions for us.  So there's another tip, check the colour written down is the same as the one on the colour chart!
Now in the grand scheme of things I know this is not a huge issue, it just meant some creative thinking on our part.

 Wellingore Hall promised us they could get the dresses on time, but Elizabeth and I were in agreement that we just did not need that kind of  stress in our lives,waiting and hoping that they would arrive, so we decided to stick with the colour that had come. Don't  get me wrong
Elizabeth's sisters looked sensational in the new colour, it just wasn't the shade we had picked or the one  Elizabeth had been dreaming of for the last ten months.
Anyway, Emily, who is tasked with not only being maid of honour but also creative director of all things to do with wedding decorations immediately went into overdrive, she got straight onto Pinterest and came up with a whole new colour scheme for us.

 Elizabeth has stepped back from the flowers for her own wedding and is entrusting it all to her Sister and I. This is quite  daunting for me as I don't have the talent my two girls have, but I am looking forward to the challenge. I think Emily's ideas will look beautiful in the Church and barn and I know her ideas for her sisters bouquet will translate into something really beautiful, which I look forward to sharing with you after the event.

But for now, to make sure there are no more hiccups I need to go through my checklist and see what things I still have to organize because I cannot believe how fast these weeks are slipping by and before I know it my beautiful little girls heart will no longer be mine but will belong to another.

Spring Fever and Planting Seeds!

What is it about this time of year that makes you want to start clearing out the house and planting seeds all at the same time. Every year it's the same. I am faced with the dilemma that the house needs a really good clear out, in fact after living here twenty years it needs a monumental clear out. I think as you get older the desire to lighten the load gets stronger. Having watched my parents move down here to join us  the amount of clearing out and getting rid of possessions was quite astounding and I felt compelled to do the same. I just don't want to be bogged down by things that need my attention in the house when I could be doing interesting things with my children or outside on the vegetable patch.

 Every year I yearn to plant bigger and better. I want to be self sufficient in the vegetable front. Now I know I will never achieve it, but the desire is deep in my heart. There is something very cathartic about getting your hands dirty in soil and seeing new fresh green seedlings pop up out of the earth. A little bit of warm weather, blue sky and sunshine immediately makes me pull on my boots and race out into the garden, fork in hand, and then, I direct my husband where to start digging. I know I've  said it before but I don't know where I would be if my husband or one of my sons didn't come out and do the back breaking work for me. I love to wander around with my wooden tools in hand and do gentle hoeing and planting in the dug over beds but the hard digging does nothing for me at all.

In fact if I'm really honest what I love to do is pour over the seed merchants catalogues and dream about all the different packets of seeds I'm going to buy. My favorites are Sutton Seeds and
Thompson and Morgan. Both are full to bursting with beautiful pictures of wonderful flowers and the
freshest looking vegetables. Just recently Sarah Raven who writes for the Country Living magazine has put out her own seed catalogue, I am very inspired to try and grow some of our own flowers, you never know some of them may even be good enough to bring into the shop. Flowers have not been high on my list, although I love them our garden has been battered by our eight children kicking balls playing rugby and generally causing mayhem outside. But now they are all older and before the Grandchildren get to big it might just be the time and try. I just love Sarah Ravens white collection, so I think that will be first on my list!

The next thing I love to get are my new bags of compost, then I go into my greenhouse and begin to plant up trays and trays of this lovely dark, damp soil, sprinkling seeds as I
go. I work quite methodically writing out on lovely wooden stakes what each tray holds.
Then with my lovely old battered watering can I get the whole process off to a wonderful start
And give everything a good drink.

There is something quite miraculous about seeing the new growth beginning to poke its head up through the soil, this, then is when the fun really begins to happen. Thinning out, and transplanting, this is the bit I enjoy. I am sure I over crowd everything but at the end of the day when I have nice straight rows of lettuces, peas, beans, spinach etc I can stand back and admire my handiwork. I also love building frames and creating focal interest using old rusty obelisks and plant supports for the
peas and beans.

But best of all is when Summer comes and I can go out, colander in hand and pick some lovely lettuce for lunch, a quick wash and spin dry, straight too the plate with a handful of other veg lashings of olive oil and lemon juice, a sprinkling of salt and cracked pepper, fork in hand a go outside and
enjoy the fruits of my hard labour!

The other thing I love looking at is Pinterest where I get all sorts of ideas, that usually make me green with envy, the pictures above will give you an idea of what I mean here are a few examples I cameacross that  inspire me to get out there and get on!!

Invitations

I think after the dress the other attention to detail in this wedding has been the invitations. Now I am what you would call a traditionalist, I know call me old fashioned but when it comes to weddings I love proper wedding etiquette. So when we began to think about the all important wedding invite I thought clean, crisp, white or cream heavy card embossed with black ink, carefully worded and tied with a pretty ribbon. Similar to the design I had. It had stood the test of time and was evocative of times past.

 However when Elizabeth and I began to do some research I was amazed at the array of beautiful invitations that were out there. As you would expect the internet threw up a wealth of ideas. But we settled for Not on theHigh street

 Here we found some beautifully thought out designs. It never ceases to amaze me how very talented some people can be, in fact you can become very bamboozled with all the different choice.

But for us one stood out, I just loved the wording and the colour ways. Elizabeth and I both agreed these were just perfect and very much in keeping with the relaxed informal feel we want our guests to have when they join us for her most special day. Thankfully her Groom gave his full approval, which is a good job really as I want him to sit and write them all as it will save Elizabeth's Father and I the task of having to do it!

Family Wedding!

For those of you who don't know us, we at The Arbour are a Mother and two daughters team. One of our team Elizabeth is getting married in April and excitement is beginning to mount. Elizabeth will be my third child to get married and our second daughter so I must admit we are a bit more Laissez faire about this one.

Elizabeth, like many brides was excited to organize her dress. She had an idea of what she wanted, so with these thoughts in mind we went off into Lincoln  to try some on.
Her fiancé is from Scotland and is an only child so we thought it would be lovely to invite his Mother to come with us. We had a lovely day watching Elizabeth try on different dresses. This was a first for me, because when our other daughter Emily was getting married she found her dress at a little boutique and we decided that it was just what she wanted. Even in choosing my own dress I went to one shop and tried on two dresses and chose between them.
However! none of the dresses Elizabeth put on seemed quite right, they just weren't  " the one".

In the afternoon  we had made an appointment at one of the Counties leading dress suppliers, Belles and Bouquet, at Wellingore Hall. They have an amazing range of dresses, Elizabeth tried on a number of dresses,  we had first, second and third picked out, all of them just as she had imagined.  Then we spied one completely different to her  ideas, very simple but stunning.
Soon as she came out of the changing room I just knew, "this is  it" I thought, I could tell by the look on her face. We all started to cry, she looked beautiful, as only a bride can. She span and twirled all around the room and my heart melted my beautiful little girl was all grown. Anthony's Mother suddenly realized for the first time that this was it, her little boy was getting married,  we all stood there dabbing our eyes.

There is something very exciting about finding the right dress, I knew in that moment that no other dress would stand up to comparison. This was most definitely "the one". Rejoicing in the fact that the deed was done and I could strike that off my list of jobs to do.
The following Monday  We went back with Elizabeth's Father and Sisters so that they could  o.k the decision.  While we were there we decided  on their bridesmaid dresses;  Strike while the iron is hot, is my motto. It was a great feeling to know that not one but both jobs could now be ticked off my ever growing to do list. I must admit Belles and Bouquet made the job very simple and thanks to Grandpa's very generous request it wasn't to heavy on the budget either!

Hearts and Flowers

Hearts and flowers are such evocative symbols of romance and love. And to be fair it's not any flower but that intoxicating beauty that even Robbie Burns but pen to paper to write about, the red rose. Symbolic of love and romance, it truly lives up to its reputation in February.
Red roses are the time honoured way in which to tell your be-loved that you love them.
Converted down through the ages for their simple beauty and intoxicating scent, the rose has always won the hearts of many a young lady.

I must admit that red roses are not my favourite, I love the creams and pinks, there is something very special about recieving a bouquet of roses at no matter what the colour. For me what is important is the message behind the gift,  That I am loved. No matter how big or how small the fact that my beloved has taken the time and effort to dig deep into his pockets, ( as you have to at this time of year) and go and buy me a some beautiful fresh flowers makes my heart just melt.

So as we gear up to another Valentines day here on Steep Hill I hope your St.Valentines day will be filled with love, hope  and romance.