Planning a Garden Wedding Reception

So, my darling goddaughter got married on the beach in Hawai'i on January 2, 2012. He's wonderful; she's wonderful. The perfect couple!

She asked me to help her with the planning of her reception this summer. I'm so excited!

I'll keep you posted on what we are considering, what we've chosen and all the ways we've saved money.

She came over on Sunday and the planning began. First the budget. As Linsi said, "We want to buy a house and have babies someday. We need to be frugal." She said they were planning to have an outdoor reception in August in a lovely field in Seattle. She wants it to be casual, romantic, friendly and colourful.

I showed her what I have here. 125 darling white cake plates with gold trim, a red band with gold fleur-de-lis, several dozen wine glasses, several dozen (maybe close to 100) champagne flutes, some market umbrellas (we designers are supply rich). All these I have, so we can just fill in what what needs to be rented.

Then I told her about the fantastic reception I attended several years ago that had as a centerpiece the most fantastic tent on earth. I sent an email to the rep and we are awaiting sizes, pricing and availability. I'll let you know.

 
 

    

Then we chatted about flowers. They really can cost the earth. And, since they don't last very long, this may be the place to spend less money by doing something different. One of the prettiest reception I ever attended (bar none) had a corridor of planted pots billowing to overflowing with perennials and annuals. Utterly heavenly. Maybe I'll take a page out of their book without taking a page out of their check book and I'll hie myself to Craigslist to see what they have:

Oooh, I found a pair of cool ones.  $40 for the pair (practically free.) 24" tall. Kindah great! Handsome. Wrought iron. Weathered. Traditional. Generously sized. Fill with moss and peat and start the plants in May. They would be enormous by August. Could be good. Yes, I like this idea. Mmmm, I'll send Linsi the link and see what she says.

And, I'll keep you posted.

http://www.rajtents.com/index.asp

Day 14 Everyday Grateful ~ another gorgeous bright
Seattle morning. Perfect for a visiting guest.
The mother of my foreign exchange
student from China is arriving for a visit.
How fun is that!

Paradise ~ Happiness Came to Visit

Such a gorgeous morning. Cat Stevens playing on the speakers in the courtyard, open packages of potting soil, sun warming the air, plants readying for their pots, breakfast outside, fresh coffee and, yes, smoked salmon.



Heaven!

And, best of all? My goddaughter came by. We are starting the planning for her wedding reception. Is there anything lovelier than a true bright-eyed smile. A young woman who has found true love and blinding happiness!

Day 11 Everyday Grateful ~ being part of planning

for the future with my dear goddaughter.

Happy!

Such a lovely, lovely day.

Just got back from running errands with Ramses.

He likes to hang his head out the window.

Everything is so bright and fresh.

And, I came home to this.

I live in Paradise.

Day 7 Everyday Grateful ~ Seeing my life as a garden ~ blooming.

Brimming with optimism. I am so deeply grateful.

 

Spring in Seattle

What a lovely morning. I'm getting ready to go my friend, Barb's house for Easter brunch, but I just had to take a walk in the garden again this morning.

Last fall, when I bought forty pounds (or, was it eighty? I forget. Anyway, it was a lot!) of King Alfred daffodils, I imagined how wonderful the pots would look in the spring. As I've said before, planting bulbs shows faith in the future.

Now, we are seeing the results of that crazy idea. It's a daffodil riot outside. And, best of all they are just starting to open their heads. I love the way they respond to the sigh of the wind as it moves through the garden. 

Atmospheric. Transcendent. Hopeful. Beautiful.

My friend, Karen's husband Ron came by yesterday. He's the pressure washing king. He got all the Seattle winter moss and slime off the back deck. We are now ready for breakfast and dinner over looking the back yard.












I love this time of year. Each day, we are gathering light. The ground is warming. The energy of returning life is everywhere.

This next week, let's chat about garden art.

Happy Easter

Day 4 Everyday Grateful ~ a long, laugh-filled phone call

from The Bear.

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning . . .

Another reason we live in Seattle! I suspect the reason we tell everyone it rains all the time here is so they won't move here ~ and, make the traffic worse than it is!

But today . . . oh, so utterly gorgeous! The sky is robins egg blue and not a cloud in the sky. The sun casts deep, dark shadows across the lawn. The air is soft and clean. The leaves sparkle as they move in the breeze. This day has all my favourite things ~ the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, someone is mowing a lawn, a couple of dogs are barking, parents are walking their babies up the street under my window, you can just hear the wind chimes like very quiet, small bells and a group of kids are laughing and playing next door.

Talk about Everyday Grateful! This is one for the list.

As I was walking in the garden this morning and feeling the sun on my face, I am reminded of why I think of the garden as a lovely scented room. And, as we all know, the thing that makes a room is the accessories. In this garden, I love the dozens of pots filled with bulbs just beginning to open; their full heavy heads nodding in the breeze. There are pots of perennials; pots of annuals. Amazing pots. Plain vanilla pots. All working together to create a personal space of comfort and beauty.

As I've mentioned before, if I buy something, I look first at salvage and used. I've been very fortunate to find fantastic things for pennies on the dollar. I gravitate towards an eclectic mix that has an acquired look. The strength of the "acquired look" is it is visually interesting and benefits for the occasional addition to spice up the whole. It isn't necessary to go out and spend hundreds of dollars getting all matchy-matchy pots. Add a single "star" every year or so and the result will be more interesting.

Don't forget to add your found objects that can be used as garden art. This garden has a wonderful metal heron in a bright green glazed pot, a bamboo ladder leaning up against the wall and a black metal pergola with a floor of salvage cement tile from Singapore covered with moss, add your own acquired items to personalize your garden.

Parts of the garden are still sleeping. The mulch covering the beds is warming in the sun. The perennial peonies are just poking their soft red leaves out of the ground. The new leaves on the roses are soft, furled and a deep oxblood colour. Things are beginning to stir.

 

 Spring really is just around the corner.

Day 3 Everyday Grateful ~ Seattle in the spring.

Beautiful Goddess of the Garden

To paraphrase the great Rodgers and Hammerstein . . . Spring is Bustin' Out All Over

I was walking on my back deck between rain showers this morning and stopped to examine my pink dogwood. It's getting ready to bust!

Ah, dogwoods. Their beauty?
It's a mystery.

Beautiful goddess of the garden.
Translucent petals full of light.
Delicate. Elegant. Graceful.



They have no fragrance, look pretty dismal in the winter and are prone to breakage. And, don't even think of pruning them. When Joyce Kilmer said, "only God can make a tree," he should have mentioned, "Only God should prune a dogwood."













But, in the spring? Glorious when they bloom.

 

Oh, yes . . .

I have complete confidence pink dogwoods

line the path to Heaven

~ eternally in bloom.

The Impromptu Dinner Party

The first of last week, a client of mine came over to approve some handmade tile for a project. As we were chatting to coordinate the visit, I invited her to dinner.

"You are coming a long way. Please stay for dinner. It will be no big deal ~ homemade macaroni and cheese, Caesar salad, a baguette and some red wine."

As we lingered over dinner, she mentioned that her birthday was next week; that she was not looking forward to it and could she spend it with me.

"Absolutely," I said. "Let me work out the details and we'll set it up." In the interim, a friend of a friend sent me an email ~ Heidi – why am I only now discovering your blog? It’s fabulous and I’m subscribed so I can get all your decorating secrets. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the kitchen cabinet fix up! Someday I want you to invite me to come see your house so I can copy all your brilliant ideas.  XOXO  Liz

All week long as I met with friends and close colleagues, I invited them to come for dinner. I invited Byron on the way back from the Elwha Dam removal documentary. I called my friend, Audrey, on Bainbridge to see if she was going to be in town. Then, Karen and her husband, Ron. In my brain, it started out as four and, as the week wore on, it ended up with eight.

What to fix? Comfort food. It's been raining like hell all week. Beyond drizzle. As I watched the rain sheet down the windows, I thought ~ potato soup with celery and artichokes with maybe some freshly smoked salmon crumbled on it, some crusty bread, some brie, wine.

I went to the store and bought a whole wild-caught Sockeye salmon, had it filleted, brought it home and grilled it on a cedar plank. Pink and smoky. Oh, yum! The potato soup was easy. While I don't consider myself such a red-hot cook, I do have lovely dishes and they just don't get out enough. So, I brought out the demitasse, the liqueur glasses, the Majolica cabbage soup tureen, the linen napkins ~ the whole shootin' match.

Byron brought an apple strudel pie just warm out of his oven. Laura brought a wonderful chocolate number and a couple of quarts of nice ice cream. Everyone brought a nice bottle of wine. And, we celebrated not just one but two birthdays ~ Laura, my client and Audrey, my dear friend.

At the end of my shopping trip, I had stopped at the store and bought everyone a lottery ticket and tucked it under each plate. Much hilarity ensued. We might be dining with a multimillionaire. What would you do with the money?

The impromptu dinner party? A group of strangers met for dinner and left as friends. At the end of the evening, we were discussing a monthly dinner party. I've always wanted to do that. I'll keep you posted.

The Pressure Washer ~ Friends with Benefits

It was a lovely day in Seattle yesterday. Mild sunny. Practically spring.

Those of us in the Pacific Northwest are known to rush outside on the first sunny day and lose our minds as we "frolic and detour" out the front door (not in the legal sense, mind you, but in the "it's been raining since October and we've got to get out of the house and put our hands in dirt" sense.) It's true, I've made the mistake of planting basil in April or hurrying to get my starts in the ground. Yup, we're overly enthusiastic about the prospect of warmer days ahead.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote to my friend Zen about how ghastly my blog photos looked when I really looked at them. I believe I said ~ Did you like all the moss and black slime covering my pots, bench, and limestone? I like to think it's atmospheric and not a filthy disgusting mess.

He responded with his very generous characterization ~ I prefer to think of it as having a rich yet bohemian-like earthiness........much like the patina on the bronze bells of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, or the rich sediment at the bottom of a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild.....I'm thinking a '61........

I decided rich yet Bohemian-like earthiness had to go. Here's the rub: my late husband was Mr. Tool and, because he was a fighter pilot, he was also Mr. Redundant Systems. Unfortunately, after his death, one-by-one all of his small engine equipment died as well. The worst was the pressure washer.

Pressure washing the stone around my house is a completely contemplative thing. Utterly Zen. Struggling with a dead pressure washer is entirely not Zen.

Surprise! To the rescue! My friend Karen and her husband Ron arrived yesterday morning via a big honking truck with the most amazing pressure washer I've ever seen.









We all got to work. Pressure washing the stone and the benches, scrubbing the black slime off the pots, planting the pots with optimistic bright pansies and primroses, cleaning out the scruffy dead stragglers in my little kitchen garden and getting it ready for planting basil and tomatoes in May, raking up the mulch in the perennial beds, filling the bags with yard waste ready for pick-up on Monday morning, scrubbing off the awning.

Heaven!

We worked all afternoon. Then, we made a veggie pizza, opened a bottle of wine and basked in our success.

After they left, I went out and walked around the yard. I love the look of "cared for." Cared for doesn't have to be expensive or chichi. It really is often small.

 

I slept the Sleep of the Righteous, the Contented. Of course, this morning, I can hardly walk, but, that is another story.

The Perils of a Prix Fixes Wedding

This is a blog post that when I look back on it in a couple of years, I will die of embarrassment. It's a cautionary tale. Here are the facts: I have a really, really beautiful home. The grounds are interesting and chock full of pots heaping with flowers. The house is on a nice quiet lane and set back from the road. It's lovely.

Over the years, several friends and family members have held weddings and special occasion events here. All beautiful. All successful.

During the financial crisis and economic downturn (or, as those of us in construction say ~ the depression), I decided to use all my skills and make every aspect of my life a "profit center." Uck, buzz words! Loathe them! I put them all in the category of thoroughly stupid phrases that are designed to make you seem smart, but, generally make you sound like an idiot, i.e., "mission statement," "way finding," "on message," "at the end of the day," "impact," "in my thoughts and prayers," etc. But, I digress . . .

So, I posted my ad on our local Craigslist:

Don't let Wall Street put the damper on your wedding plans. What you need, you cutie pies you, is a beautiful, romantic wedding for not much money. Impossible you say? Come with me. I found just the place.

Columns on the Park is a deluxe Bellevue B&B with an Italian sensibility. Columns has put together an amazing wedding package for your small weddings ~ say around 20 people. Your hostess is an award winning interior designer so, yes, she's got the china, silver and the touch to make everything beautiful for your special day. And, best of all, her studio is in a Tuscan Villa. And, I'm not kidding.

Sure you could have your wedding in chambers, but, for $####, you get a wedding in a drop dead gorgeous garden, a keepsake garter, dozens of photos of your wedding, a true wedding cake, a complimentary bottle of Italian champagne, two keepsake champagne flutes, the perfect music, and a coffee, tea, punch reception with china plates and linen napkins.

Oh, the adventures that begin with "Yes." Did I mention the garden in the spring? Book now!

What happened, you might ask? Was it successful? Were you able to turn your skills into a "profit center?" Well, yes. . . and, no.

Having worked my way through college working retail, nothing much surprises me about working with the public. First, there were the calls wanting to know if they could have 50 people. What about 75? Sheesh, what part of 20ish wasn't clear? Those calls were followed by "was there a room for the bridal party to dress?" My first thought was "what part of 'in chambers' sounded like dressing rooms were involved?" Could they bring their hairdresser? Nail artist? Could they come the night before to set-up?

Yes, there are speakers in the garden. Yes, I have lovely wedding music. Sure, I will put your wedding mix tape on. No, I can't time it to sync up with the instant you finish your vows. 

Yes, I provide three cake flavours. Yellow, white and chocolate. No, they are not gluten-free. No, there is no "tasting."

Mostly, it went well. But, occasionally, when my life reads like a story problem, things happened. And, not good things.

Like the time . . .

I'd had back-to-back weddings and there was a lot of clean-up, tidy-up, prepare for the second wedding to do. I'd finished one cake, cleaned up the house, pressure washed the stone, blew off the driveway, dead headed the roses, emptied the trash, washed the napkins, ironed the napkins, started the dishwasher, started the second cake, set the timer and, just closed my eyes for a second . . . and sat straight up in bed!

Oh, my God! What time is it?

Oh no! It's 2:30AM. The cake's been in the oven since 9:30.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

It's burned all the way down. No chance of scraping off the charred edges. It's dead! Utterly, absolutely dead!

Shit! Shit! Shit!

Get in the car. Speed to 24 hour grocery store. What the hell? What are all those police cars speeding past me in the parking lot with lights and sirens blazing? What are all those police officers doing leaping out of their cars with their guns drawn?

Shit! Shit! Shit!

My Safeway is being robbed! Oh, brother! My life really is a complete story problem! Nightmare!

Shit! Shit! Shit!

Find another 24 hour store ~ right the hell now. Thank God, I live in the suburbs. All the grocery stores can't be being robbed in the middle of the night.

And, home again by 5:00AM. Cake cooling on the counter by 6:30AM. Sigh.

I really must buy a lottery ticket.

The Power of Zen ~ the beautiful flourish

In life, it really is the little things that touch us most. The small kindness. The tender caress.

Last year for my birthday, my oldest son sent me a small bouquet of lilies. Beautiful. So, beautiful, in fact, I wanted to see them more than the usual FTD. I took them to my bathroom and put them on my counter in front of my vintage Venetian mirror.

Now, I have the world's smallest bathroom. One and half steps in and you're standing in front of the sink. Half a step to the right ~ toilet. Half a step further ~ shower. Weensy. But, nice.

I tucked my little tussy-mussy of lilies by the goose neck. Wonderful. Fragrant. Elegant. Luxurious.

His present reminded me how much I was missing that tenderness of spirit. I had forgotten to treat myself in a soul-satisfying way. Since then, twice a month, I put a small bouquet together for my bathroom ~ flowers from the store (in the winter months) coupled with variegated greens boxwood, Daphne, etc. from my yard.

This small $5.00 luxury feels generous and optimistic. It's easy to fall into the austerity mind-set so everything feels like a withholding grind; where every outlook looks grim. Fresh flowers are a friendly way to soften that grind. A small expenditure that feels luscious and hopeful.

Soul satisfying.