Sending Grandma to the Garden in the Sky

My paternal grandmother passed away recently and her funeral was today. She was my last grandparent and the last of my father's side (he preceded her in death earlier this year) so it was extra sad. She would have been 91 on her birthday and was becoming more and more frail. It was her time so in many ways I was relieved to see her go. The picture below is of her at 18 and it's always been one of my favorites.

Grandma was a master gardener and she helped my dad in his flower shop back in the 70's so she was no stranger to flower arrangements herself. My mother and I wanted to do the flowers ourselves for her funeral. As usual we went to The Fresh Market, they have such a beautiful selection. Purple was grandma's favorite color. She had auburn hair and she liked the combination. I knew we had to do a combination of purple, green, and white. I also wanted to use roses because she grew beautiful roses. Some of which were grown from cuttings she "borrowed" from the Elizabethan Gardens. We used magenta gladiolus, purple and white limonium, white roses, baker fern, and acuba. We made two altar arrangements and one for the parish hall buffet table.

The church has a beautiful hand carved chancel surround from the 1800's. I love the painted heavens. That was done just a few years ago. 

I forgot to take a picture of the table, but here is the arrangement outside before I took it in to the parish hall. I used both the purple and the white limonium in this arrangement having only used the white in the church arrangements.

We left the altar arrangements for Sunday, but did bring home the parish hall arrangement. The building must have been quite warm last night because the roses were opened a little more than I would have liked. It took the arrangement apart for my house and put the flowers minus the greenery in a simple vase on my dining room table. Grandma grew up in the depression and in the Appalachians so she didn't waste anything. I think she would have approved of this repurposing. 

Debi and Dave's Wedding

I've been remiss in updating this blog. Life happens and blogs don't it seems. Easter has come and gone and I forgot to take a picture of my church arrangements. I've made a few arrangements for friends and housewarmings, but alas I forgot to take pictures of those as well. Thankfully, I remembered last week. My friend and colleague Debi married her longtime sweetheart Dave in a beautiful backyard ceremony on July 4th which is their favorite holiday. Dave proposed July 4th 2013 and if I remember correctly their first date was on July 4th. I may have made that up, but it sounds good. It was a simple ceremony with family and close friends.

They have a beautiful backyard. Hurricane Arthur came through the night before and thankfully gave us rain and no wind, so everything looked fresh and green. The weather was perfect! The patio below was a perfect spot for the ceremony. Debi wanted me to use tissue poms on shepherd hooks to bring a festive and fun element. She invited guests to come in flip flops and shorts and sundresses or whatever they wanted to feel comfortable.

Debi asked for a breakaway bouquet. It seemed as though she was holding one bouquet, but as she came down the aisle she gave a rose to her aunt who is like a mother to her, she gave another rose to her new mother-in-law, and a third rose to a niece who holds a special place in her heart. She wanted a red rose, a white rose, and a pink rose. The picture makes the pink and red rose look similar but there was a slight difference.

As guests arrived they were invited to complete cards with "well wishes" for the couple and to pick up a bottle of bubbles. The bouquet mimicked the pink, red, and white rose theme. For this beautiful yard I decided to go with a simple loose arrangement that looked as if it had just been picked from the garden.

The beautiful bride with her bouquet. The necklace was given to her by her husband and was his great-grandmother's.

The happy couple with Debi's niece and Dave's mother as witnesses. You can see each one holding the rose that Debi presented them with. Dave's shirt was a light aegean blue though my phone camera makes it appear white. The ribbons on the pom poms and flowers matched his shirt. Congratulations Debi and Dave!!