My wedding: Part I

I swore I was never going to be the kind of bride that bought an insane dress that I'd only wear once in my life. I mean, how ridiculous. Right? I promised myself that I wouldn't spend more than $300 on a dress. And then I made the mistake of trying on some that were just a tiny bit more expensive. And then just a tiny bit more expensive. And then... and then I tried on this one, and my mom's face just lit up. End of story. :)



We got married at my parents' house in the mountains east of Albuquerque, NM. It's gorgeous there, so we just spread some wood mulch in the area. I didn't want to compete with the beautiful surroundings, so my mom and I made some simple pomanders out of cream paper napkins (one of my DIY ideas on crack) and hung them in the trees.



My colors were chocolate, ivory, pomegranate, plum, and wine. In March I started going to Home Depot, Lowe's, and every local nursery every week, looking for flowers in the right colors to plant around the house. These English daisies are still my favorite.



My original plan had been not only to make my own bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres, but to grow my own flowers (another DIY idea on crack). In the end, an unusally cool spring meant that most of the flowers didn't grow well enough to harvest, and the ones that dig grow well enough ended up being too pretty too cut. So the day before the wedding my mom went to a grocery store and bought daisies, mums, and carnations that happened to be the perfect color, and I walked around the house and picked wild white clover, purple wildflowers, mint, rosemary, and blooming sage for the bouquets.



For the corsages and boutonniers, I used a lot of hens and chicks that some family friends gave me, and some pink and burgundy miniature dahlias I grew. Then I added things I picked around the house that morning--dusty miller leaves, grass stems, scrub oak leaves, mint, rosemary, and snapdragon buds. I was still making them while I was having my hair done! But they were one of my favorite projects from the whole wedding.





All photos are by Vladimir Chaloupka, the world's most amazing photographer ever. Seriously.