My first vision for the flowers was to grow them myself.  In fact that’s pretty much been my initial urge for everything about this wedding.  At each aspect of this enormous undertaking I’m filled with the desire to have this wedding truly be a communal celebration in which David and I, along with the many hands of our close friends, family, and broader community, join together toward one concerted effort: a blessing of our life together.  As I think through the details and consider just how all of this can happen and as I continue to research wedding traditions around the world and throughout history; I realize that my vision is quite traditional and multi-cultural, how about that?

I don’t want to give too much away about the use of the flowers. But I can say that I’m planning on using as many as I can, both real and hand made crepe paper flowers.  So I’m enlisting the help of whoever is willing, to create a sense of floral abundance throughout our celebration.  In the fall I assembled a team of crepe paper flower makers.  With good tunes and good conversation for entertainment, and steady, focused hands as our tools, we completed about 450 crepe paper flowers.  The leaves and garlands portion of the project has yet to be completed.  All those materials had to be stowed in order to make room for our Christmas decorations.  Soon enough, I’ll bring them back out and finish off that fun project.

Now that our celebration is less than 4 months away it’s time to get serious about the real flowers.  I’ve gone over all sorts of ideas and have arrived at a plan that I think has the most chance of working.  I’m going to take a trip to Berkeley Horticulture soon and purchase all the white flowers that I can.  I plan to plant them in pots and the ground as seems appropriate for each variety.

Here’s where I can use help:
Finding pots on the cheap.  Will you keep a lookout for garage sales or other means of getting bunches of pots on the $1?

Or can you donate the use of some of your pots for the season?  I’ll bring you the flowers.  You tend to them and bring them to the celebration in the pots.  Then you take them back home and continue to enjoy them.

You can plant some flowers that I bring you in your garden.

Or share some that you already have.  I’ll take white flowers of any variety, it’s really just a matter of what is blooming during the week of our wedding.  It will be a fun surprise to find out!

In my research I’ve learned about the traditional use of herbs and greenery in wedding celebrations and I’m looking forward to embracing that tradition.

Here’s a list of greens and herbs that I’d love to incorporate if possible:
seeded eucapyptus
bay leaves
rosemary
mint
lavender
sage
ivy
thyme
marjoram
rue
feverfew
myrtle

If you already have some of those to clip and share, that would be great.

Thank you for your love and support.  I look forward to more fun with flowers and friends as preparations move into the final stage.  We are going to have a happy time!

Borrowing from the Jewish tradition of marriage, David and I will marry under a canopy (chuppah in Hebrew). We like the symbolism that the canopy evokes: the beginning of the home that David and I will build together. Here are a few thoughts on the home that we have and will continue to fortify together: Our home provides a retreat from the cares of the wider world. With great attention to detail and quality, our interests and passions are alive in all aspects of the space and its uses. We’ve created a place that offers us each comfort and beauty, and so we find a constant source for renewal and sustenance. As all this is true, we are happy and able to welcome our friends and family into our home so that they may each in their own way enjoy similar benefits.

In order to include our loving community in our home life we’ve chosen to invite everybody to bless our future home by lending a hand in the making of our canopy. Afterwards, I will fashion the canopy into a part of our duvet cover, where we will be surrounded by the good wishes of our loved ones every day.

I have a piece of cotton on which each person will sew a very simple design: just a circle in a running stitch. I will provide all materials for the project and sit with each person as they sew. This will be an opportunity for me to see everybody leading up to our wedding, which I will truly enjoy.

For the actual ceremony, we will ask our friends to help in erecting the canopy as part of the commencement. More on this later…..

So get ready for a sewing visit with us, or a canopy party. We’re looking forward!

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As joyful and significant life events go, so far our wedding is the top of the list for both David and I.  We are planning a celebration in accordance with its significance.

A destination wedding has been a big interest for us, probably since we’ve had such a fabulous time at similar events of friends and family.  Since so many of the people that we care about are not here in the SF bay area, and some of them have never been here at all, we realized that our current and future home would be the ideal setting for our celebration.  The party will start with arrivals on Friday April 24th, 2010 and continue until the last hurrah on Saturday May 1st.  Our actual wedding ceremony will be on Wednesday April 28th and will include immediate family and some very close friends.  Throughout the week there will be other fun activities for everybody to join in with as they like.  Two events are not to be missed:  The Matrimonial Ball on Friday April 30th, and the The May Day Picnic on Saturday May 1st.    We will follow up with a party in Michigan, for those who can’t make it out to California (date TBD).

As we embark on this lifelong adventure of marriage and family making, it seems appropriate to acknowledge that each and every person in our lives has and will offer us some sort of lesson or support.  And so why not kick it all off with a really big party?  We see this as an opportunity to infuse our lives with joy and inspiration, please join us for the fun and magic!

In the tradition of wedding celebrations all around the world, and throughout history, we are counting on the hands and hearts of each and every participant to make this a special occasion worthy of remembering for years to come.  There will be many projects to be completed along the way and we’re looking forward to enjoying every moment of the creation amongst loved ones.  There will be flowers to be fashioned out of crepe paper, flowers to be grown in gardens, decorations to be arranged and hung, a wedding canopy to be decorated and blessed, delicious treats to be prepared and offered with love, events to be planned and orchestrated, performances to be designed and enjoyed by all, favorite songs and dances to be submitted, stories and poems to be shared, dances to be choreographed and learned, games to be led, and the list goes on….

Soooooo, mark your calendars and get ready.  I’ll be posting blog entries here about the organization and planning of different elements.  We’ll also be making contact on an individual basis as all the ideas migrate from our imagination into action.

David and I are already grateful to have the community of loved ones that we do, and can only imagine how much fun we’ll have in the months to come!

Love, Faye