Wedding Plans! (and Spring is Here at Last!)

My daughter Jessie is getting married in July!  Needless to say, wedding planning has stepped up into high gear.  Last weekend, we found THE dress!  We looked at endless veils and tiaras, but none of them seemed quite right.  When we got home and reviewed the day, Jessie said, "What I'd really like to do is see if Nana's headpiece from her veil would work."  So we got it out to see.  The pearls have darkened with age but otherwise, it's in good shape, though the actual veil had been removed a while back as it was tattered.  It's a perfect match to the color of her dress! 

Here are my Mom and Dad on their wedding day in 1955!  My mom wore the headpiece, not round as I had thought, but rather in a marquise shape.  Aren't they lovely?!  I have to smile when looking at this photo because they had to have had my Mom standing on something as she was a good foot shorter than my Dad!  Not often that she got to look him in the eye! 

To help the circlet match Jessie's dress, we are going to remove the ecru pearls and use bright white pearls and some silver lined beads.  Then we'll attach a comb and veil.  She'll probably wear it in a circular shape for the ceremony and then remove it after in exchange for a beaded hair piece for the reception.  Such fun to work on!  

The wedding will be in my backyard, so I've been busy getting estimates on things like house-painting (which means that it's also time to look at insulation and gutters), landscaping work, etc.  Much to do in the next 3 months!  Plus one of my fences blew down in the ferocious wind we had a couple of weeks ago, so now that needs replaced as well!  All of this is incentive to get the garden beds looking beautiful too, so I've been spending the last few warm spring days digging in the dirt a little!  It's one of the best things about owning a house again!  

The front walk is looking lovely!  All the bulbs I planted last fall are blooming gloriously!  

Makes me so happy to see all these gorgeous blooms!


The ground-cover phlox is blooming too!


Lovely pale daffodils


Orange tulips left from one of the previous owners ~ I must admit that orange flowers are NOT my favorite, but they do look cheerful and happy!


They left a few pink tulips as well.  Much more to my taste!

When we had the huge old cottonwood trees taken out, the yard was left with lots of holes that were filled with dirt.  I planted a hundred or more daffodils in hopes of having a large swath of them.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the dirt they filled the holes with had a sterilant in it to keep the remaining underground roots from sprouting into new trees.  Las year just a couple of anemic looking daffodils managed to come up but this year, they are dotting the lawn in several places!  I'm hopeful that by next year, the ones that are just leaves this year will also be bearing flowers!    I'm getting the lawn refurbished and the bare spots planted with grass at long last, so it should look a bit nicer by the end of July when the wedding takes place! 

With one side of the front walk up to the house looking nice, I need to work on the opposite side, which is overgrown with grass, about a million dandelions, vinca and several types of small shrubby things.  Hoping to simplify things to make it easier for just me to take care of!   In the meantime, I'm so very glad that spring is here at long last!