Wedding Flowers

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to arrange flowers for my co-worker's wedding. Laura entrusted me to do her wedding flowers after only seeing 1 arrangement that was the first I had ever done. Call me crazy, but I took her up on it. It was great exercise in practicing not being anxious. I could not have done this without God's grace and a lot of help from a few friends. I must first mention Bronwyn Cardwell. She taught my floral arranging class at the Seminary Wives Institute. She is from Birmingham, Alabama but she has received a few long distance phone calls from me as well as answered numerous emails. I really appreciate her kindness to teach me her wealth of knowledge! I also owe a huge thank you to Kristi Hunter who was with me for 7 hours the day of the wedding. She helped me prep the flowers, clean up, and take pictures. I would not have finished without your help Kristi!!! Below are some pics I took, I know there are a lot, but it was the first wedding I've ever done. I LOVED it! Maybe I'll have to start a career . . . . hmmm, what would I call it??

Here is what I started out with:

My apartment smelled so good with all these flowers in it.

I started out with the Matron of Honor's bouquet done in pink roses

Next I made the bridal bouquet

After the bouquets, I made a couple boutonnieres.

This was for the buffet table - Lilies, Alstremeria, and Lemon Leaf

Here is the cake table arrangement. Her cake was beautiful, those ribbons are made out of fondant! She selected the lovely artwork that says "Love Never Fails"

I also made 2 arrangements for over the mantle, I had to arrange them on this buffet, because the mantle was too tall

This is the first arrangement I did for the wedding, I decided to take a picture of it in progress.

Here is the finished product

This is my friend Kristi to whom I owe a Saturday!

Here is the Bride, Laura Durham. She was so laid back and great to work with. I'm really thankful she let me have this opportunity. It was great and I would love to do another wedding.

Chicago

Rocky and I just returned from our very fun anniversary trip in Chicago. We celebrated two years of marriage and had a wonderful time in the Windy City. I've posted lots of pics below and I wish I had more! Two things we did that I just didn't get pictures of, were the Aquarium and the Ghiradelli store. The Aquarium was glass so it was hard to get pictures there, but we saw a really great Dolphin show. We went to the Ghiradelli chocolate store several times to enjoy ice cream sundaes with lots of hot fudge. They were delicious!

Here we are at the John Hancock building. We went to the top for a yummy dessert and the view was beautiful.

Rocky's dream come true . . . a Cub's Game! Wriggleville was like nothing I'd ever seen.

Rocky with the famous Harey Carey Statue (I'm not sure if that's how it is spelled)

The game was packed. As you can see in the far right, even the buildings surrounding the stadium had seats on the top of them.

We had great seats in the shade. Cubs fans are so loyal, they all stayed to the ninth inning.

For a small tip, we had our picture made with Cubby after the game.

Here we are in front of our hotel, the Affinia. It was a great location on Superior off of Michigan Avenue. We were right next to Gino's Pizza East.

The room was gorgeous

We had a lovely suite.

And now . . . Who's Pizza Reigns Supreme!!!

Giordano's or . . . .

Gino's???

Giordano's had the nicest atmosphere, they offered a tangy sauce and a flaky crust

But the winner is GINO'S EAST

A sweet sauce with a cornbread like crust. It was amazing, why don't they make pizza like this in Louisville??

It's definitely worth the 40 min. wait!

We never thought we would like deep dish, but we definitely do!!

We had a great time shopping along Michigan Avenue, also called "The Magnificent Mile" Who ever knew, Crate and Barrell would be 3 stories high?

One of the stores we stopped by was called "American Girl" I've never seen anything like it. Three stories high complete with a doll salon, doll hospital, doll theater, doll cafe, and of course tons of dolls and accessories. For the bargain price of $102 you can purchase a doll customized with the hair color, complexion and eye color of your choice. Pictured above, is the doll salon. For $20 you can have the "style of the month"

Here is the Doll Cafe. This includes special seats for the dolls to sit with you as you dine. These girls were in heaven!!

We also ventured over to Navy Pier for a fireworks show

The Ferris Wheel was huge

I have to admit, I was a little nervous being that high up in the air!

It was really a beautiful night.

We went through the reptile exhibit at the zoo. Here is a weird looking lizard thing.

Rocky with some kind of dragon

That thing in the background is a Rankey. A cross between a Rabbit and a Donkey. Okay, not really, but it looks like one.

Here we are with the flamingos.

A zebra, OOOOHHHH, AAHHHH

Our last night we spent at a really nice restaurant called Zaven's. We had a great time eating and talking. I enjoyed the steak, but my favorite was the chocolate chip Creme Brule.

We are so in love, and I am so thankful that the Lord provided us with funds to go on a trip like this. We are so blessed!