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The Diva of Houseplants

17 Sep

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For those of you reading who were in my wedding party, or more specifically, for you Staci who I probably exchanged 10,000 emails with as we planned that wedding, you might remember the traumatic maiden hair fern incident with the wedding florist.

Let me explain. I was absolutely besotted with this incredibly delicate and glorious little fern pictured above and just had to have it in my wedding flowers. I wanted it in all the bouquets as well as all the table arrangements. I provided photos for our florist.

The day of the wedding, the bouquets for the wedding party arrived and to my absolute horror, these were the “maidenhair ferns” in every single bouquet — Northern Maidenhair Fern. Because that’s a thing. I guess the countless photos I shared with our wedding florist didn’t tip her off that we might have two very different versions of this fern in mind. At the time, it was just enough to tip a bride over the edge, but now, years later, I am almost ready to laugh about it.

dangelo0765x900See above for “Northern” Maidenhair fern. #WTF

All kidding aside, as much as I butted heads with our wedding florist who wanted the freedom to explore her own artistry and snuck orange roses— not peach — as we’d discussed ad nauseum into just about every single arrangement despite my sharing that I absolutely abhor the color, I AM OVER IT. Can you tell??! I kid.

In all seriousness though, I actually laughed out loud recently as I was reading a bit more about the maidenhair fern since I was looking to buy one for our new home and read it described as “the diva of houseplants.” Of course it is. I can never choose the simple thing or the easy route. Maybe because I love a challenge. Maybe I’m the diva. Who knows.

The other (now) hilarious thing I want to remember always about this diva of a plant that I just had to have in my wedding flowers is that I saw the exact type of maidenhair fern growing with wild abandon ALL OVER HAWAII where we honeymooned immediately after said wedding. I saw it as I scaled down cliffs to get to a waterfall in Maui. It lined paths to the Queen’s Bath in Kauai. It was literally everywhere we went.

I share these little anecdotes not to bitch about how much I butted heads with our wedding florist or even to alert all the brides to be out there of the importance of verifying all genus of fern or flower if you choose to micromanage your wedding to the extent that I did.

I share this now because all these years later, I can finally laugh about it. Our wedding was absolutely beautiful, but it was also just the beginning of an even better story to come. And now I know that the maidenhair fern is the diva of houseplants.

 

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Wedding Registy 101: My sneaky tip

16 Jan

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When we created our wedding registry we intensely researched “best of” pots and pans guides, hoarded registry tip lists from retailers, read bagillions of customer product reviews, and spent ages thinking about how we live, cook, and entertain so we’d get it just right. I even peppered the women of our families with questions based on their years of expertise. It ALL helped.

But one of my favorite tips was actually self-developed and embarrassingly simple: Look at other registries. I looked up family, friends, friends of friends—even brides I’d seen on Style Me Pretty if I loved their wedding enough! No one escaped stalking. It was so fun to indulge my shopaholic self with fantasies about other brides’ registries and lives. I could picture the fancy tea parties I’d throw with their Kate Spade china without breaking a sweat!

But it was also incredibly useful for the following reasons:

1. Helped fill in gaps and forgotten items
Like placemats, napkin rings, mixer attachments… It’s easy to miss something when your brain is fixed on boutonnieres.

2. Turned me on to brands and stores I might not have known about
Have you heard of Wilton Armetale? If you stalked our wedding registries you would. I first noticed the line of pretty serveware while Christmas shopping and made a mental note to check it out later. It’s beautiful and we use it constantly. I’m thrilled each time I see it pop up on friends’ registries.

3. Saved time by directing attention to certain product models
After we selected a highly-rated toaster oven, we noticed a slightly different model appearing again and again on others’ registries. After doing a little product comparison, we figured out that the additional features on the other model were better so we made the switch. If we’d never checked out other registries, we’d have never been the wiser.

I hope my sneaky little tip helps. We took registering seriously (which I will definitely blog more about soon) but we also had a lot of fun doing it. Spatulas do excite us! Checking out other registries was inspiring for me, but the most important thing to remember when you’re registering is to stay true to yourself. If the thought of registering for china makes you cringe, there is a reason for that. Listen to your gut and while you’re perusing stores (or indulging in a little registry stalking), don’t forget to have fun!

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Stamp of Perfection

27 Sep

I think it’s pretty common for brides to suffer from perfectionism when it comes to their wedding –  I know I did! Ages and ages ago, I wanted to order a return address rubber stamp for all our wedding-related correspondence but always delayed purchase as I agonized over every little detail and decision. Vendor sources: foryoo , savethedate, chattypress, & primele

Don’t do that! To the brides-to-be who spend too long pondering whether a font conveys your “couple style” (don’t laugh!!), remember this advice: Just do it! Simple.  Only immerse yourself in this level of detail if you enjoy it, but don’t stew for weeks mulling over every.single.decision because there are simply too many over the course of your planning that you won’t be able to do them all justice. Inevitably that one thing you didn’t decide on quick enough and had to skip will haunt you later on.  Just go with your instincts and if you’ve slept on it and still really love a dress, a color scheme, a venue or something SO minor like a return address stamp, commit already and check it off your list.

And most important of all, remember that if you’re married at the end of all this planning, that’s all that matters.

Note: Having said all that, we are now married and 9 million envelopes later, I could STILL kick myself  for not buying one of these return address stamps, so I finally rounded up my absolute favorite-favorite-favorites to share with you from the following incredible vendors on Etsy. Enjoy!

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