I didn’t have very high expectations when it came to our wedding flowers. First, I realized that our budget was far lower than any florist was willing to spend on a wedding in July*. Second, we didn’t have colors. This pained the only florist we sat down to chat with. What color will the centerpieces be, she wondered? And the bouquet! What about the bouquet! What if it doesn’t match? Match what I have no idea. The bridesmaid’s wore gray. Our quote came back with a lot of pink flowers.
After that, I figured we’d do our own flowers. On my list of things to worry about, it was way down there on the bottom, hanging out with favors**. Why did I even need a bouquet anyway?
But then, a friend of mine who I had done pro-bono work for over the years offerred to do our arrangements***. For free. all we would have to pay for was the cost of the flowers, which she could get at wholesale prices.
I think she did a lovely job, don’t you?
{all photos by One Love Photo}
*Most places we inquired at had minimums for July
**We didn’t have favors
***And then to top it off she made all my ladies custom earrings. Cause she’s that awesome.
I had had a Bad Day.
The sort that leaves you tired and twitchy and ready to grumble at anything brave enough to get in your way. At least it was a Friday, not that that helped much. I was in A Mood. In the 10 minutes it took me to drive from my office back home I had gone from tired to agitated to seething. One giant roller coaster of emotions, that was me.
When I stepped through the door the boy was there to give me a hug. Not that he had any idea of the snit I was in; he just likes to greet me at the end of the day with a hug. I was having none of it. Didn’t he realize that everything was horribly and completely wrong? How could he be so cheerful?
Realizing I was going to be difficult he pulled me over to the couch and asked me about my day and I proceeded to grumble about the unfairness of the world and my life and everything. Ever the optimist, he suggested we go for a drive to cheer me up. Did he not catch the part where I said everything sucked? I wondered. What is he smiling so much for? Annoying. But I decided to go. I guessed it wouldn’t hurt.
There is this beach wall near our home that we sometimes go to at the end of the day to watch the boats and the sunset and talk. This is where he took me. I sat on the wall and glowered. It had been a hard few months. The boy’s schedule had been crazier than usual and we had barely seen each other all summer. He had taken a giant leap of faith in June and left a regular paying gig to open a lounge with two of his friends. We weren’t sure when we would see money from it. My company had issued company wide pay cuts earlier that year but was working us all harder than ever. I didn’t have time to run anymore; we didn’t have money for yoga. All of this was rolling around in my head, but I was too frustrated to put it into words. Instead I grumbled, “I hate all of my clothes”.
His face lit up. He had something new for me to wear, he said. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him.
Best day of my life.
