June event flowers

My sister is getting married mid-June, with a casual reception at our place afterward, mid-afternoon. My flower beds should be pretty colorful at that time so we aren't too worried about decorating - maybe toss around some white lights for the evening and/or tiki torches.

We will rent round white tables for the guests and do not plan to do tablecloths. I am thinking of planting some colored bowls or perhaps beachcomber hats with petunias or ? for the table centerpieces. I'm not a very successful seed starter and am a bit ambivalent about when to start seeds, direct in the containers or otherwise, or if I should just get early starts when they first show up at the nurseries. I have a covered but unheated mudroom on the south side of my house with windows on west, south and east which I could use as a greenhouse of sorts.

Any and all ideas would be much appreciated. At this point, sis does not have 'colors' nor does she really care about that. She is in the process of shopping for a dress which will be neither white nor wedding/prom-ish and once that has been done I can coordinate better.

Here's the approach to our backyard mid-May last year. I've enlarged the outside bed on the stairs a bit and the forgets are followed by calendulas and CA poppies, one of which should be blooming in June. So, lots of blue/purple and orange/yellow.

Deb, I should have tons of stuff and if you not fussy about color even better. The only thing the darn things are hard to force into blooming. But if you must buy, Starts are good. You have the perfect back porch to grow things.

When Fred Meyer has there fuchsia sale they also have starts for a good price on
annuals. They did last year.

Lights and tiki torches would be nice. I think they improve any venue.

I would do mostly starts. Maybe throw some seeds directly into the ground, like alyssum, as fillers.

If you aren't absolutely set on color on the tables, pots of herbs are nice, inexpensive, and useful afterwards.

If she has the budget, do consider tablecloths. Table coverings of almost anything will make a big difference.

Your backyard approach is really nice. LOVE the stone.

Congratulations to your sister!

Nice pic bonehead - I like all that stone. Last year I hung jars from tree branches and put candles in them - it looked really festive and pretty while still being simple. One of my neighbors had a block party and used inexpensive pieces of fabric somethings from Pier 1 for table coverings. Maybe they were bed covers or table cloths, but they were all different from one another, and quite colorful. My daughter used canning jars for flower vases for her wedding in the forest. She does a lot of canning so the jars did not go to waste after the event. I like Gwen's herb suggestion!

Congrats to your sister!

I forgot something - my daughter's father-in-law made little stands for table assignments, etc for their wedding. He took birch limbs about 3 inches in diameter, cut them in 5 inch lengths and then in half so they have a flat side, and then cut a slit in each one in order to hold the card for the table assignments. I just returned from my son's wedding at the Sundance Resort in Utah and his bride used the very same little holders for photos of the two of them on each table. Theirs was a formal wedding in a exquisite wooded setting, but the little birch log holders fit right in, and will now be passed around the families as a tradition for weddings. Sundance is beautiful, and we all skied for a week and hung out, and the two families got to know each other. I have known the bride's parents and sister for years, but never met her extended family. Check out the Sundance website and you can see how beautiful it is, in a rustic way.

Wow, what a fun wedding week! And the setting sounds gorgeous.

I love the idea of flowers or herbs in canning jars. Also the jars hanging from trees. I've always wanted to do that.

Thanks, great ideas. I have lots of jars from my canning days, I like the hanging candle idea. And, Gwen you are right, even a simple table covering will dress things up -- perhaps I will make some coordinating fabric squares once sis gets a dress. That would be easy enough and not break the bank.

I just go buy cheap material and don't even hem it. (I can't sew at all.) Burlap is even fun. depending on her dress and other decorative elements.

What's the latest on the wedding decorating for June? Curious about an update! :-)

We are currently trying to get the backyard leveled and seeded so we actually have grass to walk on in mid-June. Or not...I'm not going to get all tweaky about it, and the weather has been rather dismal. The bride has pretty much turned over the tables/decorations/etc. to me to do with what I will. The nice thing is she won't be picky about anything. The other nice thing is I will have lots of flowers in my yard to choose from. And yet another nice thing is she got a dress which is a very loose multi-colored swirly thing, so anything will 'go' with it.

My rather loose plan is to try to have all my beds weeded**, rent some round tables and folding chairs to spread out in the backyard, add some square cloth covers, quart canning jars filled with flowers, maybe some random driftwood, tiki torches and white lights for ambient evening lighting. Last count, she is thinking maybe 100-150.

BBQ and potluck (I plan to hit up the cousins and aunts for some specific dishes). Beer, wine, iced tea. Champage for the toast.

Luckily, my family is very casual and low-key -- and sis tells me the groom's family is of like mind. I've only met the groom (definitely a sweats-kind-of-guy), so hope she is right. I think the important thing is to make folks feel comfortable and lord knows we won't be
putting on any 'airs'.

Slightly worried about bad weather - June can be wet. But...we have various outbuildings and covered porches, we'll just roll with whatever we get. (I can picture lots of the guys huddled around Gary's shop, stoking his barrel woodstove.)

**Or I can always count on the buttercups to be in full force, which I find most non-gardeners just think are jolly yellow flowers -- aack.

I think nasturtiums would be great -- let's see, 2 months if you sow them tonight ... they should be blooming by then, right? The varieties with marbled foliage would look nice regardless, plus they're edible.

Since I'm a quilter & painter, I always have several bolts of silk & canvas lying around, and I routinely chop off several yards for gazebo curtains & table covers. It doesn't matter if they get wet or "ruined," because I'm going to dye or batik them anyway.

You can get a 50-yard bolt of silk habotae or organza for under $4 a yard.

I always go to the fabric store to get my ' tablecloths.' I don't really sew so I just leave them unhemmed. No one notices. But I think solid colors might be what you're going for if her dress is multi-colored. Sounds like a terrific event!

Good idea with the nastys - I could even direct sow them into containers. Less fuss. Might check into after Easter clearance for some inexpensive baskets that are not too pinked out. I'd have to get the seeds going soon, but like you say, if they are not blooming the foliage is pretty by itself.

Gwen, I'm thinking of taking her dress to the fabric store and getting a variety of solids that are muted shades of whatever colors are in the dress -- greens and blues and purples as I recall. Maybe stick to the blues and purples as the greenery will provide, well, green.

Rather reminds me of my own wedding - all my ladies had the same dress in a different color - aqua, spring green, butter, lemon. Mine was baby blue, to match the oh-so-cool baby blue tuxes the guys wore. All sporting mullets of some type. Ahh, the 70s.

Let me just dig up a nostalgic photo...

What a fun photo, Deb. At least in the 70's you had colored photos. Mine were only in black and white.

That is such a cute photo. Beautiful bride. I love the dresses---I've always loved dresses with a silky ribbon. And frankly, all of the hairstyles on both the men and women are in style now! And I'm serious---those teenage boys all seem to have longish, bushy hair now. And the classic women's hair is in. Probably worst decade for hair (and wedding photos) was the 80's. It sounds like you are going to have a great party/wedding at your house! Fun! My upcoming event is 33 families for my son's "kindergarten graduation" party. I've invited all of his classmates and their families, plus all of the teachers from the school. May 21. I hope I have a lot blooming then, so I get lots of oohs and aahs---it's what I live for, of course. My delphiniums are coming in huge, so I'm crossing my fingers for amazing blooms that weekend. Lots of work to do before then, though! Thank goodness my event is potluck.

Kosk, I'm sure your event will be spectacular -- and such a good way to seal some friendships you will likely enjoy for quite some time. I'm somewhat sad to have 'lost' some of those relationships as our kids grew up and out of the the house. Without the sports/activity events to attend, some just tended to die away. Others, however, were solid - and I'm glad for them.

Darling wedding picture. You look like a child bride.

Great wedding photo, Bone. You're the first bride I know who wore baby blue. Very trend-setting of you! Looks like a fun wedding. And yes, I agree, those hair styles are back in now. Ex for the clothes, that could be a wedding right now!

Love love love the photo!

Ha ha - Willow, I was pretty young, not yet 21. And, Gwen, I was basically opposed to the whole marriage notion and still in my rebellious phase, hence the blue dress.

And yet you got married and lived happily ever after! Maybe it was the 'wedding' notion you were opposed to, not the marriage part of it!

Gwen, yes. I hated being called "wife" so my poor spouse ended up referring me to me as "his bride" for many years which I actually found rather endearing. I think the whole wedding deal was off-setting for me - flower child that I was... But, in the end, we are looking to celebrate 37 years together this summer.

Have you settled on flowers yet? My first batch of nasturtiums started sprouting last night.

Bonehead, I also cringed at the word "wife" - it made me feel like a possession rather than a partner. I fell for the whole white wedding dress big party ceremony thing but I was not completely comfortable with it. As it turned out, after 28 years of marriage I was not comfortable with that, either! Congratulations on 37 years. That is quite an accomplishment and deserves to be celebrated!

Thanks! Gary also successfully made it to his 60th birthday on Monday. He and his six brothers have a superstition about 60 (neither his father nor oldest sister attained it) and he was kind of sweating it over the weekend. All is well.

About 5 yrs. ago, a friend of ours had a wedding and reception in her back yard. The bride's Mother and her best friend did an amazing job on making container gardens. They rented a lot of stuff, like you are thinking of doing. The bride's Mother has a horticulture degree and she's a creative person to begin with. When she and her best friend, who happened to be my next door neighbor for about 20 yrs. get together and work in the yard, it ends up looking like something from BH&G or Southern Living gardens. The wedding was done on a shoestring budget but it was absolutely beautiful and everybody had a great time. They had it catered and the food was good. I had given her a lot of ideas to go by as my daughter back in 1989 had her wedding reception in our back yard and that is when I found, you can rent anything, even dance floors. They live in a different county where things cost a lot less than in our county, so they got a lot of bang for their buck. You're on the right track as they used the tiki lights with citronella and candles and the white flowers or soft pastels glow in the night. It really was beautiful. Why aren't you going to have tablecloths? tables that you rent may not be attractive. Tablecloths hide a lot of sins. Those can be rented too, as well as napkins. Do you have a rental place near you? Go in there and look around and you can get a lot of great ideas.

The reception is actually combined with a general family picnic/BBQ and will be very casual. Also celebrating a HS graduation and Father's Day at the same time, so kind of a multi-event. I don't want to mess with linen tablecloths/napkins, but am thinking a simple square piece of fabric on the round tables will dress things up a bit. Leaning toward petunias planted in overturned beachcomber hats for table decorations. My sister has no 'colors' for her deal, so anything festive will work. I have about a dozen tiki torches and will probably string up some white lighs as well. I'm not even sure if sis is planning to get a wedding cake. She initially was going to, but haven't heard any more about that. Mid-June my beds should all be popping so I'm not worrying about additional decor. Food, drink, and laughter. A toast to the happy couple. Atta-boy to the HS grad. Recognizing all the Dads. Volleyball and horseshoes. Evening bonfire. Good times ahead.

It sounds lovely. You'd be surprised what very simple touches will do. With your fabric squares, planted hats, tiki torches and lights, not to mention your garden, your backyard will be super gorgeous. You're wise to concentrate on the people and making it simple.

Can I come?

Hope your day is fun and the sun shines!

Sun would be nice, but what I'm really hoping for is no rain. The lower field has (finally) dried up enough that we'll be good to go with volleyball and 'shoes. Bonfires down below and up. Got the aunt-farm* on board to bring lots of side dishes, and my other sister will come over Thursday evening to help us pull the place together and get set up. No anticipated family drama, although one never knows...

*One of my sons coined this at about age 3 - not believing something my sister said with the disdaining comment of : "Well, you're just from the ant farm..." We all embraced the term and have corrected the spelling.

This message was edited Jun 9, 2011 9:35 PM

This message was edited Jun 9, 2011 9:35 PM

Aunt Farm - love it, I'm going to adopt it.

I can't wait to hear how the event goes and esp to see photos from it, so take lots!

Sending happy wedding thoughts to you, boney!

Thanks, Kid. We're entering the home stretch and all is falling together. I'm going on the dreaded Costco run with the bride tomorrow morning for alcohol and paper goods. Trying to get all my beds weeded, while really not expecting to. One of my aunts has a very meticulous and beautiful yard, which she pays a yard person to maintain - but I'm used to her slightly snobbish ways and won't be intimidated. Putting together four yard chairs is the plan for this evening (some assembly required). I think a glass of wine is a prerequisite - I'm sure I saw that on the instruction list of 'tools you will need from home.'

Or, at worst, "tools you will need from Costco."

We're behind you all the way!

Speaking of which -- just back from a Costco experience with my sister. I would rather slit my throat than go back to that place.

crowded?

Crowded, disorganized, no assistance, no store directory, gigantic quantities (I expected that), mediocre prices. No Budweiser (how un-American is that??). Couldn't even find the exit when it was time to check out. And then some lady demanded to see our receipt. What's up with that?? I have NO idea why people throng to these boxes. But, glad they are there and not in my little stores, so there's that. I will be buying our wine, beer, and champagne locally - the price is much better and my blood pressure will remain stable. Costco has just joined Walmart as 'not a part of my universe.' I appparently don't get it, whatever 'it' is.

BH you make me laugh! So funny!!
I like costco for somethings but as we start to become just 2 people it is harder to shop there. You would go on Saturday. Not the day to go!! The week days are much nicer. Thats when I go and do what shopping I do and just once or twice a month. Over the years I have learned what we like at that store. Your right many times you can pick stuff up on sale at other stores and beat costco price. I like costco but I think lots of people think costco = good price ( a bit of brain washing). Not always the case.

There return policy is fantastic. Don't like just return it. The receipt thing is to keep the theif down. They have checked mine and found that the checker had
scaned one to many of an item.
I think you may want to stay out of there.
On a happy note I went to Sorticulture in Everett, saw Linda. What a fun event. One more day if any of you want to go. Plants and garden art. Way better than a trip to Costco. At Legion park in North Everett.

SC, I am sad to miss out on Sorticulture this year - lovely little plant fair. But, yeah, I had the day from hell yesterday and today I get to drive to Bellevue for a wedding shower. Family is nice, but sometimes I wish I lived far far away from them all...