WEDDING FLOWERS

I recently did the flowers for a Fall wedding, the bride's bouquet was made up with white and ivory roses - Palen looked exquisite in her ivory wedding dress, Kevin was in his crisp white Naval uniform. The maid of honor, seven bridesmaids and cute flower girl were dressed in beautiful chocolate brown dresses, their bouquets were all done with shades of burnt orange and soft pink roses, with bright mango calla lilies. All the bouquets had the stems wrapped with an ivory satin ribbon. It is one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been to, I was delighted to have played a part in this very special day.

My diningroom table looked beautiful decorated with all the pew arrangements and bouquets.

A close up of the stunning roses and calla lilies.

All delicately packed in tissue and ready for delivery.

The bride-to-be gets her first glimpse of her flowers - she sank to her knees and her sweet smile says it all. Whew.

The pew flowers.

The beautiful couple. Kevin and Palen.

The bridesmaids.

The happy wedding celebration.

THE COLOURS OF THE CINQUE TERRE, ITALY

The Cinque Terre, "The Five Lands", is an area of the rugged Ligurian coastline, on the north west coast of Italy, and consists of five picture perfect coastal villages, perched amongst terraces of vineyards, olive groves, lemon orchards, and overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. More about the villages in a future blog. The one thing that I remember most about a recent trip to this area is the explosion of colour wherever you look - the azure sea, magenta bougainvilleas tumbling over buildings and rocky outcrops, shades of black, white, charcoal and grey marble pebbles on the beaches, bright yellow, blue, green, red and orange umbrellas offering shade at pavement cafes, old blue and green painted fishing boats, and every shade of ochre, terracotta, burnt umber, oranges and reds that you can imagine on the buildings - peeling and fading in the hot summer sun and adding to the magnificent character of this less commercial area of the Italian Riviera. Magnifico!

GETTING FRESH IN ITALY

On a recent trip to Italy, I ate my way around the incredible outdoor markets. The selection of locally grown, just-picked fruit and vegetables looked spectacular, and then there was the taste, oh the sun-ripened flavours!!! It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "Getting Fresh in Italy".