Overbay Photography Makes Giant Leap

My friend, Kristin Overbay, has taken the next step in her life journey as a full-time photographer.  I have been following her work for about three years.  She does beautiful work.  I love to see someone follow her dream.

http://overbayphotography.net/blog/2011/11/14/overbay-photography-a-dream-becomes-reality/

Protea Love

I hadn't seen one of these flowers until last week, except in pictures.  I was very excited to use these at my church this week.  These are proteas and green ball dianthus with banana leaves. river cane and pepper barries.  Hope you enjoy them.

New Finds

While my daughter was here for a visit, her amazing friend Susan Ward told us about J. Crew Distribution Center in Arden, NC (just west of Asheville).  I can hardly believe we hadn't found this place before, so I just have to share it with you.  They had lots of deeply discounted clothing, not items made just for the outlets, things that they have in the catalog, and one sweater had sample written on the underside.  But, in keeping with my wedding-themed blog, they had bridesmaid, flower girl, ring bearer, and even bridal dresses.  You won't find a dress with a two-foot train and Alencon lace, but you might find something perfect for you.  I saw one wedding dress for $60.  I must warn you, though, most of the things are for the "skinnies", size six, eight, ten.  It was so much fun, just getting the possibility of a really great deal.

After a long, and tiring shopping trip, ;-) you must try Tupelo Honey.  The food is definitely southern, but upscale.  The rosemary peach lemonade is the best I've ever had.  What do you  think they have for appetizers?  Giant biscuits, on the house.  The southside cafe is close to the distribution center, and not as crowded as the downtown cafe.  Asheville is such a fun town.

Flowers from My Yard

Sometimes simple can be lovely.  I have this great hydrangea tree, which still has blooms.  Hope you enjoy this.

Congratulations Charity Clark and Nathan Shepherd!

Charity and Nathan were married Saturday, September 24, at New Canton Plantation in Church Hill, Tennessee.   The bride's dress was by Watters and had a very interesting flower at the back waist.  She wore a pair of gardenias in her hair, which lent a subtle scent whenever she passed.  The bridesmaids wore navy dresses with halter tops and ruffles extending around the neck, and dipping low in back.  The groomsmen wore oatmeal-colored suits.  The groom's boutonniere was a red cockscomb, white hydrangea, and peach hypericum berries.

The bride chose wildflowers, and what an assortment of flowers were available!  There were zinnias, dahlias, goldenrod, hydrangea, lilies, lisianthus, cosmos, black-eyed Susans, and red and yellow cockscomb.  The flowers, which I arranged, primarily came from Aunt Willie's Wildflowers.  The bride requested flower spheres, and I made balls completely covered in wildflowers which hung from the top of the tent.  I also made two flower wreaths to adorn the impressive front doors at the mansion.  The flower girl, the couple's daughter Averie, stopped to smell one of the flowers hanging from shepherd's hooks along the aisle.  The photographer, Rachel Hayes, caught that special moment.

This was the first opportunity I had to work with this venue, and the experience was great. They were very helpful in every respect.

I meant to take more pictures, but I was just too busy.  I was also directing the wedding and placing flowers on the cake.  Yikes!  Maybe you can check out Rachel Hayes's site for more a little later.  My photography skills are about as good as my basket weaving skills...

Gator Chop!

Living here in Tennessee, with Steve Spurrier, our native son coaching for Florida for years, a lot of animosity was created among UT football fans toward Florida.  This probably was the reason I had never experienced the Gator Chop.

Sunday, September 4, I had the opportunity to direct a wedding for Savanna Trent and Brian Greer.  This was a beautiful wedding at Allandale Mansion.  The flowers were white and yellow daisies and sunflowers.  The wedding was followed by a tea.  The cake was not stacked, but presented as several separate cakes, all especially tasty.

The bride was so excited from the moment she arrived until she left saying a special goodbye to every person in the exit line.  In the room where the girls were hanging out and getting dressed, a picture was taken of all the girls with their arms wide and far apart, then closed, mimicking the chop of an alligator.  It’s fun to see the excitement of any college group.

The best man was in full dress uniform, a reminder that our freedom is not free.  His lovely wife, who is several months pregnant, attended with their very young, affectionate daughter.

Some of the guests were surprised that we had mosquitoes, but said they were so tiny, you couldn’t even see them.  I guess we have something to be thankful for.  If our mosquitoes were larger, they might take bigger bites.

Gaige Gillespie - So Handsome

I was very excited about making this banner, after seeing it on the Martha Stewart website, and thankfully Stacie Hughes Gillespie went along with my enthusiasm.  Sometimes young children don't perform well at weddings, but they are young, and you can't expect them to act on command.  However, Gaige was a perfect ring bearer (banner carrier).  After the wedding, he came up to me and said, "I did it", and put his hand up to give me five.  He was a doll, as you can see in this photo by Overbay Photography.