The little birds...

If you watch little birds you will see they are busy and happy! Using whatever they can find they create the most gorgeous little nest.
I would be the little bird with some glittery thread in her nest!
We can be like this. Happily working away with the things that are available to us to create a beautiful and happy home.
All the while with a little song in our heart.

Banner by Free Pretty Things for You.

Sunday 14 October 2018

The wedding. Part 1!

Thank you everyone who prayed for the wedding day!  It was quite miraculous as we had a week of rain leading up to the wedding and a storm and rain since.... but the wedding day was perfect.  There was one small shower but I will tell you about that later...

Where to start?  I want to share it all with you so I will just tackle one thing at a time so here is how we got ready for the day....

As you know this was a farm wedding and it was very much DIY!
Chloe married farmer Luke on Saturday.

Last week for me was getting ready.  I was the florist.  With Mum's help we gathered all the flowers ourselves from the farm.  Mostly from Mum's garden.  The total cost of the flowers for the wedding was zero dollars and zero cents lol.

At one stage there I did feel that I had taken on the job of several florists.  But it worked out!

So we really began Thursday with picking a vast amount of flowers and foliage.  I drove over to Mums and we picked and loaded up.


This was the back of my car at one stage and this was another...


By now we had a marquee set up for the reception and I started unloading flowers in there and just stuck them in buckets...



We also had huge amounts of foliage... and long bits that were five to six feet in length.  These were draped on sheets on the ground.   Chloe had wanted just foliage on the fence posts leading the the wedding site. This was a challenge as they were over five feet tall.  


So these led into the wedding site with one on each side.  They were huge!

The wedding was going to be under a huge gum tree.  This is the location before we made an isle lined with jars of native flowers (will show this sometime later...)


On Friday we had a day of setting up and I arranged flowers.  Everyone helped.


This is Chloe and Allie putting up bunting.  There was miles of bunting.  I sourced lace tablecloths, doilies etc from op shops, my friends helped from far and wide until we had enough. Chloe sewed it.  It was gorgeous.  All the marquee ropes etc were covered in bunting.

The seating was hay bales.  


Some were placed in huge circles and in the middle were the flower fire pits made by Luke and Andy from tractor disks.   Then they piled up wood to burn in these into the night.  To me even the wood piles looked lovely.  

I began arranging.  I was remembering my Nana who was a wonderful florist.  She collected flowers and foliage wherever she went.  She would have loved to have seen all of this!  Truly she would have thought it was heavenly.


All tables had flowers.   Some were kind of arranged and some really just stuck in buckets.  Mainly I just stuck to casual and abundant...


This went on and on until I was wondering about a blood transfusion lol!
I was also doing a mental Vicky Challenge.  I wonder how much city florists would charge for the flowers and the arrangements etc?  I am guessing a lot.  As I get to next stages you will see we also had no hair dressers, make up artists etc.  Chloe made her own bouquet.  And headpiece... can't wait to show you that!  

By Friday night we were ready and walked away.  All we could do now was hope and pray for tomorrow....  

(Part 2 coming as soon as I can manage.  Also I have not replied to most of Fridays comments but I will!  Have a wonderful week! xxx) 














31 comments:

  1. Bravo, bravo Annabel! It looks amazing! I knew it would! We had a very DIY country farm wedding too, and it really was fun. I can't wait to see more pics. Well done to you all :) Mimi xxx

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  2. Annabel, the set-up is beautiful, the flowers are perfect for an outside country wedding. There is no telling how much you saved by doing it yourself! Such talent!!!

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  3. You are amazing, and it all looks fabulous! No dollars, no cents, but lots of beauty and love

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  4. What a wonderful job you did! It looks so beautiful! What a blessing that the wedding day's weather came to the party (so to speak lol). Love the glimpses you have shown today, and looking forward to the next instalments.
    Congratulations and much love to you all xxx Fiona

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  5. Magnificent so far but waiting for a pic of you and the bride......... it looks like a wonderful country wedding. And how lucky with the weather too. Fi xx

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  6. The flowers look amazing, I also have a Chloe that married a farmer. We did a diy for her wedding also. Love the hay bales they look so good....Look forward to part 2.
    Mandy

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  7. Absolutely spectacular
    Annabel this is amazing and I bet so very rewarding
    Hey can’t wait to see the next instalment xx

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  8. Annabel, it all looks so stunning. You have done such an amazing job of it all! 😍
    Am so pleased the weather was beautiful on the day. Was praying as was not certain of the time but was thinking it was early afternoon. I am sure it all came together exactly as she had hoped and planned. Cannot wait to see the next photos and of course her dress and Harper and the attendants! 😊

    Love, Kaye xoxo

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  9. Hi Annabel
    Great job on the flowers! Congratulations to the bride and groom. Looking forward to your next post. Cheers Julie

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  10. It all looks so wonderful Annabel, you did a fantastic job with all the decorating, the flowers are beautiful! I love the hay bale seating, it just has that special country feel.

    Cant wait for the next episode.

    Much love,
    Tania xxx

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  11. Beautiful flowers so natural and in keeping with your country wedding.The garden must be naked!It looks lovely. Well done.

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  12. Very pretty! You and your Mom did a excellent job of picking flowers. So glad she had a beautiful day!

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  13. Lovely flowers! I am currently working part-time for a wholesale florist. We supply flowers to florists and I work in the hard goods half --- vases, tape ribbon, foam etc.

    Many of our "city" florists don't touch a wedding order unless its at least $2000 USD. They are that busy and don't have to do anything smaller than that. You can get someone who works out of their home for less. When you put a number in for your Challenge, don't forget your labor in the number. :)

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  14. Just lovely Annabel! I'll be looking forward to seeing the rest of it!

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  15. Annabel, those flowers look fantastic. You must all be exhausted. Can't wait to see Part 2!

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  16. Absolutely lovely. A day she will never forget. You should all be very proud of your work.

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  17. Hi Annabel,

    Wow, those flowers and the setup look beautiful! So creative and I am sure you saved loads doing the flowers yourself.

    Hope you have a great day,
    Kathy

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  18. How lovely and special for the newly married couple to have you do the flowers! It's wonderful that it saves money, but it's even more special that it's something that you could do for them. Truly a wonderful thing. Congrats to Chloe and Luke!

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  19. Just lovely! You did a beautiful job! I prayed for good weather and I am so pleased that it was a nice day for you all.

    We paid many hundreds just for the bride's bouquet and some corsages and boutonnieres for our three boys weddings so I suspect you saved upward to $2000 on all those flowers you did.

    I love the hay bales and fires in the middle.

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  20. Gorgeous, Gorgeous flowers, Annabel! And it takes someone special to see the beauty in greenery in the fence rows. Beauty is all around us, if we'll only see. Your Nan taught you well.

    My bookkeeping soul has already tallied up thousands of dollars in flowers and labor. And a labor of love, too - there's no way to put a $ mark on that.

    Your creativity and ingenuity never ceases to amaze me. Everything you touch turns to beauty. Can't wait for more pix!

    Best wishes to the happy couple!

    Love,
    Phyllis

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  21. God's richest blessings on Chloe and Luke! I'm so proud of you Annabel, your arrangements are lovely. So happy for you all.
    Blessings,
    Leslie

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  22. Oh my goodness! So beautiful!

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  23. Just beautiful!!!! Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to the next installment.

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  24. Annabel that is so beautiful and I am glad the wedding day went well and the weather was fine.

    So much love and time went into it which is clearly shown by all the flower arranging which would have taken ages along with the other lovely country decor.

    Sewingcreations15.

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  25. Amazingly beautiful! I know you must be exhausted, but please don't make us wait too long for another wedding post! I remember it taking me well over a week to recover from my daughter's country wedding! It was beautiful but a LOT of work! Blessings to Chloe and Luke!

    Hugs, Holley

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  26. Oh my gosh Annabel ! You are so creative and the day looks so gorgeous. Congratulations to them both ! Like Lucy I am looking for a farm man and escape Sydney ! My plans to do nursing however are now dashed however as my back has got a lot worse. I tore two disks by a car accident when a man ran into my car from behind projecting me into 5 other cars in pouring rain a few years ago. Dear Annabel I now just dont know what to do as I really want to leave Sydney and dont want to be alone. I want a farmer ! Please pray for me. Love sonia

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  27. Thank you everyone!! I am never going to be able to reply to everything so just thank you and I am working on the next bit! xxx

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  28. Dear Annabel, oh my goodness the setting, and those flowers. Those flowers are truly so beautiful! Even more romantic because they are native to the setting. It would have saved thousands of dollars! Congratulations to Chloe and Luke! It looks amazing!! Love, Bridge

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  29. I cannot wait to see the rest! What sweet friends & family you have to pitch in & help this way.

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  30. Dear Annabel,
    This is just gorgeous! Far more beautiful than anything you could have paid for and decorated with so much love it can be clearly seen in your photos. I can hardly wait for the next installment. Well done to you and your family on such an amazing effort. This is where I come for my dose of good news and things that are right in the world. It lifts my spirits and brightens my day!
    Love Del

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  31. You saved thousands of dollars on the flowers. I live in NY and they cost a fortune. Everything looks so beautiful.

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