Foofy Stuff

For some reason, a lot of the stuff that goes into planning a wedding is decidedly girly. Some people care about fabrics and colors and flowers and ribbons; some don't. For the curious, here's the lowdown on all the girly stuff that many people probably don't care about.

The Dress

It took Kelly a while to decide what she wanted to wear when she and Anthony got married. The traditional white dress was out of the question for several reasons. Cost, of course, and the fact that she's not the Princess for a Day type that most dresses seem to be designed for. Kelly would have been happy with something not-quite-formal, but since Anthony wanted to wear a tux (and who is she to deny the boy the chance to look like a 6'6" penguin?), she needed to find something more formal, yet something she'd still feel comfortable wearing.

Lots of searching on-line and in stores for the perfect dress was mostly fruitless (or fruity, but terribly expensive), so she turned to her trusty ol' standby: Mom. Caroline was hesitant because she's not in the habit of making formal dresses for her daughter's wedding, but she agreed that if Kelly found a pattern that wasn't too intricate or involved, she might be willing. Kelly found this pattern in the Butterick book, and it met both her criteria and her mother's, so they were in business. The dress will be finished off with a sheer beaded shawl, a beaded rose quartz and peridot necklace and earrings, and a pair of silver shoes (that cost only $6. $6!!).

Next up was picking a fabric and a color. Kelly was sure that she wanted to shy away from her traditional formal favorites, navy and black, and while Kelly looks positively smashing in bright red, she wanted to be "wintery", not "Christmassy". Red was definitely out. Kelly, Anthony, and Caroline looked at various silvers, greys, and pastels, when they found the perfect color at JoAnn's Fabrics in Joplin, Missouri. The color is technically "Amethyst", but Anthony has taken to referring to it as Gun Metal Pink. All the male members of the wedding party will be wearing ties made from the Gun Metal Pink fabric.

The Flowers

Kelly's boquet will be a a circular arrangement of cattalya orchids and greenery. Kelly's mother's wedding boquet was a single orchid, tipped in Caroline's favorite color blue, so the significance of the orchid boquet is apparent. Both Caroline and Rosemary will be wearing orchid corsages. The orchid traditionally stands for love, beauty, wisdom, and thoughtfulness. Cattalya orchids denote mature charm, and anyone who knows Kelly will laugh heartily at the notion of her being maturely charming.

Kelly's favorite flower has long been the stargazer lily. The female attendants on each side will carry small boquets of stargazers. These exotic lilies will also be the primary decoration on the wedding cake for the reception in Missouri. Lilies have long been associated with majesty, purity, sweetness, and modesty.

All the men sporting boutinierres for the ceremony will be wearing arrangements of stephanotis flowers. The stephanotis, symbolizing happiness in marriage, is a delicate white trumpet flower and is a perfect companion to the other white flowers in the ceremony.

The Rings

In June, when Anthony & Kelly first got "officially" engaged, this is the ring they chose. Its small channel-set diamonds and square-cut peridot (Kelly's birthstone) were exactly what they were looking for in a ring: simple, but meaningful. However, within a few months, the setting began to loosen and the peridot slid out entirely. No jeweler would even try to repair the ring, because the peridot is such a delicate stone. Eventually, Kelly & Anthony faced facts and returned the ring to its manufacturer and are on the search for another ring. Whether this ring will ever materialize before the nuptials in December is another matter entirely.

Anthony's wedding band is a Kirkpatrick family heirloom. Sort of. When Kelly's parents were married in 1960, this is the ring Caroline gave Dewayne. On their 10th anniversary, she replaced this ring with another of similar design, because the delicate bands on the edges of this ring were beginning to wear off. Caroline saved the ring and gave it to Kelly. When Kelly & Anthony were planning their rings, they had originally intended to have her father's ring sized and used in her own setting. After some discussion (and after Anthony tried the ring on and found it to fit perfectly), they decided that Anthony would use it as his wedding band.

Kelly's wedding band is an actual Ratcliffe family heirloom. The engraved white gold band was given to his grandfather, Walter Thomas Ratcliffe, by his bride Elizabeth Anne Heartt, on their wedding day in April of 1932, and is inscribed "E.A.H. to W.T.R. 4-24-32". The ring was passed down to Anthony, his only grandson, after Walter died in 1997 and Rosemary has kept it for him ever since. Both Anthony & Kelly are pleased to wear wedding bands that mean so much to both of their families.

And the new ring materializes. Behold, Kelly's engagement ring, for ever and always, amen.

The Invitations

Kelly has a crafty side, you know. And while looking at wedding invitation styles and prices, she figured that she could do a lot better on her own. So she decided on a design in her head, and set out with Caroline & Anthony in tow in March on the search for the perfect paper and ribbon to match the perfect design in her head.

First up was the paper. This Made to Match paper from American Crafts was exactly what she was looking for. The paper is 12" square and coordinates beautifully with the Gun Metal Pink fabric for Kelly's dress. This paper was cut into rectangles 4" wide and 6" long.

The text of the invitation was printed on lightly speckled paper that matches the envelopes, reception information cards, and the Save-the-Date cards that were sent out this past summer. The font used was Amazone and the ink color was magenta. The paper for the interior of the invitation and a piece of plain white, transluscent vellum were trimmed to 4" wide and 5" long. When all three pieces were stacked together, the top edge of the striped paper was folded over the top, two ¼" rectangular holes were punched in the folded section, and ½" lavendar ribbon was threaded through the holes to secure the pages together. Once assembled, a silver snowflake was stamped onto the top layer of vellum of each invitation.