As promised, more pictures of Nicole & Jarden’s June wedding.
Thanks again to the following Nashville vendors…
Crystal Elegance Catering
Belles Fleurs Designs
Signature Cakes
Grand Central Party
Southern Events
Ace Photography
Nicole & Jarden Part #1 http://bit.ly/nMA2pY
There’s an unmistakable feel in the air. Yellow school buses are out & we’re talking football once again. Summer is FINALLY nearing an end.
I unashamedly admit I’m not a fan of the season with it’s sticky heavy heat & humidity so to Summer I say Goodbye, Adieu, Adios & Bite Me!
But the only problem is you’re taking the last of my Lavender blooms with you!
Not willing to let them bleach in the sun these last days, I looked to my antique French cookbook & through trials
& very messy errors in the kitchen, came up with my own recipes using both English & French Lavender.
After spending the afternoon in the kitchen I treated myself with my efforts outside on my deck as the sun was going down.
I put my feet up & feeling pretty darn pleased with myself raised a glass to Fall- “It’s been a long hot Summer. Thank goodness you’re finally here!”
September & October can still be really warm so these recipes would be refreshing & different to serve at a fall wedding reception.
A couple of DIY recipes for your next event - straight from my garden & kitchen. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!
~Lavender Lemonade: If you’re planning a Fall wedding & want that ‘something different’ drink, try my Lavender Lemonade recipe.
Most caterers will be happy to take this recipe & adjust the amount for serving your guests. The intensity of Lavender, Mint & Lemon Thyme
can easily be adjusted by steeping more or less time. Experiment before adding booze. Gin maybe? Vodka? Yum!
~Lemon Lavenders: The last Lavender blooms of the Summer are perfect for this cookie recipe. Don’t overdo the Lavender - the cookies will be too perfumy & be sure & slice them paper thin because they tend to be gummy the thicker they are. And you must use organic!
Beg, borrow or steal some from a friend if you don’t have a plant or you can find blooms at an organic food store.
Make a extra large batch of my Lemon Lavenders, cool completely then stack in plastic containers & freeze.
Lavender Lemonade
7 cups of water
1 cup sugar
1 large can frozen lemonade
3-4 (4-5 inch) bushy stems of lavender (English and/or French)
5 or 6 mint leaves (leaves only)
2 small sprigs of lemon thyme (optional)
Bring water to a boil with the herbs. Add the sugar & cook on low. Stir with a wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved 3-4 minutes.
Add the frozen lemonade. Turn off the heat & cover for 2-3 hours leaving the herbs in the sugar water.
Pour the lemonade through a strainer & refrigerate. Put in a large pitcher & serve over ice & garnish with lavender stems & lemon slices.
These cookies are not as simple as the lemonade but well worth the extra trouble…
Lemon Lavenders
2 lemons - zest & juice
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup sugar & more for sprinkling
1 & 1/2 sticks butter cut into pieces
1/2 t. good vanilla
1/2 t. salt 1/2 t. baking powder
2 cups flour
2 T. lemon juice
2 t. lavender blooms
1/2 t. lemon thyme leaves (optional)
In a large bowl, mix together lemon zest, lavender & sugar until sugar is completely mixed. The sugar will be damp.
(I used the back of a small wooden spoon but a mortar & pestle would work better)
In a small bowl wisk together flour, salt & baking powder. Add to the sugar mixture.
Then add the butter using a pastry cutter or fork until blended.
In a small bowl beat together lemon juice, egg & vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough forms a ball then cut in half for easier handling. Turn onto floured surface & use a floured rolling pin to roll out really thin. Continue to flour the surface if it becomes sticky (I had to pop it in the freezer for a few minutes when it became too sticky to roll). Using a round cookie cutter, cut out shapes &
place on a cookie sheet lined with buttered parchment paper one inch apart. Sprinkle with lots of sugar.
Bake at 375 for about 8-10 minutes (depending on how thin you slice them) or just until the edges become light brown. But keep an eye on them!
Cool on the cookies sheets for a few minutes then transfer to cookie racks for cooling.
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Nicole & Jarden were married June 4th in Franklin, Tennessee. An uncomfortably sweltering day but who in the world would have known it by looking at lovely Nicole. Wait, that really doesn’t adequately describe her. Let’s try that again…calm, cool, & classically beautiful Nicole.
It was a pleasure for me to get to know her, plan with her & see the wedding she wanted come to life.
Nicole was a dream bride in her gown from The White Room. The pros at Grand Central Party Rental & Gabriel with the guys from Southern Events were great as always. Bonnie of Belles Fleurs left beautiful touches everywhere & Chef Clayton & his gang from Crystal Elegance added that certain je ne sais quoi to the reception with a delectable buffet - makes me smack my lips now just thinking about it! And the cake! Oh my! Signature Cakes certainly put the delicious icing on the evening. There to document all of this were the geniuses from Ace Photography. Wow! What a line up!
And as if that wasn’t enough, Nashville’s gem The Parthenon was the wedding reception backdrop. Not too shabby!
Nicole & Jarden’s families were wonderful. And I’ll have to say some of the best dancers I’ve ever seen at a wedding.
And yes, a certain wedding planner & her assissant were spotted in the late hours on the dance floor with the wedding party.
Even wedding planners have to kick back after a long hot day!
Thanks Nicole & Jarden for letting me be a part of your wedding. Loved it! Loved it!
Enjoy these shots - more to come later…
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A few years ago my mother-in-law asked what I wanted for an upcoming birthday. I told her I wanted something that belonged to her or her family – an heirloom that I could keep, enjoy & pass on to my daughters. She gave me the first of many heirloom gifts that I treasure. Knowing my love of the Victorian era & English history, her gifts are often things that belonged to her Victorian grandmother & her mother.
Always English & always with a story, the pieces are unusual & lovely.
{A photographer I’m not, as you can see below. So to my photographer friends: never fear that I’ll take over your job. But I did have fun taking these pictures. And I learned three things…I discovered that rocks look a lot prettier when wet, the afternoon Tennessee heat is not so fun for photography shoots & lily pads are not meant to hold sterling}
~Her first re-gift to me was this Victorian brooch that belonged to her Great Aunt Alice. I love the gems that were so popular
in the Victorian era in this brooch – seed pearls, garnets, rubies, peridots. It’s well worn & well loved & I was excited to have it.
~This silver/ivory box that belonged to my English grandparents-in-law (Janet & Rex) was etched by their English artist friend – the same artist that designed their wedding china in 1923. It was later given to their youngest daughter, Anne. She re-gifted it many years later to her sister
(my mother-in-law) on her 75th birthday. A hand-written history of it by Aunt Anne stays inside it. It was passed on to my house
where it sits safely out of the way of my pouncing cats but on display for all to see in a guest room.
~This 1897 sterling spoon commemorating Queen Victoria’s 60 years as monarch belonged to my grandmother-in-law.
~I’ve yet to find a safe place for this Vermeil (silvergilt) Victorian Ivory Cameo box I was given. It belonged to my grandmother-in-law &
she gave it to my mother-in-law as a personal wedding gift. It’s an exquisite piece that I keep wrapped in velvet & hidden in a drawer.
~The same for this inlaid box. A counter for a card game popular in the late 1800′s called Bezique. This one is particularly nice because
of the ivory pegs & inlaid insects of mother-of-pearl & stones. This once belonged to my grandmother-in-law.
fyi: In the 1880′s the Japanese Emperor decided to ‘westernize’ his country so artists & artisans begin making items to export.
Then Japanese art became all the rage in Victorian England.
~Another birthday gift – two sterling salt cellars that her Victorian grandmother (Victoria Christina) gave my mother-in-law when she married.
~This spring for my birthday, I was given another heirloom, re-gifted to my mother-in-law on the occasion of her wedding in 1945 by her mother.
A sardine/anchovy box – circa 1890. Yes, a crazy piece but the Victorians had something for everything!
And along with it, a proper English Victorian Bride must always serve the anchovies with an anchovy fork – and a sterling one of course!
~Although my husband has inherited some family treasures, the gifts given to me by my mother-in-law were given to ME with love.
Because she has two daughters, I feel even more flattered that I’m the recipient of these heirlooms. I think she feels assured that I’ll also
be a good keeper of these pieces & that my daughters will be equally protective when they have them.
Every Bride wants new china & crystal & deserves to have them but nothing enchances your home like a trinket passed down from generations past. As a daughter, you’re likely to recieve some or all of your own family heirlooms as I have, but what about your husband’s?
If you’ve fallen in love with that antique Waterford bowl or that French Trumeau hanging in the dinning room in your future mother-in-law’s house, go ahead & tell her. Chances are she’ll be touched that you’re interested in her son’s family history.
And if you don’t get it for a wedding gift then maybe one day you might just get it for your birthday!
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Down South during wedding season we have lots of things to contend with when planning or attending a wedding. Nasty things like giant
pre-historic size mosquitoes, intence heat that leaves you wilted & the occasional summer rain shower that’s followed by rain forest humidity.
But let me tell you, those crusty New Englanders have their own evils lurking around just waiting to throw a monkey-wrench in any
well-planned wedding. Yes, I’m talking bout the dreaded Nor’easter. Ok. Maybe not a true Nor’easter but to this Southern gal it was!
On the beautiful island of Martha’s Vineyard, June weddings are often wonderfully cool. But when cool is mixed with monsoon then Lawsy Mercy! That’s a wedding to remember!
Caitlin & Charlie’s reception was on a picturesque sheep farm overlooking the ocean. The rain held off just long enough for guests to stand on the hill, ooh & awe at the panoramic view, gaze at the ocean below & point to a large cloud looming in the distance. Then the rains came. And with a vengeance. But as the priest said during the ceremony, “New Englanders can weather any storm.” And they did. So no one seemed to care that water flowed through the side of the tent like a river or the tent occasionally had to be tightend down from the wind gusts. It didn’t prevent the mother & father of the bride from being wonderfully gracious hosts. It didn’t prevent the food from being mouth-watering marvelous.
It didn’t prevent the band from rockin’ or the guests from the dance floor. And it certainly didn’t prevent the
beautiful bride & handsome groom from having a fabulous time & our family from having a wonderful reunion!
Yes sir, those New Englanders have salt in their veins & an itty bitty wind is just part of the experience.
They certainly can roll with the punches. Even if those punches are gale force!
Thanks Caitlin {my lovely neice} & Charlie. Loved! Loved! Loved being a part of your weekend!
Enjoy the pictures below of the wedding & the island.
{photography by Bob Gothard & Rosemary Stanton & me ~ no photo copying please ~ property of Bella Weddings}
The Reception…
1~ Caitlin & Charlie - 1rst Dance 2-3~ Atlantic Ocean view from Alan Sheep Farm reception site 4-5~ Reception
6~ My kids…Sarah Stanton Smith, Rosemary Stanton, Dr. Aaron Smith
7~ Crazy girls 8~ Sweet baby…Eden Jane Smith
9-10~ Unbeknownst {I think} to the bride & groom, a wine they chose – The Show – is Nashville’s own. Well, at least the label is.
The Three Thieves {and 3 cute guys I might add} combined their talents with the talented artists at Hatch Show Print - a Nashville tradition that’s over a century old! Just goes to prove, as the saying goes, “There’s always a Nashville connection.”
11~ These were simply scrumptious! So I emailed the caterer to ask if she would share how to make them.
Jaime of Jaime Hamlin & Sons Catering generously wrote back saying…”They’re easy. Poach shrimp with lemon juice & Old Bay Seasoning.
Get some seaweed salad & wasabi caviar – from a fish store – & put it on a spoon.”
What!?! That simple yet so delicious!
12~ Reception 13~ Caitlin & Charlie doing good
Vineyard Shots…
14~ A very Edgartown thing – colorful roses on white fences bordering beautiful houses 15~ Eden & Sarah enjoying the ocean air & sun
16~ On the Vineyard Ferry – a bleak but beautiful shot
17~ An afternoon enjoying Oak Bluffs after gorging on Lobster Rolls & Fried Clams!
18~ Edgartown Peonies 19~ Cool shot on Edgartown beach 20~ Harbor View in Edgartown 
Around the island… 
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