Saturday.

We were invited to the wedding of a friend last Saturday.  “What to give as a wedding gift?”  was the question that kept rolling through my mind.  This wedding was a first for both the bride and the groom and they are both in their forties (read: a cash gift isn’t going to go over the same with an established couple quite like it does with a 20-something couple!)  I remember taking all the cash we received as gifts and buying a washer and dryer AND a microwave!  We were so excited – ah the good ‘ol days…back in 1991!

I didn’t want to give cash anyway.  Chances are they have everything they need in their house AND if they don’t they can afford to buy it!  They don’t have children, ‘nuf said!

Homemade of course is what I wanted to give.  So I thought and I thought and I thought.  Then finally it came to me.  Who wouldn’t love an original handmade pillow made of linen announcing your love for all to see!  I know I would!

I have to tell you how much I would have loved to receive a gift like this for myself.  So much so that I believe I just may gift my husband and I one for our…selves.

Course it would have helped if I had thought the pillow out a bit more before diving in, maybe started it sooner than the night before the wedding…but…all that said, it turned out fine.  Plus I heard that the bride LOVES homemade things.  I don’t know her well, our friend met her while stationed in Russia.  Surpisingly I don’t get there much, ahem, ever.  My only other meeting with her prior to Saturday was when she came to Maine for her first visit to meet “the family” a few years ago.  For those of you who know me well or even those of you who read my blog often you won’t be shocked to know that they stopped by our house for a mere twenty minutes and within that time frame, my daughter fell down the stairs, screaming bloody murder for precisely twelve minutes after, my youngest had a meltdown like nothing unusual to those of us who have a family member with autism, and I’m sure this innocent woman from Russia made our dear friend swear they would never visit us again once they got out alive.  I’m sure I did wonders for the post Cold War relationship between our two countries.

Well after meeting her again sans children on Saturday, she’s a lovely woman.  She was a gorgeous bride and I do hope she likes the gift.

I got a gift too!  Well, besides my Russian vodka shot glass – whoa no shortage of Russian vodka there.  Thankfully this wedding wasn’t twenty years ago, I’m sure the EMT would have made several runs to the hotel.  Back to my gift…being local pays!  Look at the gorgeous centerpiece I took home with me!

The flowers were gorgeous at this wedding.  Stunning.

The wedding was at the gorgeous Colony Hotel in Kennebunkport, Maine.  Here’s the china to prove it!

I think you’d rather see the following photo though…

I felt like I was at the resort in Dirty Dancing, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner!”

Here’s the view when I spun around after taking the picture of the hotel…

No surprise that it was down the street from…

The Bush Compound!

Yes, they have their own peninsula!

Then we drove home.

But I still have my gorgeous flowers on my table!

And hopefully Marina + Jay are enjoying their pillow.