♥ Kaili & Ben ♥

Once upon a time there was a village, and in this village there was a garden.

It was a beautiful garden, where the trees hung low, laden with fruit, and the lawn was rich with spongy moss.

There were places to hide down low in the long grass, and there were places to hide high up in the bows, and there was even a boat!

Yes, a boat!

And in this garden played many children, who would have great adventures within it's tall walls. They would pack a lunch (last-night's-leftover sandwiches probably, purple soda-streams and little sweet apples from the trees, of which you would need three or four), and some essentials (shuttlecock, jam jar, playing cards, facepaint etc) and head away from the house to see what they could see.

Sometimes, they were gone for weeks.

But over time the children grew too tall to hide in the long grass, and they became too heavy to spring up to the tops of trees, and in the end they just didn't go on as many adventures.

But the garden remained, and the trees wiggled their roots snugly into the soil and waited, and the lawn stretched out and sighed a relaxed sigh... because they all knew that a day like today would come, one day.

This morning one of the children (who's tree climbing skills have probably gone, but who has gained other skills such as making a mean steak pie and floristry), returned to the garden.

She found the lawn glistening with pride as it bore a splendid marquee; and the trees turning purple from holding their breath so as not to drop the great clusters of ripe fruit and fairy lights gathered in their branches; and she found Kaili (the little girl who lived in the house that guarded the garden from the non-adventurers) beaming from ear to ear and surrounded by people she loves, as today is her Wedding Day.

(N.B. Kaili has grown up, by the way, she isn't a child any more, although i'm certain her tree climbing skills are enviable to this day).

And so what sort of flowers would do for a village wedding, held in an English walled garden bursting with memories and love?

Well, English flowers of course, arranged in gathered treasures: jugs and teapots borrowed from friends and family members.

Mme Gingerlily has recently had the pleasure of aquanting herself with the girls from Blooming Green, who grow fabulous planet-friendly flowers in Kent (www.bloominggreenflowers.co.uk). We've been hoping to use them for special events for some time, and today served as a wonderful chance.

I wish I could use their flowers every day for everything, it was so much fun!

On Thursday evening I zipped down to Kent, where Jen had left me out three fantastic buckets of their glorious green goodies. Oh, and an enormous spider which only revealed itself once it had hitched a ride back to the little shop. I can only assume it was planning to infiltrate the houses of parliament and overturn the government but fear not! He has been 'dealt with'. Along with my nerves *reaches shaking hand towards sherry bottle*.

Fearing I may ramble on forever and ever and never finish this blog entry, which would mean Mr Gingerlily and Mr Gingerlily's family (who are hurtling towards London from the 'North' as we speak) wouldn't get any dinner, i'm going to stop. Ta-ra.

x x x

.....oh just one more thing... highlight of my morning was seeing Simon, the president of the Ritz Carlton (and Kaili's uncle) wrestling the heart shaped herby wreath I made onto the garage door... check me out!