LA, the dress, and flowers

I went to LA a week ago with my sister to go fabric shopping for my dress. The fashion district in LA is amazing - there are literally blocks and blocks of fabric shops. Most of them are small compared to the ones you find here, but each one specializes in something different. The result is that LA has tons and tons of different types of fabric... many of them you really wouldn't be able to find here at home. The quality and prices are also much better in LA.

The thing about LA, however, is that the atmosphere is very different. Here it would be ridiculous for a shop to put their goods outside unless it was either under a roof or a tent to keep it dry... but it was very common for the fabric shops to show a preview of their goods right outside the door. It felt like being in a different country. I remember seeing shopkeepers do that in Mexico, and to an extent in Europe. it was weird to see it in the US.

We did get what we came for, and now my sister is all set to start working on the dress!

I have made some progress in choosing all of the various flowers, too. Obviously we need a lot of pink and white flowers for the bouquets and the tables... but choosing them was a challenge. I know that I have mentioned before that I am interested in the meaning behind traditions... I'm also interested in the meaning of the flowers we'll be using. Mike and I had discussed using dahlias... and that was ok right up until I learned that dahlias had a very negative meaning associated with them. (see the last post)... so those are out.

I got a great book for Christmas that has a section about the symbolism of flowers, and I was able to find a bunch of good ones to choose from. Many of them have meanings specifically associated with happy marriage, some are good luck gifts for women, and there are a few that are good luck gifts for men. Depending on what we're using the flowers for, I'm trying to choose a meaning that fits. (for example, I want a white flower for the boutonnieres that is a good luck gift for men)... and it look like that will be fairly simple to do! :)

Anyway, we're still looking for a florist to put all of the flowers together for us. If you know a good one, please let us know!

I think we have pretty much decided on our honeymoon destination, too. It looks like we will be going to Negril, Jamaica! We're going to see a travel agent soon to book it. Last time we talked to them about it, they had great package deals at very reasonable prices! It will be fun to put that together!

--Chrissy