Sunflowers, Mums, Pumpkins, and Love

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

I have marriage on my mind tonight because Todd and I had the great thrill of serving as attendants at his younger sister's wedding over the weekend.  The flowers above are a close-up I took this morning of the bouquet I carried.  I was so busy talking with people and enjoying myself at the reception that I didn't take one single photograph.  Me.  Can you believe it?  But the mental images are vivid.  I loved so much about their wedding weekend: 

family and friends gathering the day before 

to decorate the reception hall with huge pots of mums 

and piles of pumpkins and gourds 

rehearsal dinner at a really good local Chinese restaurant--

the platters of noodle and rice and egg rolls never stopped coming

dark clouds in the morning that cleared as the wedding hour approached

watching my youngest niece before the ceremony 

as she practiced tossing rose petals 

from her pumpkin-shaped basket

a homily on love by their parish priest

the toast given by the best man--maybe the best one I've ever heard

warm apple crisp in lieu of wedding cake

autumn leaves falling outside the windows of the hall

watching two best friends exchange vows

getting to share my birthday from now on with their anniversary

(okay, that one is a little selfish, but I can't help myself!)

What, you might, ask, happened to all those mums and pumpkins after the proverbial party was over?  The mums went back to Todd's dad's garden and the pumpkins we divvied up among family members. A few made their way back home with us.  The bride and groom are on their honeymoon  now, of course, but they are coming to visit us at the end of the week.  When they arrive they will find these little reminders of their wedding day tucked into corners all over the house.   

My favorite is the white one in my workshop/guest room,

but I like the humor of the pumpkin on my hutch, where it echoes the shape of the melon-patterned tea service and the "Peter Pumpkin Eater" child's lamp.  While the message of that old nursery rhyme leaves much to be desired for married couples, I can't resist the charm of the lamp.

This tiny pumpkin sits in our front hall where we keep cards on display in a vintage Underwood typewriter.  

As I type this post I'm remembering it was twenty years ago this very month that I met my husband on a chilly Halloween night.  October seems an auspicious month for beginnings, indeed.