Girl gets brooches

Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says yes.
Boy goes to war.
Girl plans a wedding.
Girl asks for help.
Girl gets brooches.

My dad has one sister. And my mom has one brother. We don't have a huge family, but I am fortunate to have a pretty close relationship with the family members we do have! At Christmas, my aunt Brenda pulled me aside and gave me this gorgeous pin:


She told me that as a kid, she remembered her mom (my grandma) wearing this pin on a long purple coat she had. She said my grandma didn't wear many, but she did wear this one. Aunt Brenda thought it would be a great addition, and I agree! It is so different than anything I've seen before!

In planning out this bouquet, I kind of left it's fate in the hands of my family and friends. By asking them to choose pins and not giving any guidelines (color, metals, flower or not flowe), I kind of let everyone else decide how my bouquet would look. It's turned out to be great fun! But I did order two special pins myself. I knew I wanted something specific and this is what I found:



I have a very special plan for our initials... I hope it works out how I envision it :)

When we got back from visiting family at Christmas, I had a really neat pin waiting for me in the mail. This pin was from our friend Heather. I met Heather a couple of years ago at a birthday party for one of J's nephews. She has been friends with J and his brothers since they were young. And she and her husband and son live right down the street from his family. I have gotten to know her and grown to love her and her family, and I was so excited to see this gorgeous pin in the mail from her:



I especially love that even though she lives right down the street, she sent it in the mail :) So cute! I can't wait to see how the butterfly looks mixed in with the flowers! It is perfect!

The bouquet is growing, and I've made a lot of progress. I've managed to make each of the pins into a flower with a stem... so this week I should be finishing up the bouquet. I still have tons of pins to blog... I'll keep going with that :)

Girl gets brooches

Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says yes.
Boy goes to war.
Girl plans a wedding.
Girl asks for help.
Girl gets brooches.

When I began asking for brooches, I wasn't sure what would happen. I didn't know if I would get any at all. I was a little worried that my plan wouldn't work and that I would walk down the aisle empty handed.

But what I have found is that this has ended up being one of the COOLEST things I've ever experienced. I know people have made these before. I know there are people out there who you can pay to make them for you. They will even go out and find all of the brooches to go in the bouquet. But the neatest part of this for me has been getting little pieces of my family and friends. Some of the pins are old and have a story behind them... a history. Others are brand new and were bought just for this purpose because someone wanted to contribute. I love that I am reconnecting with people from my past, and that I have so many people in my life that love and support me.

It has been fun to see the personalities of different people show up in their choice of brooch. I've been given flowers, and hearts, and random designs. I've even got a butterfly or two. Everything I read about how to make one of these said you should choose a color scheme and a metal and stick with it. But I decided to throw the rules out the window and do what I wanted to do instead. And I decided I wanted pins from family and friends instead of random pieces.

At Christmas we visited my family in Oregon. It is the only time of the year that I get to see my dad's parents. My grandma has facebook and email and she knew about my bouquet. Originally she wasn't sure she'd be able to come up with a pin for it, but I was pleasantly surprised when she pulled me aside and handed me this:



It's a beautiful pin and I love having a butterfly to add to my bouquet! How perfect!

It's getting down to the wire now. I'm hoping to have all of my pins in by the end of the month so that next month I can start to put them together. I can't wait to see how my bouquet comes out! I think it is going to be beautiful!

Girl gets brooches

Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says yes.
Boy goes to war.
Girl plans a wedding.
Girl asks for help.
Girl gets brooches.

I don't even know how to begin this story.
Once upon a time, there was a woman.
She was my grandma's grandma.
My great great grandmother.
Her name was Rhoda Isabel.
She had a pin. It was made probably at least 150 years ago.
The stone that is centered in the middle of the pin was hand cut. It's a real gem of some kind... and it wasn't cut by a machine. Someone held that little gem in their hands and cut it and faceted it by hand. 150 years ago.
My grandma has had it for about 50 years.
And now it will be a part of my bouquet.

I think this is such a special piece for my bouquet. I plan to put it right in the middle. It will be my "something old".



Wow. Such special stories that are coming with these pins!
I am hoping to collect quite a few more by the beginning of February! There will be lots more brooch blogs coming!!!

Girl gets brooches

Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says yes.
Boy goes to war.
Girl plans a wedding.
Girl asks for help.
Girl gets brooches.

Christmas morning is always fun and exciting.
Sometimes things under the tree are more of a surprise than other times.
This year I had lots of surprises under the tree, but one of the biggest surprises came from my Uncle Don and Aunt Carol and my cousin Evan.

When I opened the brooch, I was blown away. I wasn't expecting it and it was beautiful!

I don't think there is much of a story behind it, but it was really special to me to have a pin from them. Uncle Don has been around since I was born. He is my mom's brother. As a kid, my mom used to say how much I was like him. I think that always made me like him even more. And Carol came into the picture when I was pretty young. I loved her from the beginning! When I was in Junior High, they got married, and I got to be one of 2 people in their wedding. It was so special for me.

Evan is 7 years old and he is so smart. Since I was 18 years old when he was born, I've been able to watch him grow up and it has been really fun! Even though I don't get to see him often and he grows so quickly, its been a really neat thing. Evan is my only cousin on this side.

Here is a picture of the pin:



Its so fun seeing all of the different pins everyone has been picking out. When I look at this one, that little lady bug reminds me of Evan :) I love that it will be in my bouquet on my wedding day!

I have collected quite a few! Next month I'll be putting them all together. I can't wait to see how it comes out!

Girl gets brooches

Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says yes.
Boy goes to war.
Girl plans a wedding.
Girl asks for help.
Girl gets brooches.

I remember as a little girl, my mom and my grandma wearing jean jackets covered in rhinestone brooches. They would collect them and pin them all over the jackets. As a kid, I didn't really understand it. I thought they were pretty and sparkly, but I didn't understand entirely why they would collect them with such diligence. But collect they did.

When we arrived in Oregon for Christmas, my grandma told me that I could pick from her pins for my bouquet. And out came this drawer:



I was overwhelmed... and didn't even know where to start. But immediately, this pin jumped out at me.



But then so did a few others...







After I'd pulled these out of the drawer, she found a couple others she thought I might like:





Needless to say, I was THRILLED to add several new pins to my growing collection! I know I say this at the end of every brooch post, but I am really enjoying getting each piece. It is fun to think about the different people who care about me and my day!

Girl gets wedding bands

Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says yes.
Boy gives girl beautiful ring.
Boy goes to war.
Girl plans a wedding.
Girl orders wedding bands.

I absolutely LOVE my engagement ring. I think it is the most beautiful ring I have ever seen.

It took me a while to start looking at wedding bands. In fact, I didn't until we decided to move the wedding up. Then it kind of hit me one day that I really needed to get on that and buy our bands. So I started looking. I went to several jewelry stores and tried on all kinds of different things. I really thought I knew what I wanted, but as I began to look, I found that was not the case at all. I ended up ordering the ring from the jeweler that was made to go with my engagement ring.



It arrived in a beautiful little box (with a green holiday bow)...



And it even had Godiva chocolates with it! Now that is class!







LOVE IT.



J and I have gone back and forth about what he wanted. He knew he wanted something plain...no stones, no design. But at first, he said he wanted yellow gold. Then not much later, he said that maybe he'd like white gold. The thing is... he isn't here! So he hadn't had a chance to try on rings and really decide what he wanted. So I found a ring that is made out of tungsten. Which is basically steel. I figured it was different looking and would be tough.



When he is home and wearing his ring everyday, I figure we can go pick out the ring he loves... but I wanted him to have a ring for the wedding. And who knows, maybe he will end up loving it! :)

Girl gets brooches

Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says yes.
Boy goes to war.
Girl plans a wedding.
Girl asks for help.
Girl gets brooches.

I think it started before I was born.
Christmas Eve.
My mom's family would gather together and open presents that my great grandmother had gotten all of us. We would eat and talk and catch up on the last year. Because most of us hadn't seen each other since last Christmas Eve. This tradition has continued on my entire life. All 25 years. Until this year.
I missed seeing my family this year... but I was beyond excited when I arrived at my grandma's house and she presented me with 2 pins for my bouquet... one from my Great-Aunt Eileen, and one from my second cousin, Nancy. Both are beautiful!!!

This one is from Aunt Eileen... because of my love for Disney as a kid:


And this one is from Nancy. She said she has had it for over 20 years! I love the color of it! And it catches the light!


Just like I say in every brooch blog... it is SO MUCH FUN to get these pins from everyone! It's fun to hear the stories and see why each pin was chosen!

If you want to send me a pin, I am still collecting them. I am about half way there and I'm getting so excited to see it all come together! I am hoping to collect them all in the next month or so... by the beginning of February... so I have enough time to put them all together before the wedding. Let me know if you need my address!