Magnolia

I hope you'll indulge me a few wedding-related posts: as the day draws nearer, there isn't room for much else in my mind.

I decided I didn't want to wear a veil for our wedding - I think they can be cute and/or elegant, but just wasn't feeling it - and I have to admit I may have been influenced by the picture of Penelope Cruz I mentioned earlier when I had the idea to wear my hair up with a large white silk flower at the back.

After fruitlessly searching around in local department stores and online fabric shops, I came across Late Bloomer, an L.A. boutique that specializes in really nice silk flowers to wear in your hair. I'm sure it would be possible to come up with something DIY and inexpensive that is equally lovely, but time was getting short and I wanted something that a) wouldn't fall apart and b) wouldn't slide out of my hair, which is very fine.

Anyway, while I admired the various gardenia clips, I ended up going with the magnolia, mainly because of its beaded center, which felt a little dressier (I got some bridesmaid advice on this one, too). It seemed like something special that I would want to keep. I also just like the word magnolia.

It arrived today, courtesy of our neighborhood UPS man, who's gotten very familiar with our house in recent weeks. The other day as he helped me with a pile of three or four big Crate & Barrel boxes, I confessed to him that I was getting married soon. "Yeah, I kinda figured that out," he said.

Usually he's quite taciturn, not even cracking a smile when I try to joke with him about the bad weather, but today as I was signing for this delivery, he asked, looking at the label on the box, "Are you wearing flowers in your hair?" And, when I said yes, told me, "My wife wore daisies in hers," and then gave me the nicest smile.