An Epilogue in the Form of a Bouquet

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The week after Boheme and Reverie were born, Danielle and Toby got married. And even though I was able to attend her bachelorette weekend, knowing I wouldn't make her wedding was heartbreaking because more than anything, I wanted to be there for her and Tobias, stand behind them, celebrate their love. I wanted to see Dani in her dress and throw flowers and cry over their beauty and happiness and the magic they so effortlessly exude when they're together. Always have.

Toby playing a song at The Piano Bar in Hollywood, 2007

... I wanted to be there to witness the woman I adore marry the man of her dreams.

As anticipated, their wedding was joyous and lively and full of music and laughter and Dani's handmade decorations that she spent months creating, the flags, the table settings, the tent she sewed on her living room floor.
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Everyone pitched in to decorate. Her father hung the white lights from the barn and trees. Her friends and cousins dragged driftwood and seaweed in from the beach and built an altar. Magic:
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And after they exchanged vows, surrounded by wild flowers and wild things, Tobias performed the song he wrote just for my friend Dani, in front of his family from Copenhagen and hers from California and together, everyone danced until dawn.
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"It truly was the greatest day of my life," she said, as we flipped through photos and listened to the song Toby wrote for her, marveled at the bouquet she clutched as she came down the aisle.
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Danielle's bouquet

Fast forward to now, to this week, almost three months post-wedding, Danielle and Tobias home from their honeymoon and back to work and life and the reality of driftwood altars being a thing of the past. Of post-wedding comedowns and a living room without a tent to sew. Of married life dressed-down without the champagne...

Dani texted me a photograph yesterday with the words: "I thought you'd appreciate this." In the picture was Dani's dried bouquet hanging from the windowsill... dead and yet... coming back to life? Yes! Somehow amidst the sticks and deceased flowers, the green had returned, new blossoms growing up toward the light. No explanation. No water. Just magic.
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I'd never seen anything like it before. "How is that even possible?" and yet there it was, the perfect symbol of love and life and death and the cyclical nature of everything that matters. Of the regenerative quality of love, specifically marriage which is a tough against-the-odds enterprise to be sure.

The flowers were a sign. Not only for them in their early days of marriage but for me, coming up on my seventh year as a wife. Nature is miraculous in its ability to reveal its own poetry, that through time, distance, and against all odds, greenery always find a way to reveal itself, love wins.
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GGC

17 comments:

Emily | 11:06 AM

That dress is INCREDIBLE. Where did she get it? So, so beautiful on her.

GIRL'S GONE CHILD | 11:10 AM

Isn't it perfection? She got it at this great vintage-inspired/vintage dress store in Santa Monica. The pictures don't do it justice either. Tis DIVINE.

annabelvita | 11:47 AM

This is so beautiful. I love it. Hooray!

If you knew what you know now about marriage, what advice would you give your newlywed self?

Sarah | 11:48 AM

I'm coming up on my 7th year of wifehood too, and the other night I just looked at him and thought, I am so crazy in love with this man, after all this time. He's truly my very best friend.

I know how cliche it is, but I really hope newly married couples are as happy as we are. Because we are pretty damn perfect.

Shannon | 12:39 PM

Oh my God! I need a print of this picture for my husband. It says everything. Is it possible for you to email it to me? It would mean the world.

Thanks, Shannon

shannonmprice@hotmail.com

Abigail.Jason | 1:03 PM

Love this. "Love Wins." is kind of our line, and we printed this line on the back of our wedding programs - last weekend, AAAGH!

Interestingly, something similar happened with my bouquet. It was a fairly simple, round-shaped bouquet with roses and tulips. I took it home from the wedding and put it in water, so I could enjoy the fragrance a little longer, and the tulips GREW! Where they first were even with the rest of the bouquet, now my bouquet is sprouting these tulip-antennae several inches above the rest of the bouquet.

Glenda | 2:01 PM

all around beauty and LOVE... love definitely wins!

Krysta | 2:14 PM

THAT DRESS! All of the pictures are so beautiful!

My Bottle's Up! | 2:49 PM

oh wow. i had to look at that picture multiple times because i could not believe the rebirth of the blooms. magic, in deed. what a beautiful friend and a beautiful love.

no wonder it broke your heart not to be there.

gorgeous post, my friend.

and, holy smokes, that dress!!!

colby | 4:08 PM

i'm with everyone else. that dress is AMAZING.

Anonymous | 1:51 AM

BEAUTIFUL.

Claire Gibson King | 9:21 AM

what a beautiful post. your friends wedding was magical. sorry you had to miss it but how wonderful that you have a friend to recount every moment with you with such love and detail and joy. her bouquet story was amazing!!!

RSilvies | 6:15 AM

Rebecca, when my mom had breast cancer, my sister sent her a roses. My mom kept the roses in a vase and slowly threw away the ones that were dying off. There was one that stayed green, even though it wasn't in a room with much sun. She kept it watered and it stayed green for months. One day, she realized there were roots coming out from the bottom. She planted it in her garden in the spring and it is now a flowering rose bush. She is since in remission and enjoying her garden. I love stories like these.

Unknown | 8:56 AM

This was exactly what I needed to read today. Things are tense right now but we love each other and nothing is too old to breathe new life into. Thank you.

Anonymous | 11:05 AM

Loved this post. Found a new favourite quote from it :)

Katie of Cabbage Ranch | 8:09 PM

What a beautiful post. Filled with hope and lovely to its last letter. (and the picture of the flags? Reminds me of the colors of Homer and the texture of Wyeth and the spareness of O'Keeffe... beauty.)

Ray | 9:28 PM

That was beautiful.

Congratulations to your friend on her new marriage, and to you and Hal on seven years!!