Grown on Your Own

We've already made our case for why you should be outside growing flowers for your big day...now we're ready to convince you that a vegetable (& fruit) garden should be a part of your landscape as well! :)

There are lots of reasons to think you can't grow vegetables yourself...maybe you kill all the plants you've ever tried to nurture, maybe you don't have the space you need, or maybe you just don't know where to start! Don't worry...we've been there and we're going to get you through this! Our gardening "expert" Alli takes over from here.

The first, and best place to start, is a good book. Any good bookstore (yes, bookstores still exist!) will have a pretty decent sized garden section worth checking out. I have found that the number of books about home vegetable gardens seems to be growing bigger by the second so make sure to give yourself time to browse all the titles. The last time I did my book browsing, I left the store with a great addition to my library called "The Backyard Homestead". What really sold me was the small print under the title..."Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!". Done and done.

After reading through the entire book (yes, the ENTIRE book) I knew I was ready to take on a small, tester garden. Before spending oodles of money and turning my entire backyard into veggie heaven, I figured one raised bed was a good place to start. I headed down to Home Depot and grabbed up some cheap lumber. I discovered that the cheaper options are better for gardening because more expensive, pressure treated wood will leak chemicals into your soil which means NO GOOD for edible plants. My trusty home handyman whipped up a good sized bed for me and I got busy filling it up with soil.

Depending on where you live, you might have to buy top soil from a garden store. It's not too expensive and worth the investment because it pretty much guarantees growth. I was lucky enough to have a good amount of soil to choose from in the front yard so I spent a day digging and delivering to my garden.

Once you have enough soil in your raised bed, it's time to decide what you want to plant (if you haven't already). I wanted some fast growing, hearty vegetables because I wanted to see some results before I begin work at Straight Wharf in May so I chose spinach, lettuce, carrots, & sugar snap peas.

I began seeing sprouts from the lettuce and spinach within a week. The very warm weather we had last week must have helped, but I also kept the soil nice and moist by watering everyday (with a mist rather than direct spray). Because I used soil from the yard I began to see grass taking root so every morning I would go outside to weed what I could in order to let my veggies spread their wings. As cold weather began to approach, I invested in some burlap and covered the entire bed with burlap and a tarp during the night to keep the soil warm.

I checked the garden this morning, and voila, seedlings are everywhere!

I am bragging about my garden not only because I'm very proud (I was someone who always killed plants I was responsible for), but because my veggies are proof... if I can do it then YOU can do it, I promise! There are no excuses...small space - grow in a container (ever seen what you can do with a pallet?!). No green thumb - read a book and follow directions. Hate vegetables - well, you're just plain crazy.

A vegetable & fruit garden is absolutely postively worth the effort and here are some reasons why...

• Offering Bloody Mary's at your wedding brunch made with your very own garden tomatoes will blow people's minds.
• Contributing cucumbers or lettuce to your first course salad will make it unbelievably delicious.
• Making your signature cocktail something like "Home Grown Strawberry Mojito" it nothing to scoff at.
• Carrot Cake makes a great wedding cake...even more so when you know where those carrots came from.
• How about growing corn, popping it up, coating it in yummy spices, and serving it in paper cones at your reception?! What whaaaaat!

Take this information and go forth, using your beautiful minds to create the ultimate garden-filled wedding. Sharing your wedding day with friends and family is glorious, but sharing your hard work is unbelievably fantastic to the max!

For more great gardening ideas, visit our "Grown on Your Own" and "Food Glorious Food" boards on that wonderful website we like to call, Pinterest. :)

vessels, vases, variety...the three v's

So you've planted the flowers, they're coming up beautifully (well, they will be in a month or so), and you're dreaming about the arrangements that will one day grace your reception tables. There's only one thing missing...how will you find vases fantastic enough to hold your gorgeous garden blooms?! Never fear, we're here to kickstart your already creative brain to make sure your arrangements are awe-inspiring from top to bottom.

Most of the time when you hire a florist, they already have vases on hand to make their (and your) job just a little bit easier. They throw glass baubles or giant green leaves in each container to jazz them up and flowers are ready to go! Now, before we go any further we want to be clear...we don't think there is anything wrong with this! Florists are florists because they have amazing talents putting together arrangements that blow people's socks off. We're not inclined to wage a war against florists...we're here to discuss what your options are if you don't want to take a traditional route with your arrangements. Again, to reiterate...we love florists. :)

Flowers come in all shapes and sizes. Some look nice in long skinny vases and others look better in short fat vases. We suggest that you not deny these facts and instead, embrace the uniqueness of your favorite flowers by choosing containers which suit them best.

Collecting a variety of vases can be almost as much fun as putting together the arrangements that will go into them! We suggest you start collecting early so you'll have the chance to get unique pieces from all sorts of places. Checking out local craft stores, streetside antique stops, and weekend flea markets are always a great bet. 

Buying pieces individually will not only ensure that your wedding decor is unique, but will further personalize your big day to better reflect your style. Your guests are coming to celebrate an important part of your life which means each and every piece of that day should be about you.

Some great vases and vase-like vessels that we've come across can make as much of a statement as the flowers will.




A watering can and buckets from Ikea give arrangements a very "garden" feel

 



A half & half container from a local dairy can create an old country atmosphere

  


Cute green vases from a craft store are affordable and are great accent pieces for tables

  

These are only a few of the almost endless possibilities that exist for your very special day. We have realized that we simply can not fit all of our ideas and inspirations in one blog post so we encourage you to visit us on Pinterest to check out our "various vessels" board where we pin and re-pin everything we find that can help get your creative juices flowing.

 Decide what you love and happy hunting...

we're here if you need us. :)

The Power of Flowers

With the unseasonably warm weather in the northeast, we've become obsessed with flowers. Local nurseries are beginning to stock their shelves with budding plants and even a quick trip into the Home Depot finds us staring at the wildflower seed packets. It's a perfect time to plant (not to mention, get a little color on that pale winter skin) and a perfect time to watch your hard work, quite literally, blossom before your eyes.

We love the idea of filling our yards and back porches with all the flowers we can get. It's not just because they're beautiful and awe-inspiring, but mostly because it affords us with the opportunity to use our own homegrown flowers for arrangements both large and small throughout the spring, summer, & fall. At Straight Wharf we always use fresh, seasonal flowers to brighten up our dining spaces and by picking & arranging them ourselves we have an appreciation for them beyond just loving their smell or color. We care for them like members of our family and are proud to share their beauty with our guests for as long as we can.

Whether or not you're even planning a wedding, kickstarting a flower garden this spring is a great idea. You can grow perennial bulbs (perennial means they come back every year without much coaxing...think daffodils and tulips) in a yard, in a pot or any sort of container. You can start them inside and transplant them or, with this great weather, you can spend a day outside popping them right into the ground. As long as you're not afraid of a little dirt and hard work (and we know you're not), the result is absolutely positively worth the effort.

Another great thing about planting bulbs...the choices are many and the costs are little. Any garden center will have a great selection of bulbs in amazing colors & styles. Some will bloom first (early summer), others second (mid-summer), and more third (surprise surprise, late-summer). Choosing a variety of blooms will ensure you have gorgeous arrangements all summer long and will also give you a greater understanding of what flowers may be ready when your big day comes along...centerpieces filled with flowers from your very own garden...it can't get much better than that.

And so it begins...

Happy happy spring everyone! So excited to welcome in such an amazing season with unbelieveable weather (record-breaking in our neck of the woods) AND with a new blog!! Our intention with this blog is to extract every last bit of wedding-planning knowledge from our brains and (hopefully) organize it all here to help inspire everyone who might be planning their big day!!

First and foremost, an explanation of who we are is in order. Put simply, we are Alli & Allie, a superhero duo disguised by day (in our Clark Kent glasses of course) as the management team at Straight Wharf Restaurant, one of Nantucket Island's most established and fabulous fine dining destinations. Our true identities emerge when weddings are near and we lose ourselves in thoughts of fluffy blue hydrangea's, mason jar centerpieces, & harborside sunset nuptuals.

Avid party planners since we were both young, our ideas stem from a love for all things beautiful & timeless. Our style has been refined by a great respect for nature, creativity, & individualism. We thoroughly enjoy the art of combining this classic style with current trends and are thrilled when we stumble upon new & exciting ideas to share with others.

We hope you enjoy the posts that follow, each one is crafted to provide inspiration, and hopefully excitement, about the possibilities for every wedding, big or small.