This time last year I was in the midst of pre wedding chaos - work was non stop, so may things to organise, collect, pay off etc. And in the middle of all of this I had the task of fulfilling my dream to have my own herb centrepieces for the wedding. 'What the hell was I thinking' you may ask.
I had seen a picture in glossy mag during one of my many long boring trips to the hairdresser, I usually use that time to catch up with Hello, VIP, Woman's Way, Cosmo, Vogue etc. In one of these was a picture that caught my eye, it was beautiful. Diane Von Furstenberg had an anniversary fashion show in Italy. The picture showed the outdoor lantern -ight venue, with candles twinkling along the white linen simple runway, laid onto the grass. The guests sat at small round tables, with matching white linen and decorated with terracota pots filled with mediterranean herbs - rosemary, lavender, thyme etc. It took my breath away how these simple things looked so complete together. It was then in the hairdressers with my hair filled with tin foil wrappers and the busy salon noisily going about its daily business, that I decided I wanted herb centrepieces for my own summer wedding.
Two simple (or so I thought) things were required : enough small herbs to decorate the round tables, and small terracota pots to put them in. Oh how I was so naive! I spent days, if not weeks online looking for pots small enough to order...the shipping alone wasn't worth it! On one rare online search I did find an specialist Irish herb nursery in Offaly http://www.herbsonthyme.com/. Immediately I rang the number, and the lady at the end of the phone was so helpful, even though they are really commercial growers, she was so taken with my idea she agreed to help me. Her advice on herbs that would look good in small pots and that would thrive in pots as well as in the guests' gardens after the wedding, was great! At last the herbs at least had been ordered.
However, the lovely leafy fragrant plantlets would be nothing without their accompanying clay pots. Maybe its fate or luck or God, but one of my closest friends, a beautiful & talented botanist, stepped in, and mentioned that in her workplace they had loads of old clay pots from over the years that were not in use, and most likely due to be thrown out. A few days later my 'something borrowed' arrived - crates upon crates of pots of all shapes and miniature sizes. The fact they had fire damage, a nice colony of spiders and were older than I am (beautiful botanist said some could be nearly 100 years old) they looked perfect!
Fast forward to days before the wedding, herbsonthyme nursery hand delivered my herbs having found out that myself & the owner's wife went to the same secondary school (yes Ireland is that small). My antique pots were washed, scalded, cleaned and polished within an inch of their lives. Some were so old they retired before the wedding and some new pots had to be bought but only small amount.
I spent the full moon night 3 days before the wedding sitting on my deck, (it was still bright as the summer solstice had just happened), with a glass of red wine on one side and 60 pots with 60 pretty baby herb plants on the other waiting to be 'married' together. I loved every single minute of that night, the joy of having things I had seen in my mind come together and sitting out as the sky darkened, with my hands & pre wedding nails filled to the brim with compost from our own compost bin.
When I walked into the dining room before the wedding ceremony (we had a civil ceremony) and saw the tables with the herbs, the pots and all the little things my friends had lovingly placed for me while I was in bridal prep upstairs - I shed a tear. Every single thing on those tables from the plants, the lovely little pots, the arrangements of herbs on each table reminded me of how friends and family were instrumental in helping me for my wedding day. To each and everyone thank you for that!! It made my dreams come true.
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