The Invitation

Two of the 150 invitation covers that were painted for our
wedding...each were slightly different and all amazing

Today is Grant and my three year wedding anniversary and, naturally, I am feeling nostalgic.  I remember well all of the feelings, the people, the love, and yes....the party! As all brides can attest, it impossible not to forget the party.  As I think back on the countless mother-daughter idea-sharing phone calls, piles of dog-eared magazine pages of table setting inspirations and the crumbled fabric sample of my bridesmaids' dresses that I kept in my wallet for emergency color decisions, I realized that planning a wedding is a lot like decorating a house: both require decisions on color scheme, lighting, mood setting, arrangement; both need to blend elements of tradition and practicality with modernness and flare.



Our Marye-Kelley Decoupaged plate

My favorite part of wedding planning was choosing the invitations.  Anyone who knows me well, knows of my paper obsession.  I love to feel, touch, and smell paper - engraved and letterpress are personal favorites.  A handwritten note in the mail will make my entire day.  And so, I painstakingly designed invitations that became, literally, works of art.  Like walking into a foyer of a home, a wedding invitation (and any invitation for that matter) sets the tone for what your upcoming experience will be.

The cover of our invitations were graced by individually hand painted watercolors of a Chesapeake Bay marsh (our wedding was on Maryland's Eastern Shore), which were lovingly done by a good family friend, Nelia Cheney.  The intention was for her to paint one - that we would copy - but she insisted on painting each one - about 150 in total.  To me, the paintings were the most incredible wedding gift that I could ever receive and the most amazing present to give to our family and friends.

Hard to see my parents' invitation
etched in glass - but you get the point

But the story does not end there.  I refused to have our wedding invitations destined for a "memory box" in the attic...and neither should anyone else looking for ways to make the things in your home interesting and meaningful.  For Christmas gifts, I framed extras of the original invitation paintings.  As a wedding gift, Grant's cousin, Shaedyn, had one of our invitations decoupaged in a beautiful glass plate - a Marye-Kelley Design - which lays on the side table next to our living room couch (I subsequently gave this as a wedding gift to my best friend, Meghan, and highly recommend for others). 

Likewise, the wedding invitations of our grandparents and parents are additional treasures to proudly display. For example, in our china cabinet I have a glass box with my parents' wedding invitation elegantly etched in the top.

The cover, announcement, and reception pieces
of our wedding invitation - proudly, the  first thing one
sees in our home



I have lots of wonderful things around our house of which I am proud.  But, my favorite will always be the first thing people see when they walk through our front door, into our small foyer.  It is a simple but lovely frame from my aunt with the most beautiful pieces of our wedding invitation displayed amid white matting.  It continues to welcome guests and greet them with my style.  It will do so in every home in which we live.  Three years later, the invitation still makes me smile.

Mama T

One of my dearest friends, Katie Sendak, recently lost her grandmother who was a glorious 96 years young when she passed away.  Though I never met Tennessee Sendak, "Mama T," I pieced together the remarkable woman she was through stories from Katie and her family and the fabulous treasures of hers that Katie displays proudly in her apartment.  Katie asked if she could "guest blog" about the things in her home from Mama T and I felt honored to be able to use my small forum for a well-deserved tribute to such a special lady.  Always remember that there are diamonds to be found amid the darkest of basement boxes in our grandparents' homes...all it takes is a little creativity (and quite possibly a heavy dusting).

"I recently inherited my grandmother’s collection of cookbooks and recipes and could not be more thrilled that my grandmother, ‘Mama T’, felt me deserving enough to keep well over 80 years of family memories.  My grandmother majored in Home Economics in college and later taught high school Home Economics in Crown Point, IN where my dad and his siblings were raised. 

 Mama T passed away a month ago at the age of 96 and the loss has been hard but I feel lucky to have such treasured mementos of her extraordinary life.  I found myself collecting depression-era glass in the past few years.  I find these pieces to be such a paradigm of optimism.  Sold in gas stations in the 1920s and 30s to many families that were struggling, they were made in vivid colors of pink, gold, blue, and green.  A marketing strategy to provoke cheer and hopefulness.  And these pieces do this for me generations later.  A couple of years back, as my grandmother sold her home in Indianapolis, I received her pieces; teacups, saucers, sugar bowls and they are combined with my other Depression glass discoveries from the World’s Longest Yard Sale (which is another post for another time).  In addition, I was given her collection of porcelain shoes.  Mama T and I had a common love of footwear and while these ‘chotchkies’ as I lovingly call them, are not for wearing, they are a wonderful reminder of her house in Indianapolis covered in photos, books, and this collection of shoes. 

And finally, as the beginning of this post noted, I received boxes of cookbooks and recipes a few months ago.  I have recently unpacked a box of them and have them on my bookshelf along with my fiction and biographies.  They are hard back and musty and wonderful.  ‘The Settlement Cookbook’ printed in 1944 (in its 26^th edition) with the motto ‘The way to a man’s heart…’ or an old Home Economics text book from 1923 entitled, ‘Elementary Home Economics; Cookery, Sewing, Care of the House’.  Or the education pamphlets which I believe my grandmother used to teach with ‘How to give Successful Dinner Parties’ and ‘How to develop Pose and Self-Confidence’.  They are so fun to look through even though some recipes and lessons of poise are from a by-gone era; they represent the grace and beauty of my grandmother and her generation. 

My Mama T was an amazing woman, someone who I strive to be in my life.  If I can be half of the lady that she was, I will have had success.  There aren’t enough words to write and memories to convey that would accurately some up how much I admired and adored my grandmother.  I believe we had a special bond of love of beautiful things, good food, family, and friends.   These cookbooks, recipe cards, porcelain shoes, and Depression glass are a picture of my family before me and I am looking forward to the day that I pass these down to my daughter.  But in the meantime, it is off to try these recipes.  I think first is going to be my grandmother’s famous Chocolate Cherry cake…"