This summer is Cousin Camp which means ( among other things) playing in brooks with grandpa, trading animal cards and watching several dads race in a triathlon…..so WHAT was happening ten years ago when all these beloveds were but a twinkle in their parent’s eyes?

Ten years ago tomorrow, August 6th, Emily and Charlie (now parents of three boys) got married in Kennebunk, Maine.

Sarah (now married to our son Will and mother of two boys) and Lizzie (now mother of two, then the mother of one) helped me grow the Flowers for the wedding.

And that was QUITE the adventure.

For a full report, check out THIS BLOG with the full story of Flowers for the wedding, written at the time of the event!

Let me share a few images here to tempt you to look at the earlier blog, and let me take a moment to thank Sarah and Lizzie once again for the summer that was!

The summer began as most summers do here with much planting of baby plants. That year we focused on Flowers that would be good cut Flowers. We gave a lot of attention to planting things at the right time so they would bloom for August 6th.

We were not completely successful in our timing efforts. The Snapdragons came and went too early, but Sarah had volunteered to do Flowers for another smaller wedding so that we could practice our bouquet techniques. The Snapdragons and the first blush of our summer harvest went to that wedding.

When the time came for us to start our days of cutting and conditioning Flowers, the men in the family found that they needed to go to Maine to play golf as part of the pre-wedding festivities. This left Sarah and me cutting Flowers night and day while the men….. played? Jim’s funny expression says it all.

By Friday when our own departure for Maine loomed, the downstairs of our house was filled with Flowers

There was time for a quick cup of tea, sort of.

In this photo we have begun to make the table arrangements. We made twenty two of them to pack off to Maine fully ready to go. It proved to be a good thing that they were done of Friday, as we were straight out Saturday with other Flower projects we had to do ( like the bridal bouquet!)

Ever the engineer, Sarah figured out a system for transporting the Flowers in three cars to Maine.

Here is Lizzie packing one of the cars. We covered the windows in paper and blasted the air conditioning to keep the flowers as fresh as possible.

Somehow or other ( with me taking a wrong turn only once), we got the Flowers to Maine on Friday evening. We settled them into a friend of Charlie’s family’s garage. It was quite the garage as it was fully air conditioned and paved in brick!

Here are a couple of our larger arrangements ready for delivery on Saturday morning to the outdoor venue for the wedding.

We had eight bridesmaid’s bouquets, one bridal bouquet, twelve boutonnieres, a half dozen corsages for various mothers and grandmothers to make on the day of the wedding. We also made these big ones on the day of the wedding.

Dear friends Michael Dutcher and Catherine Boorady (beloved Green Hope Staffer emeritus) arrived from Brooklyn to help with assembly and Flower transport from garage to church and reception. Catherine is now with the Angels where I am sure she is keeping everyone laughing. Michael is with her too. We miss them both very much.

Here is Michael, Jim and Sarah loading a car for the trip from the garage to the reception hall on Saturday morning. Note Jim flexing his muscles in a demonstration of how strong his Friday golf game made him.

Time for the ceremony! Here is Lizzie with the other bridesmaids and Flower girl Grace then three years old.

Here is Emily waiting with her crew. Sarah and I arrived at the last minute without a moment to spare. In the pictures we look like we just blew in, and we did!

Jim and Emily about to walk down the outdoor aisle to the ceremony by the sea.

Our dear Emily and Charlie. Little did they know of the gang of three heading their way and with a gaggle of cousins too!

Jamie, Wim, Etta, Lola, Ernest & George. missing from the photo: Henry, Hector and Grace