A band, bouquet and boutonnière.

On January 6, 1987, in Weisbaden Germany,  a military doctor placed this band around my newborn daughter’s wrist, “girl DeBlasio” entered the world.

Tomorrow (11-11-11)  at Makapuu beach park on Oahu, Hawaii,  Sean will place a band on her ring finger and she will become Mrs. McDevitt.

As a mother, I am so excited for them and my friends can’t believe that I will not be there but as a wedding photographer, I understand the romance of a destination wedding.  What a better way to have the intimate ceremony and the honeymoon all in one.  I think it is a perfect plan!!!

I sent out an email to all of the women in Rena’s life asking for brooches to be included in a bouquet for her to carry on her wedding day and a boutonnière for Sean.  Sean’s mother sent a beautiful sterling silver brooch from Kelantan,  Malaysia that she had bought over 20 years ago and never worn but had kept in the box for a special occasion.  She also also sent the Texas Bluebonnet state flower pin that became part of his boutonnière.  Rena’s grandmother’s sent brooches that had belonged to not only themselves but also their mothers and grandmothers, aunts and friends went shopping for brooches to be included and it was all kept as secret as her father and I worked on it each night.

When Rena was 10 years old, she gave  me a brooch with the letter M for mother’s day, it is now her’s again  “Mrs. McDevitt”.   There is a palm tree and a pineapple to represent Hawaii,  two fish brooches for Sean to represent his years as a swimmer (he swam on the UGA swim team)  I did their engagement shoot at a peacock farm so there is a peacock,  two wise owls (  Rena for her Masters in English Education and Sean for his MBA) and the list goes on for the 57 brooches.  This is a way for ALL of us to be there with them during their big day and a keepsake forever.

To honor Sean’s  Korean heritage, I found the most beautiful oriental fabric  for the handle and finished it off with black feathers.     Sean and Rena were friends for years while attending the University of Georgia together but it was not until she had graduated and was teaching in Austin, Texas and he was finishing up his MBA at the University of Oregon that the friendship turned to romance.  His frequent trips to Texas to woo her became the theme behind his boutonniere, an antique skeleton key and the Texas bluebonnet tell the story that he stole the key to her heart in Texas.

The difficult part for me is not that I am not there, it is in waiting for the photos from the big day!!