Irises

I promised that when the irises bloomed, I'd tell you about irises and us. Well, we now have a yellow/white and a purple iris, so here we go...

The sentimental association I have with irises dates back to our wedding. I definitely wasn't the Bridezilla sort, and when it came to flowers neither B nor I really knew what we wanted, apart from wanting them to not be horrendously pricey! We chose a florist recommended by the reception centre, and our first meeting wasn't very productive. I hummed and ha-ed and said I liked the look of the roses which have pale centres and reddish edges to the petals; she told me that it wouldn't suit our style of wedding (and I was un-Bridezilla enough to not hold my ground); she showed us her portfolio of elaborate wedding floral arrangements- trees rising out of the tables, bamboo constructions intertwined with orchids, yumyum trees that doubled as maypoles or something; we thought they were all a bit more elaborate than we wanted, and when you took into account that with two large families our reception would have 20 tables, the cost of an arrangement on each table was astronomical.

We said we'd think about it, and went home and promptly stopped thinking about it. Then, a couple of days later I was passing the local florist and, 0n a whim, bought a bunch of new season irises. They went into our only vase (I'm not much of a cut flower person), and suddenly B said "that's what we should have for our wedding". They were simple, modern and not too expensive. And so our tables were decorated with irises. And, as it happened, the cake (made by a very talented friend) also had irises in its decoration.

We didn't think much more about our choice (apart from "phew, one less decision to make"!) until the wedding day, when we saw the reception room decorated and realised that 20 tables of irises were the right choice (unfortunately this photo doesn't do it justice).

And so irises have become "our flower". On our first wedding anniversary in Paris, B bought me a bunch, and has done the same most years since...