Poppies

So, you may have noticed I completely changed around the look of the blog.

It may have something to do with the fact that it all came together yesterday when I was on Wedding Bee in my month twins forum. A Canadian woman was asking how we celebrate Veteran's Day in the U.S. because she would never have imagined being married on 11/11 because of how somber a day it is in Canada. This got me thinking. Well, we don't really celebrate Veteran's Day in the U.S., but how is it celebrated in Canada and other places?

Poppies. They put poppies into their lapels (like a boutonniere!) to remember the people lost in World War I. We don't do that in the U.S. that much (FI seems to think I am crazy for never noticing this bit of our culture, which I explain isn't part of my culture because I have never heard of it before)

Poppy in lapel for Remembrance Day (as they call it in Canada)

Well, it was kind of an epiphany. My colors are red, black and white. I was thinking Damask with accents of red, but was also worried that this would be too formal (I want to make everything for the wedding). Then when I heard about this poppy business, I thought...poppies are red and black. holy crap! I did some research and they are not too common in weddings (as in the floral arrangements) but there are some people who use it in their theme (as in their stationary and paper stuffs)

Cute huh? Also it is more casual and will work well with my heavily DIYed wedding. FI loves it.

But wait! There is more.

November 11th is not only Veteran's Day, and Remembrance Day, but is also called Armistice Day. As a high school student, I started an independent magazine with a group of friends called Armistice, it was an anti-war, political magazine. This gives this day special significance to me because it was when the warring parties agreed to stop fighting and be at peace. This is a nice message for a wedding! Also, they have it on record that the treaty was signed at 11am on 11/11 so they said "on this eleventh hour, of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" they agreed to a ceasefire. How cool would it be to incorporate that into the wedding ceremony (as we have been thinking about doing it at 11:11am, but I'm not sold on the idea).

so Poppies it is! Do any of you celebrate Veteran's Day? What do you think of incorporating this theme?

I'll leave you with this adorable picture I found.

That's right. Poppy neckties. Very classy and super cute!!!

11^3

**(all images from Google. If it is yours or you know where it comes from and you are upset about me not getting the source, let me know)