I built a Peter Rabbit Garden in 2001 for my Granddaughter & me. We even had the scarecrow and little blue slippers with the Tamashanter hat. We grew: Marvel Peas French Breakfast Radishes French Beans Bib Lettuces Italian Flat Parsley Carrots Cabbages Some Sweet 100s tomatoes Blackberries (served with cream & scones for supper) Chamomile (for tea) Munstead Lavender (rabbit tobacco) Strawberries Muskmelons (Hale's Best) grown upon the back fence... and a Cucumber frame (grown on a wire arch at the back) With fern-like Dill and Calendula flowers planted round about. I set a 1/2 whiskey barrel in the center for our Mr. McGregor's pond with hardy water lilies and some goldfish. :) I used rocks for bed borders and twigs for wattle edging. It was very quaint and tasty! For Inspiration to create your very own Peter Rabbit Garden (er...Mr.. McGregor's Garden), see the Link below. We even had a picnic one afternoon with cucumber sandwiches and Earl Grey tea (my favorite tea). What fun. She loved it! ~Annie

My husband and I just got Handfasted in May of last year. We opted to use the "Self Unite" when we went to the court house for our lincense. All you need is a couple witnesses to sign. We found an HP to perform over the ceremony. With the Self-unite marriage, you could have anybody preside over your ceremony. You do not need a minister or a JP. Some states do not offer this option but I know that in PA it is available because of the Amish and Quakers. I have looked online for hours searching for stuff for handfastings. I found a dress that I fell in love with from Maggie Sottaro, and it was no longer available. So I had someone from the Ren Faire make the dress for me. It was not perfect, but it was nice. I chose the fabric and color. I only paid 300 for the dress. As for the ceremony. We had a full blown ritual consisting of quarter callers and cross quarter callers. If you do this I suggest using only Quarter Callers. One of our cross Quarters backed out at the last minute but we did find a replacement. We had the ceremony at a park and it did not cost too much to rent out the pavilions. Family members made food and found acssesories for the tables. Always remeber if you have an outdoor ceremony to have a backup plan for if it rains. IT did rain during our ceremony and it was quite frustrating. NOte: there was only a 20% chance of rain in the late evening and we had our ceremony at Noon. Well there was rain, thunder, lightening, and Hail. Perhaps we said "Hale and Welcome" too many times. It even Hailed during the reception. We had an audio woman for the HPS and the crew but it had to be turned off because of the rain. We got our cake at a local Grocery store. We used a couple sheet cakes and made them picture cakes. We used in our ceremony the following: Appreciation of Mothers (Everyone liked this one: where you express your appreciation to your mother-in-law to be, and he to your mother) Wreath ceremony (which turned out to be a wash out because of some last minute decisions based on the rain.) yet the premise of everyone offering something to the wreath was still used. Blessing of the Rings Blessing of the Hands Handfasting/Binding Elemental Blessing (This was my favorite Native American Blessing ("Now you will feel no rain.." Rose Ceremony Jumping over broom and Fire. Ceremonies are often performed in May because of Beltane. We whoopsied with the tying of the knot but it was quite interesting... We had to find a way to place the roses into our hands while they were tied together, as well as jump the fire and broom, and off course lifting the dress. It was surely interesting. Our cords were 2 yards long and we had 3 of them; different colors representing different attributes. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. I suggest that you at the least page through a couple Handfasting books to become familar with the different variations of Rites. You can also go to your local Barnes and Noble and check out the "New age" section. I Suggest to Google Handfasting or Handfasting ceremonies. Sorry I wrote a book Have a good Day Peace, Love and Light, ~Sarah~

Joanne~ Thanks for checking in. We are all sending warm rays of well thoughts to you. Please stay in touch. Raeanne & DeeMarie~ Yes, our ears were on fire. Can't wait to see the pics, of course. And Deemarie, congrats on the 8 pounds---my heavens, nothing tastes as good as getting thin feels! My eating kind of went out the window today. Three stressful situations finally made me cave! Luckily, I got out of the house and went to the elementary school where I cracked open a few geodes for the kids in 2nd grade---man, were they surprised when they saw the insides! I went to see "Miracle" (starring Kurt Russell). My kids loved it and so did I! What a great movie! That American team worked their tails off to get that medal. Catch it if you get a chance, but would be great for a rental too. Is anyone planning on seeing "The Passion"? Sounds like it makes quite an impression on people. I can't believe how quickly this month leapt by---yowsers! It's almost over!

Wow! Every part of your wedding looks special and gorgeous. I actually love the pictures the way you posted them without faces as it allowed me to focus on the beautiful details. I used to live just up the hill from your wedding location. Now, I live a few miles up the coast, but I still go down to DP for Costco and whale watching cruises. Congratulations and best wishes!!!