Your daughter’s wedding is announced. She has butterflies in her stomach and one thousand and one things to do. Her “butterflies” becomes yours and your thoughts are racing just like hers.

You, as her mother, will help her plan her dream wedding, just like your mother planned yours. At the back of your mind……”What am I going to wear? Will I look just as beautiful as my daughter on her wedding day? So many people are going to be looking at me as well….”

Fret no more. Here are the RULES but like all rules, they may be broken or should I say improvised and revised to suit you. I say….whatever makes you and/or your daughter happy!

1. Confer with your daughter. She will come up with a color scheme for her wedding.

2. Ask her whether she wants the color of your dress to complement her wedding color/colors or almost match it. Examples of complementary colors to a red color theme is burgundy, wine, claret red, dark pink, and purple. As for a “match”, it would certainly be difficult to have an exact match of the colors, as your dress will be of a different manufacturer, style, fabric, and dye. So, do not stress over this.

3. You, as the mother of the bride, will decide on a color or colors, after consulting your daughter. Suggest to her to be flexible on the choice of colors—perhaps two or three choices would be great. Mother of the bride dresses are not made like bridesmaid dresses, the latter being preordered and tailored months ahead of time for the occasion. Shopping for a mother of the bride dress can be a headache and nightmare rolled into one, especially for the plus size woman or if you live in a rural city.

4. Do not forget to involve the mother of the groom. After you have an idea of what color you would or should be wearing, inform her. She will definitely appreciate that as she will be in a panic mode as well, going through the same motions as you will soon be, looking for that perfect “mother’s” dress.

5. Shop as soon as you can. Finding YOUR dress is important too. Understand that you are shopping for a specific style that you like and look great in, a specific color, and then a specific size.

Then, you will need to allow sufficient time for professional tailoring of the dress, to get it to fit just right! Also, what about the accessories like shoes and jewelry.

6. Shop bridal or department stores first. You can get a first hand look at the styles out there and the type and quality of fabrics. Do not ignore online formal wear stores. Visiting an online store is easy and stress free as they are sources of good ideas of what you would like to wear on that special day.

7. Take care of yourself in these nerve-wrecking times of preparation. Remember, you need to look good as well, although it is your daughter’s wedding.

8. Now, sit back and relax. You have found your most perfect mother of the bride dress and have a few more weeks to spare. Give yourself a big pat on the back!

Casual settings for wedding are gaining ground due to many reasons today.

As per tradition, formal weddings were definitely the order of the day but today, a lot of new ideas are being incorporated to make the entire process of planning a wedding an easy task.

Brides-to-be no longer wish to have long trails of cloth behind them; many young girls wish to bend the rules towards finding something more wearable!

Most couples prefer elegant casual weddings for many reasons. With hectic schedules and increasing work pressures, one hardly has any time to plan elaborate traditional weddings. Besides, with inflation, planning for a lavish or stylish affair often remains a dream for many.

Well, couples today have smartened up and have realized there is no point lamenting over this issue and have found an alternative solution, which is an equally fun affair!

So, how does a would-be bride fulfill her desire to be the most stunning woman on her wedding day? A set budget may not really be flexible enough to accommodate those gorgeous and elaborate wedding gowns!

Thanks to the efforts of many creative geniuses, women need not fret about not having the best of gowns. With casual wedding dresses gaining prominence, these have opened up a whole new world of trendy, stylish and beautiful gowns and dresses that are dazzling yet do not deflate the pocket!

From the traditional venues to the beautiful beaches or backyards, wedding venues have changed and so have dressing styles. You need not cringe with the thought of casual wedding dresses simply because there are many reasons you can be happy about opting for the same.

If you take a peek into your local store, you can definitely find a plethora of options from the sunny yellows to the sultry reds in a variety of styles.

Although ivory white is the most preferred color, a beach wedding for example, can allow you the option of trying something new. It need not be elaborate, you can choose something stylish and casual; an ensemble you can even wear later for any special occasion.

In order to get the best results, it is wise to select your bridesmaids’ dresses at least five months before the wedding ceremony.

In general, the bridesmaids’ dresses are ordered through a bridal salon. There are also some brides who like to have them made by a professional tailor.

You will find lots of them at a department store. These dresses will meet your requirements and your bridesmaids will in all probability wear them again to another formal party or wedding.

If you order from a bridal shop your bridesmaids may have to leave a down payment to order the dress. All deals should be made in writing to avoid any complication in the future.

For a bridesmaid who is out of town, ask her to call her local bridal shops to see if they carry the same dress to try on it on there for size. Or, she can tell you her measurements by phone or email. It makes a lot of sense to order all of the dresses together because it will help reduce the chances of slight differences of color.

While selecting bridesmaids’ dresses, make sure that they complement your gown and fit in with the type, decor and color and wedding theme. Irrespective of their figures, all your bridesmaids should look flattering in simple, elegant designs.

Dress length

You should also pay attention to dress length, as the bridesmaids’ dresses for formal or semiformal weddings should be floor-length to tea-length. For an informal daytime wedding, it hardly matters if the dress is short or long. It is, however, a convention that the bridesmaids should not wear short dresses if the bride wears a floor-length dress.

The bridesmaids should also bring the same shoes or heel height as the bride on the wedding day. It is never a bad idea to talk to a few attendants before making the final choice.

It is possible that you would like to let your bridesmaids choose their own dresses. In such a scenario, it is better if the bridesmaids choose the same colors and similar styles even if the dresses are different. Alternatively, each bridesmaid can pick her own favorite color keeping the style uniform.

Otherwise, the bride can choose a particular color and let her bridesmaids choose the shade of that color they would like to wear. If you want to set the maid of honor apart from the other bridesmaids, choose for her a different color, dress or headpiece or just give her a larger bouquet.

Gladioli, asters, chrysanthemums, and everlastings are some of our common fall garden flowers. Have you ever wondered where these originally came from?

I can tell you, with a little help from a book by Diana Wells entitled 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names. These are only some of the 100 flowers she describes in her book.

Most of our gladioli came from Africa, where the corms were roasted like chestnuts and are said to taste like them. (Corms are the swollen underground bulbous parts for storage of foods.). Even before these were introduced during the eighteenth century, primarily from South Africa, gladioli were familiar plants for centuries in the Mediterranean.

Known in ancient Greece, the ancient name for this flower–xiphium–means sword, referring to the leaf shape. The Latin word for sword–gladius–gives us the name we know today.

Rare gladioli even existed in ancient Britain, with the herbalist John Gerard referring to them as “Sword-flag.” One of the most noteworthy gladiolus introductions was in 1904 by Francis Fox. An engineer who built a railway bridge over the Zambesi River at Victoria Falls in Africa, he discovered the gladiolus by the waterfall which is responsible for the yellow and orange colors bred into subsequent gladioli.

Although many of our asters are native to North America (the taller New England and shorter New York asters being the most common), most of the cultivars have been found, and the breeding done, in England and abroad. The English at one time called asters “starworts,” referring to the star shape of the flowers and supposed healing properties in old times (meaning of “wort”). The herbalist John Parkinson said asters were used for “the biting of a mad dogge.”

Asters in England originally came from Europe. The plant explorer John Tradescant the Younger (his father John also was an explorer) brought back the first North American asters to England in 1637. These and the European “starworts” were crossed for new introductions, with many recent selections this century. Since they bloom around Michaelmas Day, a late September holiday in Britain, they are referred to abroad as Michaelmas Daisies.

The fall chrysanthemum, fall mum, or hardy mum (not really hardy in northern climates) is actually a Chinese chrysanthemum, having been cultivated in China for 2,500 years prior to being introduced to the West. There they symbolized a scholar in retirement and were one of the four noble plants, along with bamboo, plum, and orchid. Dew from the petals supposedly gave longevity, with an infusion of the petals and leaves used for wine and medicine.

Zen Buddhist monks took chrysanthemums to Japan around 400 A.D. The symbol of the Mikado, which appeared to be a Rising Sun, was actually a 16-petaled chrysanthemum. In 1795 the first mum was exhibited in England, with additional plants sent from the East by tea inspector John Reeves in the nineteenth century. The pompom mum was originally called the chusan daisy and was sent to the West by the explorer Robert Fortune. First grown in France, it was renamed the pompom mum because it resembled the pompoms on sailors’ hats there.

Everlastings are so called since they seem to last indefinitely. The scientific name Helichrysum came from the Greek for sun (helios) and golden (chryson). The Greeks used the flowers to make wreaths and decorate statues of the gods, as well as to mix with honey to treat burns. These flowers were known to the Egyptians prior to this time, however. A strawflower, the Oriental helichrysum, was brought to England in 1619 from Crete by way of the botanic garden in Padua, Italy.

The everlasting we know in our gardens, however, is the species bracteatum from Australia. It was brought to England by Sir Joseph Banks, one of the few men on Captain Cook’s expedition to survive. Subsequently, Victorians used everlastings to decorate their hot and stuffy parlors where few other plants would survive. Today the many bright colors are popular in cutting gardens and dried flower arrangements.

The next time you see a modern selection of any of these four flowers, stop a moment to recall their prestigious history–their centuries of ancestors and the many nations and cultures that have also enjoyed or used them.

By Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor
University of Vermont

1. Bring the entourage, but don’t buy. It’s fun and useful to bring your mother, friends or sisters on the dress-shopping expedition. It gives you a buffer against an overbearing sales staff, and it’s fun to see if your impressions of perfection are shared by your loved ones, not to mention how they’ll love being part of such an important decision.

But no matter how enthusiastic everyone gets over a certain dress, don’t buy in the heat of the moment. Give yourself time to reconsider and buy with a cool head later, alone. The vast majority of dresses are non-returnable, so when you’ve bought it, you’ve bought it.

2. Don’t buy too early unless you must. Bridal gowns can take four to ten months to come from the manufacturer, but there’s no reason to buy over a year ahead of time, unless your chosen style is going to be discontinued. Give yourself some time to sit on your decision. Once you pick a gown, you’ll see a hundred others nearly like it. You’ll become a walking encyclopedia on that style of gown. All the better if you still have room to choose.

3. If you’ve bought “The One,” stop shopping. Any more window-shopping at this point will only lead you down the road toward the dreary land of Two-Dress Brides. What you need to do instead is remember that blissful feeling of having tried on The One. Go get The One out of the closet, put it on and stand in front of the mirror. You’ll remember exactly why it’s The One.

4. If you’ve bought “The One” and can’t stop shopping, get a second opinion. Show your first and second choices to other brides. Be honest — tell them you’ve already remortgaged your condo for the first dress, but you think this second dress might be it. They’ll be truthful, too — the first one was better. You’ll feel reassured.

5. Don’t tell yourself “I’ll sell the old dress and choose a new one.” This old saw of the Two-Dress Bride just won’t work. You’ll never get more than a fraction of what you paid for your first dress if you bought it new.

6. Don’t be afraid to aim high — no matter what your budget. Some brides knew from the start they wanted a designer label, but life just didn’t cooperate by making them heiresses. Yet all is not lost if you’re willing to shop courageously. At any given moment, a better-heeled bride is selling her once-used St. Pucchi or Ulla-Maija on eBay.

She paid thousands upon thousands, but you, smart shopper, will pay half that or less. To take this road, you must shop earlier than other brides so you’ll have a choice of gowns. Always pay with a credit card so you’ll have recourse if the dress doesn’t arrive in acceptable condition, and again, shop early so you can buy another if necessary. Shop courageously, but not recklessly.

7. Shop online, but never send a check. Bridal gown businesses sometimes have a way of disappearing overnight. No matter what the proprietor tells you, never make a purchase as large as a wedding gown without the chargeback protection of a credit card. If they say they can’t take plastic, move on.

8. Don’t hold out forever for The One. Some brides never find The One. What they do find is a few dresses they look beautiful in. If you’re this bride, try starting your planning from the theme instead of the dress.

You’ll probably eventually get sick to death of dress shopping. When that happens, “good enough” really will be good enough. Concentrate on other aspects of the wedding that mean a lot to you, like the venue, the food, or the inevitable adoration of your soon-to-be husband.

Come fall, and you can see gardens brimming with big and bright Chrysanthemums. These majestic flowers are among the popular ones that are sent across through flower delivery. Some like to grow them in yards, some prefer decorating them in different arrangements for interiors, and some love gifting them.

Chrysanthemums, also called Mums, come in different colours, patterns and sizes. The vitality and the variety of Chrysanthemums gives us joy and also helps us express ourselves. Different colours convey different meanings and different varieties suit different occasions.

Varieties: Red Rover Mums, Safari Sunset Mums, Football Mums, Curly Willow Mums, Spider Mums, Pompom Mums and Daisy Mums. Colours: white, orange, yellow, purple, bronze, pink, and red.

While reds say “I love You”, the yellows express slighted love; on the other hand, whites symbolise truth. Chrysanthemum derives its name from two Greek words: ‘chrysos’ + ‘anthemon’.

‘Chrysos’ means gold; ‘anthemon’ which means flower. This new word – chrysanthemum – is coined by Swedish botanist Karl Linnaeus, who had introduced this flower to the western world. Not just western world, Chrysanthemums are also quite popular in the oriental world.

The Chinese find it as a wonderful cure for headache, delicious as salad, and refreshing as a festive tea. Japanese adopted a single chrysanthemum as the crest and official seal of the Emperor. They celebrate Festival of Happiness by earmarking a day as the National Chrysanthemum Day. Chrysanthemums are loved all over the world, not just for their beauty and benefits, but also for their longevity.

They have a life span of up to two weeks. That makes them a wonderful gift, as the beauty and vibrancy of these flowers would linger on to the senses for a long time. It is very simple to send chrysanthemums to someone with the help of online flower delivery services. Just choose flower delivery and submit some details. Your wishes along with fresh Chrysanthemum reaches your dear ones on the right time.

The hibiscus flower, or rosemallow, as it is sometimes called, is a large genus with species that are found in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. There are perennials and annuals both in the species, as well as shrubs and small trees.

The hibiscus flower is very large, and shaped like a trumpet. They usually have five or more petals, and they range in color from yellow to purple, red, pink and white.

Hibiscus plants are susceptible to various diseases and pests. This includes scales, aphids and whitefly. Some moths also feed on the hibiscus flower.

In non-tropical areas, the most common hibiscus flower grown is the Garden Hibiscus, also known as the Rose of Sharon. In the warmer areas of the tropics and sub-tropics, the Chinese Hibiscus is the most popular.

There are about two hundred known species of the hibiscus flower, and each one has its own atypical flowers. But they all share some features in common. If you open a hibiscus flower, you will find the male stamen, which produces pollen, atop a filament shaped like a stem.

Then you will see the actual anthers, which are responsible for discharging pollen. Unlike some plants, the anthers of a hibiscus are attached to pale pink cylinders known as stamen tubes. If you look closely, you will see how each stamen is attached to the column.

Above the staminal column, you will see several red, curving things that look like slender fingers. They have knobby tips that poke through the stamens. If you were to cut away one side of the column, you would find an empty cylinder, and inside is the long, slender finger that you saw in the staminal column.

The slender style splits into five branches, and each one of those ends in a round stigma. You can occasionally even see grains of pollen sticking to the stigma and the branches. That pollen carries the sex germ of the male. So, if you open a flower and find this arrangement of parts, you will know you’re peering into a hibiscus flower.

These lovely plants originated in the Pacific islands and Asia. Some of the more colorful types have been used for food, and to make dyes. In Hawaii, interest in breeding the hibiscus flower began around the early 1900’s. Some came from China, and they were crossed with those native to Hawaii. Florida later became a haven for the hibiscus, and from there they became available commercially around the United States. Australia is also home to many hibiscus.

They began growing them after 30 plants were imported from India for landscaping uses. There are areas in the north of New Zealand where the growing of the hibiscus flower is also popular. This is a special flower that is prized in many cultures, and rightly so.

When little girls spend their math classes daydreaming of weddings (instead of winning the World Series — not to say you can’t do both), what do they dream of first?

The perfect wedding dress, of course: a gown in white satin with a bustle and sweeping train, the perfect embellishments, and the perfect shoes.

There are few occasions in our modern world where a woman finds herself in a position to wear a no-holds-barred ball gown, much less a crystal tiara, and all too many where she’s called on to wear to a neutral suit or uninspiring “biz-caz” combo. No wonder that with so many brides, their wedding plans start with the dress.

Many of these brides are lucky. They may search high and low, braving chilly department stores and pushy bridal shops, but eventually they come face-to-face with The One. They know this is The One because they start crying, or their mother or friends all start crying at once. Suddenly the rest of the planning … the theme, the tone, the right kind of venues … it all springs to life.

Other brides aren’t as fortunate. They’ve searched just as hard, working their way through shops across three or four states, but they haven’t found The One. Instead, they’ve found three or four Contenders, all of which are serviceable and nice, but not earth-shattering enough to tell them that now is definitely time to stop the searching and get on with the planning. These brides have it harder.

Even if you’re the first kind of bride, buying the dress is such a momentous decision that you run a risk of falling into that wallet-skinning category known as the Two-Dress Bride.

Viola is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae, with around 400–500 species distributed around the world. Most species are found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, however viola species (commonly called violets, pansies or heartsease) are also found in widely divergent areas such as Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes in South America.

Most Viola species are tiny perennial plants, some are annual plants, and a few are small shrubs. A number of species are grown for their ornamental flowers in borders and rock gardens; the garden pansy in particular is an extensively used spring and autumn/winter bedding and pot plant.

Viola and violetta are terms used by gardeners and generally in horticulture for neat, small-flowered hybrid plants intermediate in size between pansies and violets.

Viola species typically have heart-shaped, scalloped leaves, though a number have palmate leaves or other shapes. The vast majority of Viola species are herbaceous, and a substantial number are acaulescent in habit – meaning they lack any noticeable stems and the foliage and flowers appear to rise from the ground; the remaining species have short stems with foliage and flowers produced in the axils of the leaves.

The simple leaves of plants with either habit are arranged alternately; the acaulescent species produce basal rosettes. Plants always have leaves with stipules that are often leaf-like.

The flowers of the vast majority of the species are zygomorphic with bilateral symmetry. The flowers are formed from five petals; four are upswept or fan-shaped petals with two per side, and there is one broad, lobed lower petal pointing downward.

The shape of the petals and placement defines many species, for example, some Viola species have a “spur” on the end of each petal while most have a spur on the lower petal.

Solitary flowers end long stalks with a pair of bracteoles. The flowers have 5 sepals that persistent after blooming, and in some species the sepals enlarge after blooming. The flowers have five free stamens with short filaments that are oppressed against the ovary, only the lower two stamens have nectary spurs that are inserted on the lowest petal into the spur or a pouch. The flower styles are thickened near the top and the stigmas are head-like, narrowed or often beaked. The flowers have a superior ovary with one cell, which has three placentae, containing many ovules.

After flowering, fruit capsules are produced that split open by way of three valves.

Viola flowers are most often spring blooming with chasmogamous flowers with well developed petals pollinated by insects. Many species also produce self-pollinated cleistogamous flowers in summer and autumn that do not open and lack petals. The nutlike seeds have straight embryos, flat cotyledons, and soft fleshy endosperm that is oily.The seeds are often spread by ants.

Flower colours vary in the genus, ranging from violet, as their common name suggests, through various shades of blue, yellow, white, and cream, whilst some types are bicolored, often blue and yellow. Many cultivars and hybrids have been bred in a greater spectrum of colours. Flowering is often profuse, and may last for much of the spring and summer.

One quirk of some viola is the elusive scent of their flowers; along with terpenes, a major component of the scent is a ketone compound called ionone, which temporarily desensitises the receptors of the nose, thus preventing any further scent being detected from the flower until the nerves recover.

How does this dress look on me? Should I get the ivory or the white wedding dress? Or – worst of all – does this dress make me look fat? Every man worth his salt already knows the answer to that question and can whip it out without a moment’s thought. But when I was told (read: forced) to help find a modest wedding dress, I was a little confused and completely lost.

Not knowing where to begin, and refusing to actually go into a wedding boutique, my search for a modest wedding dress naturally began on the Internet. Unfortunately, I only have Internet access at work, and few things are as embarrassing and awkward as getting caught shopping for a wedding dress online. (What? No, sir. No, I was not looking at wedding dresses just now. I was looking at…um… err… trucks. Big trucks. Monster trucks. And hammers. Lots of hammers.)

Picking out a modest wedding dress is something that a guy should never be expected to do. At least, he shouldn’t be expected to do it well. We all know he’s never going to get it right. There are just too many variables, options, and other things we just don’t understand. Still… I gave it a try.

Even when you limit your search to modest wedding dresses, there’s still a huge variety to deal with. First, pick a sleeve. There are short sleeve wedding dresses, long sleeve wedding dresses, and if that’s not good enough you can split the difference and go for a ¾ sleeve. There’s even something called Tulle. (Toolie? What the heck is a toolie?)

And don’t forget the color. If, like me, you thought all wedding dresses were white, then like me, you would be wrong. There’s white, there’s ivory, there’s silver on white, silver on champagne, silver on ivory, and even white on white. (Isn’t that just more white?) Granted, all the silver on white was usually on a reception dress… wait. Reception dress? There’s more than one type of modest wedding dress?

Oh, and lest we forget all the accessories. Because lets face it, even the most classy, expensive, hand stitched modest wedding dress still needs a couple sparklies just to finish out the look. Even I know that. Well… I know that now. Up until now I just assumed that there was only one piece of very important jewelry that made a difference on a wedding day. Apparently you have to worry about necklaces, bracelets, and tiaras, too.

As it turns out there is more to a veil than a piece of cloth tied delicately around the bride’s head. Obviously it has to match your modest wedding dress, but once you start talking about two tier fingertip, or single tier elbow… now I begin to get scared. But after a little research and contemplation, I can now discuss embroidery, lace, and beading with the best of ‘em.

And that means that I’ve gotten in touch with my fashionable, feminine side enough for one day. In fact, I spent so long secretly looking at someone in a modest wedding dress, bridesmaid dress, or other formal number, that I had to go home and immediately spit, hammer up some drywall (with my brand new hammer), a punch a pedestrian in the throat. He seemed a little upset, even after I explained to him all about finding the perfect modest wedding dress.