To my Valentine

Twelve years ago Hubby and I celebrated the first time we were each other's Valentine. It was only a month and half before we were to be married. It was a stormy and wet El Nino year (this year's mini El Nino season reminds me a lot of that first Valentine's Day together). A dear friend suggested that we keep a Valentine's journal and only fill it with tidbits of each year's Valentine's Day. That first February 14th, I started the journal and pasted the weather clippings in it from the newspaper. That's how I remember that it was an El Nino year.

A month and half later were married on a wet and stormy day in March at the Oakland Temple in Oakland, California. I carried a silk bouquet (hard to believe now that I'm into fresh flower arranging). I wanted my compact bouquet of cream colored roses and purple-blue hydrangeas to last after our wedding day because our reception was planned for two weeks later (after a romantic honeymoon in Victoria, British Columbia).

Since then, I haven't photographed my wedding bouquet... until today. I have some beautiful cut-out heart ribbon I really wanted to photograph while the sun was shining briefly this afternoon. And my bouquet was sitting out after I'd rearranged my studio. It seemed to be the perfect backdrop for showcasing the ribbon.

And now it is a photographic valentine to My Valentine. I love you, Sweetheart!