Catch the Bouquet

My father was a minister, and growing up I got to go to my fair share of weddings. Some of the families I knew well, and some we were only slightly acquainted with but one thing remained constant as I readied myself to go to a wedding as a young girl.

I wanted to catch the bouquet.

I’ve ALWAYS loved flowers. Flowers at a wedding? BONUS!

I came across an article recently posted by Reader’s Digest about the origin of floral bouquets at weddings and thought it was interesting. A few weeks ago we talked about why traditional brides wear white at their weddings, so this week on Wedding Wednesday, let’s chat flowers, shall we?

I was interested to see that the first writings of brides carrying any sort of natural elements actually dates back to ancient Rome. Brides wore or carried floral garlands that were thought to signify growth and new beginnings. Did you know many brides filled their garlands with herbs like Dill because it was believed it was the ‘herb of lust,’ and that consumption of it by the Bride and Groom would increase sexual desire? (Get it, kitty!)

Past those beliefs, the carrying of bouquets we are familiar with today is most closely traced (once again) to Queen Victoria. When marrying Prince Albert (wearing a white dress) she carried a small bouquet called a ‘tussie mussie.’ It had orange blossoms and was contained in a petite silver filigree holder. During Victorian times, it became popular for young suitors to pick similar bouquets of flowers for their intended so flowers began to take on meanings- as a way of spreading sentiment between people. Today, there are widely held meanings for lots of different floral types, and many brides take these meanings very seriously when selecting buds for the bouquets they’ll carry on their special day.

I love seeing what Brides select at their wedding. While many select something not for meaning but rather for effect, we can all agree floral elements have a lasting effect on the memory of someone’s wedding.

Queen Victoria was quite the trend setter, huh?

Here is a ‘tussie mussie’ bouquet holder like what Queen Victoria may have carried on her wedding day.

Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup Recipe

Ready for a hearty soup full of BOLD flavor? Well, I’ve got a fun recipe for you today! If you follow along on LetterJess over on the Instagram Stories platform, you may have seen this recipe come to life. If you haven’t seen that yet, don’t worry. I’m saving it as a highlight on the LetterJess account, and you’ll be able to refer to it in case you have questions about this recipe as you read here. Let me know if you have any questions, and I hope you love this as much as I do!

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Ingredients:

1 5lb bag of yukon gold potatoes

1 lb of sausage (I use Jimmy Dean sage flavored sausage, but you can select any brand/flavor/type you love most. Experiment!)

1 bag of kale (I use most of the bag, but you can vary the amount based on how much you like what texture soup you prefer)

10 cups water

chicken bouillon (if you have the small cubes in the jar, use about 10, but adjust that number to 5 if you’re using the large or extra large cubes from the box.)

1 white onion, chopped

1 cup heavy cream

2-3 tablespoons of garlic puree (to taste)

Red Pepper Flakes (to taste; I give my sausage a good covering of flakes, but if you don’t like spicy food, use less.)

pinch of salt

Wine or cocktail (none goes in the soup, but I think having a sip or two of something fun while I’m cooking is always fun. :) )

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Directions:

1. Chop your onion and peel your potatoes so they are ready when needed.

2. Saute your sausage. Be sure to add your red pepper flakes while the sausage is cooking. Cover and set sausage aside for later. (Don’t refrigerate)

3. In the same pan you just used to cook the sausage, saute your garlic and onion together.

4. Add your chicken bouillon cubes to your onion/garlic mixture in 10 cups of water and bring to a boil.

5. While you’re waiting for your water to boil, cut your potatoes into cubes. I vary the size/shape of my potato cubes to help the texture of the soup

6. Add the potatoes to your boiling water. Bring the water back to a boil. Let potatoes boil about 30 minutes.

7. Add heavy cream (1 cup) to the soup and let it come back to boil.

8. Add the sausage/red pepper flakes you set aside earlier. Let boil for another couple minutes.

9. Add Kale and let cook last few minutes.

While cooking this yesterday I had a couple people ask if you could add bacon. YES! I used to add bacon to the sausage while i was cooking it but didn’t think it made a huge difference. Another friend highly recommends adding bacon crumbles to the top before you serve.

This is a hearty soup that doesn’t need much to fill you up. I do like to heat up some garlic breadsticks or even biscuits to dip in the soup. I also enjoy serving this with white wine that isn’t overly oaked.

Let me know when you make this! I hope you love it like I do.

I've been keeping a secret...

The cat’s out of the bag, y’all!

LetterJess is growing!!

The past few weeks have been exciting ones over here in my little corner of the world, and I couldn’t be more delighted to share with you that the online shop will soon be your new headquarters for monogrammed decor, gifts and goodies.

I can’t wait to share all the details of the products I’ve selected to offer you, and I hope you’ll love them as much as I do.

Here are a few details to remember as the next few days unfold:

• A new and improved shop is under development. In fact, I’m tying the last few bows on it as we speak!

• The new shop will offer a beautiful selection of fonts and thread colors from which you can select the perfect finishing touch for the items you purchase. And yes, monograms are included in the price of the items you select.

• Custom designs will be available for additional fees.

• LetterJess will happily embroider items you purchase from the shop or you can submit items purchased elsewhere for monogramming and embroidery.

If you haven’t already, be sure you sign up for the “Delightful Delivery” emails from LetterJess. I PROMISE I won’t clutter your inbox with junk emails, but I will always share the news about what’s coming to the shop there first- and you never know when a coupon code may drop!

So, I’m heading back to get to work on the shop so it’s ready for you VERY soon. In the mean time, I hope you’re as excited as I am.

I’d LOVE to hear from you. Tell me what you’d love to see in the shop or what you think about the news!

Have a delightful day, y’all!

Little White Dress

Shamelessly using Wedding Wednesday blog post as a reason to look back through my own bridal portraits captured by Virgil Bunao Photography.

Wedding dress shopping can be one of the most exciting yet daunting milestones on any bride-to-be’s wedding timeline. She grabs a friend or family member (sometimes an army of them) and makes an appointment at a shop to try on an array of dresses in search of the elusive “say yes to the dress” moment.

Did you ever wonder why Brides wear white (or colors in the white, cream, ivory family) on their wedding day? I did a little research and found it fascinating, so on this “wedding Wednesday” I thought I’d share a little wedding white trivia. (I found this information in various articles on wedding websites. One on bustle.com was particularly helpful with these facts.)

• England’s Queen Victoria wore a white dress to wed Prince Albert back in 1840, and in true trend-setter fashion sparked the ‘white on your wedding day’ style that is still the norm nearly 180 years later.

• She didn’t wear white to symbolize purity or virginity, but rather because she loved white. The white dress/virgin bride symbolism followed when it was mentioned in the Godey’s “Lady’s Book” about a decade later. It appealed to sentimental Victorians who idolized innocent brides and their pure white gowns. “It is the emblem of the purity and innocence of girlhood, and the unsullied heart she now yields to the chosen one.”

• Before Queen Victoria began the white dress trend, brides wore any nice dress they had. The color white was mostly unattainable for non-upper class brides for much of history because it was more expensive to obtain and difficult to keep clean.

• White was actually the color of morning for French royals. Mary, Queen of Scots caused quite an uproar when she wore white to wed the Dauphin of France in 1558. Her young husband died just two years later, and it was widely believed her white wedding gown had cursed him.

• Queen Elizabeth I was rumored to wear white for portraits because she was morning a suitor who died earlier in her life. Famously never wed, many supposed she wore white to send messages to other suitors that she was not interested in their proposals.

• Many brides chose to wear blue rather than white earlier in history because of its association with the Virgin Mary. This association also signaled purity (and more importantly didn’t show stains. This may be the origin of the need for ‘something blue’ on a wedding day.

Researching this topic opened the door to reading more about what other cultures believe and wear on the occasions of their weddings. I look forward to sharing some of that trivia with you in the future as well.