The last couple weeks of wedding planning are quickly approaching, and I found myself indulgently flipping through Kennedy Weddings: A Family Album. I had borrowed it to give myself some inspiration outside of Pinterest. Note: if you want any semblance of originality in anything at all ever, get off Pinterest and head to a library. Centuries of inspiration laid out before you will make anything trendy and social media-worthy seem dull and incredibly overdone.
Actually, what inspired me the most was not the weddings at all, but this painting Ted Kennedy painted for his wife to celebrate their new marriage. Under his painting of daffodils (my favorite flower), he quoted William Wordsworth’s “And then my heart with pleasure fills and dances with the daffodils.” The couple had the painting reprinted and added to the covers of their wedding programs. What a lovely and meaningful personal touch.
While I don’t see myself becoming quite an impressive painter in the next few weeks, the homemade present of a painting and a specially chosen poem is such a heartwarming idea. I’m inspired to do something similar for one of my girlfriends whose birthday is coming up. I’m thinking: her birth flower and a poem about said flower. These little touches are incredibly charming, and I find the most memorable, sustainable gifts are always the soulful ones.