gothidays memories...the wedding that never was...

For the fourth day of Gothidays I’m focusing on Winter Solstice.

Last year I was thinking of Winter Solstice because my fella and I had been planning to marry on solstice day. Of course, life happened and we ended up marrying in October which was *my dream*, not necessarily his.

To know me is to know that I LOVE holidays! And as a huge Bing Crosby fan (I know! That’s so very goth, right! ;P ) I love the movie Holiday Inn. When my fella and I decided to get married, a quick Google search took me to one of the top destination wedding locations in Virginia, The Holladay House Bed & Breakfast.  Pretty much because of the name (the closest thing to a Holiday Inn like the movie), I knew this was where we were going to get married. 

A Winter Solstice wedding had been important for him because he liked the idea of getting married on the darkest of days (or at least more hours of the day being in darkness) and being able to weather that together. When I think of the solstice, I think of winter white and icicles. I did not want to wear white so I opted for red. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I realize that is more of a Christmas color but when I think of nature during the winter, I think red berries and green fir, spruce, and even Wintergreen barberry. I have to admit that while it was supposed to be a Winter Solstice themed wedding, I am a Christmas girl and planned to bring a bit more of the Christmas spirit to the wedding that my fella had probably hoped. I even made a Christmas ornament bouquet that I think turned out beautifully considering I had no idea what I was doing. In my defense, doesn’t the Christmas season derive from the Solstice season?!? Or something like that ;D

I didn’t end up wearing my red dress. In fact, it’s still unaltered hanging in my closet but I’m not supposed to give it away because it would hurt my fella’s heart. We have sooo many anniversaries, and one of them is the anniversary of the day in this parallel world where we did marry. My ornament bouquet which I had considered selling because in my opinion it did turn out quite good still sits in my office in a plastic bag because of that parallel universe. I should probably shadow box it. You can see the dress and also our wedding and bridal portraits by the talented artist Abigail Larson in my post … the ghosts of Christmas (Winter Solstice) wedding future….

These are by Lisa at MiaettiaCreations’ on Etsy. I had seen some of her Custom Wedding Hair Clips & Boutonnieres on Off Beat Bride and on Pinterest. She makes these beautifully elaborate hair pieces out of paper. Most of her creations are flowers. Her spider originally caught my eye and perhaps I will contact her to see if she would be willing to do a custom order of a Christmas spider. Her Dia Los Muertos Wedding hair clip skull caught my eye and after that I knew I needed a custom order.

I ordered two hair clips for my friend and me, and a boutonniere for my best man. I ended up adding my hair clip to my bouquet which fit into my Halloween wedding just fine and because the wedding only included my fella and me, I ended up keeping all of the MiaettiaCreations pieces. They’re now in a shadowbox.  

Lisa included a Harold Pinter poem around the edge. I think it resonates with my relationship.

"I know the place.
It is true.
Everything we do
Corrects the space
Between death and me
And you.”
~ Harold Pinter

Celebrating what would have been our wedding night (Winter Solstice) with my fella.                                            Every girl should get to wear her bat veil at least twice ^o^

Now on the Winter Solstice, my fella and I celebrate our anniversary-that-might-have-been. To the left is a picture of my outfit for last year's celebration. We returned to the Bed & Breakfast where we were married and even ate at the same restaurant.