Why did I choose Miss Dahlia? I must confess that from the time I saw the flowers introduced, I knew that Miss Dahlia had my name all over it. First, it is red, and as you will quickly see, red is my favorite color and will play quite an important part in our wedding. Second, and more importantly, it has strong family connections.
My grandfather lived with my family in the last years of his life. Up until he had a stroke and passed away three years ago, one of the greatest joys in his life was gardening. Grandpa Dahlia's specialty was, in fact, growing dahlias. He was famous for them. Not just any dahlias, mind you, but dahlias the size of a dinner plate. Like this:
Image from here.
While dahlias are very much out of season in May (and I did contemplate half-seriously having the wedding in August so that dahlias would be in season) and we won't be having them at the wedding, I love that my name pays homage to my maternal grandfather.
Grandpa Dahlia in August 2004, less than 2 months before his stroke.
So now that you know why I chose to be Miss Dahlia, I thought I'd share a bit about the Dahlias. We started dating our senior year of college, when we were both involved in a non-profit coffee shop and worked as college radio DJs. We love to travel, are considered "foodies" by our families, and like to think of ourselves as connoisseurs of cheap wine (basically, anything less than $8/bottle. $10 or $11 is considered a splurge). And we have a high geek factor. In the month prior to us dating, we would caffeinate ourselves with the leftover coffee from said coffee shop to stay up late and program (or play chess). I was learning html (to build my own website! in notepad!) and Calvin had programming for his computer science classes. Since graduating from undergrad, I moved to Michigan to further my education and after a year of long-distance, Calvin moved up here to work (and spend some time with me!).
We are getting married in Cleveland, which is our hometown and where most of our families reside. While it is not the most exotic locale, it enables our living grandparents to be part of the wedding. Both of our families go back several generations in the city, so we will always be Clevelanders. Plus, we are excited to show off our hometown in as positive a light as possible! While Cleveland is the butt of a lot of jokes (yes, the river really did catch on fire in the 1970s), it has a lot of great things to offer. I can't wait to share my thoughts and ideas about wedding planning with all of you!
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