A Bluebird on my Shoulder

This little poem was one of the readings in my own wedding.

This weekend I'm flying off to Sydney as fast as my little wings can carry me for the wedding of my cousin and his lovely girl. The dress code is "garden party" (which is very apt as it will be a fabulous party in a secret garden) and I think that calls for the wearing of something frivoulous and fanciful on my head. I have a big black silk rose and a pink silk peony which have done good and faithful service for the last several weddings I've been to, but neither of them proved quite right when plonked on my head with with my blue silk Zimmermann frock and silly blue shoes. After a flurry of frantic activity to rustle up a more suitable bit of head-adorning frippery, I came up with the following options, which I present you with here for your perusal (and poll voting prowess).



I had a hankering for little blue birds of happiness on my head, so my first acquisitions were these vintage feather milinery trim birds from ebay (originally from pre-war Japan according to the seller, but I do tend to take such claims with a grain of salt).



They are just haphazardly clipped into my hair here, they'd need to be wired to a comb or pinned in properly if I were to wear them to any event where there is a very strong probability of dancing...



I keep umming and ahing over these bluebirds - perhaps they are a little bit spiky looking for the rest of the ensemble? Maybe there's just too much blue (and I know I'm asking for the old "Skye's blue today!" routine from any number of male relatives as the night progresses and the drunkishness levels rise)? Maybe they're just a tiny bit too tiny for my big head?



My blue bird yearning led me to option number two as well, this little fellow from etsy (who arrived with three feathered friends in other pretty spring colours who are now nesting on our christmas tree).



Now clearly he's adorable, but wearing him on my head definitely pushes the whimsy boat waaaaaay out there - even for an event which will be full to the brim with a very whimsical crowd, ie. my family, (you didn't really think I got this way by accident did you?)



There's a very fine line between being cute and whimsical in the spirit of the occasion, and looking foolish in a way which draws undue attention on a day which belongs very much to two other people. I suspect this little birdy might be joining the rest of his flock on the christmas tree instead of dipping his beak in the wedding champagne - unless, perhaps, there's an overwhelming response in his favour here.



But I do love him so!



Rummaging around the "Take a further 20% off already reduced items" sale rack at Sportsgirl the other day I came upon this pink beaded orchid fascinator/headpiece and I was quite smitten with it (not to mention the $8 price tag)



The pink doesn't really match the little winks of pink in the dress print, but I think it's ok - tell me if it's not though, please!



I've looked all over the place for another option and short of spending vast sums on an etsy gamble I've not seen anything else which I like much at all. Lots of oversized roses, and big feathery things which look like bits of Big Bird, and not much else to be found. Which brings me to option number four.



I thought of making something myself from my stash of silk flowers, wiring a bunch of these little artificial blossoms (50cents from the op-shop down the road) to a comb or a headband to create a modest and girlish headpiece of suitably small dimensions to fit in my carry-on-only baggage. An awareness that the results of my handiwork will fall far short of matching the picture in my head has so far stopped me but there's still time to break out the florist tape and the hot glue gun, so if you think that's the way I should go then let me know!

Right, that's all the options for your review, now go on and vote up a storm on my first ever poll (I'm such a proud parent)!

xx
Skye
PS. Someone asked for photos of our christmas decorations - here's the only couple of pictures which turned out ok (our crappy camera made everything else look like Christmas in the Twilight Zone). This is the starfish star on our beach shack front door: