Saturday morning we caught up with Dave, Teena, Karen, and Joe and went to the famous Missouri Botanical Gardens. These gardens were one of the largest that I have ever seen. That day they were having three weddings at the same time. We visited the two rose gardens, the daylilies in full and glorious bloom along with an impressive hosta section. We saw the Climatron 2000 (r) with humid air and poisonous tree frogs (minus the poison since they don't get their native food). Inside the waterfalls were magnificent- you could even walk under one :) We also visited the Japanese garden and saw some of the largest and most colorful koi under our feet. 
There was an arid rock garden and a grand boxwood garden. We all had fun getting lost and found in the hedge maze- they had pivoting doors to change the pattern at will- have to keep that in mind for our future hedge maze. I also found it interesting that they used Juniper for the maze which grows fast- implying more upkeep, but quicker results. Also all of the hedges were angled away from the paths, which reduced the closterphobic feeling "some" (namely me) get trapped in a maze. Lastly we saw the home garden center- there were wonderful displays on the types of plants that you should grow in different sides of your home- unfortuntaly they think only cactus can grow in the south window and growing up with a south window- I can understand. Surrounding the "home" were all types of grass and beautiful raised beds for their garden (no evil invading grass here).
Everywhere we went there was water. Being a big fan of ponds and other waterly creations, I thought that the water was encorporated beautifully into the surroundings. It also made for soothing transitions as well as great focal points. We were all impressed by the giant water lilly, with pads that curl up to look like tart pans.
The cafe was an awesome lunch spot, I had turkey burger with olives and pesto, and Mark had portabella quesadeea. The giantic gift shop with tons of flower themed items, books, games, actual flowers for sale.
Next we were off to the wedding at their temple. Elizabeth and David made a very helpful program, which explained many of the Jewish aspects that we were unfamiliar with. Elizabeth's mom made a beautiful chuppa under which the ceremony was performed. Their flower of choice was the shasta daisy. All of the decorations, corsages were very color coordinated with the daisies and everything looked beautiful. After the ceremony we went to the reception at the Radisson. The food was beautiful and delicious, Mark and I shared a quick swing dance and slipped into our wedding foxtrot for some fun. One of the coolest parts was to see Elizabeth and David lifted on the chairs to Hava Nageela- just like we were in a movie :)
