Sunflowers

When Kendra and Steve Slivinski decided to tie the knot this summer they didn’t have to add flowers to their wedding to-do list — the couple was married amid a background of millions of blooming sunflowers near their farm in Livingston Township.

The small wedding ceremony was officiated by Otsego County magistrate Rudi Edel at the edge of a huge patch of golden yellow sunflowers, their mammoth flower heads uniformly facing east — silent witness to the wedding vows the couple exchanged August 1.

“That was the best part of the wedding,” Kendra said of the flower “arrangements” which provided the dramatic backdrop at the brief wedding ceremony. “We couldn’t have picked a better place.”

While other couples expend a great deal of thought and time in choosing the types of flower bouquets they will order for the big day the Slivinskis had that part of the wedding arrangements taken care of months ago after they planted 35-acres of sunflowers on a rented parcel of land at the corner of Old 27 and Poquette Road this past spring. Once the seeds have fully ripened later this summer the Slivinskis will sell their harvest for use as bird seed, just part of their diversified farm which includes a main cash crop of dried beans.

This is the third “and last” marriage for Kendra and Steve, who are each 40 years old and Kendra said she wanted something simple and out-of-doors. “I’m an outdoorsy girl. I told Steve I didn’t care when we got married but it had to be outside.”

When Steve proposed to Kendra she said he had been acting “kind of silly all week and telling me he loved me” and finally “took my hand in the kitchen and kept asking funny questions. Finally he looked at me and then went downstairs and came back with a goofy grin on his face.”

Kendra said her husband-to-be then took a ring out of his pocket, slipped it on her finger and asked her to marry him. She said she didn’t answer him right away but finally answered in the affirmative and said yes.

Steve gave Kendra a list of dates the two could get married and also suggested a simple marriage  rather than an elaborate affair. “I thought about it for a while, he said we could just go downtown but I didn’t like that idea.”

What she finally did propose was an outdoor wedding with sunflowers. “I told him the sunflowers had just started popping and he was a little surprised at my choice but that’s what we did.”

A simple wedding ceremony followed by a dinner with the wedding party was all the couple needed to make their big day one to remember — that, and a spectacular “bouquet” of flowers courtesy of row after row of sunny sunflowers.

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