Destination Wedding: Silk Wedding Flowers for Mexico and Back

As you read yesterday, Jayme had her Mexico destination wedding back in May and had the experience of traveling with not only her dress, but also her beautiful silk wedding flowers.  It's not as scary as it sounds, trust me!  This is often a destination brides #1 concern when planning to include silk flowers for their wedding.  So take a look at these babies fresh off the plane and tell me that they don't look fabulous!


So here's how I typically do it - I rent a time machine, I set the clock for...just kidding.

I've done it two different ways, both with great outcomes. The first is to recruit some trustworthy friends and/or relatives you'll be flying with to pack them either in their carry on luggage or I've even packed them in large gift bags. The second way is I have the bride bring her carry on suitcase and we pack them when she comes to pick them up. This is often the best option because, more than anything, the flowers are packed exactly how they'll fly and it gives my brides peace of mind.

Jayme's resort package included the bridal bouquet and groom's boutonniere and you can see the lovely clutch calla bouquets that her maids carried down the aisle. She wasn't exactly sure what her bouquet was going to look like, but she wanted to make sure she had some bling on it. So she purchased a section of rhinestone wrap to add to the handle the morning of the wedding.

 

 

Barefoot is so romantic!

Back in Minnesota, Jayme and her new husband hosted a reception for those family and friends who weren't able to be a part of the Mexico ceremony.  As she thought more about it, she decided she really wanted to have a bouquet for her Minnesota reception that was similar to her Mexico bouquet.  She called me up again and we got back to designing.

Her simple handtied bouquet was made up of ivory Calla Lilies.  We wanted this bouquet to mimic her Mexico bouquet in another small way, so we added the rhinestone wrap and called it done.  Charming right?

Jayme was a friend of Carly's and had heard how she used silk wedding flowers for her destination wedding.
 And here's what Carly had to say about the process of working with me. Thanks again to Jayme (who was such a gorgeous bride!) for trusting me with bringing your ideas to life for your wedding and reception.  Congrats on your new marriage!

Emily & Steve--Summer Silk Wedding Flowers Part 3

Emily and Steve's big wedding day was held at the beautiful and historic Cedarhurst Mansion in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. Now a July wedding in Minnesota could mean any number of things, but for this happy couple it meant it was going to be HOT! Sure enough, July 9th was one of the hottest days of summer. It felt like we were somewhere in the south with the big veranda and large open windows of the Mansion's ball room. What's that you say? No, "open windows" was not a typo. If you've put two and two together yet you've come to realize that Cedarhurst is not air conditioned. This could spell disaster for a traditional florist. So here's where I came into play.

Emily's flowers took a beating between being carried behind the barn, set down for pictures, squashed between hugs, and the boiling hot air. And I'm proud to say that they looked exactly the same when the clock struck midnight as they did for pictures in the early afternoon.

 Take a looky look at photographer Brianna Colleen's beautiful work.

Emily's honorary arrangement doubled as ceremony and reception decor. We also used the silk wedding bouquets as reception decor for the head table-just add vases!

Emily's beautiful silk wedding bouquet.

Like what you see? Check out Brianna's blog post about Emily and Steve's wedding--she did an amazing job capturing the beauty and spirit of the day.

Remember I said Emily had a few things to say about working with me? You can check back tomorrow to hear it in her own words.

Winter Wedding Designer Bouquets

Minnesota bride Julie had given me enough details before our consultation to have a head start on choosing her designer silk wedding bouquet options. And when it came down to it, she loved them all! So much so that we incorporated all the options into her arrangements. She wanted some varying shades of purple, some crisp white, a hint of greenery, and of course a little bling.

(I think that was the theme for this winter, Bling!)

Bridal Bouquet: Roses, Hydrangea, Calla Lilies, Pom Pom Mums, Stephanotis, Bling, Purple Satin Ribbon

Bridesmaid Bouquet: Roses, Hydrangea, Calla Lilies, Pom Pom Mums, Stephanotis, Bling, Silver Satin Ribbon

Toss Bouquet: Hydrangea, Pom Pom Mums, Callas

Getting married in the winter doesn't mean your theme needs to be red and green or blue and white, there are tons of color combinations to highlight the season. Add purple and white to that list because jewel tones are a huge hit for winter and fall weddings.

Thanks again to Julie for choosing me to put a new spin on her winter wedding!

Pardise: Part 2

Here are a few more pictures sent over by Carly. If you want to see even more of this wedding as well as check out her amazing photographer, head over to Geneoh Photography's blog post all about Carly and Jim's wedding.


Carly and her beautiful maids in vibrant hues and tropical flowers.

The dashing groomsmen with Calla bouts.

So classy!

Carly hired my mother-in-law do to caligraphy for her escort cards. Her DIY project turned out super cute with the added sand dollars in the tray of sand.

Thanks again to Carly for bringing such a lovely vision for me to create. I wish you all the best!

This Season's Hot Color: Sangria

Bride Danielle contacted me requesting flowers that worked with her main color - Sangria. At this point in the wedding season, this was the third wedding I had done based on this exact color. It's a fun challenge for me to come up with new designs incorporating the same color.

One of the flowers Danielle mentioned were Calla Lilies, a wedding flower staple. It was a little more challenging to find a coordinating variety, but I found a beautiful Calla that faded from Cream to Sangria. We combined it with some ivory callas in a smaller size to fill in the bouquet and wrapped it with Sangria satin ribbon. Here's what we created:

The bridesmaids carried 7 of the cream/sangria Callas with silver ribbon.

The toss bouquet was a smaller arrangement of 3 callas with Sangria ribbon.

Danielle gave me a lot of freedom in suggesting flowers and shapes because what was important to her was finding flowers that matched such a unique color. I felt these classic designs were the best route to go - incorporating such a rich and fantastic color without overdoing it or going over the top in the design process. Check back to see how we worked these same flowers into the bouts and corsages.

Bold and Beautiful-Part4

These bouquets were so fun to make! Because of the variety of flowers, shapes, textures, and colors, these little beauties were so interesting to the eye and sassy too. While I tried to make all the bridesmaids bouquets similar, they aren't cookie cutter--they are handmade after all. That amounted to each bouquet having a little bit of its' own personality.

At about 7" in diameter, the girls have a nice sized bouquet featuring Nikki's chosen flowers wrapped with a matching sheer purple ribbon. Cute!

Bridal Bouquet:

Nikki wanted her bouquet to stand out from the crowd, so to speak, so we added in some ivory open roses to give it that hint of "bridal-ness." The orchids we used were a different variety than we used in her other arrangements, but their scale offered a bigger impact while allowing us to use fewer in the bouquet.

Ivory ribbon wrapped down the stem gave it the finishing touch.


Nikki wasn't sure what flowers she wanted when she came to me, and we had to do a little hunting to find the perfect tangerine colored flowers. But our persistence paid off as we discovered some beautiful orchids to match her colorful and unique arrangements.

Thanks, Nikki, for working with me to create such beautiful flowers. I wish you the best of luck in finishing up the last of your planning and details and also many blessings in your new marriage!

How to Avoid Wedding Flower Surprises

I was just reading the blog of Masterpiece Wedding Planners and they provided this pretty comical video of one of their wedding adventures.

Two things stood out to me as I watched:
1. The brides' bouquet looked similar to one I created recently; seen here:







-Pink and Cream Peonies and Phaelonopsis orchids


2. The bridesmaids bouquets were not right the first time! (Though props to Melissa for dealing with the florist's mistake and keeping her client happy when everything seemed to be falling apart.)

All this to say, I am proud that none of my brides have ever been surprised by their bouquets. Colors, flowers, styles have all been approved beforehand and they get to give input during the actual construction of their flowers. It is a fun process for everyone involved, and it gives brides the chance to help create each beautiful arrangement.

Even though things may not go perfectly smooth with your big day, you really can have peace of mind when it comes to your designer wedding flowers.