Ice Blue Winter Wedding | Bouquet Embellishments

Like I mentioned in the last post, winter weddings are magical!  There are lots of directions you can take it, red and green, silver and white, red and gold, etc.  But this wedding was white, ice blue, and shiny!  We found a few other ways to make this wedding stand out in a non-snow flaky, evergreen, ornament kind of way.  And the moms were on board too.  In fact they were not a fan of the traditional mother's corsages so we did small clutch bouquets and wrapped the handles in rhinestones for a wow factor.  They even chose different flowers (Calla Lilies) from what was included in the bridal party arrangements.  I loved it and so did they!



The bridesmaid bouquets were a pared down version of the bridal bouquet--peonies and orchids, but no roses.  I added in the ice blue rhinestones and we further dressed up the handles with the ice blue ribbon and a band of rhinestones at the top and bottom.  Charming, right?

 

Another adorable touch to this wedding were the flower girl pomanders. These small ball of roses were the perfect size for the mini maids and we used the ice blue ribbon and rhinestones to have them match the bridal party.  Adorable!

This wedding was nothing short of beautiful!  Whether it was the moms willing to go out of the box, the bride's willingness to try something new for the flower girls, or using bling to get that touch of color, it came together in a wonderful winter way.

Thanks again Melissa for trusting me to work in those special touches of color and make your flowers unique and lovely!

Ice Blue Winter Wedding | Peonies & Orchids

Here in Minnesota, we got a beautiful snowy weekend.  It was picture perfect and great for building snowmen!  I thought it would be fitting to showcase a wedding of all white flowers, to match the beautiful snow outside my window!

Late this past summer I had a consultation with bride Melissa, her mother, and her mother-in-law.  We came up with some lovely designs, despite the warm temps, for her December wedding.  Her color was ice blue and she wanted to incorporate the color in her arrangements in some form or another.  When you have a unique color that is not easily found in nature, then you have to get creative in trying to figure out how to include it in the arrangements.  Once again, we turn to the ever dazzling, ever popular, and ever awesome bling!

I found some beautiful ice blue rhinestone clusters to spread throughout the bouquets and they were perfect for getting that hint of color without going overboard.  The bridal bouquet was a beautiful white creation with peonies, roses, and orchids.  We added on a family heirloom broach and encircled it with a soft ring of Dusty Miller.  It was stunning!  But you can see for yourself...
 

 

The toss bouquet: 3 peony buds and dusty miller.

Check back tomorrow to see more of how we dressed up this wedding to reflect this magical time of year!

Lesson learned | Placing value on a florist with great customer service

Rebekah and I had an initial consultation last spring, and as is sometimes the case, she decided to go with a different florist for her wedding flowers.  Her budget was tight and she was looking for ways to stretch her dollar even further.  I totally get that – in this economy everyone's budget is tight.  No hard feelings and no judgement from me!

So I was surprised to hear back from her just a few weeks before her wedding date.  Things had not panned out and the florist she had chosen didn't turn out to be a good fit.  Rebekah had specified that she wanted "a little greenery" and the bridal bouquet ended up being mostly greenery with literally only 5 flowers....5 FLOWERS!  After talking through some things we came up with a plan B and I got to work to make it happen before it was her wedding day.  Her colors were pink and blue with Stargazer Lilies, blue Roses, ivory Calla Lilies, and Stephanotis in her cascading bridal bouquet.

Toss Bouquet


Bridesmaid Bouquet

Jr. Bridesmaid Bouquet

Bridal Bouquet

 

We added a nice contrasting detail to the handles of all the bouquets and did a criss-cross wrap using ivory ribbon over either blue or green satin ribbon.  The bridesmaids were alternating blue and green ribbon so the ivory criss-cross gave a cohesive look as all the girls stood together.

So here's your lesson for the day: not all silk flowers are equal.  Here at Love Is Blooming I strive to bring the most beautiful, most realistic, and highest quality flowers to each bride's arrangements, no matter what her budget.  One of the most advantageous reasons to choose silk is that I can show you exact examples of flowers that will be in your arrangements so you can touch and see exactly what you'll be ordering.  If you find yourself in a budgetary pinch, opt for simpler corsages and boutonnieres in favor of getting the main bouquets that are as close to your vision as possible.

If someone promises you the world for a price that seems to good to be true, it probably is.  And this goes for any vendor you are looking to hire for your wedding, look at their past work and see for yourself.  Save yourself the time and disappointment and go for as custom as you can afford.  Ok, off my soapbox I go and back to work.

Cream and Green Wedding Flowers

Elise contacted me back in 2008 about working with her, but various things in her life kept pushing back the planning.  Finally her big day was on the calendar and in the works.  We started working together again to come up with new options as her ideas had evolved over time.  She had originally been planning a Robin's Egg blue and brown wedding and then started leaning more towards the bright lime green and brown.  She finally settled on green Hydrangea and Cream roses and it was beautiful.

Bridal bouquet


Bridesmaid, Jr. Bridesmaid, Toss bouquet

Mothers' corsages

Grandmothers' corsages

Boutonnieres

Thanks again to Elise for coming back to me after all that time!  So happy things came together for you and that you are enjoying married life!

Emily & Steve - Summer Silk Wedding Flowers Part 1

Local bride Emily and I have known each other for several years, so when she asked me to meet with her about silk wedding flowers, I was so excited! She had already done some work gathering pictures from magazines and online and had some great ideas for her flowers. We talked through her style, colors, and favorites flowers. I showed her the beautiful fresh touch Callas, Roses, Peonies, and Ranunculus that lots of my brides are raving about. She chose a soft pink and white color pallette which was perfect for her July wedding.

The bouquets were done in a round, hand-tied bouquets style and had some fresh-from-the-garden elements that really added a lot. Emily wanted some wedding bouquet bling, but in a unique way that enhanced the romantic setting of her ceremony and reception. Take a look at what we came up with:

Callas, Roses, Peonies, Lily of the Valley, and Ranunculus

We added a clear beaded cascading element that hung down the front of her bouquet. It was tasteful and elegant but also a glamorous choice to add a little shine to her bouquet.

The Bridesmaids Bouquets

Ranunculus, Callas, and Lily of the Valley

The 'Maids were wearing black so we complimented their dresses with black satin ribbon on the stems. We also added some rhinestones into the bouquets to add a little sparkle.

Emily and Steve's wedding had some more inspiring arrangements that you can check out later this week.

Designer Silk Wedding Flowers | Deb Part 2 | Bouquets

As I mentioned in my last post, Deb really wanted her bridesmaid bouquets to be just a fabulous as her own bouquet. Ok, well just a tad less fabulous because we can't have the maids upstaging the bride!

Just like the modifications we made on the cascade style for the bridal bouquet, we switched up the shape of the bridesmaids bouquets too. Instead of a traditional round hand tied wedding bouquet, Deb wanted that "just from the garden" look for the girls to carry. In this case, the Lilacs really helped achieve that look with their linear shape. Instead of tucking those beauties down in the bouquet, we featured their length by extending them out past the other flowers. Take a look!

And of course the ladies needed some bouquet bling too! We duplicated the rhinestones both in the wedding bouquet and along the handle of the bouquet for some shine.

Deb's Toss Bouquet was just a cute little thing that highlighted her purple flowers and was an appropriate size for a toss bouquet. Because her other bouquets were quite large we didn't want the toss bouquet to turn into a load bearing air craft when she tossed it to all her single friends. No one wants a black eye for pictures!

Deb's vision for sparkle and glamour isn't quite done! Check back tomorrow see the design process for her centerpieces.

Winter Perfection--Red & White Silk Wedding Flowers

Here in my neck of the woods, we just got our first major snowfall. Pretty crazy considering it came at the tail end of February--usually we are already up to our elbows in snow. This put me in the mood to showcase some beautiful pictures sent over from Michelle at Maida Photography of a wedding in a classic color scheme for winter. And since winter is almost over, I thought I'd better get on it!
Like I mentioned in this post, I've had lots of different color palettes, so doing a read and white one didn't feel like the same old, same old. And as you can see below the red wedding flowers really pop even against red dresses!

Bride Katie contacted me and set up a consultation back in August for her January 21st wedding. She liked the looks of Beth & Bryan's wedding flowers as well as Amanda's silk wedding flowers. So we designed a hybrid of the two styles and came up with these beautiful arrangements.

Katie carried red Roses, red Orchids, white Orchids, and Boxwood in her bouquet. Her girls carried solid red bouquets with both Roses and Orchids and finished off with a halo of Boxwood.

The happy couple!

Katie and her 'maids.

Thanks again to Katie for the opportunity to design such classy arrangements. And a great big thanks to Michelle Maida for sharing these beautiful pictures of my designer silk wedding flowers. If you are looking for a great photographer, head on over to her website and check her out.

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!

White Bridal Cascade Bouquet & Sentimental Details

Surprisingly, the all-white wedding bouquet is turning out to be a rare sight at weddings these days. But white can be a great "color" to set apart your bouquet from the bridesmaid's bouquets. Take a look at Rachel's silk wedding bouquet of white Roses, Gardenia, and Stephanotis. Made in the cascade style -- it's in the language of wedding tradition but has the dialect of a more modern bride. We added in some rhinestones to really up the subtle beauty of this bouquet.

Rachel had a small handkerchief that was her Godmother's that she wanted to include in her bouquet. She didn't want it to be a main feature, but wanted to include it in a way that was visible to her since it was a sentimental piece for her. We decided to tuck it in behind the ribbon on the handle, just leaving a small portion of the lace peeking out.

With such a feminine style of bouquet, we wanted to include the same flowers in the groom's boutonniere without making him feel like he had to wear a girly flower. We used one of the smaller Gardenias and 1 Stephanotis flower to keep the two arrangements in the same theme. Then to give the boutonniere just a little something extra, we added a rhinestone to the Stephanotis. Manly, but matching--can't beat that!


Thanks to Rachel, for choosing me to design such a special bouquet with sentimental value!

Pink & Blue - Upgrading to Silk Wedding Flowers

When local bride Pink (yes that's her real name!) showed up for her consultation with me, the first words out of her mouth were, "I've actually decided to go with fresh flowers." Now, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that a statement like that usually doesn't bode well for someone in my line of work.

I offered to show Pink my sample bouquets and the sample stems I had chosen for her and give her an on-the-spot quote for her wedding. When Pink took a look at all that Love Is Blooming has to offer -- high quality, realistic flowers, the custom design process, and affordable pricing --Pink decided then and there to order her designer wedding flowers through me.

Over several months, we exchanged emails, I adjusted her order as her wedding party changed, and she gave great feedback on how her flowers were coming together. Her blue and white wedding colors came together beautifully for her October wedding. I was able to fulfill all her requests for the little details as well as for her overall vision.

Two shades of blue Roses, white Stephanotis, Rhinestones.

If you are looking for personal service, silk wedding flower designs that are custom, not cookie-cutter, and arrangements that fit your budget, fill out a bridal checklist now! I triple dog dare ya!

Real Wedding Flowers: Bekah Part 5

Bekah's ceremony decor was simple but still so pretty! The real touch silk pomanders she ordered were chosen to enhance the already beautiful setting, but still bring in her colors and her flowers.

At the reception site, Bekah made use of the bridesmaids bouquets as table decor--a great and free option! You can also consider purchasing vases to put the bouquets in and spread them out across your head table.

I had to include this last picture of my friend Sarah toasting her sister Bekah. Thanks to Sarah for the referral and thank you to Bekah for working with me to design your beautiful silk wedding flowers. I wish you all the best in your marriage!

Be sure and check out Bekah's wonderful photographer, Jamie Johnson, over at Signature Studio.

Real Wedding: Bekah Part 3

I'm so excited to be showing you these fabulous pictures from Bekah's June wedding. You may remember her flowers once you see these gorgeous shots, or check out part 1 and part 2 of the feature I did on her flowers back in July.

These images of Bekah and her groom getting their "first look" are so sweet. And isn't her birdcage veil just gorgeous?!

White Calla Lilies and Roses--classic and stunning!

The bridesmaid bouquets all ready to go.

All boutonnieres and corsages come labeled for their recipients, making it easy for your coordinator to get the right flower to the right person.

Next up--the wedding party!