Jen & Charlie: Boutonnieres

If you've ever been to an asian wedding, you'll see that everyone in the (immediate) family gets a boutonniere. It's sometimes a pain because there's lots of wiring involved. Jenn wanted 24 boutonnieres. I almost died (just kidding, I love taping and wiring. Who wouldn't?)

We kept it simple. Just two green Dendrobium Orchids and we decided not to put a bow for the women's. I like Dendrobium boutonnieres because they look better than a big bulky rose. If you must use a rose for family boutonnieres, try to use sweetheart or spray roses. Keep in mind they are much more expensive.



Groomsmen/Officient boutonniere. There were only 5. I used a jade rose, green dendrobium, and kermit mum. I was only going to use a mum OR orchid at first, but I couldn't decide which i liked better. Turns out using both looked best since the rose is so much larger.





Charlie's boutonniere. Jen saw the succulents in a bouquet online and fell in love. I found the small one to use in Charlie's boutonniere so it would be different from everyone elses. There's also a white dendrobium orchid and two lisianthus buds in there. I thought the colors mixed together made it really pretty. Instead of wrapping with floral tape, I used the ribbon from her bridesmaid bouquet as well as a pretty blue wire.

More to come from the wedding soon!

Jen & Charlie: planning

When I booked Jen's wedding, it was about 5 months before the big day, which was great! The reason that I say this is because it gives you time to really figure out what you want, without too much time to change your mind.

Now, first thing that you florist should ask you is what your budget is. It's always best to be realistic and it's much easier to figure out what's the absolute best that you can get with what you can afford. I could never be one of those florist who talk about all the gorgeous things that she can do then find out that its not possible because it's not within the budget (talk about heartbreak!). So Jen and I figured out what she wanted to spend, then looked through her pictures to see if it was possible. Keep in mind that most creations that you see in magazines are pretty extravagent, but it doesn't mean you can't get anything similar. Ask your florist if theycan replicate the piece, but on a smaller scale. See if they can use less expensive flowers. Or do both!

Another way that Jen and I were able to get in everything she wanted was by her providing the vases. Some florist won't let you, but it never hurts to ask. Jen was smart enough to use her 40% off coupon at Michael's to get her vases, it ended up being cheaper than if we went to get it at the wholesalers.

And my most important piece of advice? GET A FEW QUOTES. Make sure you take your time to talk to different vendors. Sometimes even if one vendor is a bit cheaper, but you get along better with another, it may be better to book the one you like. It's really important that you like your vendors (and they like you!).

Pictures in my next post. I promise!

Meet Jen & Charlie

I met Jen while doing flowers for another wedding ...she happened to stumble into our area looking for a florist for her wedding. I could tell when I met her that she was pretty organized. She had a nice binder with pictures of flowers that she was interested in. I have to admit, sometimes you get those brides who have pictures and want EXACTLY what's in the picture and that's not always a good thing. Luckily for me, Jen was not one of those brides (can you imagine having someone show you a bouquet of peonies when their wedding is in November? Or if their budget is really small??). She was really open to suggestions and really took my advice, which I am very grateful for. On top of that, her and her fiance Charlie were super nice! (just some words of wisdom, if you treat your vendors nicely, they will sometimes go the extra mile for you...) I have lots of pictures from their wedding...coming up later :) I'll leave you with just one of the happy couple!

Congrats Jen and Charlie!

Pomanders

Okay it's been a while since I posted. It's been a little busy :) But since I (kind of) have the weekend off, I should take the time to update a bit!

I'm sure many of you are wondering what pomanders are. My friend Jenn recently told me that at my wedding I should have those cute "flower balls"...and after informing her that the correct term was "pomanders", I assured her that I would have plenty because I love them.

Pomanders can be used for a lot of different things. I like them attached onto the chairs for the ceremony (or on shepherds hooks if you're having a garden wedding) or if the cute little flower girls are holding them. I've seen brides and bridesmaids carry them also. You can do pomanders with a lot of different flowers. If you have a smaller budget, I would suggest doing them with button or pincushion mums. Carnations are also a good idea because they fluff open and cover a lot of space. Keep in mind that pomanders require a lot of flowers and work so they are usually quite expensive. They may look simple, but trust me they're hard work!

Did this for a wedding last year. we had to do 10 of these and it was a pain. Then this year I had to do 12 with carnations. That ended up being a wedding from hell (we dealt with the wedding planner only). The kermits are lovely aren't they?

Easiest way to do these is by pinning them. I used black pins with the brownish/orange mum.

What a difference the pro shot makes!

Under the Sea

So this year I was going to participate in the OC Fair for the first time. But due to some unfortunate events my entry didn't make it there. Too bad because I really liked it.

The theme was "Under the Sea".

Better luck next year I guess!

Pink and Purple

Sorry I haven't posted in so long :( I didn't have much going on for a while then of course everything hit me at once and I had quite a few things going on around the same time.

The last wedding I did was hot pink and purple with some green accents. While you might think those are weird color choices, the flowers came out gorgeous.

I can't remember what the bouquets had...I believe they were just roses, gerbers, lisianthus, alstromeria, carnations and button mums.

The only other thing I did for this wedding was the archpiece....which then moved to the sweetheart table! (great way to save money)

*all photos are courtesy of Christopher Bishow Photography.

Wreaths

A month or so ago I got a request to do a wreath for a wedding. I don't usually get these so it was actually kind of fun. The wreath I did was for the door of their church. I think it turned out pretty well and the bride LOVED it...which is pretty much all i care about :)

Her colors were green and white. The wreath is a double heart with carnations, mums and cymbidium orchids.

I also did a wreath with silk flowers for my desk at work. I had seen it in one of my floral magazines and wanted to try it out.

Aside from flowers, I used those decorative ornaments to take up space. The good thing about doing this with silk flowers is I could use many different flowers and have it not be super expensive. I did a heart because it was around Valentine's day when I made it...I'll probably do another one when the fall rolls around.