Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Orchids, Callas, Berries, and Grass
Melanie emailed me from New Jersey with a half-inch jpeg of a bouquet and asked if it was something I could recreate for her Salt Lake City wedding. With the help of a zoom, magnifying glass, and some insightful guessing, I was happy to recreate this beautiful assymetrical bouquet using phalenopsis and dendrobium orchids, 3-foot calla lilies as well as mini calls, hypericum berries, and bear grass. I was also able to create some boutonnieres and bouquets of the mini callas for the bridesmaids and gromsmen with an orchid boutonniere for the groom. Using the nearly 4-foot callas in the centerpieces added a great connection through the event with orchids and bear grass on the cake. It was such a beautiful wedding, a beautiful party, and such beautiful flowers to work with! This "Orchid Wedding" is a consistent favorite with all my clients and is definitely worth a mention in my review of my best and favorite work. Thanks again, Melanie for all of the fun!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Thanks for all the fun!
We had such a great time at the Grand America Bridal Extravaganza last week! We know it was tough to try and pull yourselves out of the house on a cold Saturday morning...much less so when that morning was the day after the new year...but it was great to get to meet so many of you and talk flowers and photography, so thanks for taking the time!
It's difficult to go wrong in such a gorgeous venue, and we loved filling our booth with the photos and flower accents that we hoped set us apart from our neighbors.
One of my favorite things when it comes to trade shows is to play with the flowers that strike my fancy. For a show like this, I have no customer with specific requests...it's just me. Things were made a little bit difficult because of the holiday. My wholesalers were closed for the weekend starting on Thursday, so I had to be very careful which flowers I chose...I needed flowers that would be hearty and would last the weekend, and I wanted some colors and styles that would appeal to brides with various tastes.
My first choice was Stargazer Lilies. Not only do they take about four days to bloom (I still have a lovely arrangement on my coffee table that is continuing to bloom), but they are strong and striking! I added some soft pink roses and some draping seeded eucalyptus accents to make a fairly formal bridal bouquet. To add to the fun, I used a floral shaped gold bouquet holder and sparkling brown bling to bring out a new look to the classic pink and brown that we all love.
Next, I decided on something to the far end of the spectrum from formal...baby's breath! Gypsophila is a sweet, fun, and simple flower that most people remember from their parent's wedding photos from the 70's or 80's. Baby's breath got a bad rap after being over-used and abused in the floral industry during those decades, but I wanted to show that any flower can look different when you have some imagination! Instead of using it as an accent or a filler the way that makes everyone I know roll their eyes, I chose to make it the main flower in a solo-flower bouquet. All Gypso...all the time! By trimming some of the branches to keep the flowers into a textured pom, I had so much fun taking this cute little flower to a new level. The shape took on a tree-like quality to me, so I chose some green and brown ribbons to wrap the stems in my pinned ballet technique for the ground effect, and then added some blue butterflies in the "sky". It's just such a happy spring bouquet that I still smile every time I look at it.
To bring in more color and some styles to the middle of the road between formal and casual, I chose some vibrant orange calla lilies, spray roses, and alstromeria (princess lilies). A classic shape of bouquet was offset by using a little bit of bear grass springing out as well as caging the blooms. I was particularly proud of the stem wrap on this one, simply for the fact that there is only ONE PIN in the entire thing. The stems were wrapped in two large aspadistra leaves and then were wrapped in more bear grass to hold it all in place. Lots of wrapping, overlapping, and twisting, ending in a single pin at the top, and you have a great looking, clean-green grouping of stems!
My final bouquet was a cross between the classic and the sweet. Another single bloom bouquet in white, but this time made up entirely of stephanotis blooms. My silver bouquet holder looked great, but I knew there would be a bit of space showing between the blossoms, so I wrapped the head of floral foam in an extra aspadistra leaf and pinned it in place. Each stephanotis bloom was also pinned in place with sterling pins right through the center, creating a great effect of metal in the petal. I had brought some sleek silk grey and black ribbons, but a single bow just didn't seem like enough...so I kept going! I added loop after loop of the layered ribbons to back the stephanotis flowers and pinned the loops in place with more of the sterling pins. The final bouquet turned out better than I'd hoped. One more reason why a little bit of imagination and simplicity can be totally new and different! Also another reason why following a feeling with flowers is what turns fun into fashion!
Thanks so much again to all of you that stopped to chat or if you even just picked up a card to view at home...I had a great day and hope that you did too! I'm already starting to consider my options for the next show. Hmm...blue and purple next time? Daisies and hydrangea? I'll ponder!
It's difficult to go wrong in such a gorgeous venue, and we loved filling our booth with the photos and flower accents that we hoped set us apart from our neighbors.
One of my favorite things when it comes to trade shows is to play with the flowers that strike my fancy. For a show like this, I have no customer with specific requests...it's just me. Things were made a little bit difficult because of the holiday. My wholesalers were closed for the weekend starting on Thursday, so I had to be very careful which flowers I chose...I needed flowers that would be hearty and would last the weekend, and I wanted some colors and styles that would appeal to brides with various tastes.
My first choice was Stargazer Lilies. Not only do they take about four days to bloom (I still have a lovely arrangement on my coffee table that is continuing to bloom), but they are strong and striking! I added some soft pink roses and some draping seeded eucalyptus accents to make a fairly formal bridal bouquet. To add to the fun, I used a floral shaped gold bouquet holder and sparkling brown bling to bring out a new look to the classic pink and brown that we all love.
Next, I decided on something to the far end of the spectrum from formal...baby's breath! Gypsophila is a sweet, fun, and simple flower that most people remember from their parent's wedding photos from the 70's or 80's. Baby's breath got a bad rap after being over-used and abused in the floral industry during those decades, but I wanted to show that any flower can look different when you have some imagination! Instead of using it as an accent or a filler the way that makes everyone I know roll their eyes, I chose to make it the main flower in a solo-flower bouquet. All Gypso...all the time! By trimming some of the branches to keep the flowers into a textured pom, I had so much fun taking this cute little flower to a new level. The shape took on a tree-like quality to me, so I chose some green and brown ribbons to wrap the stems in my pinned ballet technique for the ground effect, and then added some blue butterflies in the "sky". It's just such a happy spring bouquet that I still smile every time I look at it.
To bring in more color and some styles to the middle of the road between formal and casual, I chose some vibrant orange calla lilies, spray roses, and alstromeria (princess lilies). A classic shape of bouquet was offset by using a little bit of bear grass springing out as well as caging the blooms. I was particularly proud of the stem wrap on this one, simply for the fact that there is only ONE PIN in the entire thing. The stems were wrapped in two large aspadistra leaves and then were wrapped in more bear grass to hold it all in place. Lots of wrapping, overlapping, and twisting, ending in a single pin at the top, and you have a great looking, clean-green grouping of stems!
My final bouquet was a cross between the classic and the sweet. Another single bloom bouquet in white, but this time made up entirely of stephanotis blooms. My silver bouquet holder looked great, but I knew there would be a bit of space showing between the blossoms, so I wrapped the head of floral foam in an extra aspadistra leaf and pinned it in place. Each stephanotis bloom was also pinned in place with sterling pins right through the center, creating a great effect of metal in the petal. I had brought some sleek silk grey and black ribbons, but a single bow just didn't seem like enough...so I kept going! I added loop after loop of the layered ribbons to back the stephanotis flowers and pinned the loops in place with more of the sterling pins. The final bouquet turned out better than I'd hoped. One more reason why a little bit of imagination and simplicity can be totally new and different! Also another reason why following a feeling with flowers is what turns fun into fashion!
Thanks so much again to all of you that stopped to chat or if you even just picked up a card to view at home...I had a great day and hope that you did too! I'm already starting to consider my options for the next show. Hmm...blue and purple next time? Daisies and hydrangea? I'll ponder!
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