Spring in an American Garden

I am always so flattered when people see my portfolio and choose their wedding flowers based off of designs that I'm proud of and worked really hard on.  Chelsie was referred to me by a couple of other clients and as we talked, she said that she had enjoyed my 'English Garden" wedding and wanted something similar...but with brighter colors. Her color scheme was a pretty country green, so she wanted to add some springy colors like bright happy yellow, purple, pink, and white, with just a hint of a red tulip as her signature flower. That sounded like a wonderful American garden to me! Bright happy tulips, iris, and daffodils. (Don't they look happy?)

She wanted some natural looking planted pots, so I had some fun in the garden section at my Home Depot picking up pots and plates with ivy plants to re-pot. I used a small vase in each pot and then surrounded it with dirt and ivy roots. The fresh flowers were then added to the vase section and filled it all out beautifully. Arranging it that way also allowed every piece to be taken home and enjoyed for months to come because the wilting flowers could be replaced with fresh flowers, stones, succulents, or any sort of arrangement that the new owner had a feeling towards. The ivy would continue to grow if watered regularly, and the flowers were easy to trade out.

The twist for me was that she wanted topiary! How fun! Difficult to accomplish well, and I stewed long and hard over how to make them work. I finally had a light bulb moment and kept the same posts and plates idea as the smaller arrangements, but bought a bag of quick-dry cement and had quite a day mixing up batches, securing posts in the middle, ensuring that they were perfectly level, but still saving room for the vases and roots of the ivy. Once the day arrived, securing flowers and ivy to the wet foam spheres atop the topiary took quite a bit of work...working in 4-D to make sure every surface is covered and attractive...is difficult but I think it was well worth it. And don't get me started on delivery! I wish I'd gotten a picture of my 5 year old daughter holding two of the posts to either side of her car seat to keep them from tipping over for me.

Thanks again, Chelsie! What lovely fun and it's always entertaining to be asked to do something new!

Bright Yellow Loveliness

Spring hasn't quite sprung yet, though the sun is shining, so today I want to put some of my own sunshine on the screen. A lovely bride, Lauryn, chose classic flowers of hydrangeas, dahlias, freesia, ranunculus and Queen Anne's lace in lovely shades of butter yellow and cream, accented with ribbons in grey.

It was a rainy day at the intimate reception hall at the Kaysville ponds area, but yellow brightens any event!


The bouquet was obviously done in advance, as were the toppers to a selection of frosted glass and black iron hurricanes that she used in strategic spots in the room, but the flowers on the cake had to be done on location. It made for a dramatic day of delivery, design and eventual downpour!



Thanks again, Lauryn, for such a wonderful and beautiful collaboration!

For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!