Jodi and David - A Tropical Paradise

Jodi wanted her wedding to convey a summery, tropical feeling. She also was concerned about flowers triggering an allergy attack. Tropical flowers and orchids (Jodi's favorite) would work perfectly. They have no scent. We used orchids everywhere - Jodi's beautiful bouquet, boutonnieres, corsages, placecard table, cake, and centerpieces. Jodi's bouquet was built upon a phlange that we made from her dress fabric. We used blush cymbidium orchids, tipi fronds, and pearl sprays to build this multi-layered bouquet for her. Bridesmaids' bouquets were made from tall pink ginger, pink limonium, tipi, ti leaves, and monstera leaves. And David's boutonniere was made from mini green cymbidiums - after a minor setback. David was supposed to have a white boutonniere to match Jodi's orchids - but the Department of Agriculture seized all mini cymbidiums that arrived in New York from New Zealand and put them into quarantine. None of them were being released and David's orchids were amongst them. However, my supplier already had one stem of green, and Jodi said that David had really liked the green ones so we should work with them. Good thing too! The government ended up destroying all of the orchids they had seized. If they see a bug or fungus on just one of them, they won't let any of them into this country. Thank goodness Jodi is as sweet and agreeable as she is beautiful. And David ended up with a boutonniere - pictured above - that looked just great. When you're working with nature and fresh products, there is always the chance that something unpreventable could happen. This instance certainly underscores that.

Ronda's wedding

Ronda's wedding colors were yellow, white, and green - a happy combination. I got to try some new techniques with this wedding that I think worked out rather well. Instead of evenly spreading out the stephanotis among Ronda's yellow roses, we grouped them together in several areas. I really like this look. And when stephanotis are bunched together, their lovely fragrance is much more conspicuous. Ronda also liked the idea of color in the center of her flowers so we used pearls in her roses and green pins in her stephanotis. So pretty!

Ronda's flower girl was going to scatter rose petals down the wedding aisle. Instead of just loading this butterfly basket with loose petals, we tried something new. We cut up fresh roses for petals, but instead of taking the roses apart, we left the petals in the rose shape and put them inside the basket on a bed of yellow paper shred. I think this looks much cuter than the loose petals. And all the flower girl has to do is to put her hand in the basket and pull out a couple of petals. The rest of the roses will then fall apart into separated petals and she can scatter them as she likes. I'm going to use this technique more often in the future.

Melissa's pictures

Pretty pictures from Melissa's wedding. I wrote about them yesterday, but wanted to share. I can't wait to see a picture of Melissa in her wedding gown. And she had the cutest gift card box. I'll have to ask her who made it and then publish a picture of it so everyone can steal her idea.

Melissa and David's Wedding

Melissa's wedding was so much fun to work on. We got to make so many new "creations" for her. Her bouquet is so beautiful - green hypericum berries, Bells of Ireland, white lisianthus, and Queen Anne's lace - all wrapped in soft satin white ribbon French braided down the front. I was going to post a picture, but changed my mind in case Melissa peeks at my blog tonight. I want her to be surprised. I absolutely love this beautifully textured bouquet. Her bridesmaids have such pretty, natural looking bouquets of longer Bells of Ireland, Apple blossom snapdragons, and white stock. Besides looking great, they smell amazing! And the moms' gardenia wrist corsages have a fantastic scent, too. Then there is the flower girl's pomander - which is a totally new style for us. Anne made a white tulle poof and we decorated it with pink streamers, pink spary roses, and green hypericum berries. It is so cute. I also got to work with Super Green roses, which I love. They are on the smaller side and have very curly petals. We are using them in glass squares on Melissa's cocktail tables. I added a special touch of bright pink ribbon with green polka dots around each vase. So cute! And finally there is Melissa's placecard piece. Her mom fell in love with it when they came for their consultation and now she can bring this one home and enjoy it for a while. The beading and the acrylics in the glass really add something special to this piece. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

My Friend's Ceremony

Tomorrow is our friend's "Committment Ceremony". We wish her and her fiance the very best as they start their new life together. She asked us to make some baskets of flowers for the church, which we did, but we also decided to surprise her with a bouquet and him with a boutonniere as gifts. We can't imagine them without the appropriate flowers. And since she's such an avid gardener - we thought she would love a bouquet of Sweet William and Scabiosa (horrible name - pretty lavender flower). It looks very garden-like to us. One bunch comes in all of those amazing colors.

Peonies

It's the time of year when all of our local peonies are coming into fragrant bloom. Peonies come in single, double, and anemone types in a variety of shades of red, white, yellow, pink, and salmon. Mine are large, beautiful double white ones with streaks of burgundy running through them. They were my mother's plants which she moved them from garden to garden every time my family moved. Now that she's passed away, I think of her even more every June when they are in bloom and looking glorious. Did you know that Peonies are a member of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae)? They're related to those little yellow flowers in the grass and the beautiful ranunculus that remind me of smaller peonies. Peonies should be picked when the color begins to show. They will continue to open up in your house. Always use garden clippers and cut them on a slant. If you happen to pick them when they are in full bloom, be sure to check to see if there are any ants hidden in the petals. They are attracted to the serum. Once you bring them inside, dip the stems into warm water to remove the serum and then put them in some cool water until you are ready to use them. If you need them for a party and can't wait until they open up on their own, you can reflex (gently pull back) the petals and open them up yourself. It helps if your fingers are wet when you do this. One large bloom looks beautiful in a 5" glass rose bowl, with a little bit of water and flower food in the base. Just leave a little bit of stem so the flower can "drink". If you have a rectangular dinner table, line the bowls down the center of the table. They'll look beautiful alternated with candles. I love to leave my stems longer and arrange them in a large ceramic pitcher so that they make a big, beautiful mass of color and fragrance.