lush and “crunchy” bouquets!

Today I received a disc of images (courtesy of Derek Photo) from a sweet couple I worked with back in July, Kristi and Lou. Knowing their colors were chartreuse and fuchsia (MY wedding colors!), I brought my handy-dandy green and magenta flower fan decks with me to our initial consultation.

A note about the fandecks: I have a fandeck in every color of the rainbow. Each fandeck has a card for every cut flower imaginable, along with helpful info about its seasonal availability, how to care for and store the flower, other colors the flower comes in, and what the flower symbolizes. These booklets are absolute essentials for consultations, especially for visual brides who aren’t quite sure what flowers they like right off the bat. If I were stranded on a desert island, I just might have to bring these with me.

As Kristi poured over the fandecks, she ooed and ahhed over almost every flower.  Her one flower dislike was roses.  I noticed that Kristi tended to lean toward what I call “crunchy” flowers, like crisp orchids, lilies, and spider mums.

antique hydrangea, spider mums, green dendrobium orchids, cymbidium orchids, and hanging amaranthus. I love the tone on tone greens. I also love the crunchiness of green flowers!

How beautiful is green against fuchsia?

Oriental lilies, bouvardia, orchids, hypericum, lisianthus, and more wrapped up with a ti leaf. FYI, hanging amaranthus looks so lovely dangling from bouquets, but can sometimes cause itchy rashes on delicate wrists. Make sure to experiment first!

Lou's bout was also wrapped with greenery. I've found that men tend to like orchids b/c they are manly and look like a little creature!

Kristi has the most beautiful smile!

I love pictures of grooms holding the bouquet- it reminds me of when I make Joe hold my purse in public.

Rusty wrought iron stands were adorned with tiers of draping florals.

Flower tip: To wrap Kristi's bouquet, I used my florist knife to carefully pare down the thick center vein of the ti leaf. This made it flexible enough to wrap around the bouquet without snapping.

I’m currently working on floral decorations for our home involving textiles, scarves, bowties, burlap, and my sewing machine. Curious? I’ll be posting pics this weekend so check back for some cozy winter arrangements!