Christmas wedding

Stacy and Mark's wedding took place on December 28th with the reception at the Capitol View Room, Hyatt Sacramento, Ca.

What I loved: They named their tables after the 12 Days of Christmas. With the table numbers being the cutest plates featuring a painting of each day. Plus- candles, candles everywhere!

Real wedding Wednesday- Candace and Zac

I just received these photos from Jaclyn Photography of Candace and Zac's wedding. The wedding and reception took place in the Barrel Room at Wine and Roses in Lodi, Ca. Candace and Zac were a total joy to work with!

Photo shoot flowers

Chris with Shepard Photography asked me to make him a bouquet for an urban bridal shoot he was doing. I happily made him this bouquet of phalaenopsis orchids, Black Star callas, fuchsia carnations and black tinted tree fern. Very fun!

Trendsetting wedding flowers- Martha Stewart

There can be no doubt to the major influence Martha Stewart's empire has over the wedding trends.

In the world of wedding flowers I can name so many trends that started in the pages of Stewart's "Weddings" magazine. Hand tied bouquets, detailed ribbon treatments, the use of garden flowers, the use of herbs, fruits and vegetable in decor, mono-variety bouquets (use of a single

flower en-masse) and vintage inspired decor are all trends began or gained popularity in a photo spread of the iconic magazine.

For me, the bouquet of the cover of the first issue of "Weddings" will always be most important of all the thousands of images that have been published in the magazine over the years. When brides first starting coming to me with this image I was amazed. The bouquet was lovely to be sure but, for several reasons, not practical for the rigors of the wedding day. The bouquet would be heavy, take forever to create and Ex-pen-sive.

A few fun facts about the featured bouquet:

*The bouquet was made with over 150 roses

*Each rose was individually wired to achieve the heart shape of the bouquet.

*This bouquet weighed approximately 20 pounds.

* The bouquet would take approximately 4 hours to create.

*The retail cost of this bouquet would be about $700.

And so began my love hate relationship with Martha Stewart's "Weddings". I love that the magazine encourages brides and grooms to personalize and pay attention to the details of their weddings. I hate that the ideas and decor featured are often not practical. But then, I love that the

magazine inspires couples to include unique elements in their day.

Nearly every wedding professional has a mixed reaction to Martha Stewart's "Weddings". But those same professionals will agree the magazine has revolutionized the way modern weddings are conducted.

For better or for worse do you, Shannon, promise to keep reading? I do...

Trendsetting wedding flowers- Princess Diana

I thought it would be interesting to post a series of blogs about wedding flowers that have appeared in the media and set trends or changed the way flowers for events were designed.

Certainly one of the most iconic weddings that have taken place in recent memory was the marriage of Charles to Diana in 1981.

Diana carried an elaborate cascading bridal bouquet. The bouquet was designed to scale with Diana's wedding gown. The bouquet set the trend of large cascading flowers for the bride. That trend continued through the 80's and much of the 90's.

Fun Facts:

Diana's bouquet consisted of gardenias, orchids, stephanotis, freesia, lily of the valley, roses, ivy, tradescantia, myrtle and veronica

It is a tradition for a sprig of myrtle, from the bush grown from the original myrtle in Queen Victoria's wedding bouquet, to be included in a royal wedding bridal bouquet.

Three bouquets were made for Princess Diana. One for the practice the night before the wedding, the second was delivered to St. James' Palace, the third bouquet was taken to Buckingham Palace on the day of the wedding and used for the formal photographs.

After the wedding one of the bouquets was placed on the tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey.

The bouquet was 42 inches long and 15 inches wide and weighed approximately 6.5 lbs.

Merry Christmas!

Everyone at Flourish wishes you and yours a wonderful Christmas holiday filled with warmth and love.

These pictures are from our annual family photo session with Beth from True Love Photo.

Aren't the boys getting big?

Fun to toss

As a fun alternative to the traditional white woven basket filled with loose rose petals give your flower girl something new to carry and toss:

Scented Spring: Organza drawstring bag filled with lavender buds and crushed rosemary for her to scatter.

Brightest of Summers: Galvanized metal bucket decorated with colorful trailing ribbon filled with wildflower petals of blue delphinium blossoms, orange zinnia petals, yellow sunflower petals and purple hydrangea florets for her to herald the bride.

Fall Fun: Gathering basket decorated with moss and acorns and filled with colorful maple and oak leaves for her to sprinkle down the path.

Winsome Winter: Crushed velvet cone filled with small, white tissue paper snowflakes to lazily drift down the aisle.

Image by Andrea's Images

Real wedding Wednesday!

These lovely images are from a wedding we did this past summer. Thanks to the talented photographer, Allison Stahl for sending us the eye candy!

The most disappointing bridal bouquet, ever

I was never a religious watcher of the HBO show "Sex and the City". But I did pop in every once in while to see what Carrie and her gals were up to and wearing. I really enjoyed the fashions on the show. Sometimes it was with a loud "Oh no she didn't!".

When I saw the movie I was so

excited to see what Carrie's bridal bouquet would look like. Boy, was I so disappointed! Her dress was incredible, her veil was incredible (bird on her head is still out to the judges) her bouquet was NOT! A bridal bouquet should compliment and elevate the bridal ensemble. Much like a beautiful piece of jewelry.

Carrie's bouquet was sloppy, amateurish, half dead (note the petals on the ground) and ho-hum. The only thing good about her bouquet was it exploded quite nicely when Carrie used it to beat up Mr. Big.

What bouquet would I have designed? Maybe something like this (on the right):

Image by: Justine Belson

In Order of Importance

Choosing where to spend your floral budget can be a difficult decision. You want your dollars to go to good use and have the most impact.

Personal flowers: Anything anyones holds, carries or wears. These flowers will the most photographed and remembered on your wedding day. Spend the money to get exactly the look and design you want for your wedding. This category should be the one place you do not skimp.

Centerpieces: Your guests will spend most of their time at their tables. Choose your centerpieces to have the most impact. Be creative, have a sense of humor and have fun with your centerpieces. Give your guests something to talk about.

Cake flowers: The cake is the center of the reception. The first thing your guests will do after finding their table is go take a look at the cake. If you are opposed to fresh flowers on the cake (I know, sometimes people are) flowers around the base of the cake is a lovely alternative.

Ceremony flowers: The focus of the ceremony should be the marriage. Of course it is wonderful to have an abundance of flowers but if your budget does not allow for flowers everywhere you look, focus on the ceremony area. I design all the ceremony flowers to be re-used in some fashion at the reception for added decor.

Guest book table: It is nice to welcome your guests with an arrangement at the guest book table.

Head table: Most of my couples opt to use the bridal party bouquets as the head table decor. To add something extra to the re-purposed bouquets try pillar candles in large hurricane glass.

Place card table, food tables, and other areas: It is nice to have a beautiful floral arrangement in these areas but going simple or foregoing flowers in these spots altogether works as well too.

Images by: Rachelle Photography

Wilted Blooms Be gone!

Make sure your flowers will last through the hottest days.

Keep in mind you will start taking pictures two to three hours before your trip down the aisle. After the ceremony there is another hour of photo taking. Like the bride, wedding flowers need to look perky and fresh throughout the rigors of the day. Ask your florist what flowers perform best and resist wilting, petal drop and browning.

Listening to the advice of a professional floral designer will save you the disappointment of a droopy bouquet on your big day.

Image by Wendy Hithe Photography

My Inspirations- Flowers for Four Weddings

When I first started designing in flowers in the early 90's I found a lot of inspiration from floral designers in England. I loved their loose and natural style. Their designs were filled with and featured old fashioned flowers that spoke to me.

One of the books that inspired me when I first started designing was written by the florist in charge of the flowers from the movie "Four Weddings and a Funeral". If you have not seen this movie, put it on your list now! It is a wonderful romantic comedy and the flowers in the movie are amazing. This book has one chapter focused on each wedding from the movie. It is filled with really wonderful close up pictures with some how-to as well.

Amazing cake!

I just came across these pics of the cake from one of my weddings. This was from the wedding of Anu and Mithu. I loved the elephant cake stand.

My Inspirations- The Language of Flowers

This is such a lovely little book. It contains such pretty pictures flower flowers and their meanings.

Everyone knows a red rose means love. But did you know Lilacs mean first emotions of love or sunflowers mean haughtiness?

This book was a re- release of a book originally published in 1885. It is small and sweet in size. The illustrations were done by the famous Kate Greenaway who was known for her children's picture books.

Why it inspires me: I love the romantic idea of giving meanings to flowers.

and you are....

Have your floral designer label all the boutonnieres and corsages with the first name and designation of each recipient.

Assign a helper (someone who knows the members of your family) to distribute the boutonnieres and corsages. Your florist will not know Uncle Harry and Grandma Josie. but your helper will know these VIPs and can point the florist in the right direction.

A little for-thought will help eliminate confusion when the personal flowers for your wedding are delivered.

Image by Justine Belson

Bouquet to toss

Tossing the bridal bouquet to the un-married women at your reception is a tradition many brides and grooms still observe.

First about the tradition from Lora Ward of A Day to Remember:

Tossing the Bouquet - Similar to the custom of tossing the garter, this tradition began centuries ago. Brides traditionally carried a bouquet of aromatic bunches of garlic, or fruit blossoms, herbs or grains - these scents were thought to drive the evil spirits away and they symbolized prosperity. However, in those "olden days" the wedding guests tried to get a fragment of the bride's clothing as a symbol of good fortune, sometimes tearing the wedding dress apart before the bride even left the celebration (good grief!). Out of self-defense, the bride would toss some personal item and generally would throw her bridal bouquet. This custom evolved where the bride would then toss the bouquet to the single ladies in belief that the lucky recipient would be the next to marry.

Many brides and grooms have done away with this tradition believing it to be antiquated. Here are some other ideas for flower fun with out the "old maid" connotations:

The Honor Bouquet: The MC or DJ will call out all married couples out on the dance floor. The couples will be released based on length of time they have been married until the bride and groom are left dancing with the longest married couple. That couple would then be presented with the bouquet.

The Special Couple: Invite the couple you whos marriage you hope to emulate out on the dance floor. Present the bouquet to them with a short speech about how they are role models for your own marriage.

The Free-for-all: Have your floral designer make a toss bouquet that will break apart when tossed into many miniature bouquets. When you throw the bouquet to your girlfriends everyone will get a piece.

The Fortunate one: Variation on the break apart bouquet. Attach fortunes to the mini bouquets such as "You will marry for love" or "You will live a long life filled with happiness". It is also really fun to include some inside jokes specific to the friends you know will catch the flowers.

PLEASE DO NOT TOSS YOUR REAL BRIDAL BOUQUET! I never type in all caps because it is like yelling at you. But this is important! Do not toss your actual bridal bouquet. There are many reasons this is not a good idea. It is expensive, It can be preserved, You can save the ribbons and or jewels as a keepsake- but if those reasons are not good enough- your real bridal bouquet will be surprisingly heavy. So throwing it at people can be a liability. Funny but true!

Images by: Sarah Maren Photography and Artistic Imagery

Making your flowers "Pop" in pictures

Never choose dark flowers for your bridesmaids if they are wearing dark colored dresses or light colored flowers for your bridesmaids if they are wearing light colored dresses. You do not want your pretty flowers to blend away.

Keep this rule in mind when choosing your bridal bouquet too. If you are wearing a shade of white make sure your bouquet has some color (this can be achieved with greenery) so it does not appear to be a white blob in your wedding photos.

Image by True Love Photo

Inspiration- Madderlake

Before I started my first business there were several floral design books that, in retrospect, set me on the path to what I consider "my floral design style". I thought it would be fun to showcase the books I found so inspiring.

Madderlake was a ground breaking flower shop in New York in the 80's and early 90's. The two main floral designers, Tom Pritchard and Billy Jarecki authored three books during the height of their success with their business.

Travel back in time with me to 1989. At the time I had been working in a very traditional flower shop. Flowers were designed in a contrived and manipulated manner. Baskets, bows and cellophane were used in flower arrangements to the point of making the actual flowers an afterthought. I loved working with flowers and I could hear their little voices calling out to me. I envisioned designs where the flowers were cherished and featured

in a way that spoke to the receiver.

"Flowers Rediscovered" (1985) was so amazing to me. It opened my eyes to a whole other way to design flowers.Pritchard and Jarecki talked about designing flowers naturally. Letting the flowers tell you how they wanted to be designed. looking to nature for clues and inspiration.

When my business partner and I opened Blooming Art in 1994

"Madderlake's Trade Secrets" (1994) was the inspiration for our shop. Pritchard and Jarecki talked about using containers that would showcase the blooms they held. Trade Secrets is full of lovely images of flowers in glass beakers, antique bottles, test tubes and distressed tin pails. While that sort of designing may seem almost pedestrian by today's standards it was revolutionary in the early 90's. I opened Blooming Art stocked with clean lined clear glass vessels (hard to find in 1994), an eclectic collection of antique vases and buckets of cut flowers that inspired exuberant and artistic arrangements.

In the late 80's and early 90's Tom Pritchard and Billy Jarecki were rock stars of the American floral design world. They introduced new ideas and inspired a revolution and burned out quickly. I have no idea where they are now and if they are still creating with flowers (let me know if you know!). Tom Pritchard and Billy Jarecki opened my eyes and inspired me on so many levels.

I highly recommend all of the Madderlake books. They are as relevant and inspiring today as the day they were published.