Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Bouquets
We're in a bit of a lull right now as it's our slow season at the shop, but I thought I'd post a few pictures of some of my favorite bouquet pictures. All photographs were taken by Ideal Impressions, and the bouquet shots they take really showcase the beauty of the flowers.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Spring Wedding
I know it has been a terribly long time since I've updated things, so I thought I'd share with you some shots of the wedding bouquets from this past weekend. The bridesmaids' bouquets were composed of "Diana Ross" parrot tulips, purple hyacinth, and brezelia berries -- they smelled devine and were a fresh reminder that spring is just around the corner!
The bride's bouquet was composed of all white and green flowers and contained white hydrangea, white mini calla lilies, white freesia, and "Super Green" parrot tulips. All bouquets were wrapped with vintage handkercheifs -- a lovely personal touch.
I've taken several shots of the bouquets to share with you. Enjoy!
The bride's bouquet was composed of all white and green flowers and contained white hydrangea, white mini calla lilies, white freesia, and "Super Green" parrot tulips. All bouquets were wrapped with vintage handkercheifs -- a lovely personal touch.
I've taken several shots of the bouquets to share with you. Enjoy!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Matt Mason Photography
Last week my friend Matt Mason of Matt Mason Photography was kind enough to swing by the shop and take some pictures of a bouquet I designed. Matt is a very talented artist who I have had the pleasure of working with on many weddings. I am thankful to him for taking the time out of his busy schedule to share his skills with me and teach me some tips and tricks for taking pictures of flowers with my "point and shoot" camera -- I'll address those in a later post.
The bouquet I designed contained a lot of texture and some really great seasonal flowers. Included in the bouquet are: "Madam Widow" tulips, acacia, brezilia berries, lisianthus, green mini hydrangea, gladiola florets, grevelia, narcissus, and curly willow. I accented the stems with a braided natural wrap. This type of bouquet would be perfect for an outdoor woodsy wedding. Love it!
The bouquet I designed contained a lot of texture and some really great seasonal flowers. Included in the bouquet are: "Madam Widow" tulips, acacia, brezilia berries, lisianthus, green mini hydrangea, gladiola florets, grevelia, narcissus, and curly willow. I accented the stems with a braided natural wrap. This type of bouquet would be perfect for an outdoor woodsy wedding. Love it!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Sweet Freedom
It's not everyday that a bride is willing to hand over the reins of control for the flowers at her wedding; but it's great for me when they do. The pictures I am going to share with you today are from my dear friend Heather's wedding. She and TJ were married last May at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa. It is a simply gorgeous location that overlooks the Mississippi River.
Heather has seen many of my wedding designs in person so she was confident in my abilities to pull a look together for her wedding that represented her taste and style. I was honored to have this much freedom and truly enjoyed the experience of being able to compose whatever I deemed appropriate. My inspiration for the flowers was almost entirely derived from the girls' dresses. They were tea-length dresses that were a really unique shade of coral-y red with a narrow black chiffon belt.
I knew that the biggest challenge with selecting the flowers would be getting the colors right so that they nicely complemented the dresses. I also wanted to pull in a touch of black to give a nod to the girls' belts. It's not often that I select gerbera daises for bouquets as they are a more casual flower in my opinion, but I knew in this situation they would be perfect. I chose to use the "Lynx" variety of gerbera for their unique red bi-color and black eye. The combination was perfect with the dresses. The other flowers in the bouquets were bi-color tulips, "Cherry Brandy" roses, "Star 2000" roses, and pincushion protea. The bride's bouquet contained luscious salmon peonies in addition to the aforementioned blooms.
I loved the way the bouquets and statement arrangements turned out. They had a very unique dynamic of colors and textures and looked incredibly sharp. It was wonderful to be able to hold the creative license for these designs. Thank you Heather for the opportunity to design your wedding flowers, it was a pleasure. I had an absolutely wonderful time at your celebration and wish you and TJ many years of happiness together.
Special thanks to Lukes Photography of Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the images in today's blog entry.
Heather has seen many of my wedding designs in person so she was confident in my abilities to pull a look together for her wedding that represented her taste and style. I was honored to have this much freedom and truly enjoyed the experience of being able to compose whatever I deemed appropriate. My inspiration for the flowers was almost entirely derived from the girls' dresses. They were tea-length dresses that were a really unique shade of coral-y red with a narrow black chiffon belt.
I knew that the biggest challenge with selecting the flowers would be getting the colors right so that they nicely complemented the dresses. I also wanted to pull in a touch of black to give a nod to the girls' belts. It's not often that I select gerbera daises for bouquets as they are a more casual flower in my opinion, but I knew in this situation they would be perfect. I chose to use the "Lynx" variety of gerbera for their unique red bi-color and black eye. The combination was perfect with the dresses. The other flowers in the bouquets were bi-color tulips, "Cherry Brandy" roses, "Star 2000" roses, and pincushion protea. The bride's bouquet contained luscious salmon peonies in addition to the aforementioned blooms.
I loved the way the bouquets and statement arrangements turned out. They had a very unique dynamic of colors and textures and looked incredibly sharp. It was wonderful to be able to hold the creative license for these designs. Thank you Heather for the opportunity to design your wedding flowers, it was a pleasure. I had an absolutely wonderful time at your celebration and wish you and TJ many years of happiness together.
Special thanks to Lukes Photography of Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the images in today's blog entry.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Design of the Week: Memorial Tribute
This week's Design of the Week is a memorial piece I designed for a gentleman over the weekend. He was a farmer and former president of the Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board so I personalized this arrangement by filling the vase with soybeans. Flowers and foliages included in the arrangement are gladiolas, bells of Ireland, white hydrangea, white roses, lotus pods, Asian honeysuckle, curly willow, dendrobium orchids, stock, "Green Tricks" dianthus, robellini palm, and brezlia berries
I think it's always a great idea to include something personally significant in memorial tributes. They mean so much more with a custom-tailored touch.
I think it's always a great idea to include something personally significant in memorial tributes. They mean so much more with a custom-tailored touch.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Curse of a Dozen Roses
It was my intention to have this post all ready for release yesterday but wouldn't you know it -- Valentine's Day is a pretty busy day for florists!
In honor of Valentine's Day I have decided to discuss "the curse of a dozen roses".
Right now you're probably thinking to yourself "what in the wide wide world of sports is the curse of the dozen roses"?! Well my friends, it's something that even I was unaware of until a customer brought it to my attention.
I have always been of the opinion that a pretty vase of roses is a lovely way to express feelings of love, gratitude, appreciation, etc. and by and large it is. But what I never took into account is that an arrangement of a dozen roses is a pretty standard design; and thus it is treated as such. Most florists are inclined to see an order for a dozen roses and toss together a vase of leather leaf fern, baby's breath, and 12 long stemmed beauties...therein lies the problem. These florists use standard accent material and boring vases when working with roses and it drags the whole design in a downward spiral.
A few years ago I designed a dozen red roses around Christmas time. I included in the arrangement sprigs of balsam fir, white pine, red pine, incense cedar, magnolia leaves, and a wonderful little accent flower called genistra. It was lovely. The design itself was fairly straight-forward, but I incorporated many different textural elements to kick the interest level up. The customer who received the flowers commented, "only you could take the curse off of a dozen roses" (as an aside, no, I don't think by any stretch that I am the only designer that can take a standard request and spin it to look fab -- but it was a nice compliment) which caught me a bit off-guard. I had never really thought about a dozen vased roses being cursed. Was I to expect five years bad luck for choosing to embark on such a mission as putting a dozen roses in a vase? What is this curse? It got me thinking.
My conclusion is this:
The curse of a dozen roses is the monotonous approach in which the order is handled. Yes, I suppose most florists produce a standard product when met with a standard request, but why? For me that gets boring after awhile. I certainly didn't enter this business to put myself on auto-pilot and schlog through the basics one day at a time. I've always wanted to produce arrangements that were something a little different, something a little less expected. It seems only natural that when someone requests a dozen roses I would be inclined to design something exceptional, even if the order is a simple one.
The photo below is my favorite dozen of the holiday. It's not artistically styled; the design itself is actually quite ordinary. The difference with this dozen roses versus most you'd see is the "supporting cast of characters" if you will. I started with a nice red glass vase and used leather leaf fern (yes, very common but it provides a grid for the other foliages), salal leaves, milky way aspidistra, robellini palm, grevelia, seeded eucalyptus, bear grass, curly willow, wax flower, and red "freedom" roses. The combination of elements does a great job of removing "the curse". I also composed more stylized dozens that were quite unique from a design standpoint but my camera skills are seriously lacking and I'm not comfortable with posting the crummy shots I took (more on this in future posts).
In honor of Valentine's Day I have decided to discuss "the curse of a dozen roses".
Right now you're probably thinking to yourself "what in the wide wide world of sports is the curse of the dozen roses"?! Well my friends, it's something that even I was unaware of until a customer brought it to my attention.
I have always been of the opinion that a pretty vase of roses is a lovely way to express feelings of love, gratitude, appreciation, etc. and by and large it is. But what I never took into account is that an arrangement of a dozen roses is a pretty standard design; and thus it is treated as such. Most florists are inclined to see an order for a dozen roses and toss together a vase of leather leaf fern, baby's breath, and 12 long stemmed beauties...therein lies the problem. These florists use standard accent material and boring vases when working with roses and it drags the whole design in a downward spiral.
A few years ago I designed a dozen red roses around Christmas time. I included in the arrangement sprigs of balsam fir, white pine, red pine, incense cedar, magnolia leaves, and a wonderful little accent flower called genistra. It was lovely. The design itself was fairly straight-forward, but I incorporated many different textural elements to kick the interest level up. The customer who received the flowers commented, "only you could take the curse off of a dozen roses" (as an aside, no, I don't think by any stretch that I am the only designer that can take a standard request and spin it to look fab -- but it was a nice compliment) which caught me a bit off-guard. I had never really thought about a dozen vased roses being cursed. Was I to expect five years bad luck for choosing to embark on such a mission as putting a dozen roses in a vase? What is this curse? It got me thinking.
My conclusion is this:
The curse of a dozen roses is the monotonous approach in which the order is handled. Yes, I suppose most florists produce a standard product when met with a standard request, but why? For me that gets boring after awhile. I certainly didn't enter this business to put myself on auto-pilot and schlog through the basics one day at a time. I've always wanted to produce arrangements that were something a little different, something a little less expected. It seems only natural that when someone requests a dozen roses I would be inclined to design something exceptional, even if the order is a simple one.
The photo below is my favorite dozen of the holiday. It's not artistically styled; the design itself is actually quite ordinary. The difference with this dozen roses versus most you'd see is the "supporting cast of characters" if you will. I started with a nice red glass vase and used leather leaf fern (yes, very common but it provides a grid for the other foliages), salal leaves, milky way aspidistra, robellini palm, grevelia, seeded eucalyptus, bear grass, curly willow, wax flower, and red "freedom" roses. The combination of elements does a great job of removing "the curse". I also composed more stylized dozens that were quite unique from a design standpoint but my camera skills are seriously lacking and I'm not comfortable with posting the crummy shots I took (more on this in future posts).
If you'd like your local florist to create something similar for your sweetheart ask for a dozen roses with mixed unique foliages and an accent flower other than baby's breath. Doing so should alert them to the fact that you're looking for something a little bit nicer than the norm. It might cost you a bit more, but it's definitely worth it.
If you're looking for something less cliche than a dozen roses that's still certain to get rave reviews, order a mixed bouquet of the designer's choice. Ordering "designer's choice" is a great way to give creative license to the person making your order. My favorite arrangement from this Valentine's Day is pictured below. The sender gave me the opportunity to design whatever I thought appropriate and this is what I produced. I love this bouquet for all its texture and color and uniqueness; and pink roses and pink vase still infuse hints of a more traditional Valentine's Day composition. The flowers and foliages included in this piece are "Pink Ice" protea, "Sweet Unique" roses, brunia, grevelia, "Madam Widow" tulips, pink hyacinth, acacia, myrtle, gerbera daisies, and leucodendron.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Fresh. Summery. Soft.
Here's some pictures from a lovely wedding we designed last summer at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We wanted the arrangements to have a soft-styled, weeping look so we used one of my favorite foliages - maidenhair fern. We combined the maidenhair fern with "Sweet Unique" roses, green hydrangea, white football mums, pink lisianthus, calcynia, queen anne's lace and green hanging amaranthus. The end result were these romantic, lush arrangements.
We chose to have half of the centerpieces raised on pedestals and half of the centerpieces in pedestal urns. Although the reception took place in the Evergreen Ballroom where the ceilings are lower than a traditional ballroom, the raised centerpieces still added that "wow" factor when guests entered the room. Adding to the visual impact of the room were the gorgeous apple green satin linens with a gold stripe overlay and the mahogany chiavari chairs. What a striking combination!
We chose to have half of the centerpieces raised on pedestals and half of the centerpieces in pedestal urns. Although the reception took place in the Evergreen Ballroom where the ceilings are lower than a traditional ballroom, the raised centerpieces still added that "wow" factor when guests entered the room. Adding to the visual impact of the room were the gorgeous apple green satin linens with a gold stripe overlay and the mahogany chiavari chairs. What a striking combination!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Go Pack Go!
You may have heard; the Green Bay Packers are playing in the big game today! As a side note -- I'm pretty sure I have to say "big game" and not "S---- B---". At any rate, our design of the week is a tribute to the Green Bay Packers. One of our customers brought in this great ceramic football and had us fill it with green and gold blooms. I used bells of Ireland, hyacinth, gerbera daisies, forsythia, brunia, variegated aspidistra, tulips, Asiatic lilies, and acacia mimosa (one of my personal favorites) in this arrangement. It's a fun little number and I'm sure it'll look great next the cheese and sausage tray (hey, we do live in Wisconsin).
Go pack Go!
Go pack Go!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
A Winter Wedding
With all the snow we've gotten in this last week I've been thinking about winter weddings. I don't have a lot of bookings in the winter months because it's our off-season. It's too bad because there's some really fabulous flowers that have seasonal availability in the winter and early spring months.
If you're engaged and you're thinking about the possibility of scheduling an "off-season" wedding, I'd encourage you to give it some serious consideration. There are many advantages to scheduling when there aren't multiple brides clamoring for the same summer date as you.
We scheduled my sister's wedding in January. The primary reason for planning a January wedding was due to the fact that our entire family is very busy in the summer months. Plus I wanted to have plenty of time to design some magnificent pieces for her wedding; and I had to be in the wedding and wanted to be relaxed and have a great time...not a feat easily accomplished during my busy season.
So January it was...and the wedding was FANTASTIC! Here's some reasons why you may want to consider an off peak wedding:
Most wedding venues offer discounted rates in their slower season. You may not be required to meet a food and beverage minimum and the room fee may be lower than during peak times. In addition to having lower minimums and pricing, your on-site coordinator is likely to be "all yours". That is, there's less a chance you'll have to compete with other weddings scheduled on the same day.
Just as your venue and on-site coordinator will have fewer weddings on their schedule, so will your guests! We received several compliments regarding the timing of my sister's wedding. So many attendees were excited to have an event to anticipate after Christmas in the lull of winter. Great food, great music, cocktails, and dancing (and fabulous flowers!) were very warmly received.
Speaking from a florist's perspective - we love off-season weddings! It's great when couples go out of the box and are willing to think independently. Oftentimes it means we get to create some really marvelous designs and have the opportunity to work with flowers we may not usually be able to because of availability restrictions. Plus it keeps us doing the best part of our job...designing. Which beats dusting the shop and washing the windows any day!
Other vendors - photographers, pastry chefs, entertainment, etc. will be just as excited about your unique wedding as I am as a florist.
If you're concerned about not being able to get photographs of you and your wedding party outside, just think of the possibilities for pictures inside. The Lake Geneva area is fortunate to host many architecturally significant beauties not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. Your photographer will be able to assist you with many options for photographs taken inside four warm walls, and you can always brave the chilly weather for a few outdoor shots.
There are certainly several great reasons to consider a wedding in the months commonly overlooked. I'm going to close out this entry today with a few more - The following pictures are of one of the winter weddings I've had the pleasure of designing for. We wanted to achieve a wintery crisp look and bring some of the outdoors in with birch twigs. The colors for the wedding were rich silvers and golds. We used gold and silver Italian ruscus, dendrobium orchids, and calla lilies in these designs. Enjoy!
If you're engaged and you're thinking about the possibility of scheduling an "off-season" wedding, I'd encourage you to give it some serious consideration. There are many advantages to scheduling when there aren't multiple brides clamoring for the same summer date as you.
We scheduled my sister's wedding in January. The primary reason for planning a January wedding was due to the fact that our entire family is very busy in the summer months. Plus I wanted to have plenty of time to design some magnificent pieces for her wedding; and I had to be in the wedding and wanted to be relaxed and have a great time...not a feat easily accomplished during my busy season.
So January it was...and the wedding was FANTASTIC! Here's some reasons why you may want to consider an off peak wedding:
Most wedding venues offer discounted rates in their slower season. You may not be required to meet a food and beverage minimum and the room fee may be lower than during peak times. In addition to having lower minimums and pricing, your on-site coordinator is likely to be "all yours". That is, there's less a chance you'll have to compete with other weddings scheduled on the same day.
Just as your venue and on-site coordinator will have fewer weddings on their schedule, so will your guests! We received several compliments regarding the timing of my sister's wedding. So many attendees were excited to have an event to anticipate after Christmas in the lull of winter. Great food, great music, cocktails, and dancing (and fabulous flowers!) were very warmly received.
Speaking from a florist's perspective - we love off-season weddings! It's great when couples go out of the box and are willing to think independently. Oftentimes it means we get to create some really marvelous designs and have the opportunity to work with flowers we may not usually be able to because of availability restrictions. Plus it keeps us doing the best part of our job...designing. Which beats dusting the shop and washing the windows any day!
Other vendors - photographers, pastry chefs, entertainment, etc. will be just as excited about your unique wedding as I am as a florist.
If you're concerned about not being able to get photographs of you and your wedding party outside, just think of the possibilities for pictures inside. The Lake Geneva area is fortunate to host many architecturally significant beauties not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. Your photographer will be able to assist you with many options for photographs taken inside four warm walls, and you can always brave the chilly weather for a few outdoor shots.
There are certainly several great reasons to consider a wedding in the months commonly overlooked. I'm going to close out this entry today with a few more - The following pictures are of one of the winter weddings I've had the pleasure of designing for. We wanted to achieve a wintery crisp look and bring some of the outdoors in with birch twigs. The colors for the wedding were rich silvers and golds. We used gold and silver Italian ruscus, dendrobium orchids, and calla lilies in these designs. Enjoy!
The place cards were displayed on these large birch trees as seen below:
The event took place in the Abbey Resort's Harbor Ballroom. The flowers and lighting really created a fabulous wintery ambiance.
We are fortunate to have another fantastic wedding scheduled in the Abbey Resort's Harbor Ballroom for this upcoming December. Stay tuned for that one -- it's going to be marvelous!
Friday, February 4, 2011
A Wedding at the Lake
This was one of those weddings that was a lot of fun to design for. The people I had the opportunity to collaborate with on this wedding were all lovely and gracious and I really enjoyed working for them. One of the nice things about this wedding is that we went for two distinct styles within the wedding.
The wedding ceremony was on Lake Geneva at a simply gorgeous location. We wanted the designs here to have a more traditional look with soft summery colors in a palette of ivory, cream, champagne, and green. Large and lush arrangements filled with hydrangea, "Message" roses, sorbaria, green hanging amaranthus, white "Casablanca" lilies, champagne lisianthus, and tree ivy.
The bridesmaid bridesmaids wore lovely little champagne taffeta dresses. We went with a dainty nosegay of miniature green hydrangea, green cymbidium orchid florets, and "Message" roses.
The wedding ceremony was on Lake Geneva at a simply gorgeous location. We wanted the designs here to have a more traditional look with soft summery colors in a palette of ivory, cream, champagne, and green. Large and lush arrangements filled with hydrangea, "Message" roses, sorbaria, green hanging amaranthus, white "Casablanca" lilies, champagne lisianthus, and tree ivy.
The bridesmaid bridesmaids wore lovely little champagne taffeta dresses. We went with a dainty nosegay of miniature green hydrangea, green cymbidium orchid florets, and "Message" roses.
I absolutely loved the bride's dress here. It was a stunning fit and flare trumpet gown embellished with lace. She wanted a very collected and tailored bouquet composed of flowers that were both currently en vogue and timeless. We selected "Precious" English garden roses, white hydrangea, white gardenias, champagne lisianthus, and white mini cymbidium orchid florets. The end result was fabulous:
For the reception, we wanted to go with a more stylized updated look, but still use floral material and the color palette that we chose for the ceremony. We did that by going with a more collected design style as with the bride's bouquet. We decided to go with half of the centerpieces raised and half of the centerpieces low. This combination adds interest to the room and gives it more visual impact.
The raised centerpieces were placed on 32" clear glass cylinder vases with green and white dendrobium orchids placed inside the vase hanging on gold wires. The low centerpieces were designed in clear glass cylinder vases the complemented the other centerpieces. We used white hydrangea, white dahlias, green cymbidium florets, champagne lisianthus, and green mini hydrangea for these pieces.
We made a statement piece for the mantle and surrounded it with vases of floating candles
And what's a wedding without a cake?
Special thanks to my friends at Nick and Cate at Parisi Photography for providing me with these fantastic photographs of the ceremony and girls' bouquets!
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