Monday, May 20, 2013

Farm Fresh: Spring Wedding Flowers Part 2

Just a few weeks after Annie and Erika's wedding, I was back at the market and contacting growers once again for my friend, Karina's, wedding.

I've known Karina since high school where we met working in food service at a local retirement home. She's not your typical bride as she doesn't get caught up with the excitement of flowers or any sort of elaborate wedding planning. Part of her just wanted the formalities of the wedding to be done with. While other brides choose themes, colors, and work out every detail possible by themselves or with their wedding planner,  Karina just put her trust to her friends who have offered to help and with a tight budget, it was certainly challenging, but we made it work.

When I sat down with Karina and her then fiance, Dustin, she really wanted daffodils in her bouquet. Sadly, I had to inform her that daffodils would be done by her May wedding. A few days before the big day, I had dinner with the bride and groom and our friends, Michelle and Molly, who by coincidence, are also getting married this year and have asked me to do their flowers as well. YIKES!

I was running a bit late, but I wanted to give Karina a "pre-wedding bouquet" so she would get a sense of a style that I was leaning towards. To my surprise, these were in bloom:

Narcissus 'Actaea' ( A poeticus type)
The poeticus Narcissus are the last to flower for the season and even thought they weren't the quintessential yellow many would expect from a daffodil, they still make a statement and the rich scent they exude just added something very special to a hand-tied bouquet I created utilizing various ingredients from outside the garden. She didn't believe they were daffodils, but she still enjoyed my creation. Karina is a fairly simple and straightforward gal who, much like Annie and Erika, don't want to go overboard with decorations and such.

 Karina's Pre-Wedding Bouquet Karina with Pre-Wedding Bouquet

As I presented her this bouquet, I had something else in mind for her eventual bouquet that would, once again, utilize the wonderful Ranunculus field fresh from Everyday Flowers at the Seattle Wholesale Grower's Market! Her colors are buttered popcorn yellow, navy blue and  ivory.

Untitled

Karina Dustin Flower Prep Ranunculus and AnemonesVivian delivered the most wonderful Ranunculus and her Anemones were absolutely stunning! I was telling Karina about these and she will now and forever call them "REDUNCULUS"!  When I went to the grower's market, I was treated to a surprise and saw the same Poeticus Narcissus being offered by the bundles from Choice Bulb Farms in Mt. Vernon as well!

So, I went right to work just as soon as I got everything I needed. I'm getting better at being organized when I do my flowers; it helps to really lay them out individually so one can just grab a stem with ease as they bring it all together.

My last stop for flowers and greens was my own garden where Lily of the Valley was in peak bloom. I harvested as much as I could.
Karina Dustin Flower Prep 2


So, here's what I was able to pull together. I actually made three bouquets for Karina to choose from:


Michelle Bridesmaids Bouquet
Michelle holding a bouquet as one of the bridesmaids

Karina Dustin Flower Prep Corsage 1
The corsage for the parents
And the boutonnieres for the groom and groomsmen.



The venue was at the infamous Museum of Flight in one of their conference rooms that needed a bit of sprucing up so I took my leftover flowers and foliage to create a few more pieces.

KD Cake Table  KD Centerpieces



Riz and Karina
It's such a great feeling to see a beautiful bride walk down the aisle with something you created specially for her.


7 comments:

  1. Sweet! How did you anchor the underwater flowers in the next to last floating arrangement? Beautiful idea!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I got the idea from my cousin's wedding a few years ago when they submersed calla lilies in a tall vase such as this.

      I basically took marbles and started a bottom layer, placed the flowers and carefully added more marbles to hold the stems in place.

      A better method would be to get these frog prongs that you stick to the base of the vase, place your flowers on them and then fill up with water. I'd still be tempted to use a base layer such as river rock, marbles or whatever's heavy and won't float!

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  2. So beautiful! I love the energy of this post. I can feel your excitement and your eagerness to meet the bride's needs with what was in season! Lovely, lovely, lovely!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much, Angela! I appreciate you taking the time to read my post.

      Oh, it's such a treat and privilege to be able to work with flowers in this way. The season is just picking up so stay tuned for more stories and botanical floral creations!

      R

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  3. Yay for all the wedding flowers! I particular's love the corsages and boutonnieres. I can practically smell the lily-of-the-valley!

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    Replies
    1. Oh, they're wonderful to tuck into a corsage or boutonnieres. I want men to be able to smell and enjoy their scent as well!

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