Monday, April 28, 2008

Les Fleurs

As April winds down we are rapidly approaching the official 1 year and 6 month countdown to the wedding date (assuming, of course, that we find a venue that can accommodate us on that date...but even if we can't, I'm half tempted just to go to city hall so we can have the Halloween anniversary. ;-)

As you all know, I'm not very attached to having flowers at the wedding. Many other decorating options are more appropriate for Halloween, and these options are also more affordable--flowers to decorate an entire venue can cost thousands of dollars. Flowers are one of those areas where brides really get gouged. I've considered just going to a random florist on the morning of the wedding and saying, "I need one bouquet...okay, now that that's done, how about two more bouquets, but a little bit different, and smaller...okay, throw in a 3 boutonnieres..." So that I get charged a real price, not the "wedding special" price. Of course, that means just trusting that the florist will have flowers that I like in the colors that I want on that day. And, it also goes against my detail-oriented nature; I don't want to leave stuff on the to-do list until the day of. That feels wrong.

Another idea is to go to a Flower Mart and just do the darned things myself. This is tempting, although as you all know, I don't really have a crafty bone in my body. Whatever genes the "DIY" traits are attached to, I don't have them. So, that's a problem.

Anyway, as I wrestle with this, I've also looked around for some floral ideas. My thoughts are: I'll carry a red bouquet with touches of orange. My MOH and bridesmaid will carry orange bouquets. Mr. T will have a red boutonniere. His groomsmen will have orange ones. I'm undecided about also giving our moms and dads corsages/boutonierres, but that would be nice, too. We may also have an arrangement for the altar area and/or guest book table, too.

Here are some inspiration photos.


For the 'maids:









I like the simplicity of the orange Calla Lilies. Then I could put some orange Callas in my bouquet to tie us all together, like these:






The above bouquet is very fall like with the addition of brown. I might consider adding brown into the mix.

These callas aren't orange, but I liked them next to the roses.


Speaking of non-orange Calla Lilies, this are amazing and dramatic. They'd make a nice addition.


And some crazy "black" Calla Lilies. Wow!



This one has roses with those dark Callas. Looks nice, but needs just a touch of color.











Look! A whole wedding in my floral color scheme.

This is maybe a bit too Spring for my bouquet, but it's beautiful and I like the hanging flowers.


I like the spikiness of these flowers. They might be nice as an accent, with darker red flowers.



I adore the above bouquet. I love the pink hanging flowers (although pink goes outside of my colors), and I love the Dahlias. I think Dahlias are in season in the Fall, so I'm going to ask for them, and Black Magic Roses. After we talked to the coordinator at Venue #3 I Googled Black Magic roses and flower and feather bouquets, and came up with some interesting finds:

Red corset dress! Funny, huh?

Bad photo, but you get the idea.

A better photo. Something about this bouquet bugs me, although I like the feathers. Maybe it's the fake berries, or maybe the roses are too light. It needs something.


This one has feathers and berries (and wheat, I think). I like the Fall feel of it. I like the berries, too. There are too many of them in this bouquet, though. I'd want less green and more red in mine.

This has a better amount of berries. But too many yellow/orange flowers for me.

Another berried bouquet. I like the Fall feeling of this one. It's a touch too coral, though.


More berries. I like the "organic" feel of this bouquet, although of course I don't want white or blue berries in mine.

And yet more berries. This one is awfully sweet, although too pinky-purpley for what I'm looking for.


I like this one a lot, although the feathers are perhaps too subtle, and I wouldn't want just roses. But the rose color is gorgeous!

On the other hand, I think the feathers here aren't subtle enough! There's something off about this one too.

I believe this is the bouquet that bride in the red dress with the crazy boots carried. I do love peacock feathers, although again, they're not in my planned color scheme. I begin to see the usefulness of picking a them and sticking with it, so that you just don't use every single idea that strikes your fancy.

I wouldn't want light pink roses, but this bouquet is just fabulous.


And for the arrangements for the altar/guest book table:

Pretty orange flowers.


I love the candy corn in the vase! Cute. The Daisies are sweet, too.



This one has good height. I like the branches, too--there should be some spooky branches around on Halloween, don't you think?



Speaking of feathers, a couple got married at the SF zoo, and decorated with boas. That's kind of awesome.





These are pretty, and they look festive with the pumpkins.

I posted this before...I love the antique looking metal vase and the fake cobwebs. How perfect!

Well, like everything, I have a lot of time to make up my mind--1 year and 6 months, to be exact!!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm definitely a fan of feathers in the bouquets. But, tempting as it sounds, I would discourage you from taking on doing the bouquets yourself. At the time they'd need to be done, you will SO not want another thing to do!

Sandi said...

As a florist, I will definitely agree with bigunabirotunda on this one... I know too many brides personally who have tried to take this on and at the last minute, came into a florist shop or called me and asked me to "FIX IT PLEASE!!".
Not only are they frazzled as is, then add the stress of receiving the flowers, cutting, storing, arranging, corsage making... unless you *know* what you're doing or you have a few (or 5) close friends you can trust with it, then it's probably a better idea to let a professional handle it. And believe me, I'm not just saying that to keep the florists in business, they do enough on their own to stay afloat.
On another note, I LOVE the bouquets you have been picking out, but I've noticed that the two bouquets you don't like... they are silk roses... that's probably why you don't like them. Silks are nice, but there's nothing like the real thing. The one bouquet isn't even close to the Black Bacarra rose color! The Black Bacarra are some of the most beautiful red roses out there, looking very deep maroon or chocolately, sometimes even black-like, in the right light. Almost reminds me of a deep maroon velvet... very nice.
Well, good luck with your flowers and upcoming nuptials!