Happy Valentine's Day! Holidays to avoid when getting married.

It's February and you all know what that means!  Valentine's Day!  I have never been a big fan of Valentine's Day.  Probably too many years spent in retail floral!  Working 24 hours straight,  making bouquets of pink and red roses is enough to make anybody sour on the holiday. 

Speaking of holidays, I thought I'd mention a few holidays to avoid, (from a floral stand point),  when selecting a wedding date.  Really, any big holiday that is typically associated with flowers should be avoided.  Valentine's Day and Mothers Day are the two biggies that jump to my mind. 

Both of these holidays are HUGE for florists and wholesalers.  The whole supply and demand thing makes it difficult and expensive for a bride to get an entire wedding of the flowers she wants at a reasonable price. 

In the weeks leading up to and following these holidays, cost of goods jump about 15% minimum for florists.  Cost of goods on the day prior to the holiday and the day of can double!  Just imagine paying twice as much for your wedding flowers!  YIKES!  Even 15% can wreck havoc on your budget!

If you plan on using a retail florist, (as opposed to someone like myself who specializes in weddings and parties), consider how busy they are during these holidays.  Having your wedding at the same time as all of the hundreds of bouquets and deliveries that need to be made amps up their stress a lot!  Trust me - I've been there! 

Last but not least, consider again supply and demand.  Many wholesalers and growers sell out of flowers: like roses on Valentine's Day.  Florists usually order their flowers a year - yep - 1 YEAR prior to Valentine's Day because of the increased demand.  The same is true for Mother's Day.  Spring time flowers are in high demand and orders to growers and wholesalers are placed WELL in advance of the holiday.  All this means limited availability and higher prices for brides. 

If you are unable to avoid these dates, just be aware of the price increases and meet with your florist as soon as you can to get your order to the wholesaler with plenty of time to ensure you get the flowers you want. 

Other holidays that you may want to be wary of, Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Think of all those lovely centerpieces! 

Using Succulents in Your Wedding Flower Design

Almost every time I finish a wedding bouquet I step back and look at it and think, "of all the bridal bouquets I have done THIS is my favorite!"  It happened again a few months ago.
This fall I met with Courtney, her fiancé, mother, and mother-in -law to be.  Courtney chose sage green, navy blue and aubergine for her colors.  The setting for her wedding reception was a barn.  She wanted  casual rustic look for her flowers.  Nothing fussy.  While browsing through photographs of flowers ideas the mother-in-law mentioned how much she liked the use of succulents in weddings.  Courtney had no idea what a succulent was.   As I was searching for photos of succulents, Courtney pulled out her phone showed me a photo of a bouquet she loved.  Guess what?  It had succulents!  I love it when the bride and the mother-in-law, (or mother for that matter), agree on things.  It makes my job so much easier!



Here is what we came up with for the bridal bouquet.





What IS a succulent?
A succulent is a plant that has thick, fleshy leaves/petals that store water.  You can find succulents in many interesting shapes and colors which make them a fun and unique addition to your floral designs.  Succulents are typically found in arid environments and are quite hardy - which makes them perfect for wedding bouquets and centerpieces.  You can even remove the succulents from your bouquet and "plant" them to use them as décor in your home!
The down side to using succulents are:
 1. Because they do store water they are heavy, so they aren't great for boutonnieres or pin on corsages.  Also, they make your bouquet heavy.
2.  Depending on which succulents you use and their size, they can be a little pricey.

Bridesmaids bouquets on top.  Maid of Honor on bottom.

Bridesmaids Bouquets



Flowers for sisters hair.

Fathers Bouts

Grooms Bout

 

 

Candelabra Centerpieces

 

 

 

Once again I must apologize for not posting in a very VERY long time.  Life has gotten extremely busy and I am still trying to figure out how to keep things from falling through the cracks.  Obviously, I have not been terribly successful with that! 

So while the kids are playing Lego's I will make an attempt at a post.  Let's see how far I get!

 

With wedding season approaching I thought I would do a few posts on what is new, or what I am loving right now. 

Right now, for centerpieces, I am loving candelabras.  For the last two wedding shows I have designed floral pieces on candelabras.  I've had a great response! 

For me these centerpieces represent simple elegance.  They are high enough to see around.  They are big enough to make a statement.  They can be modern or traditional.     

The first time I saw a centerpiece like these I immediately fell in love.  I went to my wholesaler to purchase some candelabras and found the selection somewhat overwhelming.  There were so many options!  As a designer this is good and bad!  I would have loved to take one of each of the dozens of candelabras and designed a unique piece for each.  I had so many ideas, but I needed to choose one style for the booth.   

There are so many types of candelabras ranging from rustic wooden pieces to ornate 3 foot tall multi arm dripping with crystal versions.  I decided to go middle of the road.  Simple and elegant. 

Just take a look at a few I found online:

Here is an idea.  Why not go to the thrift store and see what they have in stock.  A can of spray paint and good will could save you a bundle!  Plus, think of all the fun colors you could paint them! 

 This one reminds me of Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast.  It just paint it gold et ALLO!

Here are a few samples of other talented designers work

 

 

 

 

Notice the use of the cute succulents!  I think I'll write about those next!

 

 

 So I know these centerpieces are not on candelabras,  but just imagine if I would have used them in 2012!  Even more stunning!!!