preview of what's coming

So I've definitely been slacking on keeping up on the blogging.  But I have three weddings in the next three weeks, so I promise new pictures and posts will be forthcoming.  I'm really excited for these October weddings - the brides are all fun to work with, and have really interesting and unique color pallets and themes.  So here are some pictures to show the inspiration and ideas behind these upcoming weddings:

October Wedding 1:  I'm excited for this wedding because it's giving me an opportunity to do something I don't normally get to do: use silk flowers!  The wedding isn't here in Utah, and the wedding and reception are several days apart, so they decided silk would be the best option for them.  This is a good idea for planning brides to keep in mind if you are having multiple receptions or not having the wedding and reception on the same day.

The colors for the wedding are dark violet, mustard yellow, pale green, and pewter, with a vintage fall look.

October Wedding 2:  

This wedding is based around vibrant jewel tones - purple, turquoise, and green.  It will beautiful and bright!

October Wedding 3:  

The colors for this wedding are yellow and navy blue.  We're going for a monochromatic but multi-textured look with the flowers.  This bride had two requirements for her flowers: no roses, and and no sunflowers!  It'll be fun to do a fall yellow wedding without sunflowers.

So with all these weddings coming up in the next few weeks, be expecting lots of pictures!

  

hot pink and lime green flowers

Talk about bright summer colors!  Hot pink stock and godetia with kermit mums bring a big splash of color.  Simple, but very fun.

hot pink and lime green bouquet with hot pink ribbon

boutonniere

pin-on corsage

centerpieces in bud vases - alternating designs down the middle of a long (buffet type) table - a fun alternative to typical round tables

yellow and white wedding

This was the first wedding I did since having my baby, and it was so fun to be designing again!  The bride was really easy-going and wonderful to work with.  And she made her own wedding dress, which is incredibly impressive!  I'm bummed that the only picture I got of her and the groom turned out blurry... hopefully I'll get some from the photographer soon.

The colors were black and white and yellow, so we went with a mixture of white and yellow flowers with some black accents in the ribbon.  We definitely wanted to avoid looking like a bumble bee, and I think we pulled it off, keeping it beautiful and elegant.

The bride's bouquet - yellow and white roses and calla lilies, with some freesia and lisianthus, and a yellow and black ballet wrap

The groom's boutonniere - a yellow calla lily

The boutonnieres for the fathers - white roses with solidago

The mother's pin-on corsages - yellow spray roses and solidago

The toss bouquet - a smaller version of the bride's bouquet, with white and yellow roses, calla lilies, freesia, and lisianthus

And last (and probably least because I did a terrible job on this photo!) is the aforementioned blurry picture of the happy couple.  I couldn't help but include it because they look so happy even through the blur.  Congratulations!

saturday savings - what's in season?

The biggest expense when dealing with wedding flowers is, of course, the actual flowers.  So one of the easiest ways to keep your budget down is to use flowers that are less expensive.  One way to do this is to go with flowers that are in season.  Many flowers you can get year-round (they're grown in green houses or shipped from other places, etc.) but they may be more expensive if that's the case.

So here are some suggestions for seasonal flowers.  Names of flowers correspond with pictures, left-right and top-bottom.

Spring:  tulips, ranunculus, sweet peas, heather, iris, peonies (late spring- early summer), hyacinth, ranunculus again, peonies again, lilacs

Tulips you can usually get year-round, but you'll probably get a better price in the spring.  Many of these others just aren't available when they're not in season.
*sweet pea and pink peony pictures from countryliving.com

Summer:  bright summer mix (lilies, mums, asters, etc.), roses (although you can get them any time), delphinium, cornflower, lilies, lisianthus, chrysanthemums, alstroemeria, stock (late spring- early summer), chrysanthemums (fuji mums), asters, sunflowers (late summer)

Fall: dahlias, chrysanthemums (pom-pom and fuji), sunflowers, dahlias again, sunflowers again, scabiosa pods, asters, chrysanthemums again.

Dried flowers or foliage are also commonly used in fall arrangements.
*red dahlia boutonniere and orange dahlia bouquets from theknot.com

Winter: amaryllis, sweet peas (late winter), anemones (though really, these are available most of the year except the middle of summer), green holly, poinsettias, camellias, red holly berries, pine/cedar greens

Winter weddings don't just have to be Christmasy!  :)  

*green holly boutonniere from theknot.com

While this list is by no means comprehensive, it does include a lot of my favorites, and a lot of the more popular choices.  Not surprisingly, summer is when the most flowers are in season, so you'll have the greatest variety to choose from.  But you're definitely not limited to just roses or carnations other times of the year.  And if you're looking to save a bit, try to go with something that's in season!

wildflowers

I have this problem - when I see wildflowers, I really want to pick them.  Even if they're growing on the side of the freeway.  Luckily, I do have enough sense to not actually stop and get them there... but when I saw a bunch growing in a field near my parents' house, I couldn't help myself.  And this (along with a few pokes from the thistles and sticky fingers from some sap) was the result:

garden roses

I went to the gardens at Thanksgiving Point a few weeks ago, and these are just a few of the gorgeous roses I saw there.  Some day I will have a big garden with lots of roses and other flowers.  And then I will have a constant supply of fresh cut flowers (well, except in the winter I guess... maybe I'll have a green house too).  :)

saturday savings - consider the container

Often the biggest expense as far as wedding flowers is the centerpieces, simply because you need so many of them.  So instead of slashing your guest list to get rid of a few tables, consider the container for the centerpieces first.

Typical rule of thumb: the smaller the container, the fewer flowers needed to fill it.  But be careful - a lot of people look at a vase that they think looks "small" but it is actually just short.  The size of the opening is what you need to look at. 

The vase here is short, but it has a wide opening, and therefore needs a lot of flowers to fill it (of course, depending on the design you go with, this can be adjusted... but in general)

Here are a few ideas for vases with smaller necks:

Eiffel Tower/Maestro vases

These vases are tall and very narrow, requiring only a few stems to fill them and create a simple, elegant look, and provide some nice height.

Bud vases:

These little vases only need about 1-3 flowers to fill them, and look great clustered together on a circular table or in a row on a long table.  You can find a wide variety at thrift stores, craft stores, etc. and mix and match the styles for a unique look.

There is such a huge variety of options when it comes to vases/containers for centerpieces, but if you're looking to cut back on costs without cutting back on the number you need, look for some containers that won't need as many flowers to create the look you want.