Monday, January 25, 2010

Getting to see more of the 'vision' - The centerpiece mockup

So Friday my daughter and I headed over to Flower Allie in Fullerton to meet with my amazing florist, Allison and my wedding coordinator, Amanda.  You should really check out Allison's blog here...she is the coolest florist in Orange County.  Not only does she totally work with your budget, but she provides the same quality and glamour, if not more, than the 'high end' florists who quote you like $4,000 to $10,000!  And on top of all of that, she gets excited about your big day!  Since booking her she has said the following to me:

"Your wedding is going to be beautiful and the flowers will look gorgeous.  You'll love it!"
"You have so many great ideas, I hope you blog about all of this.  Will your photographer provide us with photos after?"
"Your event is going to look so great and it's going to look like you spent a ton more money than you actually are!"

Oh, how I love her.  And I found out that Amy Jean over at the Relentless Bride blog is also using Allison for her upcoming March wedding. 

So we were going there to see a mockup of what our tables and centerpieces are going to look like.  I have lots of pictures to show you!  But first, I just have to list a couple disclaimers:

1)  The lighting in the florist's shops is obviously not good.   We were set up in a corner that didn't get great light. 
2)  My camera, as I have mentioned, is not good at all for shooting true to color.  Therefore, with the not so great lighting and the bad camera images, please grant me a little give in how the final product will look.  This is why I think it's *SO* important to hire professional photographers to shoot your wedding day...they know how to work the lighting!
3)  In our actual reception room, you have to remember that we will have all the candles lit on the table with the mood lighting of the room and some perimeter uplighting in red as well.  So obviously that is going to affect how the linen colors and tabletops look in person or pro pics.
4)  We did tweak just a few things after seeing the mockups so what you see here will not be exact on wedding day.  The flower colors will probably be just a little bit different too for the little vases.

Personal opinion:  If your florist is not willing to show you a mockup of your centerpiece idea at *NO* extra charge, hire a new florist!  How can you possibly be sure your vision is being communicated well, you understand what they are planning, you know what the flower colors will look like with your linens, etc if you do not get to see a full mockup?  It was an absolute must for me and something I asked about when interviewing florists and made sure was in our contract!

Here was our inspiration for our centerpiece:



And here is the first mockup...Oh, I forgot to mention trying not to focus on the background shelvings and that wire stand in the back left corner :)

The 'tall' centerpiece



Yes, those are my actual linens I asked the caterer to loan me.  So now you can see the colors a little more realistically...turquoise tablecloths with cranberry napkins - both in satin. 

Here's a close up of the inside of the tall tapered vase...there is a Floralyte that is attached to the bottom of the top piece that will light up the vase (hard to see with the lights on in this pic)


Here's a close up of the little votive candles I got over at http://www.quickcandles.com/ Super cheap!  144 red votive glass holders with 144 candles for about $90 total.



Oh, see that little silver bell in the front of the picture?  That will also be on each table with a little card in it...more to come on what that's for in a future post :)

Here's another shot of it showing my luminary table numbers in the frames along with the little takeout favor boxes that will be placed at the top of each guest's napkins.  The napkins will all have a card tucked into it with each guest's name sticking out at the top so they know which seat is theirs. 



We didn't like that when you are sitting down at the table you can see the little floralyte at the top of the vase, so we collectively came up with the idea to wrap a thick turquoise ribbon at the top of the vase to hide it.  Allison found one in her shop that matches my linen color well and offered to do this for me.  We actually all loved it and thought it made the centerpiece even more unique.



So what are we changing about this piece?  I didn't like how there was a large amount of 'green leaves' in the center of all the tulips.  It just didn't look quite right to me.  So we decided that we will trim down the tulips just a bit.  We don't want it to look too bare, but we also want the focus to be on the tulips.  We are also going to have them hang over and drop down just a little bit more rather than standing so tall at the very top.

In the middle of our meeting, it started to hail!  So I just had to run outside and snap a quick shot of the ground as this rarely ever happens in So Cal:



Next up, our alternating centerpiece.  This is technically the 'low' centerpiece that will go on 10 of the 20 tables, but I don't like calling it the low centerpiece because it's really not that low at all:



I absolutely love this one!  The simple tulips submerged in a tall vase...gorgeous!  There are red gems at the bottom of the vase...did I mention my florist is letting us use all of these vases, gems, floralytes, etc at *NO* rental charge or delivery fee to us?  My coordinator offered to deliver them all back to her shop for us the day after the wedding (they work together often) and so it saved us the delivery charge.



See that little 'orange' colored dahlia in front of the vase?  It's called a satellite flower...it means you have one little flower scattered around the table surrounding the large focal point.  We are going to actually change it to a burgundy colored dahlia like this:




She originally had a red gerber daisy in there but I wasn't loving the look of the daisy or the color red.  So I asked her about a dahlia and we all loved it better.  We are also adding two more so there will be three of them scattered around the large vase.




What else are we changing about this centerpiece?  She is going to use a vase that is just a little bit wider and put 5 or 6 tulips in them instead of just the 4 shown here.





Above is a little close up of our table numbers on the linen...I used the same graphic from our wedding invites and the same turquoise and cranberry colors in them.  The only thing I can't seem to figure out is how to get rid of that little 'shadow' of the rim of the votive candle inside it that is showing???



Above is a close up of the napkin with the favor box.  Again, the colors are horrid!  Too orangey in the pic.  I am going to find a better satin ribbon to match the linens for the takeout box as the one I have is an aqua ribbon that doesn't match well.  But I love the tag we made and the pretty colors!




Above is one of the children's favor boxes...it is a circus shaped box from Bailey's Boxes.  Inside are all the little goodies I posted about here that we are gifting the little ones at the wedding.

And finally, for our cocktail area centerpieces, we are thinking of using some small vases with some daisies, tulips or little orchids submerged as well similar to these images below:


So there you have it.  With a few tweaks, come wedding day I think they'll look great.  But would love some feedback and opinions as well.  Is there something I am missing?  Do you have photos to share about your inspiration for your florals or centerpieces?  Is your florist providing you a mockup before the wedding to see what it will look like come wedding day?


20 comments:

Gaynor {Our Day by Design} said...

Oh I love them, I love tulips so I am having some in my centrepieces too. I think with the changes you are talking about, removing some greenery etc it will look great!

You are so organised, im not meeting my florist till the end of feb! and your task list is freaking me out, I too should have finished assembling of my invites but not quite yet, still have to print the RSVP's! Def this weekend as would like to get them out with 2 months to go! Eeeek!

Em said...

I hope you don't mind that I'm totally going to crash your wedding. Because I HAVE to see those centerpieces in person. I LOVE them!! I really like the fullness and the "spikey-ness" of the tall tulip centerpiece. Very very cool. I could probably write something for all of the pictures, but I'm just going to say that I love it all. You are going to have such a beautiful wedding!!

Kim said...

I think they look beautiful as is . . . hmmm, flowers are not really my "thing" so I am leaving a lot of it up to the florist, but I like that you were able to do a mockup with your linens, favors, etc. Thanks for the tip!

very married said...

that's pretty! it's cool that you were able to see what it looks like in advance. We just went in the morning of to see what I could throw together :)

redwhitebride said...

love your centerpieces! i'm a huge fan of your low/alternate CP! soooo gorgeous yet simple.

Shannon said...

Very pretty!! I think it will look beautiful all put together in the room.

My mother in law is doing our centerpieces, not sure if we'll be able to do a mockup in advance. The centerpieces won't be overly fancy or complicated so I think even without a mockup it should turn out okay. Fingers crossed!

A. Marigold said...

Wow, these are all really beautiful! Can I tell you how much I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of your wedding? It's going to be beautiful!

Salt said...

I am totally loving the idea of submerged flower centerpieces! I have never seen that done before. So cool and unique!

I agree with you about the green on the tall, tall versions, but otherwise I think they are all fantastic!

Kristy said...

it's so exciting to see it all together!! I love the square piece with the submerged tulips - so modern and pretty - really, it's like an art piece!

Belinda C said...

Everything looks great! I really like the "low" but not "low" centerpieces. And what a great deal you got with the vases and such. Isn't it great seeing everything start to come together?

GM said...

Very nice! I love the submerged flowers. Everything came out great!

Giovanna said...

wow, they're all so pretty. i love that aqua and red theme, and i have no clue about centerpieces, so this really gives me some ideas! thanks!

Brittany said...

Oh my, absolutley beautiful! I love how tall your center pieces are.

Chocolate Lover said...

I think everything is gorgeous! I want tall and short centerpieces and I think I will be using your pic of the tulips as an inspiration pic for our florist! I love the submerged flowers too! Its so great that you were able to use the linens and candles and set up the table as you want it on the day! I am so curious about that bell now ;)
Really can't wait to see pics of your wedding! It will be stunning! Nicely done Stacey!

Kristin said...

Good call on removing some of the green leaves in the tall centerpiece, I definitely agree. And love the square vases with the submerged tulips!

Mrs. P said...

Oh my! Love it all :-) Turquoise looks so great with red and I love the ambient feel each table is going to have. Great job!

Mrs T said...

This is going to be one amazing wedding. I think I say that on nearly all of your posts. I totally agree with your changes to the tall arrangement. WOW!!

honey my heart said...

absolutely love your centerpieces and the other details going on the tables. having a high and low will create such a great look during the reception. superb!!

My Dream Ring said...

I LOVE both centers! They look fabulous! I like the luminiaries in the taller centers, so neat! And what a great price on those candles, WOWZA! Did you have to pay an arm and a leg for shipping?

Bee @ BP Wedding said...

Beautiful!! Your wedding is going to be so amazing! :)

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