Post wedding: Saving your bouquet?

Preface:  TODAY is my 300TH blog post!!!  So crazy!

Are you one of those brides who wants to figure out a way to preserve her bouquet long after the wedding day?  I have seen and heard about brides who tried hanging the bouquet upside down in a dark closet to dry it out.  Or placing the petals in a food dehydrator and then placing the dried petals in an organza sash to use as potpouri in clothing drawers.  Or you could always do the old fashioned thing and stick it in your freezer...not sure why my mom did that with our old dance corsages?

Anyway, one day while browsing the net for wedding ideas, I came across a web site for bouquet preservation.  I fell in love with the idea and was more excited to find out the company was only 10 minutes from my house.  So after my wedding day, I assigned my mom the task of collecting my bouquet and delivering it to Nature's Beauty in Laguna Niguel, CA. 

On the wedding day, the bouquet looked like this:

And  few months later when I received my completed flower box, it looked like this:

Sorry I couldn't get better pictures with my crappy camera...this was the best I could do because of the glare of the protective glass on the box.  But basically, you give the company your bouquet along with a photo of you and your groom and whatever items you'd like to add from your big day.  They typically suggest your invitation but we used our program instead along with the little tag from our favor box, the silver bell of a bride and groom that sat on each table and my garter wrapped around the bouquet.

If you like this idea, I highly suggest you contact this company to find out more about the process.  Even if you live in another state, they have ways of shipping to work with you.  Check out their web site to see other examples of boxes in different shapes and colors.  It's not cheap by any means...but it is a very cool keepsake to display in your home forever.

Share Time:  Will you be saving or preserving your bouquet after the big day?

Wed Recap: The most important recap

Why is this the most important recap?  Because next to the dress, it has to do with the one thing the bride will have on her almost the entire day - her bouquet!  That little beloved beauty typically means a lot to most brides.  But it also coincides with another huge aspect of your decor and style for the day - all the florals...whether silk or real, they are a huge part of most weddings.  So this the recap of all of my amazing florals and the lessons I learned going through this process of selecting, designing, and most importantly carrying or wearing the florals on my wedding day.  Before I start with the info, I just wanted to post the only photo I have of my florist on the wedding day since she was just so incredibly amazing!  She was super affordable, super creative, super accommodating and nice and super stealth like!  On the day of the wedding, she was in and out setting everything up, dropping off bouquets and then off for the day. 

As a matter of fact, I didn't even get to thank her on the day of the wedding.  So my first tip begins there:

TIP # 1:  Be sure to ask your florist to personally deliver your bouquet(s) to you on the day of the wedding.  That way he/she gets to see your reaction (hopefully a good one) and you get to thank her/him in person.  This is Allison of Flower Allie...USE HER if you are in the So Cal area!  You will not be disappointed.

*  My bouquet
          Consisted of dark reds and burgundys:  Black Magic Roses, Red Tulips, Mokara orchids, Burgundy Cymbidium orchids, Burgundy Dahlias, Small spray and red roses.  It held up really well.

By Yan Freedline

I gave my florist a small blue brooch to add to the bouquet as my something blue which was Mr Fix It's mother's brooch.  She passed away when she was only 49 so this was very special to me to incorporate.

I did *NOT* want any greens or berries in my bouquet.  I was adamant about that.  And I wanted a very different type of ribbon wrap...Allison said another local florist uses this wrap all the time.  I loved the way the ivory ribbon was all gathered around the bottom of the bouquet. 

TIP #2:  Allison asked me to bring her some of the fabric from my wedding gown after my seamstress had hemmed it.  She was going to use it to create the ribbon wrap.  Unfortunately I forgot to bring it to her but this is a great tip for fellow brides.

TIP #3:  Be sure to discuss the height and weight and shape of your bouquet with your florist.  For as thorough as I was, I didn't think about these issues when we were discussing the bouquet.  As much as I loved this bouquet on the wedding day, it was honestly just way too damn heavy!  I mean, look at it in this photo - it covers almost my entire torso from waist to the top of my bust!  (Note that this was totally not Allison's fault...something I should have considered when we just kept adding flowers to the arrangement!)

And check out these two photos...look at my arms and how I am straining to hold the bouquet up...you don't want to have to feel this way all day long during your wedding, ladies...so please take this into consideration!

I also wish it would have been 'rounder' in shape instead of longer vertically.  I didn't really think about this until I saw the second bouquet that Allison made for me to use in our post wedding shoot.  It was a rounder bouquet which I really loved...it sits better on your dress for photos like these:

By Rachel Garcia

But the weight thing is most important.  My bouquet was so heavy that, I wanted to put it down throughout the day.  As soon as I got to the top of the altar, you see me handing it to my sister.  Now the MOH will usually hold the bride's bouquet as well as her own during the ceremony and then hand it back to the bride just before she returns back down the aisle.  Or sometimes, the MOH will hand it to the bridesmaid next to her so she can fix the bride's train while she is on the altar.  But for me, as soon as I handed my bouquet off to my sister, I told her to set it on the ground next to her because it was just way too freaking heavy for her to hold during the entire ceremony! :)

*  Bridesmaid Bouquets
          Consisted of:  Red Tulips, Green Hydrangea, Burgundy Dahlias, Black Magic Roses, Green Bear Grass, Green Jade Roses.

Originally I wanted my BM bouquets to be mostly blue hydrangea along with a couple jade green and black magic roses.  But after sharing the basic style I wanted with my florist, I let her finish it off.  The main thing I told her was the type of flowers I wanted and the fact that I wanted the bear grass weaved in and around the bouquets.  I love the way she finished them off.  She urged me to get away from the blue flowers and instead go for the blue ribbon wrap and then stick to more red and greens.  I told her as long as they didn't remind me of Christmas bouquets or colors, I'd be happy.  She didn't let me down.  I loved the spring feel of the Jade Green roses and Green Hydrangea.

By Yan Freedline

You can see my blue brooch on my bouquet really well in this photo

TIP #4:  Listen to your florist!  If you hired them, it's probably because you liked their work.  So trust their experience.  I originally wanted my BM bouquets to have the same type of ribbon wrap as my bouquet.  But Allison called me a day or two before the wedding and said she was concerned that the wrap was too much with the green bear grass that was sticking out of the bouquets.  The bear grass was more important to me than the ribbon wrap, so I told her I trusted her to make it look 'right.'

*  Wrist corsages for the mothers
          Consisted of:  One single white gardenia flower

I did not want to do the pin on corsage for the moms and I wasn't super excited about the little tussy mussy or small spray bouquets for them to carry either.  I had seen a few magazine pics of a single bloom on a wrist and told Allison that a pure white flower would be perfect to complement their dresses and colors.

Overall, I loved the idea and they were really pretty.  Unfortunately, this was one of the only things I was a little disappointed about regarding the florals.  My mother's flower fell off of her bracelet as soon as we were done taking the formal photos before the ceremony and my mother in law's gardenia was browning at the tips before the ceremony as well.  I think that was partly just because gardenia's are a very delicate flower that don't hold up as well.

TIP #5:  If you go with this idea, ask your florist how they are going to secure wrist corsages and be sure to use sturdy flowers - not delicate or easily wilted ones.  Though I loved the idea, I wasn't super excited about the little plastic pearl type bracelet that they came on.  I think I would have preferred a simple ribbon tied around their wrist.  Another little detail I didn't think of.

*  Boutonnieres
          Groom's consisted of one single Burgundy Cymbidium bloom.  It was horrible!  It did not last at all.  Within less than an hour it was wilting and falling apart.  But it was his own fault...my florist and I didn't like that flower for a bout at all but even after showing Mr Fix It a gardenia and a gerbera daisy, he insited on using the cymbidium orchid.

The Groomsmen bouts consisted of small green orchids tied to a metallic blue wire with a few green berries. 

I actually really liked these.  Unfortunately, my photographer did a horrible job of getting shots of all the different floral elements.  So I had to take other photos and crop them to zoom in on these type of things. 

I think the only thing I would have changed was maybe only using 2 blooms instead of 3 and spreading them out just a bit so they were more distinctive.

Ring Bearer's bouts consisted of a single green kermit mum (also called a mini mum I think) with a metallic blue wire wrapped around it.  It was perfect for the little boys tuxes.

TIP #6:  Be sure to ask your florist to 1) stick around to assist with attaching the bouts to your wedding party and 2) leave you extra pins to attach bouts.  Somehow, one of our ring bearers didn't show up until well after we started photos so when it came time to put his bout on him all of the pins had been taken.  I believe there were only enough for each individual bout and someone grabbed an extra one.  (We didn't need our florist to stick around because our DOC helped the guys get their bouts on)

*  Flower Girl Wand & Wreath
          I gave my flower girl the option of carrying a wand bouquet or carrying a bucket of petals to toss and she opted for the wand which I actually wanted anyway.  :)  I sent my florist like 2 photos of some wands I had seen on blogs or in mags and told her to just incorporate the wedding colors.  I really didn't give her any other direction and she came up with this adorable little wand with the turqouise ribbons streaming off all on her own.  You can see it consists of a few of the same flowers from the other bouquets.

I also wanted a wreath for my FG.  Again, I didn't give her much direction other than to incorporate the same colors and flowers.  This is one of my fave pics of my FG with her mom (my cousin) during our ceremony. 

As you can see by this pic which shows the back of the FG's wreath, it didn't go all the way around her head but rather had a ribbon to tie it in the back so it fit a little better.  And somehow my florist managed to match the ribbon color perfectly to the gown and the other ribbons.

*  Ring Bearer Pillow
          Consisted of tons of mini kermit mums tied with a ribbon around it to hold the 'rings.'  Of course, my florist attached fake rings to the pillow...I didn't even need to ask her (which I forgot to do).  She just showed up on the day of the wedding with the pillow and fake rings attached.

Again, my photog did not get one single shot of this thing on it's own and so I had to zoom in on it from another photo.  Best I could do...sorry, Allison :(  And I didn't even see the pillow once all day long on our wedding day either which irritated me more that he didn't get a good shot of it :(

TIP #7:  Get creative with things like your RB pillow.  It doesn't have to be traditional.  I loved the idea of creating our pillow out of nothing but florals.  It was unique and matched with the colors and other florals of the RB's bouts and such perfectly!
*  Ceremony
          I wanted to keep the ceremony decor minimal since the main reason I picked this venue is because of the beautiful flowers and trees that already line the grounds.  Some people still go crazy at our venue with their ceremony flowers but this was the least of my budget focus.  As such, I opted NOT to put anything on the arch above our heads at the altar. 

I still wanted our aisle to be done up and we didn't have any type of a runner.  So instead, I found a pic on a web site that I shared with my florist.  We took a single dark red (burgundy?) gerbera daisy and tied it with ribbon in turquoise color to the end of each row of chairs. 

For the altar arrangements and the end of the aisle, we used a tall spray of dark red tulips on the top of a tall vase with a few submerged tulips inside.  To bring in the turquoise color, Allison added a simple blue ribbon at the top of the vase.  This also served nicely to hide the floralyte that was attached inside the top of each vase to help light up the vases during the reception. 

TIP #8:  We used 4 of our tall arrangements from the reception area to decorate the ceremony area.  As soon as the ceremony was over, our DOC and her team carried the 4 arrangements back up to the reception area and placed them on the tables.  Since the guests hadn't entered the dining room yet, no one knew any different and we saved money not having to pay for additional arrangements for the ceremony.

For the aisle I also loved some images I found of a deep gutter of dark red petals lined with a few sporatically placed green spider mums.  This was a great way to bring in more of the spring green accent color in our wedding decor and to help make the gutter of petals a bit more unique and bright.

Here's another pic I love of the tall arrangements at the end of the aisle.  My florist 'loaned' us all of the vases and the red boxes that we used for the ceremony area free of charge.  Rather than having to pay a rental fee, she allowed us to use them with the understanding that our DOC would tear everything down at the end of the night and return all of the florist's vases to her shop the next day.  This also saved us from having to pay an extra delivery fee!

TIP #9:  Try to see if you can hire vendors who work with each other so that you can take advantage of discounted services between them.  Since our DOC knew and worked with our florist on other weddings, the florist offset our costs by having the DOC help with returning the vases and such.

Here is the finished product.  This is the best shot I have of the entire thing set up and it was taken by my cousin.

By Amber Marquez

This is another photo I love because it shows the huge flowers that were part of the venue's grounds.  We specifically chose the month of April to get married in because we knew that all the flowers and leaves would be in bloom and the So Cal weather would be perfect - not too cold and not too hot!

A great angle of the venue's flowers

*  Memorial Table
          Consisted of a personalized vase engraved with the names of our loved ones who had passed on.  I had our florist keep with the main 'tulip' theme by using tulips in this vase but in a white color for the memorial.  This was the only place (besides the mom's wrist corsages) that I used white florals of any kind.

*  Cocktail Tables
          Again, I wanted to keep this part of the decor extremely simple!  You can make a bold and unique statement with very minimal florals...believe me.  And besides, as you can see in this photo behind the brown tables and lounge chairs, the venue itself already offered a pool lined with lots of in bloom florals in our cocktail area.

For the lounge tables, we had a vase filled with submerged mochara orchids and a floating candle at the top.  Very simple and pretty way to bring in the red colored florals.

By Yan Freedline

For the seated and standing tables in the cocktail area, we didn't want to clutter the tables since I was hoping the guests would be filling out guest book pages and eating :)  So we opted for a very small square vase with submerged red gems (same as the inside reception centerpieces) and a single spider mum bloom in them.  This again carried in the green spider mums from the ceremony and I loved how the little pop of spring green accents meshed with the main wedding colors of cranberry red and turquoise linens.

A close up of the cocktail table centerpieces:

*  Reception Tables
          Everyone questioned my decision to use turquoise with cranberry red as our wedding colors.  Mr Fix It thought that it would look like the 4th of July with red, white and blue and my mother was concerned it was just too bright.  But when our guests walked into our reception dining room, they adored the colors and details and florals just as much as I did.  And Mr Fix It and Mom gave me a huge stamp of approval and loved it!

We alternated the dinner tables with high and 'low' arrangements to help offset the cost....and because I really did not want to have the exact same centerpiece on every single one of our 20 tables!

The low centerpieces really weren't low but rather were more simple with just 4-6 single tulips submerged in a taller rectangular vase.  To keep it from being 'too simple' we placed 2 or 3 small votive type vases around them with a single burgundy dahlia bloom in them.  I loved this!  And the guests thought it was very unique to have submerged florals.  Sorry that my photographer took all these photos before the caterer and DOC had set up the reception room so you're going to see tables without being fully set up with glassware, silverware, candles, etc :(

This was the tall centerpiece.  It was about 3 dozen tulips sprayed out of a tall vase.  We wanted to be sure not to block the guests view of each other while trying to chat across the table...a very important concern.  We also carried in the submerged tulips from the alternate tables by submerging 3 tulips in each of the tall arrangements.

Here is the one and only shot I have of our entire room all set up for the reception.  It was thankfully captured by my videographer's wife!  It's still day light outside and we didn't enter this room until after it was just about dark so it's not quite the same effect...but you get the idea.

By Yan Freedline

For our sweetheart table, we needed to keep it very simple.  We sat on the dance floor and then as soon as dinner was finished, had them tear down our table to make room for dancing.  I didn't give our florist any real direction on this at all.  She just placed a few of the kermit mums around the table along with some votives and some spider mums, roses and dahlias as we had on the other cocktail and reception tables.  I loved it. 

And to finish all this up, here is a little 'inspiration board' style recap I put together using Shutterly Studio to showcase many of the florals from our big day.

I always give huge props to those brides who make their own flowers and set up their own decor using silk or real florals.  No way was I going to worry about that stuff on the day before or during our wedding....and frankly I just don't have that talent! 

Our flowers took up about 7% of our total budget and were relatively inexpensive.  Most brides have no idea how expensive flowers are when they first start planning a wedding.  Allison of Flower Allie prides herself on being able to do most weddings for under $3,000 which ours definitely was!  Allison was amazing to work with and she kept telling me how people are going to think I spent $100,000.00 on our wedding!  And a lot of them probably did think that!  To me it wasn't anything over the top, just a lot of thoughts and ideas and things I liked and wanted to incorporate that my ever so amazing florist brought together in a well thought out cohesive plan which was professionally executed. 
Share Time:  How important were the florals to you in your wedding planning process?  What part of your budget did you allow for florals?  Did you make them yourself? 
Some additional WEDDING TIPS: 

1)  For boutonnieres, corsages, etc that have a single flower that may be something delicate or that does not hold up well under weather and time, ask the florist to give you a discount and create a duplicate 'back up' copy of these so that if one is destroyed or dies, you have a second on reserve in a vase or fridge somewhere to change into later during the day.

2)  A really good florist should definitely include an opportunity for you to see a full fledged mockup of your centerpiece idea BEFORE your wedding day.  This should be included in your contract and will provide you the opportunity to make revisions based on sizes, colors and costs.

3)  Just because it's your wedding does *NOT* mean you need to have a white bouquet or white florals.  I personally love white florals but I did not use them anywhere in my wedding decor other than the memorial vase.  I really prefer a bouquet of some color against a bride's white gown...but that's just my personal preference.  My sister actually had a red and green bouquet at her wedding and then used all white bouquets for the bridesmaids against their chocolate brown dresses.  It was beautiful!

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography

Music Monday # 2 (the Bouquet Toss and Cake Cutting)

So since I started my first Music Monday with my baby sister's wedding playbook song selection, I figured I should follow up with 2 more songs from her big day 3 years ago.  Last week was the garter toss and so it is only fitting that this week I share her song for the bouquet toss for all the single ladies (which btw, if you use Beyonce's song for your wedding bouquet toss you're not being too original.  Don't get me wrong...I love it and would love to use it to because it is so fitting, but seriously girls, let's try to find things that are a little more original.) 

So, when they were calling the single girls (which was me at that time) onto the floor, this song began to play:

Lonely People (by Jars of Clay)

Again, I tell you that you have to understand my sister's silly sense of humor.  I particularly like the 2nd verse that specifically says "This is for all the single people, thinking that life has left them dry." 

I figured I'd throw in another fun one for you as a double shot on this fine Monday...so for her cake cutting...though not quite as silly, she used this song (start at about 1:00 where the chorus begins):

Lips Like Sugar (Echo and the Bunnymen)

Get it?  Lips, sugar, kisses - cake...cutting the cake, kissing after?  Too cute. 

So, got any great ideas for your own tosses at the reception or your cake cutting?  I still have no idea for my own so I would love to hear other's ideas!

New Trends in Color Schemes

So just when I think I have come up with something very unique and different that no one has ever seen at a wedding before, it suddenly ends up on all the blogs and in all the magazines!  (sigh)  Oh well, I still LOVE my color scheme.  It is an aqua/turquoise with cranberry deep red accents.  You have to be careful with aqua and turquoise because there are so many variations - some even think of tiffany blue as an aqua which is truly not the color I chose.

It came to me while browsing through wedding web sites for coordinators.  I found a picture that I absolutely fell in love with not just the colors but the little favors and napkins and place cards.  And the funny thing is, it was from my very own venue (will blog on that later this week).  And so after confirming that was my color scheme, I began searching for dresses, favors boxes, ribbons, etc all to coordinate - but not overly done.

I eventually found a florist and while browsing through her books, realized that the florist I selected just so happened to be the same florist who did the flowers and deco for the wedding I used as my inspiration!  How awesome is that?  And then while browsing the blog about the wedding I found a company in Illinois that did all their stationery for the wedding and fell in love with her, too!  So now I have my colors, favor box ideas, florist, stationery company and inspiration all from the same wedding.  So funny. 

In some ways I don't want it to seem like I am just 'copying' it, but honestly, I always say there are no original ideas...only knock offs and twists on a previous thought.  So I am definitely putting my own twist on a lot of the elements I am incorporating.

But enough chatter...here are the pics from Joyful Weddings and Events:

My centerpieces will be totally different incorporating red tulips in some sort of simple spray like this:

My bridesmaid's are wearing these Jasmine Bridal B2 dresses in this berry color:

Photos:  Jasmine Bridal
My daughter (a bridesmaid) is wearing this dress (hemmed to match the other girls) from Jasmine B2 Juniors in Bahama Breeze color and the flower girl will have a white dress with a matching sash in the Bahama Breeze:

And finally, they will all be carrying bouquets very similar to this with blue hydrangeas, burgundy cymbidium orchids, black magic roses, jade green roses and kermit mums:

Yes, my wedding is still 6 months away but I pretty much have everything planned and booked...now all that's left is some tweaking as I finalize details with vendors and purchasing the fun stuff like favors, gifts, jewelry, shoes, and so on.  What are your colors and what do you think of these?