Walk like an Egyptian

Today I want to share an inspiration shoot out of California.

The creative power behind the concept was Lindsay from Petalicious Flowers and she sent the shoot into to The Boho Wedding Blog who jumped at the chance to feature it.

Often the inspiration shoots that we see are very reflective of the current trends and feature the same details that their real life counter parts do.  Right now vintage and rustic are standing center stage together meaning we are seeing lots of handmade elements including signs and cake stands, thrifted and found pieces like old books and suitcases and mixed florals in soft colours like pale pink and peach with lots of texture.  And succulents.  Lots of succulents.  When we used them in our first wedding two seasons ago we loved them like crazy and while we still do it would be nice to see them used a bit differently.  Obviously Lindsay agreed. 

Succulent painted gold?!?!!? Yes Please! 

She also incorporates one of the most asked for colors into her pallet for this Egyptian styled shoot.  Blue can be so hard for some brides because there are very few varieties of flowers that are naturally blue in colour and if they are looking to stay away from anything artificially tinted it's not as easy to include.

Instead of limiting her floral pieces to rounded, dome shaped clutches she went with a more natural linear style to incorporated the delicate blue delphinium blooms and anemones.  She used like shaped flowers such as veronica and stock in purple hues to complete the clutch that is STUNNING.  Check out the stem wrap!

Photography credit goes to Brienne Michelle Photography

For the complete list of participating vendors and to see the rest of this amazing inspiration shoot that really does inspire brides and their florists to creative a look that is personalize and truly one of a kind  click here.  It can be hard to stand out from the barrage of weddings each season but by changing things up to reflect cultural backgrounds, personal interests and shared experiences you can personalize your event and achieve beautiful, one of a kind results!

~K

Kara's Black and Red Affair

Kara and her mom came to us and knew exactly what they envisioned for their fall wedding at The Gates on Roblin. The bride wanted a pretty white mix for her bouquet and some rich, fall colors for her maids. We designed one of our most popular white bouquets for her with hydrangea, two types of lilies, roses and orchids. The maids had a similar mix but with reds and oranges with an addition of red hypericum berries and the very unique, brown fiddle head. We loved the finished product!

One of her Five Maids

The bride's white on white with a little bit of bling

The ceremony was held outside (we thought that was pretty brave for a mid-October wedding!) where we lined the aisle with red petals. We also created two very large pieces to flank the couple during the ceremony but unfortunately had to bring them inside because it was too windy and one actually blew over and broke right before the ceremony! One thing we have learned about weddings is you never know what will happen and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and make it work. The pieces consisted of red roses and greenery for the base and very tall curly willow with red orchids made to look like "falling leaves" from the branches of the willow.

The ceremony setting right before the crash :(

 Other then the  floral decor,  Brock and Kara added a unique personal feel to their ceremony  by having Brock's fellow RCMP officers line the aisle while holding flags for the processional. It was beautiful and touching and who doesn't love a man in uniform?!?! 

The guestbook piece was a smaller version of the ceremony pies without the roses and more orchids. Kara chose black and red linens for the room with the addition of damask runners for the tables, which were provided by Madeline's.

We also added a few extra blooms to the front entry (and of course the bathroom!) of the Gates to further tie everything together.

Pretty ribbon details and rose petals were one of the touches they didn't expect but loved!

The guest tables centerpieces featured hundreds of red mokara orchids, which provided Kara with a very luxurious look for her reception. We came up with three different centerpieces for the guest tables. Each one had submerged mokaras spiraled into different size vases and completed with floating candles. One was a tall 18" cylinder, the other was a grouping of three smaller vases and the other was a short, wide cylinder. It added a lot of interested to the room but also tied everything together so well.

Here is the amazing email we received from the bride's mother, Janet, after the wedding:

"What can we say but “WOW’!  The flowers were amazing!  Everything looked so beautiful and was more than Kara had expected.  You ladies did a fabulous job and should be proud of the work you do!  The artistic component was so very evident in all the arrangements.  We will be recommending you to all our family & friends.  The little extras you did at The Gates was awesome.

Thanks again for making Kara & Brock’s day one they will remember for a lifetime!"

It is the best feeling to know they truly appreciated the pieces we created for their wedding so thank YOU Kara and Brock for including us in your day!! Congratulations!!

We also have to thank Melissa and Dale of the Gates for being so helpful and fun to work with!

~L

Fantastic Fall

It's that time.  Fall is slowly turning into late fall and just ahead is Winter.  It's the time of year that weddings slow down and we start to focus on holiday flowers as December creeps closer.

Thanksgiving weekend was our last busy one of the year with three weddings in one day.  Our last multiple event weekend of the 2011 season went well and had us making some of our favorite pieces of the season.

First up was all white florals for Erin.  She went with white gerbs and white mini calla lilies for her and her maids.  We loved that she picked coloured stem wrap for both herself and her maids giving them an unexpected element.  She decided to go with bigger bouquets of one bloom instead of a mixed cluster which is a great way to get more bang for your buck. All her maids had nice big clusters of white gerbs and she herself went with 30 stems of mini callas for a good sized fist full of flowers!

Both Flower girls carried a mini gerb poesy with black wrap

Ice blue wrap for the four flower girls green eyed gerbs

Next up was Leah with subtle shades of light green and ivory paired with purple.

She decided that she would carry a larger version of her three maids so all the bouquets were matching.  With a later in the day start time, the guests were able to enjoy the ceremony followed immediately by a cocktail style reception.  Leah got to use her centerpieces to line the aisle during the ceremony which was a huge plus.

Mokara blooms, green hydrangea and Vandellas

Leah had us add a pendant to her stem wrap for a personal and sentimental touch.

The Centerpieces for her guest tables

The table centers doing double duty during the ceremony

Pretty candle light lends a soft touch to the aisle

The toss ready for later on

Callas in the bathroom

And finally, Cheryl had a really unique accessory for her day.  The highlight of her floral package was the gourds added to her and her maids bouquets.

The bride carried black bacarra roses, red hypericum and lilies, folded aspidistra and leucadendron with gourds and curly willow

In contrast to the brides dark red blooms her three maids carried ivory blooms with brown accents. 



Ivory mums, lilies, hydrangea, cabbage and cone flower pods



Pearls, ivory mini pumpkins, ribbon loops and feathers finish off these stunning bouquets

Black Bacarra toss

The groom and the groomsmen matched their Ladies bouquets

Guest tables had willow trees with red orchids

The pretty cake with red flowers and willow accents

Guest book

Biffy blooms

Congratulations to all three of our beautiful brides. Thank you for choosing us to be a part of your day!  It was a pleasure!

~K

Four on the floor

Remember a few weeks ago when we said we had four weddings? 

Well, we survived the craziness and have a huge run down of what we created for all those nuptial celebrations!

First up is Kay's brown and yellow party.

The bride carried an all white mix.  Her stem wrap was embellished with bead work from her dress.

Her eight maids carried a mix of light and dark yellow roses with white hydrangea wrapped with brown organza from their dresses.

We made two silk pomanders of yellow roses for each of her two flower girls.

27 guest tables were dressed in brown pin tuck table cloths and topped with mokara orchid towers.  Natural river rock and large floating candles finished off each piece.

Lilies and orchids finished off the floral package.

Next up was Erin's lime green and hot pink party at the Greenwood.

A green mix with white roses for the bride.

Her five maids carried the same mix with pops of hot pink

The two flower girls carried a tiny posy of pretty pink roses.

Guest tables dressed in celery linens and clusters of pink roses with lime green cushion mums.  At the end of the evening the bride gave away all her table centers to close friends and family that helped her put together her big day.

The guest book piece with their seating chart.  If you look close you can see that all the tables were named after the couples favorite NFL teams.  I bet they are a pretty fun couple!

Matching flowers for the candy bar.

You know that this is!!

White Callas were the blooms of choice for the next bride.  Since we were already fully booked up we didn't end up doing any of the on site set up for this wedding.  As a result all we have to show you are the bouquets.  The other pieces we made included table centers of 2 large submerged callas, a memorial piece of 24 red roses, a guest book piece and a large table center for their sweetheart table. 

Five large callas and tropical greens for the bride.

A smaller version for the MOH.

And last but for sure not least.....Christel had a super unique vision for her amazing day that included locally, responsibly grown product, vintage vases and broaches and a coloured dress! We cannot wait to see the pictures!

The bride's bouquet consisted of scabiosa pods, roses, hydrangea, local orchids and seedum and hypericum berries mixed with the vintage broaches and eyeless peacock feathers.

The four maids and two flower girls carried smaller versions of the bride without the bling.

The groom's bout

The centerpieces were primarily made with local, organic product.  Featuring the vintage vases from some of our past weddings the groupings were a mix of the jewel toned blooms we used in the bouquets with some potted plants.

We hope that all our brides enjoyed their day September 10th and are loving life as newly weds!
The grand totals for that weekend are.......

116 centerpieces, 26 bouquets, 2 pomanders, 42 corsages/bouts, 3 guest book arrangements, 4 big accent pieces, 1 tree and of course the bathroom arrangements

~K