My Perfect Wedding Bouquet

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I spent three very long intense days working with a florist friend of mine last week on a wedding that required 26 bouquets. During the course of all this, we got to chatting about what would be our perfect bouquet. Oddly enough, the look, shape or color wasn’t high on my list of criteria. It was the smell.

Most commercially grown flowers have little or no scent; it has been bred out in favor of looks and hardiness. There are still a few, however, that have retained their aromatic glory. This is where I went.

So here is my wish list:

Flowers for a Fragrant Wedding Bouquet

Flowers for a Fragrant Wedding Bouquet

    • Gardenias. Yes, they are very delicate, but they smell like heaven.
    • Stephanotis. Tiny little charmers that I would add crystal centers too.
    • Tuberose. A classic addition to perfumes but also a darn pretty flower.
    • Freesia. Fragrant and lovely.
    • White Phalaenopsis orchids. No, these aren’t fragrant, but I would love to see their pretty faces smiling up at me.

Being a noob at floral design, I prefaced my wish list by saying that I doubted it would work. My friend Jody immediately jumped in to say “hey, of course, it can. For you, we’d make it happen.” I trust Jody, she has been doing floral design since she was in the womb. If she says it can happen, it can happen.

Bridal bouquets were originally made of fragrant herbs as a way to chase away evil spirits. This thing would smell so good it might actually attract a few benevolent ones to your wedding. That can’t be a bad thing.

So here is a question for all my friends and readers out there in the industry: without limitations, what would your perfect wedding bouquet be? Is it color? Is it shape? Is it a particular flower? Inquiring minds want to know. If you think about it, you have seen about a bazillion bouquets over the course of your career. What would you choose for yourself?

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More Candle Centerpieces

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With the long nights of winter rapidly approaching I am longing for the warm glow of candlelight. Candle centerpieces can be a wonderful way to decorate your wedding. If you have read Wedding Dish for very long, however, then you know I am on a personal mission to stamp out bad ones. So let’s look at some great ones and see what sets them apart.

Sparkling Winter Candle Centerpiece
Sparkling Winter Candle Centerpiece
Candle Centerpiece with Orchids

Candle Centerpiece with Orchids

Blue and White Candle Centerpiece

Blue and White Candle Centerpiece

What makes these arrangements special are three factors:

  • Variation in height and shape.
  • Abundance
  • The “sparkle” factor.

These were all done using glass containers and candle holders. The light reflects and twinkles off the shiny glass. One of them has the added shine of iridescent snow, sparkling snow flake and silver balls.

A single floating candle in a low bowl surrounded by rose petals will never have this kind of impact. For that matter neither will a grouping of pillar candle, even if you use a ton of them.

Which leads us to the question of where the heck do you get all that glass and what do you do with it after your wedding? Here is the simple answer: rent it. Check with your florist and your rental company, both should have a nice selection. When your event is over, they take it all back. Easy and usually a lot less expensive than buying. While you are at it, they will most likely have a few bits of silver to add to the mix to bump the shine quotient. How about adding a silver sugar bowl filled with 3 roses cut short? Be creative and think outside the box.

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Finding inspiration.

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Sometimes putting together a color palette for your wedding seems to be a bit of trial and error for some brides. Oh, maybe not picking the main colors, but finding the accent colors can be a bit hard. If this is true for you then I have a great tool for you.

Colour Lovers is a tool a have been having a ton of fun with lately. The palette creator tool lets you pop in any image from the internet and pull the palette out of it.

In this example I used two different beach photos to put together the palette for a beach wedding. First, the pictures.

This one I used for the blues.Wedding set-up for a Florida Beach

This one I used for the sable colors

Beach Wedding Set up

Beach Wedding Set up

I plugged them into the “find inspiration” box on the palette creator tool and this is the palette that I created.

Color Palette fo Beach Theme Wedding

Color Palette for Beach Theme Wedding

You would be amazed at the colors you will discover if you look closely at something. Here is another one I did recently along with its inspiration.

Palette taken from a Tulip

Palette taken from a Tulip

The inspiration

Tulip Inspiration

Tulip Inspiration

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Doing Your Own Wedding Flowers

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Yes you can do your own wedding flowers. Really. That is assuming you are a bit creative, a bit calm and have some helping hands around.

Orange, yellow and red. Gerber daisies, gladiolas and queen anne's lace

Orange, yellow and red. Gerber daisies, gladiolas and queen anne

I am seeing more and more local florists offer crash courses on the “How To” of doing your own wedding flowers. I’m not saying they will teach you enough to be a florist, but they will show you the skills to put together simple bouquets and centerpieces.

The classes are not too terribly expensive if you look at it in light of what you will save on your wedding floral budget. As an added bonus you do get to spent a few hours in the company of other creative brides surrounded by lovely flowers. That can’t be a bad thing.

There are also books available and videos on YouTube and UBloom if you can’t find a class near you. Nothing however can compete with the hands on training you will get from a seasoned floral professional. Add to that, you have the opportunity to build a relationship with the florist. This will help out a lot when it comes time to tackle your own wedding.

Why? Well because many of them will also sell you the flowers. Will they be as low cost as the local price club or the internet? No, but, they have access to flowers you will never find at Costco and they will be there to make sure you receive fresh flowers in good shape for you big day. That in itself is well worth the small price difference.

If you think this is a DIY you would like to tackle, graze through the websites of your local floral designers or call the local floral wholesaler to see if they know who is teaching in your area.

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Cakes with Fresh Flowers

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Sometimes even the simplest cake can become a stunner with a few fresh flowers. It might even be a money saver. Check with both your baker and your florist and be sure they are working together.

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Let’s Hear It For the Boys! Boutonnières on Flower Friday

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I love boutonnières. Done right, they are a spark of color to brighten a stunning masculine look; a bit of the peacock on a classic structured suit. So for Flower Friday I went looking for wonderful examples to share. What happened is that I kept running across examples that should more rightly be labeled as “what not to wear.” Maybe I am just in a snarky mood today, or maybe I was just looking with a more discerning eye; but here goes. Care to come along for the ride?

Pretty in Pink I do not care if your wedding is a Barbie like explosion of pink, do not force your boys to wear pink velvet on their bouts. Not to mention that if that lily bud blooms out during the course of the day it is going to be so big that it will smack him in the face every time he moves his head.

Pink Bout with velvet ribbon
Pink Bout with velvet ribbon

Tulle? Oh no you did not! Tulle? Really. Bouts are for men, on what planet is tulle even close to masculine?

Boutonniere with Tulips and Heather
Boutonnière with Tulips and Heather

Bout or Corsage? Small is the way to go. This is big enough to pin on you Grandmama. Oh wait, maybe they thought this was Grandmama, look at how low that thing is pinned! The bout should be just at or slightly covering the lapel notch, not over their nipple!

Purple Boutonneiere with Feathers

Purple Boutonnière with Feathers

Ok enough snarking. Here are two that were done really well. They are both classic, elegant and masculine. Neither is so large as to overwhelm, just that little touch to bring your groom’s look to spectacular.


White Orchid Boutonneire

White Orchid Boutonnière

Cymbidium Orchid Boutonneire with Copper Wire Accents

Cymbidium Orchid Boutonnière with Copper Wire Accents

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Wedding Planning Secrets

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If you are planning a wedding chances are that you started the process without having a clue.

Ya, ya there is ton of information on the web and a bazillion books to choose from, but just how good is most of that information? Not very, at least in my opinion. Besides, who has time to sift through all of it? I have been sifting through it for years and most of it makes me laugh and some of it is downright scary. I have finally found someone that tells it like it is in a simple easy to understand way: Susan Southerland.

Don’t even think about planning your wedding without watching her new video, Wedding Planning Secrets. Susan takes a no fluff, no bull, just the straight story look at what you need to know to plan an event this big. She talks honestly about budgets and setting priorities. There are great organizational tips and the tools to make them happen for you.

She explains just what an event designer is and why they may be one of the most valuable members of your team. The section on cakes and catering gives you the low down on what you need to know to contract these services and what to look for as you interview them.

This isn’t one of those books that encourages you to spend, spend spend; nor does it tell you can have a celebrity wedding on $5000 if you “just follow these 5 tips.” This is the closest thing to the real knowledge and tools you need that I have ever seen. Her tips and explanations are valid regardless of the size of your wedding or the size of your budget.

Whether you are a DIY bride having a tiny wedding at home or a diva bride getting married in a Manhattan Hotel with a top notch planner by your side, you need the information that Susan is dispensing to navigate your way through.

Now, my friends, you know me well enough by now to know that I don’t blow smoke and I know that this post is pretty high praise. Yep, I really do think this dvd is that important.

Signature code

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Flower Perfection

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As someone that has made my share of sugar flowers, I have a great respect for the art. That skill has been transformed into a more permanent form: clay. Using ClayCraft Deco Clay, Diane Phillips of DK Designs has brought the beauty of hand sculpted flowers off the cake and into your bouquet, your centerpieces and into your home.


Clay Flower centerpiece of roses and stephanotis
clay roses, stephanoitis and peony buds

Fresh flowers are beautiful, but these stunners will last forever if you take care of them. Even if you don’t want to go the clay route for your actual wedding, why not have a piece made using the clay version of your flowers to treasure forever.

You can see more of Diane’s work at her Etsy store on her blog. To special order you can contact the artist directly through her website.

Hat tip to Wedded Bits for hooking me up with these.

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