The Craft Begins

I love weddings.  And I have a hard time saying no when someone asks me to do something for theirs (I’ll admit, I volunteer as well).  This past weekend, I was responsible for doing all of the flowers for a friend’s wedding.  I’ve done them before, for my own and for another friend’s, but this one was a big project.

21 centerpieces, 7 bridesmaids bouquets, 1 bridal bouquet, 15 boutonnieres, and 6 corsages.  Plus all of the bits of flowers that go along with making a wedding pretty.  I was a little intimidated because it was such a big wedding.  I also didn’t have too much direction – her dress was champagne, the bridesmaids wore black,  and all she wanted for the flowers was for them to be bright, and to have lots of Gerber daisies.

My very talented mother did the centerpieces for the altar, and I had a lot of help with the nitty-gritty details, but the rest was up to me.  I used primarily gerber daisies in the bridesmaid’s bouquets (and for all of the centerpieces) with a bit of filling out in between.  Roses, irises, and button mums did a good job of filling the spaces.  The nice thing about gerbers is that they float well in water, so you can do centerpieces with water and floating candles that make quite an impact without having to spend too much on flowers.

I wrapped all of the bridesmaids’ bouquets in champagne ribbon to contrast with their dresses, and I did the bride’s in black ribbon.  I also accented the bridal flowers with black dahlias – they are really dense, and the color really added a pop.  Combined with a few billie balls (my favorite!) it came out really well, I think.  In addition, the buds that you get with the black dahlias make really great boutonnieres (top right picture on the first picture).

I think that the best thing about these flowers was that they were relatively inexpensive, and I was able to get a lot of mileage out of flowers you can find at the grocery store.  The daisies were purchased from Sam’s in bulk, I ordered the black dahlias online, and everything else was found at the local Safeway (and some others).

Posted July 9th, 2009 under floral inspiration. Tags: billie balls, black dahlias, boutonnieres, button mums, centerpiece, corsages, craspedia, floating candle, gerber daisies, glass, mums, purple iris, roses, water, wedding flower ideas, wedding flowers
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