Chilly march wedding and a little young love

What a great freezing cold weekend to get these rusty joints of mine back in the swing of things.  I almost need to teach my fingers to move again after a long winter hibernation. 
I had the pleasure of working on the wedding of Teresa and Ryan.  Teresa loves gerbera and purple, like many brides I had to inform her that her favorite bloom really doesn't come in purple  (well some people would call it purple, I call them liars....it's pink!).  So I told her that she should accent white gerbera with a deep purple flower.  For anyone familiar with my work they would not be surprised to see moonvista carnations in her bouquet.  The groomsmen also had corsages of purple carns with greens (sorry for the lack of picture, I forgot about those beauties sitting in my cooler!)

bridal bouquet of gerbera and carnations

bridesmaids bouquets and bridal bouquet

 Teresa loved an arrangement of gerbera posted on my website, so I re-created them with a different colour scheme!

Centerpieces

YOUNG LOVE!
Last week I received one of the best phone calls ever.  I picked up the phone to hear "can you make me flowers for my girlfriend Sonya?" and after some promting "I love you auntie Melanie".
One of my besties had her 3 year old son call to ask for a corsage for his girlfriends birthday party.  How could I pass that up?  I made her the smallest corsage I could out of mini gerbera and purple ribbon (the theme of the weekend!
Apparently she loved it so much she wouldn't put it on "it will get bwoken!", instead she said she would wear it at home.  Ahhh young love.  So here is a pic of her special present from Brandon.

Niagara Spring Bridal Show

Back in February, in the heart of a snow storm I sat cozy at my bridal show booth at Club Italia.  For those who didn't throw on the parka to come for a visit, here are a few pictures from our booth. 
Many thanks go out to Eva Derrick of Avenue Studios who graciously shot all of the beautiful pics for me.  The rest of Eva's work can be seen on her website: http://www.avenuestudios.ca/

The bridal bouquet consists of green trick dianthus, purple trachelium, delphinium, anemone and loops of lily grass.  I decided to pair it with a ceremony arrangement to get brides thinking out of the box.  Who says that wedding arrangements have to be expensive with massing of pricey blooms.  I used lily grass to create large "flowers"  accented with delphinium and funky fasciated willow.

This jewel toned bridal bouquet is packed full of vibrant colour and texture.  Lime green hydrangea, green trick dianthus, pink alstromeria, hot pink roses. moonvista carnation and purple tulips are hand tied with purple ribbon and a teal blue accent.



A simple option for a bride or bridesmaid is the pairing of berzillia berries, roses and lime green anthurium to culr around the blooms.  Again I wanted to creat a ceremony arrangement that was simple but made a huge statement.  A framework of branches held this arrangement above a cube of cat grass with roots exposed in the vase.

At most weddings a guest at each table is rewarded with the privilage to take home the centerpiece (unless it's a rental and that just has the family on alert making sure that none walk out the door).  Why not eliminate rental vase worry!  You could offer each couple at the table their own cone of flowers to take home with them.  These cones are filled with pink alstomeria and eucalyptus.  Moss and a green hydrangea hold the cones in perfect position in a rental vase!

I have a love affair with "black" calla lilies, which aren't really black but about as close as those plant geneticists can get.  I paired it with a few lighter mauve blooms and then threw in some navy blue viburnum for good measure.  Seems like a successful recipe.  What you cannot see is the funky purple yarn I used to wrap the handle.  Why not let the yarn aisle inspire, I cannot knit but I sure can wrap bouquet handles.

The full Lush experience!  A huge thanks to Gotcha Covered for providing beautiful linens.  http://www.gotchacovered.ca/

That is the end to bridal show season, we will see you all again in October!!

Melanie

I'm Bringing Back the Carnation!

The word carnation has such a negative stereotype associated with it, especially in the bridal world. When you mention the carnation during a bridal consultation you usually quickly see the look of disgust or shock come over the bride.  I remember being that person not so long ago and I have come to believe that the reason I hated the carnation so much in the past was due to the way it was used (think a dozen carnations with babies breath...yuck!).   Why do I love them now?  They add texture, are available in a stunning array of colours and are easy on the pocketbook. 

If I feel that the use of a carnation in a ceremony arrangement would be a good way to add a punch of colour without breaking the bank, I usually pull up pictures of my work which contain the "dreaded" bloom.  Most of the time brides can't even believe there is a carnation hiding in that arrangement.  Here are a few examples:

Massing of moonvista carnations, bells of Ireland and curly willow

Carnations make excellent pomander balls.  Use them for the flower girl, hanging on sheppherds hooks down the aisle, or create a statement in your ceremony arrangements!

Don't get me wrong, carnations aren't just for centerpieces or ceremony arrangements either.  Here they are front and center in (gasp) the bridal bouquet:

Same dark purple moonvista carnation, completely different bouquets

Next time I will bring you the story of the commercial mum (I hear florists groaning everywhere).  

Melanie

A touch of spring

Lately this snowy weather mixed with a teasing of mild temperatures has got me counting the days until I can get back in the garden, play outside with my son and especially assemble the perfect wedding bouquet.
I needed a fix, so Elliott and I headed to the Niagara Parks Floral Showhouse for a taste of spring.



This place is so beautiful, if you haven't been you really need to check it out!  I highly recommend the hydrangea show.  http://www.niagaraparks.com/garden-trail/floral-showhouse.html

On another note I caught my first glimpse of emerging tulips this morning in the Lush Florals cutting garden, another sign that spring is on it's way.
Speaking of our cutting garden, that will be another large project that I will be expanding upon this summer.
We already offer many exciting cut flowers and foliage and branches for our brides, especially those wanting locally grown and pesticide free material.  I am sure much to my husbands delight more lawn is being removed to make way for more garden.  I am not sure if it is the florist part of me or the gardener part of me that is more giddy about the endeavor.