Ok...so here's the deal...
Once again, I've gotten totally behind on blogging. Life just keeps getting in the way and I never seem to have undivided time with just me and the computer...
There are so many things that I want to document, but I get so overwhelmed and discouraged with the thought of catching up.
So I'm jumping back into the blogasphere...
Here goes--
I recently did the wedding flowers for a girl that got married in our church...Her colors were chartreuse and white. I can't think of a lovelier color palette.
Since she was scheduled to be married in the Washington DC LDS temple on Friday, the bridal party flowers needed to be done early in the week. I picked up the flowers at the wholesaler on Tuesday.
Here's a little sneak peak of part of my kitchen floor mid way into the leaf/stem carnage! This was actually partially cleaned up! I almost forgot to get a picture!
All of the stems of the flowers needed to be cut and placed immediately in water. I borrowed buckets from every neighbor within a mile of my house, I swear!
I cranked my air conditioning to 63 degrees and covered up the window with a quilt to try and make the room as dark and chilly as possible. I needed these babies to last until Saturday!I had to laugh when Susan came over and asked if I had a space heater. What the?!
"Is that the Total Gym I see in the background?" you ask. "Why, Yes it is...and hasn't been used since the day I bought it." (Sorry to disappoint you, Nick Norris and Christy Brinckley)
On Wednesday evening, Susan and I worked on the wedding party flowers...(which needed to be delivered on Thursday morning as the bride and groom to be and families were driving to DC).
Incorporating rosemary was a request from the bride as it held sentimental value, and Susan and I just adored working with it. The fragrance in the room was heaven!
This was one of the bridesmaids bouquets...
Bridal bouquet...
Although my entire downstairs bedroom was cold and dark and packed with buckets of water and flowers, I decided that I would rearrange my refrigerator to accommodate at least 2 of the bouquets.
I opted to have hand held bouquets because I was concerned with how the hydrangeas would fair. They are very temperamental and don't do well in oasis. Because they would have to withstand the commute to DC and back, I wanted the stems to have access to water at all times. I put them in mason jars filled with water and called it a night.
To my HORROR, when I went to check on the flowers in the morning, the flowers on one side of BOTH bouquets had frozen, and the water had ice crystals in it!!! And as if that wasn't bad enough, the water had wicked up through the stems and bled onto the ribbon! All of which had to be replaced...
Upon seeing this, I panicked and literally felt like I was going to throw up.
Fortunately, Brian hadn't left for work yet and was able to hold the bouquets while I made the adjustments.
The other challenge was keeping the flowers fresh until Saturday, when the reception was taking place.
On Saturday morning, Brian helped me load everything into my trunk and it was onto the reception hall...
One of my favorite elements was the use of the tiny cabbages. They were very hardy and added an interesting touch.
The head table had a large arrangement in the middle and was surrounded by smaller little vases of coordinating flowers. Notice the rosemary was continued in the theme...as well as golden oregano and lemon balm.
I needed some additional fillers, so I used spirea cuttings (which is a common landscaping shrub). Look how that color just pops!
The collection of flowers made for a nice take home treat for the wedding guests. The containers were inexpensive, as we purchased them from thrift stores. It was a big success!
