bloom 'n jars

Throughout our wedding planning process I was so attracted to mason jars filled with blooms (borderline obsessed??).  And when it came time to our big day, I just loved the centerpieces that the women in our families created - better than what I had envisioned!!   I guess my love for sweet and simple vessels brimming with blooms will never fade...just spotted these GORGEOUS flowers at Shiny Pretty Bits.  Stunning!!!

to florist?

I've had quite a few conversations lately about the flower situation - would we have done our own again, or would we have hired any one of the local florists? 

OneLovePhoto

Well.  I loved how our flowers turned out - and I would not have changed a thing about them.  However...it was a real LABOR of love from the women in our families who committed to helping us with it.  I don't think I'll ever know the true story of the set up of those flowers (was it stressful?  a headache?  fun?) ....remember at the last minute Tommy and I didn't help set up the reception area...we walked around downtown Flagstaff instead (and that makes me feel both loved and a lil guilty). 

Also - ordering flowers wholesale on line was terrifying.  Hahaha...terrifying....what a word to describe ordering flowers!  I had read good reviews, and poor reviews...and in the end we just had to go for it.  Fortunately, they were lovely.  But it was tricky to pick out the types of flowers to get - I know nothing about flowers so it was a big shot in the dark. I wonder if we had hired professionals would it have been a lil less stressful?  Not that I was stressed out silly or anything...but it added to the complexities of the wedding planning. 

I tell inquiring minds that the diy route worked for us.  But I'm also quick to interject that if we had a bigger budget hiring a professional florist would have been an idea to entertain. 

our diy bouquets

The DIY flower thing was a HUGE project.  We ended up ordering from 50 Flowers.  Which was great....the flowers were BEAUTIFUL!  Thankfully, as I had no idea what to expect with ordering the flowers online!  For the bouquets, I ordered  yellow garden roses, yellow ranunculus, and asters.

The really COOL elements of the flowers were a spur of the moment idea...my Aunt brought hemlock bundles from her yard in Seattle (the boys boutonnieres were made using hemlock cones from her yard too - so this was a really nice touch.)

The flowers were shipped to Flagstaff, where my aunt (a Flagstaff local) put them in big paint buckets of water and placed them in the cold dark garage.  

Once the truck was loaded, I hauled everything over to the vacation home that Tommy's family was renting out for the week.  (Holy amazing....AMAZING!) My mom, sister, and two of my wonderful Aunts met us at the house and we set to work.

I put on garden gloves and stripped the thorns off of the roses.  A local Flagstaff florist was gracious enough to let us borrow her rose stripper (a metal contraption that worked like a charm.)

My dear Aunt Clare helped me with the bouquet arranging...ummm....well....to be honest I helped her with the bouquet arranging.  First, we laid them out...to make sure the bouquets are even.  Then we started forming the bouquets.  She taught me to start in the middle and build the bouquet around that. 

My bouquet!!!  My aunt arranged it and it was sooooooooo beautiful....this was taken before she put the "petticoat" of asters around the base.  She wrapped the stems in an embroidered hanky of my great-grandmothers the afternoon of the wedding....a sweet touch for a lovely bouquet.

The diy flower route worked out nicely for me - only because of the generosity of help from our mothers, aunts, and my sister!!  I could not have done this on my own!!  It was a big project...and I didn't even HELP put it all together at the wedding site.  So I don't know if I can even adequately portray the depth of this project!

*pictures thanks to Auntie Pol!

victory #14: flowers

 saipua  

noooo my flowers aren't like this...but I think this bouquet has some serious pizazz.

After hours and hours of different flower scenarios floating through my head making me half batty...I finally settled down...took a few deep breaths...and ordered our blooms.  Yippeeee!!

Having a destination wedding is a tad tricky for things like flowers.  With the wild and weird weather that hits Arizona, I can't quite depend on the Flagstaff farmer's market in late May to have flowers for our shin dig.  Plus, finding an affordable florist in an area I don't live in was really really tricky.  For me, it was impossible.  If I had loads of time to make calls, email back and forth, make a special trips up the mountain for meetings...it might have been a different story. 

So the day before the wedding, we'll be the "flower girls"...prepping, arranging, and popping them in glass jars.

I picked garden roses and ranunculus.  Then added some wild-esque types like hypericium berries, thistle, asters, and bupleurium. 

I feel so good about this.  My heart is calm.  The calm before the storm perhaps?

*note:  we went with 50flowers because I have friends in real life and in blog life that were very happy with them  :-)

wildflowers

Brian Hopkins

OK.  Most of my floral finds tend to revolved around the voluptuous garden variety...ie: garden roses, ranunculus, peonies.  Except, I'm o-so-inspired by the wildflower look too  (obviously...who can resist a lovely wildflower?!)

Since we will be doing our own flowers...and ordering them through a flower delivery company...I've decided to meld the flower types I like.  A mingling, if you will, of "garden party meets forest meadow"....or more commonly referred to as pretty flowers.

Tommy bought me some daffodils this weekend.  Love him.

SimplyBloom Photography via Once Wed

 Wedding Flowers & Reception Ideas

{frolic!} did a diy tutorial on Project Wedding about wildflower bouquets....sooooo pretty.

Once Wed

Union Photo via Once Wed

Jose Villa

the Knot (maybe?? can't remember)

 OnceWed

Wedding Chicks

Wedding Chicks

flower love (and a car crash)

Brion Hopkins


A new bloomin' love.
Just when I thought I knew what I wanted...this lil pretty walked into my life.
Details are so ridiculous.

*note: I was in a car accident this weekend...my first ever car accident. It was terrifying, and included hydroplaning in the rain on a major freeway in route to Phoenix. The pile up involved multiple cars...and thankfully we were all able to walk away...a lil shaky and teary...but no broken bones. Except, today I can't move my neck, so a trip to the doctor is next on my list of things to do. And every time I close my eyes I see/feel the car spinning into the cars ahead of me...needless to say I one tired girl.)

My car is shot and we will be selling her to a junkyard (so so so sad...I've had her for 12 years). Events like this change things. Budgeting for a new car is tricky when paying for your own wedding. What happens when the budget changes?

I'm feeling a little lost right now.

(Except Tommy and I get married in 97 days...and in knowing that, I don't feel so lost.)

real life: wild{flowers}

My dreams were answered when I saw this wedding featured over at Once Wed earlier this week. Spectacular. Natural. Organic. Radiant. Real. Fresh. Effortless.

I've been exploring floral design this week, as we have decided to "officially" go the DIY route for this...and the flowers used in this celebration are so perfect and fitting for the beautiful mountain setting. Just lovely.

And that bride? No seriously - how jubilant does she look!!! Yes...this is a rad wedding.

No tears here - only SMILES!

Here is that clustering effect of same bloom in different vases. Looks amazing.

via Once Wed

floral itemization a la Lori

One of my readers went above and beyond and sent me a "mock itemization" for our reception decor. Good Lord. She made this all look easy as pie...as I was having a hard time picturing everything meshing together. Lori....you are amazing for all this crazy help!! Your ideas are awesome!!

This is AN EXAMPLE of one way we could do things....take it away Lori:

The Supplies

Crystal Candlesticks, Candles, & 80 Mason Jars - Paid For

Pine Cones - Paid For

6 Lemon Cypress Topiary - $210 http://www.ftd.com/green-plants-pcg/new-heights-lemon-cypress-topiary/product-plants-greenplants/p365/

108 sprays Sunny Romantica Roses Yellow (3-5 blooms per spray) - $200

http://www.wholeblossoms.com/producto.php?ids=36&id=165&idt=537

200 stems Freesia Bi-color Orange (orange-yellow) - $200

http://www.wholeblossoms.com/producto.php?ids=3&id=4&idt=14

16 bunches Green Hanging Amaranthus (8-10 stems per bunch) - $161

http://www.wholeblossoms.com/producto.php?ids=16&id=136&idt=408

Case of 8 - 5 pound bags Brown Polished River Stone - $40.00

http://www.jamaligarden.com/apps/catalog/product.asp?pID=19688

2 Feathered Robins - $6

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/arbi.html

2 bags - 100 Skeleton Leaves - $7

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/peepultree.html

Small Glass Votive Candles - Cheap

Floral Supplies - Cheap

Needle and Thread for Leaves - Dirt cheap

The Plan

Brides Bouquet - Sunny Romantica Spray Roses Yellow

Bridesmaid's Bouquets - Freesia Bi-color Orange

Boutonnieres - Pine Cones

Guest Book Table - 2 Lemon Cypress Topiary at ends of table & Crystal Candlesticks

Escort Card Table - 2 Lemon Cypress Topiary at ends of table & Crystal Candlesticks

Family Love Table - 2 Lemon Cypress Topiary at ends of table & Crystal Candlesticks

Cake Table - Sunny Romantica Roses (flower heads only) placed on cake tiers, one complete spray Sunny Romantica Roses on top with 2 Feathered Robins clipped to it. Crystal Candlesticks in back or around cake.

20 Guest Tables - Ivory Tablecloths & Napkins, 3 Mason Jars in center, each filled with 2 stems Green Hanging Amaranthus, 1 spray Sunny Romantica Roses, 2 stems Freesia Bi-color Orange, Brown Polished River Rocks scattered all around Mason Jars, small Glass Votive Candles nestled in rocks all the way around.

Reception Space - Thread Skeleton Leaves on strings and hang from rafters.

Ceremony Site - You can tie more Amaranthus and Sunny Romantica Roses to an arbor or railings. The Amaranthus hangs down beautifully. Scatter Skeleton Leaves down aisle and at the spot where you will stand.

Etc... - You can also scatter Pine Cones and/or more Skeleton Leaves on the Guest Book, Escort Card, Family Love, and Cake Table to coordinate with the boutonnieres.

grouping "like" flowers

The Sweetest Occasion

One thing that I have noticed, and have read, and have been told by those "in the know", is to group like flowers. I have also heard that it's easier to DIY your flowers if you stick to the "same color" of all the blooms.

I think this looks smashing. It is clearly a fancy shmancy formal arrangement, not what I'm envisioning for our day, but it's easy to see the the idea of grouping similar flowers here. (And would look just as lovely with a bunch of hodge podge glass jars for vases.)

This concept is touch upon in this article at Real Simple. (Seriously, if you are into doing your own flower thing, you should probably read this....or if you like to decorate your home with fresh flowers...very sound advice.

how many flowers do I need?

I sought out the help of Abbie, the lovely lady behind, A Glimpse of the Girl Next Door, who did a flipping bangerang job DIYing her own wedding flowers. Her arrangements are crazy drool worthy. My flowers will be much more simple, I don't think we will be arranging them so artfully like Abbie so flawlessly did...we will probably be grouping them into mason jars. None the less, I was still at a loss as to "how many flowers do I need?"

Her advice rocks. And seriously...check out these arrangements of hers. Holy amazing.

Here's the advice I found on the "how many" question. The only thing about this advice is that most brides aren't DIY'ing with actual vases. If you're using mason jars, then I would suggest buying a few bouquets or floral bunches and playing around with it before you place the order. That way, you can see what you think looks good as far as how many stems of the flowers you prefer.

How do I know how many flowers to order?

First you need to make a list of all the arrangements you will need. As a general rule you want 18-24 stems per table arrangement or bridesmaid bouquets. 12 stems work nicely for a small bouquet for mom or a little girl in the bridal party. 20-25 stems is a nice amount for the brides bouquet as well as large arrangements using line flowers such as gladiolas or snapdragons. Each boutonniere is 1-3 stems, corsages are 3-5 blooms. The definition of stem here is a main flower like a rose, carnation, delphinium, snapdragon and so on. Large flowers like sunflowers are most often used in groups of 3-5 with other flowers added in for a total of around 10 stems. For fillers such as babies breath, misty limonium or statice a field bunch will do approximately 3-4 arrangements. For greens you will need 1 field bunch for each 3-4 arrangements.

how do you make your flowers do that?

Little did I know that when I wrote this post about flowers confusing the bejesus outta me, I would get such INCREDIBLE feedback. It was probably the best feedback day of my "blog-life" as it answered all of my questions and gave me concrete direction for what to do for our wedding blooms.

So. Welcome to Flower Week.

Abbie sent me a tutorial from Weddingbee about bouquet making. Check it out my friends...very very insightful.

GOTTA get one of these bad boys to strip all the thorns away :-)

ta-da! perfection.