Fav Finds + Flower Friday - Grapes + Flowers - Branford Flower Shop

Hi all! Are you just so glad it is Friday? I sure am! It is World Series Madness out here in the SF Bay - everyone, and I mean everyone is walking around in head to toe orange and black and more people than not - men and women combined - are walking around sporting large black beards. I was in Fiddler on the Roof way back in my high school days and I am having flashbacks of the L'chaim song and dance number with all these beards walking around!

So the Giants and Fiddler on the Roof couldn't be further from the Flower Friday gorgeousness that I want to share. I found this AMAZING bouquet over on the lovely blog Sparkle and Hay.

Branford Flower Shop is located in Branford, Connecticut and they did this jaw dropping beauty.

I mean, come on, there are GRAPES in there! Grapes! And look how amazing they look! Love it. The colors, the textures - love love love it!

Here are my fav finds from this week! Think good thoughts for the Giants and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Loving this new blog I found with TONS of super cute DIY paper printables

Paper and Cake

In the spirit of Halloween a lovely inspiration board that keeps it pretty

Magnolia Rouge

I love me some coffee - how about you?

The Inspired Bride

Very cool things out of unexpected everyday items

Alchemy Fine Events

Tablescape Love

Somewhere Splendid

xoxo

Trisha

Color and Contrast - The Wedding Bouquet

Hi hi! So remember last Friday when I decided it was Fav Finds + Foto Friday instead of Fav Finds + Flower Friday? Well I am making up for it now with this crazy cool bouquet on Wednesday - okay okay, so I know it really makes no sense and I have completely messed with my editorial calendar.

Today was a rough day, I won't bother you with the details at this point in time, but just know when I saw this bouquet it made me smile and things got a smidgen better. And now, I am sharing with you.

I found this bouquet over on the very cool blog Brooklyn Bride. I am really intrigued by the darker colors of the artichokes and berries and how they contrast with the blush colored garden roses. The bouquet was designed by Poppies and Posies (loving the name) and was a result of a photo shoot where the team of designers wanted to create a wedding based from fab finds at a hardware store. Click on over to Brooklyn Bride and see what gorgeousness they pulled together.

The use of food in bouquets and boutonnieres has been a trend for a bit now and I am still loving it.

Happy Middle of the Week!

DIY: Floral Workshop

Last Saturday for four fun filled hours I was an official floral designer. I met up with a group of brides and planners to learn how to make boutonnieres, corsages and bouquets and had a blast! Karen of Huckleberry Karen Designs holds workshops about every 2 or 3 months on how to DIY: Wedding Flowers.

It was a fantastic learning experience - how to process the flowers (roses are a real pain with all of the thorns) how to hydrate them, and when to buy which flowers so they are at the perfect opening state on your wedding day.

I decided knowing how to create these floral pieces would come in handy as a planner. I have had nightmares about the florist forgetting a bridesmaid's bouquet and suddenly I would have to fashion one out of the centerpieces. So I am now ready to roll with my floral tape and ribbon thanks to Karen.

Karen did mention that as a bride, attempting to do flowers yourself for the wedding is definitely do-able but she warned to get more help than you think you'll need! If your wedding is the ultimate DIY wedding or if you are just attempting to make all the personal flowers, you will need lots of hands - especially on the wedding day. This is where us planners come in handy. Not that we will be your stand-in florist, but we can really help with all of the details you envision.

Here are some before and after photos that lead to my creations:

These are the flowers as is from the SF flower mart.

Here we are processing the flowers.

Above the flowers are ready to go. We have 3 types of roses, spider mums, wax flower and something green, round and cool that I can't remember the name of - I show a close up of it a few photos below.

Here is the start of my boutonniere - the sepals are gone and I am using floral wire to support the stem. There is a method to poking the hole - you can't just poke anywhere.

I use floral tape to combine the waxflower and the rose.

Then comes the ribbon - it's starting to look a little snazzier! To be honest, the ribbon was the most difficult part. Wrapping the end of it took many, many tries.

Ta da! And here it is!

Here is a second one I did using an orchid and the cool little green accent flower (if you know what it is called please help me remember!)

Next we made our bouquets - this was 4 million times more difficult than I thought it would be. I thought mine (above) came out pretty darn ok. My new friend Greg is holding it for me so I can snap an aerial shot of it.

Trying to place each flower so that when all together they looked pleasing to the eye and have a round bouquet shape was quite the challenge.

I used roses, freesia, wax flower and calla lilies. I kept the stems long so I could keep it in water when I got home - but if this was a for a real wedding I would have trimmed them a bit more.

And there they are! Such a fun class. If you get the chance you should check out Karen's blog - one of the coolest things she posts on are the different flowers she uses in each bouquet so you know exactly what flower you are seeing.

Photo source: From Trisha Dean's personal collection