A September Wedding

A few scenes from my nephews September wedding at The Wild Rose in Arlington.

 

 

The tall vases had inverted gladiolas wrapped in submersible lights to support their centerpieces.

 Half of the table top centerpieces were low and surrounded by a drift of coral rose petals.

 The head table was a simple garland of ivy, ruscus, and crystal sprays, leaving plenty of room for the bridal parties bouquets.

 A flower girl bouquet.

 The Brides bouquet. White freesia with David Austin roses accented with a touch of sparkling crystals tucked into the heart of each bloom

 This would be me installing the arbor bouquet.  My granddaughter, Kateryna was acting as our company photographer that day.  She did a great job.

 Mission complete!

 The aisle decor was a simple nosegay of babysbreath slipped into a sparkling cone hand crafted by the bride herself.  A dusting of rose petals and a sweep of white organza completed the look.

 A close up of a bridesmaids bouquet.

 Party time in the reception tent.

Formal wedding photography by Carmylees Photography.
A bridesmaid with her bouquet.  And, of course, the DRESS.

 Aisle decor, and a cluster of bridesmaids.

 A few private moments pre ceremony.

 More photos taken by some of the grooms family.  Thank you Grace and Toni!

A most glamorus flower girl.

The handsome ringbearers.

 The lovely bride escorted by her proud father.

Not a dry eye in the...garden..

 A sweetly personal ceremony

 Promises made..

 and  a kiss to seal the deal.

 The bride and groom with their parents...and a full moon rises like a blessing on their wedding reception.

The grooms family

 The romance of a first dance under the starry skies.

The Wedding that wasn't.

       So, sometimes in life things don't work out the way we plan.  Sometimes the most elaborate plans fall apart at the last moment.  Sometimes, that's a really good thing.  You could even say, a blessing.
       Last Saturday we were supposed to be delivering the flowers for a wedding in Anacortes.  The bride, a lovely woman glowing with excitement, had come in to the shop a couple of months prior to look through our albums and pick out her bouquets.  The bouquets she like best, she told me, were the messy-looking, wild bouquets.  Full of ferns, grasses, twigs and wildflowers.   Hmmm.... messy I can do.  As a matter of fact, I believe that messy, wildflower bouquets are what I do best.  We hit it off right away. 
      Fast forward to the Friday before the wedding date.  The mother of the bride calls to let me know the wedding has been called off.  She doesn't go into details.  She doesn't need to, that part isn't any of my business.  But what to do about the floral bouquets.
      We have a pretty strict policy about when we will accept cancellations, and up until what point the deposit becomes non-refundable.  In this case, one week before the wedding, the flowers have already been pre-ordered from half a dozen different suppliers.  They are on the way from different parts of the world.  Too late to back out now.  Mom understood the situation from a business stand point, but really....what do to with all those flowers? 
      I suggested re purposing them into different bouquets.  Just as beautiful, still messy and wild, but more the type of bouquets that the bride could gift to friends or family that had been particularly helpful during this trying time.  Mom decided that they could also gift some of the bouquets to friends who had given wedding gifts that were not returnable, another great idea. 
       I feel so badly for this young woman to have to go through such a difficult time when she had been planning the most special day of her life.  But I also know that whatever it was that came up, would have come up eventually.  Next month or next year or even a couple of years down the road when there were children involved in the mix.  It's so much easier to call off a wedding at the last minute, avoiding all that future heartache, than to wait and wonder if you should have.  She's very brave and I wish her all the best for her future happiness.
     Below are pictures of some of the bouquets that she gifted to her friends and family.

And the days go by....

        I must say I am shocked by how quickly the spring is sweeping past.  It's seems like it just arrived a few days ago and now it's already almost the end of May.  I know, I know....the older you get, the quicker the time flies. 

I'm certain that all the children who are sitting in classrooms around the country this week, waiting impatiently for the start of summer vacation are not thinking that time is going by at the speed of light. 

But here in flower world, the iris that were just spearing up out of the ground last week, are already starting to lose some of their blooms.  The lilacs came on early this year (thanks to some unexpectedly warm weather) and they've long since drifted away on the breeze.

 And now the peonies, that would normally be playing peek-a-boo a long about Memorial day, are already starting to show hints of flashy pink color.  And what glorious color it is.  Peony season normally lasts for about 6 weeks, give or take, but what a joy it is while it's here.  Flirty, fabulous, fragrant,and so much fun to work with.  I love love love peonies. 

And it looks like the season might very well stretchhhhhh out for a couple of extra weeks this year (that warm spell has given way to a cold snap, it feels like March out there today) But here in the Pacific NW, the weather can, and often does, change with a fingersnap.

Lucky for us, we still have hothouse tulips available for the spring weddings that had requested them.

  And I can't really regret the early arrival of  the foxgloves that are crowding into my garden right now.  It's going to be a great summer.

Late Summer Wedding

Some pictures of a wedding that I did last summer. Cara and Jeff were married in a field behind their home surrounded by corn fields and horse pastures. It was a perfectly lovely setting on a typically lovely Northwest Washington day. She had chosen of green for her bridal flowers so we used vibrant lime cymbidium orchid, chartreuse button mums, spring green hydrangeas, and a few Jade roses mixed in with the ever popular Super Green roses. I also mixed in a few stems of white stock for it's sublime fragrance, white lisianthus with it's papery thin petals and several heads of varigated kale for both texture and color.

The Super Green Roses are one of my favorites, not just because of their delicate color or because they have such a long vase life, but mostly because of the shape of the rose. From the ruffly edges of the petals to the wide, open cup shaped bloom. This rose is a stand out for any occasion