Wedding Lab Madness

One day a few weeks ago, an acquaintance of Carol's came knocking at Carol's front door asking for some help with her daughter's wedding flowers.  Carol replied that she no longer did weddings, but she had a whole class of students who would jump at the chance to do a wedding--and so tonight about 15 people crammed into our floral classroom and proceeded to arrange like crazy.  There were 30 large centerpieces, all of the personal flowers, plus pomanders and more.  All together 400 people are going to be attending this wedding on Saturday.  To say the least, I think we were all surprised at what a huge event it turned out to be!  There were roses, calla lilies, hydrangea, bells of ireland, gyp, leatherleaf, gladiolus, waxflower, heather, hypericum, amaranthus, snapdragons, larkspur, and oh my god the list goes on.  It smelled amazing in that room, though it was hot with all of us designing our brains away. 
Carol assigned me to the bridesmaid's bouquets, and to be honest, I was petrified.  I was definitely slow at first, but I picked up momentum and got some greatly appreciated help from another classmate.  I loved how they turned out and I wish I could see them on the big day.  The bride herself along with bridesmaids and family members helped out--and they were extremely lovely people.  I know the wedding will be gorgeous and perfect.  And so now, here follows a crazy amount of pictures.  Darn the iPhone for taking blurry pictures, it does not do the flowers justice. 

Two of the bridesmaids' bouquets.  Let me tell you, they smelled amazing.

Like the fancy beakers we used to hold the bouquets up?

Had enough of these?  Okay, let's go on to all of the other gorgeous arrangements done by my other classmates and the bridal party.

Blurry boutonnieres and corsages done by two very talented classmates.

I really especially loved the groom's boutonniere.  Look at that detail.

One of the many centerpieces.  I love the colors.

More centerpieces!

And the Bride's bouquet...with Crowning Glory.

Birdseye view of the Bride's bouquet, minus the Crowning Glory spray this time.

The Bride's toss bouquet.  The Bride said it was just too cute to have to toss!

Another gorgeous centerpiece.

And lastly, a fraction of the centerpieces lined up in the back lab storeroom. Holy moly!
All in all, it was an amazing night and though I felt like I definitely was too slow I know that practice makes perfect and I'll get there.  Here's to lots more practice.  Thank you, thank you to all of the family for letting us do your flowers.

Floral Design Class: Wedding Flowers

During the beginning of the summer Delta offered a Wedding Flowers workshop that I jumped at the chance to take. It was a packed class with lots of ladies looking to do flowers for their own weddings, so it was fun to hear about all of their ideas.  We had four classes where we learned about the varying parts of doing flowers for a wedding and we got to make a wedding bouquet and a centerpiece.  Carol brought in all white flowers for the bouquet and I think all of the ladies in the class squealed when we saw them.  We were all saps.  She had roses, hydrangeas, carnations, stock, peonies, alstroemeria, and--as an expensive treat--we all got one stephanotis each.
This was my first try at a bouquet with the Oasis bouquet holder, and I've got to say that I prefer a hand-tied bouquet.  Hand-tied bouquets look so much more natural, and while the Oasis holder will help it to last longer, I think the holder just takes away from the overall look and feel.  Here is the bird's eye view.  It looks like a star!  I'm sure if we all had more flowers our bouquets would come out much fuller, but everyone did a great job and it smelled amazing in the classroom.

And here's a side view.  I used oregano to fill in the gaps since we didn't have enough flowers to fill our bouquets entirely out, but I kind of like it. 

Another week we got to do a small wedding centerpiece.  Carol brought in classic red and white flowers and tall vases for us to set our pieces on.  I didn't get a picture, but it was a nice chance to see how adding height to an arrangement can really change it.  I wasn't in love with my outcome, but I'm sure with practice I'll find what I like best.

Floral Design Class: Biedermeier

I was instantly excited when we began learning about Biedermeier-style arrangements because, as I've said before, I enjoy balance and preciseness in design.  So, concentric rings?  Sign me up!


The bird's eye view of my first attempt at a Biedermeier is pretty cool.  I definitely like this view better than the more important side views, but it was my first try.  I look forward to making some during Christmas.

I really wanted to stick to rings of the same color, but we were low on flowers and there was no way I was going to have enough yellow carnations to complete the lower ring.  The different colors break up the rings, but I still like the effect.  A very fun first attempt.