Every now and then I get to fly to Salt Lake City, where I grew up, to put together the wedding flowers of someone I know.
Ben is my college roommate’s younger brother. So when he got engaged his sister was kind enough to press that Hayley look through my portfolio before finding a florist. I was flattered to hear she and her mom loved my work so much.
Ben and Hayley are LDS, and they were opting to get married inside a temple. This changes up the wedding game a little bit, as the actual ceremony is very closed off. Only the closest family members and friends are usually invited, and there is no walking down the aisle. It’s a simple service performed in a private room in front of a very private audience. No flower décor. Just the décor of the elegant room itself.
This puts all the weight of the florals into the personal flowers for family/wedding party pictures as well as the reception. The reception often becomes a large party, sometime open house, with a high volume of guests. We’re talking 300-500 sometimes. So you can imagine it becomes quite the affair. Especially if you come from a large family. And a lot of LDS people do. I happen to know the size of Ben’s extended family is very, very large.
So where does that leave the wedding flowers?
Well first of all, we have the personal flowers. Unlike a lot of florists, I actually really enjoy making corsages and boutonnieres. The moms and sisters all got wrist corsages. Grandma got a pinned shoulder corsage.
(I also secretly love it when grandparents get to wear something and be honored as well.)
Brothers, fathers, and groomsmen all got boutonnieres.
I even made a little hair clip for her cute, 3 year old niece!
Bridesmaids of course had bouquets. And then there was Hayley’s bouquet.
Hayley wanted creams and whites, with silvery greens. The inspiration picture she had was a round bouquet. But my style is to elongate the bouquet, removing some of the depth, but allowing to add various heights to the flower placements. These layers allow the flowers to standout more one from another and be seen more fully.
I had to order the David Austen White Cloud garden roses for her. Because they are the perfect cream color once they begin to open. So those were featured front and center in the bouquet, along with some clean, white dahlias for even more texture. Astrantia was added to the mix, along with some stock and white pepperberry. I framed it all with a few varieties of eucalyptus and a dusty miller. And voila!
The natural drape of the eucalyptus was gorgeous and had to be utilized in creating beautiful lines in and out of the bouquet flowers. It was a very romanticized bouquet. And all that texture. Yum! I love it.
For the reception we laid long garlands of mixed eucalyptus down the beautiful, long farm tables. This was an open house style reception, so no place settings. But it’s almost more fun this way, because then more people get to come and enjoy the detailed garlands, over and over throughout the night.
Eucalyptus was also draped over family portrait tables, the dessert table and of course was used lightly on the cake.
It was definitely a soft and elegant look overall. Exactly, I believe, what Hayley had asked for. Perfect for her and Ben’s elegant and kind families.
It’s always a thrill to work on the road. But it’s especially fun to create for someone you know. Seeing the joy on their wedding day, in them and their loving families, is somehow even more touching and meaningful, and I’m always honored to be a part of that.