Flowers for all Seasons

Top 5

What most people think of when they think of the change in seasons, is weather. This impacts not only the clothes you wear (especially if you live in the mid-west or north east) but also what flowers are available on a month to month basis. In my “Top 5” I’ll review my favorite bouquets for every season as well as my all time favorite, for any season.

WINTER
Many people think winter is a very difficult season for flowers, but that isn’t entirely true. Many flowers are available and most beautiful in the winter. Here are some of them:

Anemone

Daffodil
Heather
Ranunculus
Sweet Pea
Tulip
Viburnum

(Megelaine Photography)

This bridal included white anemonies, white freesia and white lisianthus accented with loops of beargrass. The bride also wanted me to include a special pin from her grandmother.

SPRING
Spring, as assumed, is the season of plenty. Everything seems to be in bloom and it’s no mystery why it’s the favored time of the year for weddings. Some of the flowers available in the spring are:

Anemone
Daffodil
Hyacinth
Iris
Larkspur
Lilac
Lily of the Valley
Narcissis
Peony
Ranunculus
Tulips

This bridal includes one of my favorite flowers for Spring, the peony. There is just something special about a peony and I can hardly resist including it in my May and June weddings. As well as the peony, roses in champagne and off white also compliment the simple but timeless color scheme.

SUMMER
Summer brings about bright colors and hearty varieties. One thing to be sensitive about this season, please ask your florist what varieties will be least suseptable to the hot weather, especially if you are having an outdoor wedding. Some flowers I would suggest for this season include:

Bachelor’s Buttons
Cosmos
Dahlia
Daisies
Delphinium
Gladiolus
Hydrangea (although they can be difficult in direct sunlight)
Larkspur
Ranunculus
Scabiosa
Stock
SunflowerTuberose
Zinnia

All of the colors of Summer, these bridesmaid bouquets include purple lisianthus, green roses, orange mini calla lilies, orange and red dahlias and green cymbidium orchids. I love being able to work with bright colors in the summer.

FALL
Although Fall is one of the more difficult season to find a variety of flowers locally, it’s my favorite. I love the rich colors that seem to be everywhere. Although I like stepping out of the box with color and shape, I can’t help myself to not use browns, oranges and reds in a fall bouquet. Fall flowers include:

Amaranthus
Chrysanthemums
Cockscomb
Cosmos
Dahlias
Delphinium
Hydrangeas
Scabiosa
Zinnia

Gerbera Daisies, scabiosa, hypericum berry and dahlias created the bulk of this bouquet with a few chocolate cosmos thrown in for drama. The tone on tone color scheme never gets old.

ALL YEAR
You might be surprised and the amount of wedding flowers that are available all year round. Here is a list:

Alstomeria
Aster
Bouvardia
Calla Lily
Carnations
Chrysanthemum
Delphinium
Freesia
Gardenia
Gerbera Daisy
Gladiolus
Gloriosa Lily
Iris
Larkspur
Lily
Lisianthus
Orchid
Rose
Stephanotis
Stock
Veronica

I know it’s no fun, but my favorite flower is still a rose. There are applications I don’t like them in, particularly corsages, but they just make a beautiful bouquet. There is something so utterly classic about an all rose bouquet, nothing beats it. The best part is that you can make one any day of the year.

Thanks to Trician Riverire http://www.lovelillian.net/ for allowing me to contribute to her blog with my "Top 5"

Bells of Ireland, Dendrobium Orchids

This vibrant green and dark magenta pink color combination seems to be a popular one this year. With this wedding the bride let the arrangements pull a double duty and used them at the rehearsal dinner as well as the reception.

The bridal including green hydrangea, magenta dendrobium orchids, green dendrobium orchids, two shades of pink roses as well as green roses, green "kermit" poms and bells of ireland.

The centerpieces were all drama with green hydrangea filling silver bowls with whimsical orchids and bells of ireland peeking out.

ALL ROSES... not another thing

It's unusual that I meet with a bride that only wants one flower used throughout the whole entire wedding. Often there will only be one variety in the bridal or maybe the centerpiece, but there seems to always be another flower that finds it's way into the alter arrangements or maybe the bridesmaids.

This bride came to me and simply said, red and pink roses. She wanted it to be romantic and classic. What resulted was a no fuss solution to making the room intimate and elegant. Every table at the reception had nearly a dozen roses on it and I think the bridal may have been my favorite this year. Not much to it, but there doesn't need to be for it to be beautiful.

The groom of this wedding happened to be one of my friends and it was soooo much fun being invited and being able to stick around to see all the guests enjoy the environment. It was a bit of a bummer that I couldn't make the wedding, still working set ups, but I loved being able to get dolled up for the reception.

Hot Hot Hot

Hot pink on hot pink. Style in shades had been a big thing this season. The bride carried hot pink roses in two shades. Secondary color was brought in with the bridesmaids bouquets in the form of green cymbidium orchids.

The alter arrangements were round arrangements much like the bridal.

With linens in hot pink they chose white flowers to off-set all the color at the reception. An inexpensive but beautiful arrangement of three tall calla lilies with tropical greenery.

Fragrant Freesia

The scent of freesia filled the shop last week with yellow, lavender and white freesia everywhere. This wedding was almost exclusively calla lilies and freesia. The centerpieces were something unexpected with large calla lilies cut short when usually they are used tall. The bride carried white mini callas with yellow freesia while the bridesmaids carried lavender freesia with the callas.

White Orchids

Lots and lots of curly willow and white dendrobium orchids made this wedding elegant but also a bit rustic. Anyone who knows me well knows these centerpieces are my all time fav. Nothing like keeping it simple.

The bride carried all varieties of white orchids with white freesia and white roses. Elegant and all the traditional elements for a bride.

Rehearsal Dinner

I love love love working parties. Lots of creative freedom and relaxed environment. This party in particular was a rehearsal dinner. The colors were red and black with white accents. I decided to leave out the red altogether to create a monotone color pallet. I used two different red roses with red gerberas with a black center with black satin ribbon wrapped around the low glass vessel.

Ceremony Only

Although it doesn't seem to happen too often, it seems more and more brides are choosing to have their ceremony one day and the reception another. In this case, August wedding and November reception.

Simple color scheme or neutral taupes, champagnes and ivory with maroon accents. The bridal bouquet was dramatic with roses of all shades with calla lilies, cymbidium orchids. I find more and more of my clients are looking for drama in their flowers and these dark "Schwarzwalder" calla lily. It's close to eggplant in the light and can almost come across black in pictures. It really adds an element of something different.

She also chose a simple garland for the ceremony gazebo. Luckily, the weather was perfect for her celebration.

Bright Summer Day

The florals for this wedding made me think of a bright summer day. Saturated colors of green, orange, red and purple.

The bridal was all white with exquisite phaleonopsis orchids, white roses, white mini calla lilies, white freesia with a small splash of green dendrobium orchids. The essence of luxury.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, but the centerpieces were alternating blue hydrangea in a square vase filled with limes with the other centerpieces filled with green hydrangea with red and orange dahlias. Fruit and flowers, how can it get any better.

Footballs- Flower Form

Footballs all around! We concentrated on football mums and snapdragons in white and lavender to create a natural relaxed look. They are fun and I don't get to work with them very often. Helped remind me to use them more often.

Branchs and Lanterns

This wedding took place at T.C. Steele. I loved the color scheme of blue, white and yellow. They had natural elements of birch trees, branches and raw linen table runners. The centerpieces of green hydrangea, white and yellow freesia, green roses, blue bachelor buttons and delphinium looked at home next to the neighboring garden.

This site had a few challenges. The bride wanted to get married under a natural archway created by two living trees. This entailed having the trees delivered to the site and wiring the branches together to make it appear that it was a natural formed archway of birch branches. This was hard, but I think I pulled it off. I love a challenge and this was one for the books.

We also hung lanterns in the tent which seemed easy enough until I got up on the extension ladder. I am certainly not scared of heights but this adventure had me sweating! I've hung many an accent from trees and tents, but his tent was taller than expected and certainly an intimidating assignment.

All in all the event was amazing. I loved the color scheme in the natural setting, during the set up there were many times I wished to return to the site and appreciate the natural beauty of the landscape.

Thank you to my dear friend Anne for the extra hands! You were such a great help and added so much to the day.

Also, thanks you to Hugh Hazelrigg http://hazelrigg.biz/ for all the beautiful pictures (with the exception of the bridal bouquet). It was very generous of you to help me capture these moments.

Posh Purple

This was so much fun. Purple linens, deep eggplant and plum tones. The orchids came in so beautiful, it was just great seeing it all come together. The bride carried a bouquet of purple lisianthus, purple orchids, dark purple mini calla lilies and purple liatris. Unfortunately, my photography doesn't do it justice.

The tables at the reception were amazing. The vases that the mother of the bride supplied were footed tall cylinders. They were complimented with tall white calla lilies in half and a lush compilation of what was in the bridal with accents of green hanging amaranthus and bear grass.

Thanks to my team, Katie and Sarah for taking pictures and traveling up to Bradford Woods to set it all up.