Wedding Flower Trends 2012

The flower of the year is the peony. The peony offers soft romance and is willing to share the stage with other fluttery blooms such as roses, ranunculus, and carnations. The always elegant orchid is also popular and tries it’s best to move into the spotlight as well.



Single centerpieces are no longer the staple at wedding receptions. Tables now have a collection of smaller centerpieces, whether different blooms of a similar shade or blooms with candles and personal collections. Vessels are also important in creating this look. Different mercury glass vases filled with mini bouquets of flowers create an abundance and super sexy look.



Beyond the blooms! Centerpieces don’t just belong to flowers. Greenery and herbs are also used as a new alternative. Herbs used can be fresh potted ones or dried ones like rosemary and purple basil.



Chic brides that want a totally unique centerpiece would love terrariums. These are glass domed arrangements of pebbles, flowers, succulents, and objects such as shells or bird’s nests. Each centerpiece would be slightly different but full of personality!



Image Credit: 1. Martha Stewart Weddings 2. Style Me Pretty 3. The Wedding Dish 4. Wedding.blogdig.net

First International Job

I knew I wouldn't be able to keep weddings out of my mind during my vacation. My first and second day in Hong Kong was spent researching and attending a wedding fair for new ideas to bring back to Canada. After the first two days, I forced myself not to think about weddings and to really focus on relaxing. This "relaxing" was short lived when my friend asked me to be one of her bridesmaids and to decorate a staircase for her. I thought she was kidding, but she was serious. A bride does not joke about such things!

My friend told me she has most of the reception decorations covered already. The only thing left was a staircase that needs decorations. I gave her some ideas and went to buy some silk flowers with her. She said she will handle purchasing the rest of the decorations given that I don't know my way around and I am a tourist afterall.

The day of the wedding, I learned that this staircase is where my friend will be making her grand entrance into the reception hall. This was a very important element to the wedding design. I was provided some pink satin fabric, silk flowers, a pair of scissors, and a roll of tape. (Not exactly the kind of "tools" I am used to.) As I started decorating, I learned there wasn't enough pink satin to decorate both sides of the staircase. The groom came by and was really stressed out. He said he was sure he measured the staircase properly. He then asked me what he should do. I told him that he should have a seat and a drink. I will handle the rest.

In the end, we changed the design slightly and skillfully borrowed satin fabric from here and there to completely decorate two sides of the staircase. From this experience, I learned that you don't have to lug around a ton of tools to decorate. All of the staircase decorations were held on by tape, only tape! Check out the pictures of my first international wedding decorating job!

Center Street Church Ceremony

When Andrew asked me how Isadora and I knew, I told him that Isadora attended some Japanese courses in University with our mutual friend. Andrew gave me a blank look. I told him that I get that look a lot, I think it sounds odd too. But hey, it doesn't really matter how you meet friends right?!

Andrew and Isadora’s wedding ceremony was held at the Centre Street Church. At first, I thought this is going to be an easy/easier set up because I have done a wedding there before. Then, I learned that their wedding was the second one that day and we only had one hour to set up. My initial design was changed one month before the wedding date. Mostly because I came up with a better design and it would be easier to set up within an hour.

I made a total of 10 fresh pink floral bouquets to be placed in clear tall pillar vases at the front of the room, at the vow area. These bouquets were made with various shades of roses and carnations. (I love working with carnations!) In addition to having lots of wow power when guests walk into the room, it also eased Isadora’s fear of knocking anything down when she walks down the aisle.
After the ceremony, Pastor Miriam came up to me to tell me how lovely the decorations were and that she said she has never seen any decorations like that before. She even offered to write me a letter of recommendation. She was so sweet!

I am still in the process of getting some professional pictures of the ceremony décor as I forgot to take some pictures (again.) I did manage to snap three pictures on my phone before guests started to arrive. My pictures do not do the design any justice, but I do like how they look like they are all floating!

Flowers by Season

Yesterday was the first official day of Spring! When I think of spring, I think of colorful blossoms of flowers. Spring is also the time where you can chose from an amazing assortment of colors in wedding flowers. For wedding flowers, you can expect the freshest and most cost-effective flowers when you chose flowers that are in season. The following is a list of flowers separated by season.

Spring Flowers – Because some of these flowers are only available in the Spring, I strongly suggest brides take advantage of this season and get some of these flowers incorporated into their wedding bouquet and/or centerpieces.

Cherry blossom
Daffodil
Hyacinth
Syringa (Lilac)
Peony
Star Gazer Lily
Sweet pea
Tulip

Summer Flowers – There is generally no shortage of flowers to choose from during the summer. This is the season to have it all – in your bouquet!

Bells of Ireland
Calla lily
Dahlia
Gardenia
Gerber Daisy
Gladiola
Delphinium
Hydrangea
Iris
Lily
Sunflower
Stephanotis
Tuberose

Fall Wedding Flowers – Don’t fret because this list is so short. There are still lots of flower combinations available. If you happen to have a fall themed wedding, you can choose wedding flowers in red, orange, and yellow to go with your wedding theme!

Aster
Chrysanthemum
Holly
Hydrangea (early fall)
Marigold

Winter Wedding Flowers – Somehow the list of winter flowers is longer than the list of fall flowers available. You might think this is weird but some varieties just do better in cooler temperatures. In addition to flowers, you might want to include berries or pinecones with your flower centerpieces just to give it a special winter touch!

Amaryllis
Bells of Ireland
Evergreen
Gardenia
Holly
Jasmine
Poinsettia
Rose
Star Gazer Lily
Star of Bethlehem

Of course, there are thousands of varieties of flowers to choose from, these are just some of the most popular and readily available for weddings. The flowers that are available pretty much year round include Baby's Breath, Calla Lily, Carnations, Freesia, Gardenia, Orchid, and Roses. Have fun when designing your wedding bouquet and decorations. You can mix and match seasonal flowers with year round flowers.

If you have your heart set on a certain flower for your bouquet, don't worry if it's not in season. Odds are they are being grown somewhere in this world and they can be imported in. The only downfall to this is that you can expect to pay at least three times as much as compared to locally grown, seasonal blooms. If budget is an issue, ask your florist for alternative blooms that can give you the similar effect and feeling. You just might find out that the flower you like has a third cousin twice removed and is grown locally in season.

All of the pictures are from The Knot. They are an excellent resource for wedding planning!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I think that Valentine’s Day is the most romantic day of the year. It is a day to celebrate love. I know that a lot of my friends disagree (and are probably rolling their eyes as they are reading this); think it is a day created by Hallmark; and don’t believe in Valentine’s altogether. To those friends I say (with love): You don’t have to believe in Valentine’s Day, just don’t ruin it for the rest of us. We will continue to celebrate this day and most likely show you how much we love you!

When I met with my clients to discuss the design of their wedding, I often try to inject some ideas about how they can start new traditions and celebrate their wedding day in the years to come either on their anniversary date or on Valentine’s Day! (You knew that part was coming!) Here are some of my favorite ideas:

Wedding Day: I suggest that grooms to write a love note to their bride and have it delivered by a groomsman the morning of the wedding. This love note can be short and just relay how excited they are that they will be getting married in a couple of hours. Future Celebrations: Write a love note to your significant other telling them your emotions the morning of your wedding and how reading the love note confirmed your love.

Wedding Day: If my clients plan on having bouquets of flowers as wedding decorations, I suggest buying the very best vase you can afford that also fits in with your home décor. The vase is often overlooked at weddings. You will be surprised how a beautiful vase complements the flowers in it. Future Celebrations: Future flower arrangements received on special days (or just about any day!) can be placed in this special wedding vase. It will give you a quick visual trip down memory lane of your wedding day.

Wedding Day: After the bride has chosen their wedding bouquet, I suggest to grooms that they either study the bouquet or have a picture of the bouquet with them. Future Celebrations: Have the wedding bouquet recreated 100% (have the stems tied together and all) and give that bouquet to your wife. It will be a huge surprise and it honestly won’t cost that much more than a dozen of red roses on Valentine’s Day.

These pictures from One Wed inspire and make me smile! I hope it does the same for you!





Side note: I know that I probably only have two male readers of this blog (both close friends of mine), but if you are bride, start dropping these hints to your fiancé (if I haven’t already done so!)

Baby's Breath

I firmly believe that “baby’s breath” is going to make a huge comeback soon. It has been the loyal sidekick to roses for too long. Baby’s breath gets such a bad reputation. It is also often labeled as cheap and tacky. However, this is so untrue. It is inexpensive and can be unique and whimsical. Baby’s breath has a very airy feel to it and it can be trimmed to a perfect (almost) anything shape. You can’t do that with too many flowers.

Now, you might say that this blog sounds a little bit like a rant. However, I am just hoping to help brides open up to the many possibilities of the baby’s breath. I was able to convince one of my brides to use the baby’s breath as one of three centerpieces. I don’t usually “convince” my clients of a specific flower but I truly felt that the baby’s breath would work well with her laid back and simple wedding décor. Below is a picture of my bride’s centerpieces.

DIY Flower Arrangements

Two weeks ago, I blogged about setting up a booth at the Sun and Salsa Festival to promote Wishahmon – Wedding Creations. I had a wonderful time speaking to over 50 brides about their upcoming weddings. Like I told all of them, I am “the girlfriend that never gets tired of talking about their wedding.” A couple of non-brides also came into my booth to check out my décor. They all raved about my decorated booth and floral arrangements. A couple of people asked to purchase my floral arrangements but I couldn’t sell them because my booth would be really bare. All in all, I had a great time and would consider doing it all over again!

When making floral arrangements for my client’s weddings, I usually purchase my flowers from a floral wholesaler because I have to buy them in bulk quantities. For the floral arrangements for Sun and Salsa Festival, I decided to make this into another one of my small projects. My goal was to make beautiful arrangements from flowers bought from grocery stores. (Don’t cringe just yet. Let me finish…)

The day before the festival, I went to Costco and Superstore to purchase inexpensive bunches of flowers. I got to these stores right when it opened to get the freshest flowers possible. I ended up buying a mixed spring bunch, two dozen of red and white roses, some white hydrangeas, two stems of curly willow, and a couple of birds of paradise. The goal was to create four different themed floral arrangements: romantic, fresh, trendy, and traditional.

I strongly believe that you don’t have to be a Certified Floral Designer to make beautiful arrangements. (Although, I am certified.) Here are some tips on making your own floral arrangements from (grocery) store bought flowers:

1.Get inspiration from magazines on the floral arrangement you want to make.

2.Study the design and think about how to make it. A lot of people say that can’t do something, but honestly so much can be achieved if you just take the time to think about the project itself. Think about the shape of the arrangement and in what order the flowers should go into the vase. There is (almost) no wrong way of doing this. If the arrangement doesn’t look pleasing, take it out and do it all over again. Just make sure your flowers aren’t out of water for too long.

3.Don’t cut your stems too short. You can always trim all the stems later to get the correct height. Remember that although flowers grow, they cannot grow inches overnight.

4.Have a positive attitude. If you think you can rock it, you will.

5.If your arrangement still looks less than par, get a great vase for it. For one of my arrangements, I had an “OMG” moment. What did I do? I put the arrangement in a cute rectangular vase with a grass print on it. In the end, it looked like these flowers were growing out of the grass. Too cute!

Here are some pictures of the floral arrangements I made for the Sun and Salsa Festival.

White Roses and Blue Delphiniums Bouquet

For those that don’t know already, I have a very “can do” attitude. I take on most tasks that gets handed to me and I try my very best on all of them. Two weeks ago I did a floral bouquet and boutonniere for a friend’s friend (bride). My friend told me that the bride wanted a bouquet with white roses and blue flowers. True blue flowers are very hard to come by. I ended up suggesting and making her bouquet with delphiniums.

(Tip: If you plan on using flowers that have been dyed a specific color, do not let it touch you or your wedding gown. The colors will bleed. Try wrapping the stems with saran wrap right before you walk down the aisle to prevent any mishaps. This is not tacky, it is smart and your guests won’t notice.)

Making bouquets are tricky because there are so many different factors that you cannot always account for. The first difficulty I had to deal with was the lack of flower supply. The bride’s wedding was on the same weekend as Mother’s Day. The second difficulty I had was that some of the flowers were cut prematurely to service the demand. (Ha! This is the second time I am talking about economics on my blog. My professor would be so proud that some of his teachings did stick with me.)

The delphiniums that I bought only had about 40% of them open. So, I had to cut the top of the flower stems off because I did not want unopened buds. Of course, I also had to cut off all the bottom leaves too. What I had left was a pretty bare (and naked) branch with a couple of opened flowers. After I put the bouquet together, I further cut off the flowers to trim down the bouquet to make its shape. There were so many flower buds on my table that just didn’t make the “cut” (or it did).

Here are some pictures.

Growing Your Own Centerpieces

Ok, I am not quite “Little Miss Green Thumbs” yet…but I am working towards it. My last post about the cost of flowers inspired me to write this one. Another great way of saving money for wedding flowers is to grow them yourself. Of course, this is easier if you are already a great gardener. For the rest of us, I don’t think this is a mission impossible task. We just might have to leave enough time for trial and error and maybe grow hardier plants (that don’t need sun or water). There has to be some of those out there.

The cost of growing your wedding flowers is minimal. You just need to purchase some pretty pots (greatest expense), soil, seed, and water. You can calculate what your time is worth too, but I don’t think you will be reimbursed. If growing a centerpiece from seed sounds intimidating, you can go to a gardening center to buy plants and flowers that have already started growing. The cost is a little more but still a lot lower than purchasing fresh flower arrangements.

I think the easiest centerpiece to grow would be wheat grass. (It has to be easy. It has the word “grass” in it.) For those that don’t know what wheat grass is, it is the grass that Jugo Juice cuts, and juices into a little shot glass. It is deep green in color and taste like what you imagine it to be...like drinking grass.

Gardenguides.com provides some tips on growing your own wheat grass. After choosing a container, fill it to about 1” below the top of the rim with pre-moistened soil, compost or potting mix. Make sure whatever you chose doesn't contain any artificial fertilizers or chemicals. (This is important especially if you plan on juicing the wheat grass after the wedding.) Chose a food grade organic seed that is meant for sprouting. Cover the top of the container with wheat seed, press them into the soil, cover the seeds with a light layer of potting mix or soil, and water. The soil should be kept moist at all times. An easy solution would be to cover the container with a plastic bag or film.

Now that may sound like a lot of work but you should see sprouts emerge in about 3-4 days and in 7-10 days it should be the perfect height for a centerpiece. If you don’t want to leave it right up to the wedding date, grow it in advance and “mow” it right before the wedding.

Here are some inspiration pictures. The first two pictures are from The Knot. I don’t know the source of the last one. (If you know, please contact me and I will make the appropriate reference.)

Real Cost of Wedding Flowers

It doesn’t matter whether or not have planned a wedding or attended one before, I am sure everyone knows that flowers cost a lot of money. Personally, I don’t think that florists and suppliers are out to “get” you (financially) when you tell them you would like to purchase some flowers for a wedding.

The cost of flowers (not necessarily just for weddings) depends on two factors. The first factor is the actual price of flowers. Prices of flowers fluctuate depending on a lot of factors. The most recent example would be the flights and cargo shipments that were cancelled or delayed from Europe due to the volcanic ash. What this means to the floral industry is: Holland could not ship out any flowers to North America. Probably the only thing I learned in my University Economics 201 class (that was taught on the first day) is when supply goes down, demand goes up. Subsequently, the prices are also driven up, up, up.

The second factor that affects the pricing of wedding flowers is the labor involved. To the untrained eye, the bride’s bouquet looks like a bunch of flowers just gathered together and tied with a pretty ribbon. It is not quite that “ta-da!” easy. Putting together a bouquet requires a lot time to prep the flowers. In case you haven’t noticed, roses have thorns on them; roses in bouquets don’t. Guess what happened in between? The florist removed all of them, they didn’t just fall off. After the flowers are prep, they have to be arranged and held into place. Three steps sound easy, but it is not!

Some tips on saving costs on your wedding flowers:

1. Choose flowers that are in season. If you want tulips (a spring flower) for your wedding in December, it can be done, but at a cost to you.
2. Choose common flowers. By no means am I saying you have to choose a bouquet that everyone (and I mean everyone) has. Similar flowers can have entirely different looks when used with other complementary flowers. No two bouquets will look exactly the same.
3. Choose a common color of flower. Ok, hear me out on this one. White, pink, red roses are readily available. A black rose, not really. However once again, it can be done, but at a cost to you.
4. Choose a simple bouquet design. Posy bouquets are less expensive as compared to a cascading bouquet. The more intricate the design, the more of a cost to you.
5. Choose a florist that likes you. He/she will have more a reason to help you with your wedding budget.

Here are some beautiful bouquets from The Knot for you to drool over and guess the price and labor involved in making them. Enjoy!

Fantasy Floral Designs

Flowers are tricky to choose - especially when you are not familar with the different varieties of flowers. Often my clients ask me for floral suggestions for not only their centerpieces but also their bouquets. My clients also ask me what flowers are IN style. I always tell them that what is IN style doesn't really matter, the most important thing is to choose flowers that they like and goes with their wedding theme. For example, if you are having a modern outdoor wedding, a cascading bouquet might not necessary work. (If you love the look of the cascading bouquet, go for it. I know I am contradicting myself, but really, it is your day. You get to call all the shots.)

As an alternative to fresh floral bouquets, I came across a blog called Fantasy Floral Designs - Home of the Brooch Bouquet. A talented lady by the name of Amanda Heer creates these beautiful bouquets made out of brooches. I think this is a wonderful idea. It can be very personal, creative, and it lasts forever! This is a great alternative if you have heirloom brooches in your family already or if each family member wants to contribute to your brooch bouquet. Another great idea to throwing your bouquet to one lucky lady at the end of the wedding day is to take apart your brooch bouquet and give each single lady a brooch from your bouquet. (Of course, these shouldn't be heirloom brooches!)

Floral Bouquet Challenge

Maggie, the bride from the last blog post presented me with a challenge before her wedding. She asked me if I could make her wedding bouquet, bridesmaid's bouquet, and corsages for the moms and grandmas. I was hesitant to take on this challenge because it would be my first floral "work order" after receiving my Certificate in Floral Design. Initially, I declined Maggie's request because I was so nervous! As laid back as Maggie is, she responded to my email saying "No worries! I was going to do it myself but thought I'd ask you first." I responded to Maggie's email within three seconds saying that I will do it and thanking her for the opportunity.

When I was finally able to track Maggie and Aaron down for a meeting, Maggie and I also talked about what she would like her wedding bouquet to look like. She said she wanted a yellow bouquet in a semi circle; brown ribbon around the stems; no greenery; and two inches of the stems exposed. She said she hated yellow roses and chrysanthemums.

Based on what Maggie told me, I suggested yellow calla lilies as the main flower, white roses as the secondary flower, and yellow fressias as an accent flower. The bridesmaid's bouquets had white roses as the primary flower and yellow calla lilies as the secondary flower. The day before Maggie's wedding, I picked up 50 stems of white roses, 25 stems of yellow calla lilies, and 20 stems of yellow fressias. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of making the bouquets because my office smelled like wonderful from all the flowers.

I forgot to take pictures of my bouquets but was able to get pictures from a friend that attended Maggie's wedding. Lucky me! Now I have pictures for my "Wishahmon - Florals" portfolio!

Food Inspired Flowers

My close friends and family knows that I love food and weddings! As I was researching ideas for my next wedding, I came across some food inspired decorating ideas at LotusHaus. I don't know if these will work at a wedding but they are definitely different and unique. The designer of these floral arrangements was definitely thinking outside the box...or vase!

Chinese take out box!

Floral sushi

Ice cream sundae (Yum!)