Bouquets

March 10th, 2008 @ 4:47 pm by Mrs. Sundae

I’ll preface this by saying I can’t remember where most of the pictures came from. I was collecting these before I started keeping track of them… sorry! I’ll be happy to give credit where it’s due if you just let me know. Anyway, onto the post!

When I first started looking for bouquet ideas I was drawn to pictures like this:

I don’t know much about flowers but I love how fluffy and soft those look. When I found out that bouquet was made of peonies, that was all I needed to know - peonies for me! Cut to a few weeks later, you can imagine my disappointment when I met with our florist for the first time and she told me peonies aren’t in season in September. It truly never occurred to me to check and see when certain flowers are in season. The florist said we could fly some in from Holland but I wasn’t ready to face the dollar signs awaiting at the other end of that sentence. We started talking about alternatives and she suggested garden roses (also known as English Roses). Lucky for me our florist understood my need for all things soft and fluffy, and has some way of treating the garden roses to make them open fully and look like this:

(Image from Wikipedia)

If I am being perfectly honest, I can hardly tell the difference! So hopefully it will all turn out well and I’ll be a happy camper with my white English roses. She’s going to add in some green hypericum berries for a splash of color, something along these lines but without the cymbidium orchids:

(I think this image is from The Knot)

My second flower obsession comes in the form of hydrangeas - in my head they’re associated with big beautiful houses on lakes, a place I hope to live someday So, pretty much all the other flowers used for the ceremony and reception will be either white or green hydrangeas. They’ll be green hydrangeas in the centerpieces and the bridesmaids bouquets will look something like this:

(This image might be from The Knot too)

Besides being beautiful (I think), the great thing about hydrangeas is that they’re pretty reasonably priced per stem and they’re so big that you don’t need very many of them. Pretty and economical, a perfect combination.

How did you decide on your bouquet? Were you hoping for any particular flower that wasn’t in season?

Tags: flowers, lake geneva |

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Grandma's Rosary Wrapped Around My Bouquet

11 Responses to “Bouquets”

Member

sdbride (message) 81 posts, Worker bee

I actually picked my wedding date partially based on whether the flowers I liked would be in season (I am getting married in May and I love spring flowers). Like you, I love peonies, but since the weather will play a key factor as to whether they will be available for me, I am just going to sit back and wait to see whether I can get them at an affordable price. If not, I’m planning on substituting English roses.

3/10/08 @ 4:56 pm (reply)

Member

NiftyBa (message) 132 posts, Blushing bee

My keywords for flowers were “fluffy, pink, and white.” I was pining for dahlias, only to find that they were uber-expensive in the month of May. Surprisingly enough, I found myself drawn to carnations in the end. I know they’re not the hottest flower around, but they were fluffy and came in the colors I wanted.

3/10/08 @ 4:59 pm (reply)

Member

ashlop2 (message) 89 posts, Worker bee

I love love love peonies as well! Luckily, I am getting married in May, when they are in season. Some other good “peony looking” flowers are sophie roses and ranaculous!

3/10/08 @ 5:01 pm (reply)

Guest

Jessica

LOVE peonies!!!
I’m planing on getting married in the begining of June so I’m praying it can happen.
I want them for everything but only NEED them for by bouquet…funny my second choice for center pieces etc is also Hydrangeas

3/10/08 @ 5:17 pm (reply)

Guest

coffee

oh, heck yes. Although my florist (a friend of the fam) shot down anything that was “too expensive.” I appreciated his honesty in what blooms would send me over budget, but…he also was just not sharing my vision. I abandoned the hopes that he’d be on board for something untraditional like vibrant sunflowers or Queen Anne’s Lace, because I know instead I’d get carnations and baby’s breath. With the probability that it’d come out looking like Bayside High School’s junior prom, I decided to play it safe. :/

3/10/08 @ 5:22 pm (reply)

Member

julieulie (message) 266 posts, Helper bee

Just a word of warning about hydrangeas:

I love hydrangeas. Love, love, love. My parents have loads of hydrangea bushes in their backyard, and my entire life, they have ALWAYS bloomed the week of my birthday, so I knew I wanted to incorporate them in my wedding with the bridesmaid bouquets. The only problem is that hydrangeas DO NOT do well out of water. If you’re not doing pictures before the ceremony and they’ll sit in water until 5 minutes before the walk down the aisle, then it’s no big deal. But if you plan on doing all your pictures beforehand like we are, and the hydrangeas will be out of water for a while, you’ll run into problems. Our florist even made us sign a special release form just to use hydrangeas in a bouquet. I am actually buying fake hydrangeas and the florist is going to wrap them the same as the real hydrangeas, and we’ll use the fake ones for the outdoor pictures before the ceremony so the real ones will be fresh and pretty instead of wilted and droopy. Just something to think about so you’re not disappointed with them on the day of your wedding.

3/10/08 @ 5:28 pm (reply)

Guest

Linda

I wanted peonies too, but they are out of season. I went with dalihas.
I agree with juliejulie. My florist advised against hydrangeas because they have a tendency to wilt very fast.

3/10/08 @ 5:43 pm (reply)

Member

dani24 (message) 54 posts, Worker bee

I too have been lusting after hydrangeas and peonies. I want hydrangea for the bridesmaids bouquets (great idea about the silk bouquets for pictures, julieulie). And your first picture has long been one of my favorite inspiration pictures.

I think for the centerpieces, I want a mix of lush, white flowers like hydrangea, peony/garden roses, queen annes lace, white anemones with black centers, lily of the valley, etc. along with pits of greenery. They’ll be set in vintage milk glass containers.

As for the hydrangeas needing water… my mom was a florist for many, many years. I know she used to wrap the stems of thirsty flowers with soaking wet pieces of cotton (and then wrapped with floral tape to prevent leaking). Or she would use these clear water tubes that you stick the stem into (it has a rubber top that holds it on). Maybe something like that could work too?

3/10/08 @ 8:05 pm (reply)

Member

megs08 (message) 133 posts, Blushing bee

I like hydrangeas and thought they weren’t in season in May but was happy to hear they will be. Planning on using them for the bridesmaids and for one of the centerpieces. I will make sure to ask my florist about the bouquet issue julieulie mentioned. I wanted to use tulips in my bouquet but the florist advised me against it. She said they will open too quickly. Tentatively I’m having peonies but I think I may change it before the wedding. I tend to be indecisive

3/10/08 @ 8:41 pm (reply)

10.

Guest

Thea T

i’m in the midst of stalking, er… calling, florists now so all I’ve been doing is looking up flowers. I want my bouquet to look similar to what you described with red instead of white flowers. I think the final bridal bouquet will have ranunculus, maybe dahlias (it’s shoulder season for them), big garden roses, and anemones, with berries. I can’t believe I know this much about flowers now… seriously, I didn’t think I would care this much! Definitely stick to flowers in season. It’s amazing how much prices go up or down depending on the flowers you like.

3/10/08 @ 9:02 pm (reply)

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