Miss Margarita, Boston/Los Angeles
Age and Occupation: 26, Healthcare Consultant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Doctor
Engagement Date: March 21, 2007
Wedding Date: August, 2008
Blogging Since: June 18, 2008
Venue: Saddlerock Ranch
About Me: I grew up in Southern California, moved to Boston for college, New York for grad school, back to Boston and now I travel the northeast every week for work. When I'm not on the go, I love to read, draw, shop, sleep and spend quality time with my fiancé, family and friends. We're long-distance planning for our "big fat brown wedding" in California and are excited to unite our Sri Lankan and Indian cultures and Buddhist and Hindu religions in a unique and modern way.
Man(zanita) Love!
July 25th, 2008 @ 3:52 pm by Mrs. Margarita
I’ve shown the hive my bridal party floral ideas, so next up is the ceremony and centerpieces. These are some of the pictures I brought along with me when I went to visit/interview florists. Just a bit of advice - it helps immensely to bring inspiration pictures when you visit a florist. They will get a good idea of the look/theme/vibe you are going for, and if your vision is all over the place like mine was, at least they can tell you that and help you narrow things down. 
Ceremony:
I want to keep the ceremony mostly white/ivory with touches of orange and bring in the rich plum color for the reception.
My vision is to line the aisle with large copper or dark wood bowls with dahlias in them.
From dreamy R. Jack Balthazar
For the mandap/poruwa, I knew I wanted to have lots of hanging lines of jasmine or orchids. I’m not a fan of the huge pillars that are usually featured in most traditional mandaps. I was having a hard time finding inspiration photos for mandaps until I stumbled upon Michelle Rago’s website. The pictures below are of a wedding she did at Breakers hotel. I am obsessed with the beautiful hand carved structure - it has a sort of Moroccan vibe to it. I don’t think we are going to be able to find or replicate anything as oranate and gorgeous as this, but I can dream…
I LOVE these orchid trees. We wanted to do some type of archway leading into the aisle, but we had to cut the flower budget down so these beauties didn’t make it.
Cocktail Hour:
I wanted to keep the cost of these down so I was going for something simple and unique. I’m not sure my mom was a fan of using fruit in a centerpiece, but I think these towers of oranges with stephanotis will be beautiful.
Another picture from R. Jack Balthazar
I like the look of these flowers in bamboo and they are relatively inexpensive too.
Centerpieces:
Here is where my love for manzanitas comes in. I watched an episode of Platinum Weddings and almost died when I saw this couple’s florals. They had these huge tree centerpieces dripping with flowers. Turns out the tree in the episode is actually made of copper and is something like $2K a centerpiece. Crazy but so beautiful. Manzanita branches instead of a copper tree will make ours A LOT cheaper and just as beautiful.
Copper tree by Square Root Design
Another tree from Square Root
Here is our lovely florist Jill’s interpretation (the pictures don’t do them justice):
Close up of the base
The branches
Details of the base - I love all the roses, dahilas, succulents and lotus pods
As much as I’d love to have all tree centerpieces, with 40 tables that would really break the budget. We are instead going to do a variation of high (tree), low, and long centerpieces.
We are going to have some long rectangular tables as well and I am in love with this sort of creeping tree and flower look from R. Jack Balthazar ( I know, I’m obsessed).
Here are some inspirations I had for the low centerpieces:
Flowers by Fiore Designs
Love this lush piece also from R. Jack Balthazar
Isn’t this piece gorgeous? I can’t remember where I found it, but I love it!
Here’s what Jill came up with as a first try:
I like them a lot but there is something that isn’t perfect about the low centerpieces. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Any advice/changes from the hive?
Have any of you caught manzanita fever? If so, how are you incorporating them into your wedding decor?
14 Responses to “Man(zanita) Love!”
Centerpieces- The first thing that caught my eye were the big patches of white (hydrangeas?). If you want some white, maybe something smaller? I like the denser color or monochromatic look of your inspiration pictures (maybe all shades of orange or all shades of white?).
I think the low centerpiece would look better with more dirftwood and ivy, less flowers. It kind of looks too overstuffed.
Your inspiration piece is gorgeous, the roses just look like they’re nestling ever so slightly on top of the dirftwood. As opposed to jammed packed. But I think your florist did a great job first try. I’m sure its not something they get requests for on a normal basis. I’d have her give it another try.
I think that the other ones you liked were more monochromatic, with fewer different flowers (and colors). I’d try to make the arrangements simple by using fewer types of flowers.
I’m just drooling over the tree pics!
becky
I just wanted to say that I LOVE the mandap idea pics! So minimal, yet extremely beautiful!!!
@peihan17: You are so right! I really don’t like the big white patches in there. At all. Thanks for the critical eye!
@MissCamera and @Miss Trifle: You guys are also totally right! In comparison to my inspiration photos, this centerpiece looks just a little overstuffed with flowers. You barely see the wood/branch thing so it almost makes it look like just a weird stick. Thanks!
@Becky: I just visited your blog and I was cracking up about Mr. Mirel. At least he-she’s junk mail could come in handy for you 
@IndianPrincess: I love those pictures too! I don’t think it was originally a mandap but it could totally work as one.
You’re going to have such beautiful florals! I agree with Miss Trifle–less kinds of flowers, and maybe some could be more/all orange, and others more/all red/plum,–the simpler and more monochromatic I think the more it makes a strong statement–very lovely and elegant.
oooh the creeping tree! It’s like straight out of Sleepy Hollow… but in a nice weddingish kind of way
I think the issue might be you have too much going on as others have noted above.
Also, in the pic of the inspiration, there are larger groupings of the same flower/colour in comparison to the one she created for you. Therefore, I think you can keep the white but have it grouped/bunched more together instead.
LOVE the manzanita! We are also using it in our reception. We are placing two branches in a pot next to one another and stringing fishing line between the two. On the line, we will place the place cards. We aren’t doing crystals for the thing that holds the votives, though. It will just be silver string. My fiancé nixed the crystals. Not manly enough.
Two suggestions…instead of the oranges in that one centerpiece, have you considered using Kumquats? I think that they tend to look fresher than oranges, their coloring is more vibrant and they have a slight glossy look to them when polished. Secondly, the manzanilla tree is a great idea! I would probably cut out most of the white flowers and insert more of the plum colors…I think that plum complements the orange better than the white, which stands out more in contrast to the orange…just a suggestion, you have a very cool vision.
Oh I love the manzanita with the candles hanging off of it!!! Thanks for all of these inspirations.
I love the mandap with the monogram, that is so fabulous and so gorgeous! I love the centerpieces. So Beautiful!
@bumble: I notice that now too. I love when flowers are clustered and these are definitely too scattered. Thanks for the suggestion!
@Sarita: Great idea on the kumquats! My florist actually just told me the same thing. I also think I’m going to ask for more plum and less white in the florals. There’s just not enough plum in there in general. Thanks!
