Bright Colors for a Joyous Spring Wedding

Kristyn and Kevin were just as sweet as can be on their wedding day.  Everything about them and their wedding was vibrant and bright--even the flowers!  Images by TenSixteen Photography.

Such a great photo of Kristyn and her mom!  The bride carried a bright mix of lots of different textures including dahlias, mums, freesia, and lily of the valley.

Ceremony at Kirkwood United Methodist Church

Such a fun couple......

......with a fun wedding party!

 

Our best to Kristyn and Kevin for a Happy First Anniversary (one day late)!  It was a pleasure being a part of your day!

KSDK Royal Wedding Bouquets

Here are some of our snapshots of the Royal Wedding Bouquets during Tuesday's live newscast of KSDK's Royal Wedding coverage.

Here is our replica of Kate's bouquet. (This beautiful model happens to be one of our brides for this September, Danielle!)

Here is our cost-effective version of the Royal bouquet made of freesia.

Royal Wedding Fun!

:)

Royal Wedding Flowers

So much to talk about, so little blog space! The royal wedding has come and gone. It was as beautiful as we all thought it would be. All around the world people watched to see Kate's dress, the Royal Family and, of course, the flowers!

This morning, flower designs by Sisters Flowers are being featured on Channel 5 in a segment about the big wedding live at Blushing Bride in Shiloh, IL. In case you won't see it live, here are some shots of the royal flower replicas we were asked to create.

Kate's bouquet was a small, tear-drop shaped bouquet of lily of the valley, Sweet William, hyacinth, and myrtle. Though it had a very understated look, it was a very intricate bouquet full of very delicate blooms.

In our replica, we used approximately 120 stems of lily of the valley, accented with stephanotis blooms and Italian ruscus with a similar shape to Kate's.

We also designed an American version that would be a little more cost effective, but still has the look and feel of the original. Our version has freesia, heather and Italian ruscus in the same tear-drop shape. (Refer to our previous blog segment "Let's Do the Math" on lily of the valley for info about pricing the blooms.)

It's fun to see what the upcoming trends in flowers will be based on social media and events. The Royal Wedding is the epitome of all these things. We had fun discussing, speculating and ultimately designing around this event.

Thanks to Jamie at Blushing Bride for this awesome opportunity!

:)

Lily of the Valley- Silk vs Fresh

About a week ago, we did a bridal bouquet that included fresh and silk lily of the valley. We thought it would be a good follow-up for our last "Do the Math" segment on lily of the valley (affectionately abbreviated as LOV).


This bride agreed on including silk LOV instead of fresh to save on cost. Here are some snapshots of the all white and ivory bouquet with the silk included.

As an added bonus, the bride's mother, who came from out of town, was able to bring some blooming LOV from her garden. Here is what the delicate blooms look like up close.

We were able to add the fresh LOV to the silk and here is the result.

As you can see, it's hard to distinguish which blooms are fresh and which are silk. Even though we saw the bouquet in person, it's still difficult for us to pick out which is which. There were approximately 10 silk stems and 10-15 fresh stems of LOV in this bouquet. If the bride had purchased all fresh LOV for this bouquet, it would have added about $200-300--just for the lily of the valley. As an all silk accent the cost would have been drastically less expensive-- approximately $30-40 for the LOV. Normally, we would only recommend silks as a last resort for flowers that are out of season, but silk lily of the valley is a viable option for brides who really love it.

:)

"Let's Do the Math"- Lily of the Valley

There are very few icons as timeless as Grace Kelly. Her sophisticated style has been used in everything from fashion to flowers for decades. Her wedding photo from 1956 pretty much says it all. Today, brides try to emulate this same elegance and sophistication, right down to the bouquet Grace carried. This simple, white clutch was all lily of the valley. It's a small, dainty flower that blooms from about May to June, but can be ordered from world-wide growers all throughout the year. The sweet smelling, bell-shaped flowers are staggered on each stem. The stems measure about 4-6 inches in height. You may have seen it growing in your neighbor's yard or in the park.

You may have also seen it in the celebrity weddings of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Elizabeth Hurley. Though their bouquets are very elegant and understated, we assure you, the price was not. Because these flowers are so delicate, they are difficult to ship and, as a result, are extremely expensive. To use them as an accent in a bouquet is expensive enough, but having a bouquet made entirely of lily of the valley is pricey. Here's how to "Do the Math."

This handful of lily of the valley is approximately 50 stems and maybe 6-8 inches in diameter. This small bunch would retail for about $775- 850 in our market. It would take roughly 50% more stems to make Grace Kelly's bridal clutch and 3-4 times as many stems to replicate the size of Elizabeth Hurley or Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's bouquets. Knowing these stats, take a look at the following examples of lily of the valley clutches. Try to invision how many $700 handfuls it would take to construct these bouquets.

After this exercise of "Let's Do the Math" you can see that a substantial amount of stems are needed to craft even a medium-sized clutch of lily of the valley. Therefore, in most respects, a substantial price tag goes with it. We do have brides that use this bloom as simply an accent in their bouquets if they love it and want it or if it is sentimental to them. This can cut the cost considerably. Another popular option is to use silk lily of the valley as an accent with other fresh cut flowers. The silk is very realistic and most people who see the bouquet would assume the silk is fresh because the other flowers in the bouquet are fresh. It's an option to consider.

We strive to keep our readers and clients informed. In this case, simple and dainty doesn't always come with the price tag to match. At least when it comes to lily of the valley, you now know how to "Do the Math."

:)

Two Beautiful Brides, Two Beautiful Bouquets

Jenny and Katie were an absolute pleasure to work with. Here are some photos of their May wedding. Their colors were apple green and pink. We did very garden-y mixed bouquets for the ceremony and accented the same flowers and colors at the reception. Photos by Kelly Manno.

The bridal bouquets were similar,except for lily of the valley, which was added as a special touch in one of the bouquets. Both bouquets included bells of Ireland, calla lilies, freesia, and roses.

At the reception the "apple green" accent color literally transformed to apples. Fruit was added to the other wedding flowers to create fresh-looking, spring table arrangements.

Special thanks to Sabrina from Proposing Dreams for coordinating such a lovely event.

Best wishes to the happy couple!