I hope the weekend has treated everyone well!  I am kicking things off with a bit of Floralspiration!  Our good friends Floral Rush have put together a super fun bouquet with a very interesting point to keep in mind!  While its always nice to have an idea of what you want going into your floral meetings, real exposure to a variety of flowers is in truth, hard to have.  Unless your a bit of a closet flower nut, my guess is you know most of the basics, especially considering our exposure in the floral area is pretty repetitive within the wedding world.

When heading into your meetings with your florist, let their superior knowledge & exposure to all things flowers guide you.  During the throws  of summer, there are many unusual and small lot flora are available one would not normally consider or have exposure to for example.  It’s important to have close communication with your florist and if your flexible, they can create a very unique and inspiring bouquet for your wedding!  Many unusual flowers are available for a very limited time which can create a one of a kind bouquet for your wedding.  Its great to remain open and try to love a  ”look” and not just a flower.

Our unique Floral Rush Bouquet today is made of some wonderful limited time available fauna!  Nestled in this warm hued bouquet is Salmon Colored Vanda Orchid, Viburnum Berry, Asclepia, Succulents, Yarrow (Hot Pink), and Smoke Bush.  I dont know about you guys, but this particular arrangement, to me, evokes a sense of warmth, fire, passion & love!  I also love the berries incorporated into the bouquet!  What do you guys think?  Are you a fan of this passion hued arrangement?  Will you be seeking out limitedly available flowers to make your day as unique as it truly can be?!

FloralRush is less like a floral shop and more like a boutique gallery of living art. In addition to being home to some of the freshest selection of flowers flown in from all over the world, we offer an array of designer quality gift items that can be the perfect keepsake to accompany your chosen arrangement. Come visit us. You’ll see what were talking about as soon as you walk in. We are located conveniently on Sunset Boulevard, between Fairfax and La Brea, in West Hollywood.  Follow us on Facebook!

I quite often hear a lot of brides very strongly floating the idea of doing their own flowers for their wedding in effort to save money.  While I understand where they are coming from, let me stress something really important.  Your wedding day, no matter how well planned, no matter how well executed, no matter how well prep the days leading up to it went, will be chalk full of more then enough things to do and worry about, like yourself.  Trust me, its a big task really.  The more you layer onto your To-Do list, the harder it all becomes, even with a small army for help.

Hubby & I personally took on a lot, A LOT of DIY tasks, well I so on the DIY side, he so on the logistics side, the result?  I was a freaking nightmare for the 3 days leading into my wedding.  I dont mean bridezilla, but I do mean visibly over stressed, trying to hold about 50 loose ends together, remembering not to forget details, organizing this and that and more so.  I literally could not shut off my brain.  Sleeping was pretty much impossible.  If I had thought to add doing something as huge as my own flowers for the wedding….eek!  I probably would have exploded.

Understand, flowers are a fickle fickle thing, each unique in its own needs leading up to show time.  If you dont have the proper place to store them (you will need them a day or so before you even work with them), then store them once they become centerpieces & bouquets, dont even consider this.  Execution is another major factor, do you have someone that you really feel confident in to assemble them and execute as needed?  You certainly wont be walking into your own wedding adjusting as needed, so get that out of your mind.  Do you really want to risk walking in the room for the first time and rather then feeling elation and joy, thinking, crap that flower is out of place, or that doesnt look as good as it did in the picture and so on?

Floral is actually an area where I think brides assume they can skirt on in attempt to save money.  I completely disagree.  Its risky in a way that could totally kill your joy of the day in a way you arent even considering yet.  Florist are a super important part of the day that takes pressure off that you never even imagined.

The Sweetest Occasion DIY Floral Centerpiece

With all that said, I know there are those of you that no matter what I say, will still want to try it, maybe even for the rehearsal dinner vs the big day.  I am not telling you its a terrible decision, I just think its a lot more work then you realize and a lot could not play out as you would hope.  As I come upon DIY’s for great centerpieces & floral arrangements, I will continue to pass them along all the same. I cant stop you, but perhaps I can guide into ones that are easier then others.  If nothing else, they can also serve themselves for other occasions.  Anything from a dinner party, engagement party, rehearsal you name it.  The Sweetest Occasion has a super cute, pretty low fuss DIY Centerpiece featuring tulips & peonies (though this can be easily done with various blooms).  The idea in theory is simple and it is defiantly something I want to try out for a dinner party in the near feature.  For the full DIY, head to The Sweetest Occasion

*All photographs by Alice G Patterson Photography

Life is a funny fickle thing at times.  There are times when I am pretty convinced that as your  merrily plucking along, it decides that you’ve simply had to easy of a go and its time for a personal earthquake.  I am sure that many of you wonderful readers might have noticed, the offerings on site last week….sucked.  I know they sucked.  I am sorry they sucked.  While something wasnt happening to me directly, (thank you all for your love!) it was something directly effecting my immediate family, and we all know, it consumes everything.  Things are finally settling back down and starting tomorrow, I promise to be back full force and get back to writing more as I had been as well!  Tomorrow’s feature will be a gorgeous Vegas wedding with the adorable couple from the desert ghost town engagement shoot!  Today, allow me share the love to some of my fellow bloggers, and direct you to some wonderful must reads! Xo-Jess

Start things off with a stunning Golf Club Wedding on LoveToast

Want to try something a bit out of the ordinary for your bouquet?  Check out fabric flowers with Glamour & Grace

Perhaps on of my favorite sites for straight up prettyspiration, this is glamorous has a swoon worthy collection of Instagram images to bring out your inner girly

Looking for a midsummer’s night dreamy lake wedding, head to WellWed Hamptons

Personally, I like peering into what the interior design world is doing.  Believe it or not, its a fantastic source of creativity for weddings! Check out Elle Decor‘s interview with Rose Tarlow on California style

Wedding day timeline is super important, there is no getting around that, but at the end of the day, its allowing your event to truly flow as its needs to, regardless of your timeline.  Let Bitchless Bride smack the watches offer your wrists

A lil rain never hurt a good wedding especially when its a backyard stunner like this lovely treat from Style Me Pretty

My favorite post for last, Alice In Weddingland follows her dream dress down the rabbit hole known as trying to source a designer from a Pinterest pin.  This dress….is….. AMAZING!  I want to wear it and run bare foot in a field of wild flowers while a stormy sky forms overhead.  But I digress….Alice has first dibs  ;)

I’m an inspiration girl.  Styled shoots are a fabulous way to pick up bits & pieces along the way that suit you and your vision, helping you craft your perfect day in every detail.  Today’s feature is a  styled bridal portrait shoot with a few lovely brides & a spot of gorgeous floral inspiration.  There are some pretty amazing boutonnieres in here as well, which leads me to mention, ladies, dont forget about your men!  Their flower should be another thumb print of your wedding, from the choice of flower, to the choice of green or accompanying little details, to the material that it is wrapped in.  I’ll totally admit, hubby’s boutonniere got little to no real thought to it and now I am bummed on myself.  He really should have one of these amazing ones below.  Oops!  So learn from me ladies, give your men something beautiful to wear!

Vendor Love

Make-up & Hair Stylist: Belle Soeur Styles
Floral Designer: Shelley’s Floral Enterprise, Bergerons Flowers & Events
Dress Store: Annalee’s Formals, Curvaceous Couture
Jewelry: Mangan Jewelers
Event Venue: Murray Hill
DIY or Handmade Goods Designer: The Flirty Blossom
Photographer: SoftBox Media Photography

I love flowers.  I love looking at them, planting them, having them in my house, you name it.  I could easily look through floral photography for hours.  I’ll totally out myself, I’ve been known to sit at my Grandmother-In-Laws house and leaf through her bulb catalogs, I’m not kidding either.

I hope to more frequently & consistently bring you guys amazing arrangements & bouquets complete with floral identification as nothing bothers me more then not pointing out what things are.  I am working toward a few great florist partnerships, so hopefully I will get this rolling soon.  If your a florist reading this & are interested, please email me.

So lets get to the goods right?  Today I want to feature a lovely bouquet that showcases soft creams while incorporating deep purples.

The wonderful flowers that make up this bouquet are  garden roses, ranunculus, parrot tulips, cobra lilies, fiddlehead ferns and callas.  The flowers are then wrapped up in layers of silk, raffia, twill and burlap ribbons allowing for long wind swept pieces to flow from the bouquet itself.  This bouquet was created by Soiree Floral via Well Wed.

While the overall look of the arrangement itself has a feel of wonder & enchantment, what I really appreciate here is how well the element of color is handled.  Brides often trap themselves into think, Ok I’m having an X color wedding, EVERYTHING needs to drip that color.  Sometimes that works, often, its too much.  I appreciate the ability here to give voice to the wedding color palette without being incredibly in your face.  The mix of the deep purples callas & fern heads, which give depth & height, are then blended with the cobra lilies to create perfection.  The soft creams are used to defuse the deep strong colors & give life and movement to the overall look and feel.

Remember my brides to be, even if your having a one color wedding, there are ways to incorporate that color without going over the top unintentionally.  Once you’ve selected a florist who’s work you like & appreciate, trust in their commentary & expertise!