Alyssa & Garrison's Dramatic Blush and Burgundy Wedding

It's my first post!!

In all honesty, I'm not too entirely great at this blogging thing. I tend to over explain things. Like, a lot. I find myself reading it back going, "Just get to the point already!!". So I'll try to do that.... although no promises!

I love what I do. There is nothing like coming into a room of buckets and buckets of fresh flowers, sitting there, beckoning for you to come arrange them into pretty shapes. It's harmonious and chaotic all at the same time. That's kind of how I felt about designing this wedding.

Alyssa came to me early on with lot of really cool inspiration photos (and, let's face it, she's the coolest, on-trend bride with a great eye). Dark, moody, dark burgundy - almost black - flowers paired with light and airy blush pink. Honestly the only time I had ever seen it done was on Pinterest and that, of course, had me on board! I love different. I want to do things people have never seen before and this was up my alley. The color! The texture! So many possibilities.

The David Austin rose Keira was my choice for this wedding because of it's perfect blush, not overly pink color. It also smells heavenly without being overbearing. They ended up opening even more than than this shot I took of them (this was day two of hydration). The bride wanted her bouquet to be dark and dramatic while the bridesmaids would be lighter and more to the blush side. So the roses took center stage in their bouquets.

Another more textured element of the design was succulents. Do I ever love these!! They were an unexpected element among the softness of the roses and sleekness of black calla lilies. This particular succulent was as big as my palm and was supposed to be a dark red. But sometimes things don't come in as you would expect and you have to improvise. I discovered that a LOT with this wedding.

Other flowers for the bridal bouquet included black dahlias (which are actually more of a deep red), black calla lilies, red amaranth, and a different request of red plumed celosia. They didn't actually come in as red... more like orange-red and fuchsia in the same bunch. YIKES. When it came in and I was worried that it would clash with the other colors I had going on. I just had to pray that it would all make sense.

The bridesmaids also got succulents in their bouquets but I tried to keep them lighter. Silver brunia berries complimented the Dusty Miller, the seeds on the eucalyptus, and tied in that lighter theme.

As a side note, I foraged some really cool foliage off a bush in my neighbor's yard that was super overgrown. The tips of the branches were this dark burgundy - perfect!

Ahem.... those roses tho.....

The celosia ended up complimenting the single dahlia I had placed in the bouquets. Even though I was worried about the celosia, it ended up working out. Also, when sitting next to the bridal bouquet they all made sense together. I can't wait to see the professional pictures!

Looky what we have here! Succulents again!! This is my first time wiring and working with succulents and I was pleasantly surprised. Their heartiness, texture, and overall ease of use in design makes them ideal for pretty much any kind of arrangement - even the boutonnieres! Not to mention you can literally place that little baby on top of soil and it will root itself (and I kill everything so if I can do it, so can you lol). You'll have your own succulent babies with little to no effort! Bouts are like little art pieces. Each one is painstakingly wired and arranged but so beautifully different. I loved how these turned out. Each one also got the names of the groomsmen attached.

Finally, the bride's bouquet. Oh me and this bouquet had a fight. I think I started over 4 or 5 times. So many unusual textures and shapes all in one place. The stems on the calla lilies didn't want to bend right and I was doing my best not to crush the delicate dahlias. There's hanging amaranth and a draping seeded eucalyptus plus the trailing ribbons that gave it length and flow. It turned out dramatic, dark, and textured the way I had hoped. Again, I can't wait to see the professional pictures.