Manolo for the Brides

I love that inspiration can come from anywhere, anything, or anyone. Just yesterday, The Beard and I were at one of our local beaches, swimming, soaking up the sun, and looking for beach glass. Amid the sea junk, The Beard found a mussel shell that was a vivid blue outside and a beautiful silver on the inside. After inspecting it for a bit, he said — and I was so damn proud at that moment — “Wouldn’t these make great wedding colors?”

To The Beard I say, “Here you are, my dear.”

Moving clockwise-ish from the top left, there is a Nicole Miller stretch taffeta dress, the Amaya pump from LAUREN by Ralph Lauren, a blue chalcedony sterling silver ring from Overstock.com, an invitation from Leigh’s Wishing Well, a JS Boutique cutaway shoulder gown, a hydrangea centerpiece, a deep blue aisle runner, and a hydrangea bouquet.

A lovely combo, yes?

A blog called It’s a Wonderful World turned me onto bouquets weirder and wackier than any I came across when writing iDo. In the floral chapter of my book, I bring up cascade bouquets, arm sheaves, pomanders, hand tieds, crescents, composites, wristlets, trails, teardrops, tussie-mussies, ballerina bouquets, and floral scepters! I obviously know a little something about bouquets.

Thus I must surmise that I can’t possibly be the only one who was a little taken aback by the ring bouquet:

Does this concoction of water iris leaves and small spray roses make anyone else think of goatse.cx (extreeeeeeemely NSFW)? Because I know that I and my sillier guests would be taking some pseudonaughty snapshots if the bride ever left her bouquet unattended.

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I’ve seen autumn leaves on table displays and scattered around plates, and I’ve even seen them incorporated into floral arrangements, but I’ve never seen them used quite like this! This maple leaf bouquet was created by a certain Natalie, who posted her masterpiece on a site called LOBZIK.

She posted a a tutorial that makes the mechanics of these “flowers” pretty clear. Luckily, her tutorial is picture heavy, seeing as that I don’t read Cyrillic. If you do, please translate a bit of the how-to for us.

It looks fairly simple, though you may want to incorporate some floral tape or florists’ pins. I’m not saying you’ll make perfect maple leaf roses right away, but you should be whipping them out fairly competently with a little practice. Too bad it’s only July!

When I was choosing my wedding colors, green scared me. It seemed too bright for my daytime outdoor wedding in the height of summertime. Now I’m seeing all of these wonderful green, black, and white inspiration boards on the other wedding blogs, and said green is beautifully vivid and not garish at all.

I’ve come to realize that I shouldn’t have been afraid of green. After all, I love all green flowers without exception and almost anything limey or appley is all right with me!

So here I am posting my own floral inspiration board with images from The Art of Flower and Old Town Florist in the hopes that it will perhaps inspire some of you.

And for the record, let me also say that you shouldn’t ever fear color. I mean any color! The blue-jay blue, hot cherry red, or Sunkist orange you’re picturing in your mind may seem like too much for a wedding, but don’t discount it until you’ve done your homework. I’d wager that there are at least some pictures of weddings employing said hues out there in Internetland. You may just discover it’s everything you’re hoping for and more!

Here are four cool alternatives to fresh flowers, all of which can be found on Etsy. They’re all over the map when it comes to prices, from perhaps excessively expensive to entirely reasonable.

I’m curious to know where you think each bouquet belongs on the price continum. Is the crystal bouquet the most expensive? Do the paper blooms fall squarely in the middle? Give us your guesses in the comments!

If you want to check your answers, you can find the bead bouquet here, the crystal bouquet here, the hand-shaped claycraft bouquet here, and the paper bouquet here.

One piece of advice brides hear over and over again is that choosing flowers that are local and in season is a great way to save money on your florist’s bill. That’s very true. Having orchids flown in from halfway across the globe or insisting on the most delicate of summer blooms in the middle of a stormy winter is going to cost you extra.

But what to do if you don’t know what’s in season in your area? Well, a good place to start is right here. This interactive tool allows you to give a very general idea of time of year, region of the US (sorry, non-USian readers, but I’ll be on the lookout for something that covers other parts of the world, too, because it’s fun) where your wedding will be held, or even what color the bridesmaid’s dresses are. It then spits out a list of flowers that match your criteria, with links to pictures of said flowers. As I said, it’s not the be-all and end-all, but it’s a good place to start if you can’t tell a hyacinth from a hydrangea or aren’t certain if iris grows in your area near your wedding date.

Another fabulous way of saving cash on flowers is to do very simple arrangements yourself with a bit of help from handy friends and family members. Real Simple has a great feature showing you how to make beautiful bouquets from grocery store flowers. The one piece of advice I would add to their ideas is that if there’s an open-to-the-public florist’s supply within a reasonable distance, you can get a greater variety of higher-quality flowers without having to pay the middle men. If you need a lot of a particular flower, it also means you’re far more likely to be able to get precisely what you want in the amounts you need.

Still, the tying instructions are clear and simple to follow. Besides, who would ever have thought baby’s breath could look this spectacular?

Along with the usual crystal bouquets, paper bouquets, and wood bouquets, there are bead bouquets. Great for the bride or groom who can’t come within ten feet of a live flower without sneezing up a storm, bead bouquets (and boutonnières) look best when paired with elegant, streamlined wedding wear. To put it simply: The beads in your bouquet shouldn’t have to compete with beads that adorn your bodice.

If you’re intrigued by the notion of carrying something other than fresh or faux florals during your nuptials, know that I regret to this day not exploring all of the unique alternatives out there.

I’ve been meaning to write a bit about floral preservation for ages upon ages, but it seems like every time I go looking for interesting floral preservation methods I stumble upon something even more interesting and my commitment to the topic of preservation goes straight out the window. In a moment, I’m going to tell you about what is by far the most fascinating preservation method I’ve found. First, however, I’m going to share a little bit of offensiveness I found on Keepsake Floral’s web site:

For every bride considering the possibility of preserving her wedding bouquet for years of future enjoyment, there may be someone who tries to discourage her from doing so. Whether it is the bride-to-be’s fiancé (who wants to save some money to buy a beer stein or autographed baseball), a friend or even the bride’s own florist (who may be unaware of the developments in previous years regarding preservation), there can be numerous road blocks for a bride trying to find out more information.

Um…what?! This sort of thing is on par with vendors who tell brides-to-be not to tell their fiancés how much things cost because, “men just don’t understand these things.”

And what’s the deal with the beer stein or the autographed baseball? Maybe Mr. So-and-so wants to save money to buy a new stove or a washing machine…why assume he wants to spend the bouquet preservation money on something so dumbly stereotypical? Shame on you, Keepsake Floral. Does this tick anyone else off or is it just me?

Anyhow, what you see above is not a pile of burnt sugar cubes, charcoal, or rabbit droppings. They’re beads–specifically beads made out of a number of different sorts of florals. The owner of From Blossom to Bead will take your bouquet and turn it into jewelry, a rosary, or a picture frame.

In a process similar to papermaking, the petals are mashed into pulp with several “secret” organic ingredients, formed, allowed to dry, and then strung with other beads to for a one of a kind, handmade heirloom quality piece.

Luxe jewelry it’s not, but if you’re into baubles with a natural, organic look, flower beads may appeal to you. It is an interesting idea. Personally, I don’t think these beads are any more or less extravagant than a fancy glass preserved floral display, but they are significantly uglier…and I’m not just saying that because I want to save some money for a beer stein and an autographed baseball!

My favorite part of the book-writing process is the research. Buckling down and actually doing the writing kind of sucks because it can be tedious if you’re not in the right frame of mind. But dang if I don’t love me some serious hardcore research. When you plug something like, oh, “unusual wedding flowers” into Google or Images.google.com you get some super cool results. For example, Lisa Shea makes colorful origami flowers that can be used as a floral alternative in bouquets and centerpieces.

There are a ton of paper options, so you’re almost guaranteed to find something that matches your wedding color scheme. I think a mix of textured and monocolor flowers would look awesome. Of course, if you’ve got all the time in the world, you could try making your own origami flowers with sheets of origami paper and long green pipe cleaners. Directions for various sorts of origami flowers can be found here, here, here, here, and here. If you want to go all out, spring for Origami Flowers: Popular Blossoms and Creative Bouquets. Be aware, however, that the book isn’t really for beginners. Bone up on your origami skillz before attempting a full bouquet.