Manolo for the Brides

You may not know this, but it’s ridiculously easy to find fresh bulk flowers and greens online, and you can save plenty of money on your wedding flowers by buying them… if, that is, you’re ready to whip up your own bridal bouquet, bridesmaids bouquets, and centerpieces. It’s not quite as easy to find already made wedding flowers online because searching for wedding flowers or bridal bouquets nets results that are either local florists’ web sites or silk bouquet sellers.

BrideDesign is one of the few wedding flower specialists on the web — at their site, you can order all-inclusive packages containing all of the florals you need. There aren’t many opportunities for customization on the site, but they do offer free consultations so you can speak to someone about the individual packages they offer.

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Today’s Inspiration for Ashley is all about flowers, specifically Gerbera daisies, since Ashley seems partial to them.

The flowers will be BIG and BOLD and in many shades of shocking pink, hot orange, red, yellow, and purple. I want it wild and uncoordinated and OMG LOOK AT ALL THAT COLOR I COULD JUST DIE FROM IT ALL. I am thinking Gerbera daisies for a start, but I don’t know where the finish will be.

Easy enough, since Gerbera daisy bridal bouquets and centerpieces abound. Though bridal bouquets featuring one or two colors of daisy seem to be more common, multicolor examples in line with what Ashley wants can be found. Here is one example in a photo taken by Kellie McCann Photography:

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The creatrix behind Refinerii uses salvaged metals and found industrial objects as the raw materials with which she crafts unique works of art like this wire bridal bouquet.

She can even create a custom bouquet made with your choice of colors using salvaged aluminum wire, Swarovski crystals, freshwater or crystal pearls, glass beads, and other bits of sparkle. Intriguing, no? While we’ve delved deeply into alternative bridal bouquets and wedding flowers here at the blog in the past, this is the first time I’ve come across a bridal bouquet that is so… industrial. I think I like it. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I love it!

What say you?

Word in my inbox is that bouquet jewelry will be the hot new thing in the upcoming months, but I am taking this revelation with a grain of rice seeing as that it comes from a retailer who sells bouquet jewelry. Integrating gems and pearls into bridal bouquets is nothing new, after all, though I haven’t seen many monogram jewels for bouquets other than in shop windows.

Still, said retailer (specifically USA Bride) does claim that sales of bouquet jewelry in 2009 are up 34% over 2008, so who knows… if you’re a bride keen to jump on the bouquet jewelry trend, USA Bride is having a bit of a sale. Should you buy a bit of bouquet bling — or anything else, as far as I can tell — use promo code saving10.

Wedding decor is overwhelmingly bright and vivid. Whether you’re choosing bridesmaids’ dresses, wedding favors, a wedding cake, or your bridal accessories, you’re bound to see a whole lot of shocking pinks, sly blues, eye-catching blacks and whites, amazing yellows, and even some electrifying purples. What you don’t see a lot of when shopping for a wedding are earth tones and muted colors inspired by nature. Luckily, if it’s inspiration in this particular area that you’re looking for, Rebecca Thuss has you covered.

Thuss is an award winning photo-stylist, a creative director, wedding designer and crafter who survived Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Currently, she and her husband are partners in a multidisciplinary photography and graphic design firm. I’m just glad she keeps a selection of her work up in her online portfolio so you and I can learn exactly what can be done with a few bunches of flowers, some felt, and a handful of twigs. Wedding decor looks so easy when I put it that way, no?

(To those wondering where this post went…well, I have no idea. It was on the blog when I left the house, and when I got home, it was gone. It’s back now and hopefully here to stay!)

Flowers for grooms have typically been limited to boutonnières, but with gay marriage once again hitting the news, I’m actually hoping for a surge in nicely arranged wedding flowers designed specifically for men. I’m not suggesting, of course, that all gay grooms will opt to carry a bouquet, but I’ve seen enough videos of happy flower-friendly men tossing their bouquets to know that some do. Nor am I suggesting that straight grooms can’t carry wedding bouquets if they want to — the standard ‘to each their own’ disclaimer always applies at Manolo for the Brides.

Bouquets for men…what would they look like…

I’m envisioning plenty of greenery and maybe even some grains, like these bouquets from Petals With Love. Darker colors, with more bronzes and deep purples come to mind, though there’s no reason why a groom marrying a groom couldn’t carry pink or yellow wedding flowers if he wanted to. Finally, I imagine the groom’s bouquet would be rather smallish, or at least not as big as some of the larger bridal bouquets.

How do you envision the groom’s bouquet?

My ultrasound was this morning, which, consequently, is why I’m not posting until after noon. If I had a scanner handy, I’d be impressing all of you with my extremely attractive — though currently rather Halloween-ready — offspring. As it is, our scanner is broken, so I won’t be showing off my fetus until I can drag my tush to the drug store to use the big girl scanner.

Instead, you get another round of alternative wedding flowers…this time from DK Designs in Hawaii.

I love the tight, polished look of this Stephanotis bridal bouquet, crafted from Claycraft by Deco clay and accented with tiny Austrian Swarovski crystals. The whole thing is finished with a double-faced satin Tiffany blue ribbon embellished with a square crystal buckle. And unlike your average bridal bouquet, this one will never wilt or fade or get nasty-crunchy.

DK Designs also makes floral centerpieces and (ta da!) hair accessories like this pretty and delicate gardenia hair clip.

Gardenia perfume can be added to the flower itself just before shipping so it smells just as sweet as the real thing.

Clay wedding flowers aren’t for everyone, of course. Real blossoms and blooms will likely never go out of style. But for the bride-to-be who wants something just a little bit different, they can be a beautiful alternative.

One thing about wedding planning that can be both fun and frustrating is the fact that when you get started on it, chances are it’s a different season from the one you’ll be marrying in. Mr. Twistie popped the question on a November night and we were eventually married on a June afternoon. There we were heading into the dreaded dark days of winter (well, as dark as they get in my part of California) and I was thinking about spring flowers and light cottons for my bridesmaids’ outfits.

While it can be a nice break from stormy weather to think about warmer times ahead, it’s sometimes difficult to find the specific materials and inspirations you need. And so I decided to warm up October with some stylish thoughts for those of you planning spring weddings.

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With the exception of a handful of rogue weddings, the nuptial celebrations I’ve attended as an adult have NOT included the tossing of the bouquet. At one of the aforementioned affairs, I didn’t get anywhere near the thing. I caught it at another — mainly because my aunt winged it right at my head. At yet another, I actually did catch it, but then I tossed it covertly to the woman standing next to me and she was more than happy to have it.

As I’ve gotten older, there have typically been less and less single ladies on the floor when the bride has decided to toss the bouquet. You get the teenage girls, the older widows, the “cougars,” and the small group of single, of-marriageable age women. Sometimes you can see the horror and mortification in these ladies’ eyes as their friends and relatives elbow them onto the parquet when the DJ announces the impending toss.

Of course, some women are into the whole game. Really into it. Some even want to nab that bunch of blooms so badly that they’re willing to commit bodily assault to get it! This how-to from Howcast is meant to be humorous (I hope) but I’ve known a chick or two who would treat this as deadly serious advice.

I’d advise taking an entirely different approach to the bouquet. Step 1: Before the wedding, ascertain whether your group of friends has any interest in the outdated tradition. If not, proceed to Step 2: Approach the bride-to-be to determine whether she’s thinking of tossing the bouquet. If she is, proceed to Step 3: Threaten to take her future husband hostage if she won’t agree to scrap the idea. If she procures another fiancée, proceed to Step 4: Strap yourself to your seat when the MC announces it’s tossing time.