Manolo for the Brides

There are so many great wedding color scheme options out there that I sometimes forget that more than a few brides want to be married in (and around) white. The same thing happens when it comes to so-called traditional wedding options. I have a tendency to focus on the more usual types of wedding cakes or dessert tables or reception decor, when the fact is that tradionalesque wedding accessories and decor are always popular. As a means of beginning to correct this oversight, here is some inspiration for those considering a white wedding.

First, the dessert table. Isn’t it lucky that icing sugar, big balloons, and serving platters still come in white? The creamy hydrangeas in the background aren’t exactly white-white, but I think they’re in keeping with the theme.

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When it comes to bouquets, brides and bridesmaids have plenty of options. There are the traditional fresh flower bouquets, in styles like hand-tied, the Biedermeier, ballerina bouquets, and the dramatic but rare scepter. Then there are wilder styles of fresh flowers. Faux blooms remain popular in bouquets (and centerpieces), though some brides opt to forget the flowers altogether and carry wire bouquets, porcelain bouquets, leaf bouquets, and plenty more.

With all the variety, there has to be room for deflated balloon bouquets, right? Bouquets from Fantasy Flowers are crafted from “uninflated balloons, are biodegradable, and can last from 4 months to 4 years. Making these designs a desirable ‘green’ addition to any event.” Huh. They’re not bad looking, exactly, but in the few photos posted on the company’s web site, Fantasy Flowers look more like something you’d send a sick friend to cheer him or her up. They don’t look like the kind of bouquet you’d carry down the aisle on your wedding day. My verdict is HATE.

What say you?

My mother always said orange was her favorite neutral. If there’s one thing I learned at her knee, it was that her eye for color was impeccable. These days, orange is my favorite neutral, too.

Oh I know it’s a bright, aggressive color. I know a little can go a long way. I also know it goes with and brings out the best in a wide variety of colors. I also know it’s a wonderful color for a happy celebration like a wedding.

Not convinced? Take a look under the cut at the cheery gallery of orange wedding details I’ve put together. Please note that there is not a single one that looks like Halloween.

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A Concerned Never teh Bride: Ladies? Your bridal bouquets appear to have become enmeshed in your wedding gowns.

Bride #1: Yes! I was walking along and a strong wind blew my bouquet apart. Then it became tangled in my bodice and skirt.

A Concerned Never teh Bride: You poor dear.

Bride #2: Not me. I was simply walking along, minding my own business, when I got in the way of bouquet tossing practice at the local David’s. Here’s something I didn’t know… bouquets hurt when they hit.

A Concerned Never teh Bride: So, um, what are we looking at?

Brides #1 and #2: Like all bridal models, we’re unenthusiastically looking for a man!

Most brides, when choosing their wedding colors, go in for two, three, or sometimes four colors, with some variations on the theme for a little extra pizazz. Rainbow isn’t a popular wedding color scheme, though some brides do choose it and when they know what they’re doing, damn, does it look good! Even fewer go in for a psychedelic rainbow color scheme, though I’ve found the perfect wedding flowers for those who do.

My first thought upon seeing a snapshot of Happy Roses somewhere was “Shopped!” But no, these petals are on the level — what you see is pretty much exactly what you get, thanks to a special watering technique. Remember coloring carnations or celery stalks with food color infused agua in grade school? It’s kind of like that.

The Happy Roses are placed in special water. Different substances are dissolved in this water. The rose branch absorbs this water as part of a natural process. This is what changes the colour of the petals. What makes Happy Roses unique is that the inventor has managed to colour a few petals, for example, yellow, whilst at the same time other petals colour differently, for example, blue, orange or lilac. It even proved possible to achieve a range of different colourings in the flower, which as it were fan around one another. This resulted in these unique, colourful and cheerful roses.

So love? Hate? I vote LOVE, just because the bouquet and the centerpieces are so wonderfully eye-catching. As La BellaDonna likes to remind me, “More is more,” and these definitely fall into the more category. What say you?

It never occurred to me to carry anything other than my choreography notes at my wedding rehearsal. Yes, I was that bride-to-be, with the list of who was to stand where and enter when, plus who exactly needed to remember what. I’m thorough, or at least I thought I was. Apparently, according to some sources, I ought to have been carrying a rehearsal bouquet made of all the ribbons that graced the gifts I opened at my bridal shower. Oops?

I was fully aware of the bridal shower paper plate hat tradition, even if I ended up with a ribbon-covered sombrero because the Mexican restaurant where my bridal shower was held didn’t have any paper plates. No one offered to whip me up a post-shower bouquet and it never struck me to desire one. In fact, I’d never even seen one at a rehearsal or in rehearsal pictures, so at the time I wasn’t even aware that a bride-to-be might carry bows and ribbons in place of an actual bouquet (or anything at all) at the rehearsal.

But apparently they do, or some do, somewhere. I know from having seen a friend’s sister whip up a ribbon hat that some ladies have the skills to pay the bills where bridal shower novelty headgear is concerned, so I can say that I’m fairly sure one could make a rather nice looking bouquet provided that shower guests did not decorate their gifts with anemic, oddly-colored ribbons. Those brides-to-be who have not yet had their bridal showers AND love the bouquet stand-in idea should point their MOHs toward some of the ribbon bouquet tutorials out there:

• Paper plate style
• Single bow style
• The way too nice style

So ribbon rehearsal bouquets… I don’t love the idea or hate the idea. I guess I feel kind of lukewarm about it. What say you? Do you plan to carry a ribbon bouquet during your rehearsal? Have you even ever heard of this?

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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