sometimes i pretend i'm a florist . . .

what happened was this:

my sister got engaged. and we set out to plan a reception. bear in mind we are notorious do-it-yourself-ers. so someone (probably my mom) asked if i thought i could make a bouquet and centerpieces and i said probably. and there you have it. that's how i became a florist-on-the-down-low.

heidi's wedding was supposed to be my first foray into the floral arranging world, but two of her friends got married that same summer. one asked me to do her flowers, too. the other ordered her flowers through fresno state. her wedding colors were pink and brown. the flowers arrived purple. so heidi called me the morning of the wedding and asked if i could conjure up 1 bridal bouquet and 5 bridesmaids bouquets.

here they are:

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next was melissa:

colors: yellow & white

special requests: daisies, lots of them

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and finally, heidi:

colors: pretty much all of them

there were a couple of arrangements and centerpieces, but i either forgot to take pictures, or i lost them. this is her bouquet. no corsages and boutonnieres.

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the rest are in no particular order.

chelsea:

colors: purple and white

(cake & cake topper)

(centerpiece & bridal bouquet)

those centerpieces made me a little nervous because they were so tall and top heavy. i was terrified they were going to topple over!
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kristen:

colors: purple, silver, midnight blue, light blue, teal
special requests: peacock feathers

(clockwise from top left: bridal bouquet; misc. arrangement; 6 bridesmaids bouquets)

kristen's wedding was one of the most fun to work on because it was so creative. she had a big vision! when she called to ask if i thought we could incorporate peacock feathers into everything i was beyond excited. she came with me to the flower district to look at flower options. while we were there we found those crazy colored orchids and they incorporated every color she wanted in her wedding (except silver, but what can you do?). she was so excited about them.

other photos of this wedding can be seen on kilean's blog. she took some really amazing photo's of the bridal bouquet. i'm so in love with her style and vision. i'm trying to invent a reason for her to take pictures of me.

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maria:

colors: light pink, hot pink, sage green

(boutonniere & corsage)

(misc. arrangement & bridal bouquet)

(cake and cake topper)

maria's boutonnieres are, by far, my favorite i've ever made.

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haley:

colors: red & orange

(misc. arrangement & bridal bouquet)

there were about 14 centerpieces and a bunch of bridesmaids bouquets, but they all looked pretty similar to the bridal bouquet so i didn't take pictures.

*side note: two days before the wedding i was running a temp of 106 and got some weirdo sickness that made me break out with a million tiny blisters all over my palms and the bottom of my feet. i was living in orange county at the time and i was too sick to drive back to fresno from l.a. so my dad had to drive me to the flower district to pick up all the flowers and then up to fresno. when i was arranging the flowers it felt like my hands and feet were being stabbed with a thousand pins. it was miserable. two weeks later all the skin peeled off my palms and the bottom of my feet.

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sarah:

color: red & green (christmas wedding)

(bridal bouquet)

i also did the boutonnieres and cake, but didn't take pictures. more pictures can be seen here or here.

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sara:

colors: green & white

(bridal bouquet and bridesmaid bouquet)

(cake)

when sara told me her colors were green and white i had no idea what she was thinking. flowers aren't green. greenery is green and flowers are other colors . . . duh. but she knew she wanted a white bridal bouquet and not white bridesmaids bouquets. and i had no idea what to do. those green bridesmaids bouquets are made from unbloomed white hydrangea. they are, hands down, my favorite bouquet i've ever made.
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i've done a few others, but i can't find the pictures.

*please excuse the horrid quality of the photo's. i'm not a photographer (obviously) and i have a really generic camera. that will be my next artistic skill to develop . . .