It's spring and wedding season is in full effect. I have been to six weddings this season and I am about done with it all! But really, it has been a happy time. I have worked weddings before as a wedding photographer/videographer but with these most recent weddings I have taken on a few new roles. This spring I have been an attendee, a bartender/server, and a floral designer.
I wanted to write about my experience making bridal bouquets for my sister-in-law Samantha's wedding.
Sam's wedding took place in Bahamas on an island called Exuma. I was honored with the task and surprised that my family had so much faith in my very little experience floral arranging. I had done the decorating and flowers for Sam's bridal shower and I suppose that was enough to prove myself worthy. Here is how it all went down.
Sam flew in some white and green hydrangea for the bridesmaid's bouquets and some green orchids for her bouquet. The plan was to use those flowers as a base and then go pick the rest from the wilds of Exuma. Exuma has amazingly colorful foliage so I knew I could make something great. I went out with the groom's cousin and picked a ton of flowers! We picked a wonderfully colorful paper thin flower called Bougainvillea which comes in bright fushia, pale peach and pink. Then we found a Frangipani bush and picked a few handfuls. These flowers have five white petals that turn yellow in the middle. They smell beautiful and are usually used in Hawaiian lays, which is fitting since half of Sam's family is from Hawaii. Then we picked a few Ixora, which are clusters of small yellow and orange flowers. Lastly we snipped some fern steams and a few green berry like plants for filler and off we went with a trunk full of flowers.
With all the flowers loaded into a bedroom at the reception house I went to work, sweating and stressing out the whole way though. It took me about three hours since this was my first time making bouquets. I wanted the bouquets to be perfect, no flower out of place or sticking out in a weird way since all most of the steams were bent at strange angles. I personalized each bridesmaid's bouquet so that they were a little different and saved all of the best flowers for the bride's bouquet. After wrapping the stems in ribbon and attaching two small lacquered ivory flowers to the bride's bouquet ( gifted from her grandmother, she wore them in her vail when she got married) I ran the flowers down to to the bridal party twenty minutes before the ceremony.
Phew!
It was a challenge for me, but the bridal party and the bride were pleased which made me happy.
The ceremony took place on the beach and was very lovely.
Here are a few photographs of the making of the bouquets and the finished product.
