This past weekend I had the pleasure of creating the wedding flower arrangements for Martine and Nathan’s wedding. Martine’s main wedding colours were a mix of purple tones, accented with cream, pearls, and lace.

I selected flowers based on both the theme and budget. Immediately when I think of a Victorian themed wedding I think of ‘Vendella’ Ivory Roses, Gypsophila, and an elegant variegated greenery (I chose variegated New Zealand Pittosporum). To achieve the hand-tied garden style she desired, I used purple Lisianthus, and to keep us on budget, I chose lavender Stock and three different purple hues of ‘Moon Series’ Carnations. She had also requested that I incorporate some kind of berry, so I went with seeded Eucalyptus. These ‘seeds’ are smaller and more elegant looking than other types of berries, plus the dusted blue tone of the leaves helped to perfectly blend the Victorian and fall themes together.

Once my flowers arrive, the process begins! First, I cut each stem and start conditioning my flowers so that they’re ready for designing. While I wait for the flowers to condition, I start to make handmade name tags for the bouquets and boutonnieres. For these, I begin with textured brown paper, which I hand ripped into small rectangles. I then choose card stock that is in her bridesmaids dress colour, Victorian Lilac. To dress them up, I incorporate the look of the detailing from her wedding dress by attaching small, silver encased pearls to each tag.

Once the flowers have finished conditioning, I finally get to start making the bride and bridesmaids bouquets, my favourite part! Next I start preparing for the corsages and boutonnieres. First I choose a corsage ribbon that will match the wedding, in this case cream, and create all of the corsage bows. Then I lay out all of the materials for the first 6 corsages.

Next I make the Grooms boutonniere. Martine asked me to incorporate some of the left over material from alterations to her bridesmaid dresses. I gauged that there was enough left over to wrap the stems of all of the boutonnieres. This allowed the groomsmen boutonnieres to match perfectly with the bridesmaid dresses. And here you go!

Now you can view more photos here!!