Another Wedding Journey: Kiersten and Chris!

Last January, my niece, Kiersten, contacted me and asked if I could do the flowers for her wedding.  I, of course, said, "Yes!".  I was thrilled.  At our first official meeting a few weeks later, I met her fiancé, Chris.  They were such a cute couple!  So much fun!  With that first meeting, the journey for me had begun.  I would soon learn that Kiersten had a clear vision for her special day and that she has impeccable taste!  More on that later...for now I will share the journey from my end of the days leading up to the wedding on September 25, 2016.

As always, I collected the flowers a few days before the wedding.  They were cut and conditioned; meaning they were placed in fresh water enhanced with special flower food and set in a cool, dark place. In this photo below you see a tiny, tiny sampling of the flowers (after conditioning and ready for arranging) used to make the bouquets, centerpieces, corsages, etc. for the wedding.  My whole shed was filled with flowers.  It was kind of awesome!

There was a fairly substantial Items List for this wedding.  I started with the creation of the mom and grandmother corsages because they are quite time consuming and they keep well in the refrigerator.  Time is always a factor with weddings.

Kiersten wanted the moms to have delicate wrist corsages made of white roses and a touch of burgundy astilbe.  She also wanted to add a bow made of twine.  I added dusty miller and the "berries" of seeded eucalyptus.  Oh, and there was a little white waxflower mixed in, as well.

Simple and lovely

Kiersten wanted the fathers' boutonnieres to match the moms' corsages.  All the flowers were the same except for the added ferns in the back of the boutonnieres.  Kiersten had told me that she "loved" ferns so, I included them in many of the pieces.  I have become a real fan of ferns now and have Kiersten to thank!  She opened my eyes to a whole new flower world.  I love it!  I love the woodland feel.

The grandmothers wanted pin-on corsages so, Kiersten and I discussed what they might look like and came up with this-- 

The corsages were all white in color with the mixture of standard and spray roses, waxflower and some lemon leaf.  An ivory ribbon covered the stems and then was tied in a bow.  A twine bow was added also.  The theme and attention to detail continued :).

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Among other items on the list were these small galvanized buckets filled with baby's breath. 

Kiersten had added the burgundy ribbon to the buckets and then had given them to me to be filled with baby's breath.  They would line the aisle of the church for the ceremony.

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I made two of these large baby's breath and white rose arrangements for the altar of the church.

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Here is a taste of the reception flowers.  I made two of these arrangements.  So many cool fall flowers.  Kiersten loved all the colors and textures of fall which made this wedding so much fun.  I was able to ramp up my creativity!

I loved the colors of this wedding!  They were stunning!  I can say that in a non-bragging way because Kiersten chose the colors :).  Kiersten liked the mixture of different colors of reds, even the almost "black" reds.  This was a theme that carried into the wedding party flowers.

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Next it was on to the centerpieces for the reception.  These little vases were to be part of  an ensemble of centerpieces.  I will share those photos in a future post :).  Here the arrangements sat waiting to be delivered to the reception site in my shed.

Brittany, my daughter and assistant, was actually able to take prettier photos of these little guys while Judy, my other assistant, and I were inside the shed working on other things.

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I usually make a complimentary ladies powder room arrangement for my weddings.  I always have a great time creating these somewhat insignificant arrangements.  Because there is no pressure, I can do whatever I'd like in terms of floral design.  It's so enjoyable choosing from the leftover flowers to make these little arrangements.

Well, that is it for now...the beginning of the journey of Kiersten and Chris' Wedding.  My next post will probably be the creation of the bridal party flowers.  Hope you can stick around to see the next step!

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