DesignsandEvents: All Greenery Boutonnieres

Hello, there! Are you guys in winter mode like I am? Last week was Valentine's Day and I was very busy with all of that but, this week I just want to take it easy. It is February school vacation here in Massachusetts and although I do not have children at home anymore, it just feels like a take-it-easy kind of week. Besides, this was the view out of my bedroom window yesterday. It doesn't appear that I have much of a choice when it comes to being in winter mode anyway so, why fight it :)?!

Last week I made a puppy floral centerpiece for my daughter, Amanda. I had made two of them for my other daughter, Brittany, a few weeks ago because Brittany was having a one-year birthday party for her baby son, Finn. These are the two I made for the party~

Seeing how much Amanda loved the arrangements I decided I would make her one for Valentine's Day. This "puppy" was all white to look like Amanda's golden-doodle, Kona. I was very excited to give the centerpiece to Amanda and she seemed really excited to receive it. Of course, I brought the grand kiddos lots of candy too!

After making that arrangement I had lots of greenery left over and wondered what I could do with it. I decided to do a little experimenting with a new trend I have been seeing in weddings lately. The next two weddings I am doing the flowers for are heavy laden with lots of greenery.

And after doing some research on Pinterest and the Internet I found out that some people are making boutonnieres with only greenery~no flowers.

So, I thought I would play around with the greens that I had at my disposal and make a few all-greenery boutonnieres. I wanted to see how I felt about this idea of all greens and no flowers. Would it be something I personally would like? Of course, no matter what my opinion turned out to be, if a bride asked me to make all-greenery boutonnieres for her wedding~~all-greenery it would be!

These were the materials I had to work with ↓. I had already purchased leather leaf fern and eucalyptus from the flower market for the doggy arrangement. I also cut some fresh boxwood from my front yard to have more texture with which to experiment. To be honest, I never would have chosen leather leaf fern for this project if I had not already purchased it for the arrangement. It is not the most long-lasting of greens. I probably would have chosen Italian ruscus as the anchor for the boutonniere, given the chance. It is more linear and longer lasting than leather leaf fern but, I would do my best with what I had :).

I was able to make 5 boutonnieres; each one a little different from the other.

I wasn't sure how short I wanted to cut the ribbon so, in the end, I just left them long and flowing; something else I wouldn't have done if I were truly making these for a wedding.

Because of the fan shape of the leather leaf the boutonnieres ended up being larger than they should have been, although boutonnieres come in all sizes these days :).

I did like the gray-green of the eucalyptus mixed into these little guys. I thought the added texture looked nice.

So, in the end, I did like my all-greenery boutonnieres but felt they would have looked much better in a smaller size. If I were ever to do this experiment again, I would use a single slip of each green and make the boutonniere smaller and more linear. I do think in the right kind of wedding these "bouts" would look very nice even without flowers. I picture a more rustic wedding, not a formal one.

I pinned this boutonniere on one of my husband's suit coats. It didn't look awful but, I would have liked it better if it were smaller. I think I was compensating for the no-flowers thing :). Oh well, live and learn. Thankfully, it was just an experiment, anyway.

After going through all of this I can say that I do still prefer using flowers for boutonnieres and corsages. That would be my choice. Call me sentimental~