Another Favourite

I did a beautiful wedding last weekend. I guess I am slightly biased about these bouquets as they are very similar to what I designed for my sister's wedding in April.

My Bride and her Bridesmaid carried bouquets that were very similar the only difference was that the Bridesmaid's bouquet had a few dusty miller leaves through the flowers. The posies were made up with Honeymoon and Antique roses, white tulips and white freesias. We used several folded magnolia leaves using the underside which is a velvety brown and then around the skirt of the bouquet was doda vine and magnolia leaves using both the green upside and the brown underside.

Bride's Bouquet

Bridesmaid's Bouquet

I delivered the bouquets into McArthur Chambers in the city - this was the first time that I have dropped off there and I was pretty impressed with the size of the rooms and the hotel itself especially from the outside oozed old world charm, although after I delivered I was told that McArthur Chambers are supposedly haunted - could make for a memorable wedding night. One of my favourite hair and make-up stylists was on site working her magic - Tracy from The Powder Room again I am probably a little biased as she did the hair and makeup for my sister's wedding.

I was very touched to hear the Mother of the Bride say to her daughter as I was closing the front door that she thought the flowers were so beautiful.

Finally, the ceremony and reception was Victoria Park, the reception was in the marquee and the table flowers looked just stunning set against the chandeliers. The bridal table featured a tall martini glass vase with flowers from the bouquets on top and tall stems of willow with white Singapore orchids tied to the stems of willow. The guest tables featured my new 60cm tall cylinder vases filled with white Singapore orchids and willow.

The Bridal Table

The guest tables

Brides in Brisbane

Recently I was approaced by the marketing department of a new website - Brides In Brisbane, they asked if they could use several of my bouquet images in their flower gallery. I feel quite honoured that they have chosen to display many of my images in the gallery, it is quite a compliment to my work.

Brides in Brisbane is set to be a leading Brisbane wedding website for the reason that it offers users not only useful information and tips but it allows them to access local wedding suppliers and contact with other local brides-to-be all on one site. While there are wedding websites out there of this kind, there are currently none so comprehensive that focus solely on Brisbane and the surrounding areas.

The site has a section dedicated to real-life wedding profiles which can be submitted by members of the site to be shared with Brides in Brisbane users.

The wedding profiles are a fantastic opportunity for brides-to-be to get some inspiration on wedding themes and styles that they can use in their own wedding planning as well as ideas on bridesmaids dresses, hair styles, local venues for your ceremony and reception and recommendations and feedback on suppliers that other brides have used. And of course we all love looking at other couples wedding photos.

If you are a just married please visit Brides in Brisbane wedding profiles and submit your wedding pics.

Brides in Brisbane went live this week, so drop in and have a look, it would be great to start supporting a wedding site that is just for us Brisbanites.

Spring Weddings

Spring is here and the wedding season is in full swing.

Spring is one of my favourite times of the year for flowers. Roses are big and full of colour, spring flowers like freesias, tulips, hyacinths, jonquils, paper whites and iris are in full bloom. The weather is just right it is kind to flowers out of water all day. It is all great.

This week wasn't too busy with just a couple of weddings. My first wedding was on Friday, and an early drop off which meant that I was free to go out to brunch with my little sister who headed off overseas for a long holiday and then to work in Switzerland for a couple of years on Saturday.

The bouquets for Friday's wedding were lovely posies of roses and lissies, in pinks and whites.


Next week I have weddings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday so it will be a huge week, before heading off to Stanthorpe Sunday afternoon for a mini break to celebrate my sister-in-law's 50th.

More Wonderful Thankyous

One thing I absolutely love about my job is hearing from my Bride's after the wedding and seeing pictures of their day. I love seeing how everything comes together to create stunning images. Here is another email and collection of pics from one of my past Brides.




Hi Karen

Home from holidays regretfully!! Please find attached some photos of our wedding day - tried to include some of my bouquet as well as the bridesmaids' and some of Tom's buttonhole.

Thanks once again for doing such an amazing job. Will be recommending you to friends and family.

Cheers, Lauren.

Water Crystals

I have discovered a new favourite item for decorating receptions. The Water Crystal.



These little lovlies are supplied in little packets and are little beads about the size of a pin head. You then place them into water and they swell up to about pea sized. They are then used in vases as a feature.

This week, my Bride supplied her own crystals that she had pre-soaked and dropped off to me. The only problem was that they were in black and they hadn't been tested before, and we faced two major problems, one: they wouldn't submerge to the bottom of the vase and two: once submerged they turned into a murky black smudge in the vase.

So, the day before the wedding I had to organise replacement crystals in white which I knew would definitely submerge and didn't turn murky under water. Luckily I had the contact details of a seller of the crystals and was able to organise some.

The finished product turned out just beautiful. So it was off to the River Room at Southbank with 31 vases of submerged crystals and flowers.

I just love the finished effect. Three different sized cylinder vases, with fully submerged flowers and crystals - each vase featuring a cluster of different flowers - orchids, tulips and hyacinths.

Thank You

Last week, I received this email and photos from one of my lovely Bride's from a wedding earlier this year.



Dear Karen,

We had a wonderful wedding day, I don't think it could have been better.

Your website was very helpful, and when we met for an appointment there were so many photo albums with wonderful examples it was very easy to choose exactly what we wanted. I really appreciated your prompt replys to my emails.

Our wedding flowers were beautifully designed and looked absolutly stunning. So many of our guests commented on how lovely they were. The packaging of the flowers when they were delivered kept them in top condition and the flowers also lasted for a long time after our wedding day.

Thank you very much for all of the time and effort you went to for our special day.

Love Lynda & Liam
09 May 2009







Lynda's bouquet was a tightly packed strauss bouquet of Magnum red roses featuring small sprigs of red rosehips. The Bridesmaid's posies were the same but without the rosehips.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Well I have been back a few weeks now and had several weddings. One a week since coming home. Of course that all changes next week when the wedding season hits.

Last week was a Friday wedding leaving the rest of the weekend free, so hubby and I left the kids at my mums and headed down to the Sheraton Mirage for a night - that was bliss. Friday's wedding bouquets are definitely going down as a favourite. While I love the tradition and beauty of all rose bouquets, it is always exciting to do something a little different. The bouquets were designed in monotone colours of red for the Bride and white/cream for the Bridesmaid. We used full size standard roses, spray roses and calla lilies.

I received a lovely email from the couple on Sunday:

Karen!

Thank you so much for your beautiful work on the flowers for my wedding. Everyone commented on my bouquet and it was exactly if not better then I wanted!

I will highly (almost forcefully!) recommend you to anyone I know needing a florist, you are a true professional!

Thank you again!

Kelly and Garvin

Bride's Bouquet

Bridesmaid's Bouquet

I then popped over to Boulevard Gardens to set up the reception flowers. These are a really great budget conscious option. A boxed arrangement with organza ribbon, tall ting ting, 3 long stemmed roses and foliage. Very effective.