Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day - is the biggest day of the year in the flower industry and when your a wedding florist who has nothing to do with Mother's Day (other than having and being a mum) it is one big pain in the neck. Firstly I received a phone call from my supplier Tuesday - I could only get 4 of my ordered 7 bunches of Vendella roses. On Wednesday morning I received another call none of my ordered Sahara roses were available. Wednesday lunchtime I am about to leave to pick up the flowers and there is a another call saying that I can't pick up as not all of the order is in and won't be ready until tomorrow. Thursday I can finally pick up - and things are not too bad the freesias are tight little green buds, not good when you want open full flowers, the white tulips are green and at least there are enough roses albeit not all the correct colours. So a word of warning that I give to all of my Brides getting married Mother's Day (and Valentines) weekend and the week after be prepared for some minor changes as the flower industry is in chaos.

Despite all the problems everything turned out beautifully, I have worked enough Mothers Days and Valentines to know to order a few spare bunches of similar coloured roses.

First thing Saturday morning with the two littlies in tow we headed out, with a quick drop off of cake flowers to Sarah-Jane at Cake That, the to Sinnamon Park, there were 5 Bridesmaids in this wedding and it was an absolute pleasure to walk in with the flowers and have 5 ooing and ahhing girls appreciating their flowers for the day. The Bride's bouquet was a tightly clustered posy of Bianca, Vendella and cream spray roses and the girls carried smaller versions of Vendella (only a few), Chantilly (instead of Sahara), Emmanuel (to make up for the Vendella) and Sweet Perfumella roses. After that drop off it is a quick drive home and then over to Boondall with the buttonholes.



Above - The Bride's Bouquet.
Below - The Bridesmaids' bouquet against the fabric of their dresses.




While I was out deliverying, my second Bride called by to collect her flowers. These bouquets were very fresh and funky. The Bride's bouquet was Bella Vita roses, white tulips and individually wired white Singapore orchids and her two daughters the flowers girls carried mini posies of Bella Vita roses and white Singapore orchids. Shelly from Brisbane Bridal Photography was photographing this wedding today so fingers crossed I should get a few good images from her.



Last but not least - I headed off to Snug Harbour. My Bride here had a bouquet of Emmanuel roses, white tulips and white freesias and her two Bridesmaids carried smaller versions of the same. For the reception we did tall square vases filled with red roses, I also wrapped thick green tropical leaves around the stems of the roses and fully submerged in the water.



Above - close of view of the Bride's bouquet.




Finally, a photo of my two assistants for the day at Snug Harbour - another of their favourite delivery spots, the water features, the river and boats.




After all of this weekend's hard work I can only hope that I get an easy day off Mother's Day. Then it is back to work again next week with a wedding or two.
Happy Mothers Day to all.

A Sunday Threesome

What a weekend. Three weddings in one day, I have had much bigger weekends but never with the two littles in tow. But everything went smoothly and all of the flowers turned out perfectly.

The first wedding was for a lovely couple from the UK - most of the initial planning was done via email and then we met 10 days out from the wedding to organise the finer details. I absolutely adored the bridesmaids bouquets for this wedding. The bride's bouquet was slightly English in style, being a little looser and using spray roses, babies breath and bridal fern mixed with oriental liles and Emmanuel roses.



The three Bridesmaids were wearing an unusal metalic brown colour. The posy bouquets we designed would have looked stunning against the fabric - they were a mixture of Emmanuel roses, Cool Waters roses, cream spray roses and magnolia leaves folded so the brown underside featured.


The Groom and Groomsmen wore buttonholes featuring roses and hyacinths.



Finally I did table arrangements for Hillstone St Lucia. I have been hearing about Hillstone from quite a few brides over the last few months but I hadn't realised that it is the refurbished St Lucia Golf Club. It certainly is a stunning venue. Here we decorated the tables with square glass vases filled with a mixture of cream roses and with lenghts of ivy wrapped around the stems under water and then wrapped around the outside of the glass.



Whilst at Hillstone I also had to set up the cake flowers on the cake. This is one task that can get a bit tricky at times todays problem was that the icing was so thick and hard that I simply couldn't push the wire stems of the flowers into the cake so I had to cut all of the wire stems off, re-tape the much shorter stems and sit the flowers onto the cake. Thankfully the cake was fully set up in position so there were no worries about them falling off when the table was being positioned.



My next wedding saw my Husband delivering to Carindale whilst I set up the cake flowers at Mt Cootha. He was surprised to learn when he delivered the flowers that he had also delivered the flowers to one of the Bridesmaids on her wedding day about a year ago. Surprised, firstly because he delivers so few weddings and secondly that she actually remembered him....

The bride's bouquet was a tightly packed bouquet of Vendella roses and white tulips with just a few of the tulip leaves showing. I just love the combination of white and off white colours.



The two bridesmaids were wearing dark burgandy dresses, their bouquets featured red parrot tulips, Vendella roses and Black Bacarra roses - simply stunning.


There were also two Flowergirls whose little posies were a mixture of Vendella roses and cream spray roses.



The cake flowers were just stunning. The cake was square and decorated with shards of white chocolate and the flowers were Vendella roses, Black Bacarra roses and white tulips. The dark red of the Black Bacarra roses looked absolutely stunning against all of the white chocolate. Good enough to eat. Unfortunately when I put the flowers onto the cake it was in the cool room and the cake was still boxed so no photo opportunites there.

Lastly, was a smaller wedding with a Bride and 1 Bridesmaid. They carried identical bouquets only the Bride's was slightly larger. These bouquets were another one of my favourite mixes of off white roses, Emmanuel and white freesias with lots of lush green foliage. This was a garden wedding so the bouquets were just right.





Next weekend if Mothers Day, so although I don't do flowers for the day (well maybe I will for my Mum) I still have another big weekend with 3 weddings on Saturday. Oh well, I can look forward to my sleep in next Sunday after all the work is done.

Honeymoon

What a great name for a wedding rose.



Today I got very excited when I started working with this new rose - a new colour that is not like anything that has been available up until now.

"Honeymoon" is just beautiful. I am only using it in table arrangements this weekend but I am most grateful that I have had a chance to order and use it. In trying to describe this rose let me start by saying it is a bit of a tricky one Iwill start with how the grower describes it:

"This exotic rose variety with a tall well presented bud, displays a myriad of colour tonesof which inlcude light brown, cream, pale yellow and a pink tint, these colours alter as it opens into a unique latte coloured bloom releasing a noticeable spicy frangrance.

I would have to add that I saw a lot of very pale lilac tones - under the fluro lights the petals were tinged with an antique musky/mauve colour deepening into a coffee colour (imagine a really weak milky latte). In the full light the mauve isn't quite so obvious but it is still there and so is the coffee colour. It is also a big old fashioned style rose with lots of petals. It is most defintely going to be a wedding favourite for brides whot are looking for this unique colour combination. This rose is going to work beautifully with metalics, browns, musks and antique themes.

Now I just need to convince someone to use these roses in the bouquets.