Downtown Library Wedding

Hartley dreamed of a modern, minimalist wedding with a touch of vintage. The modern, minimalist part was easy because of the gorgeous venue, the City-County Library in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The wedding took place in the library courtyard garden with a cityscape view. The flowers for the ceremony were simple and minimalist while still maintaining a wildflower feel. the bridesmaids wore blue and ivory floral ballgown skirts and carried a bouquet of feverfew daisies tied in grey silk ribbon. The men wore matching feverfew boutonnieres with grey shirts, navy pants, and suspenders. Hartley's gown was sterling grey and she carried a mix of carefree wildflowers also wrapped in grey silk. Wooden spheres created with embroidery hoops were filled with feverfew daisies, herbs and ivory spray roses. These arrangements were made using oasis foam cages so they remained fresh in the warm summer sun and greeted the guests at the beginning of the aisle. Lining the aisle were hundreds of Vero Daisies nestled in a fern garland. The vows were exchanged under a simple wooden arch shaped like a house built by the bride's father.

After the ceremony, the guests gathered inside the library for the reception. Flowers were in abundance! 200 pink peonies, herbs and white flowers such as roses, stock and snapdragons filled blue and white ginger jars on the tables and any place in the room that would hold them. Hundreds of tiny glass bottles were filled with single blooms of daisies, ivory roses, and herbs then sprinkled around the space. The scent was amazing and set the stage for a wonderful evening. A second house arch framed the sweetheart table and held a huge grapevine wreath covered in greenery.

I must confess that I ordered too many flowers but I would probably do the same thing again. It was nice to have so many beautiful flowers to work with. I can't say enough about the peonies! They opened up in about a day and were stored in a very cold room as we made the arrangements. They just kept getting prettier and prettier as the days got closer to the wedding and were absolutely perfect on the day. It was our plan that the vase arrangements didn't have foam so the flowers were able to be removed easily. We had brown paper and ribbon for the guests to take home a giant wrapped bouquet after the wedding was over. You wouldn't believe their faces when it was announced before the last dance that they could take the flowers home! We had over 35 huge vases full of peonies and lots of smaller arrangements so there were enough to go around.

It was a lot of work/play to do the flowers but we loved every minute of it! The long boxes were great for transporting the vases and we used almost all of them. My husband ended up renting a cargo van because we had so many arrangements and that was the only way to get them all there in one trip. It was totally worth it! Hartley and I made most of the arrangements on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. We were joined by Nana and a few bridesmaids when they arrived in town. I highly recommend stopping your work by Thursday afternoon so you can get a manicure and enjoy the family and friends who come into town early. Because I had too many flowers, I personally didn't stop and kept going making more and more arrangements till I finally dropped. I would say that I had TOO much fun! Fifty Flowers was great when things didn't go as planned and were helpful and offered refund or substitution when something wasn't up to par. We were very relaxed about it all and determined not to get upset so that made it all go so much smoother. Remembering that it is about people and not just flowers etc... was a good focus for us as we crafted the celebration of the marriage of two amazing individuals. Love is all you need....

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