To quote Monet: "I must have flowers. Always and Always." Since our family loves flowers and can never have too many , we appreciate the abundance we can afford by doing them ourselves. Our family had just celebrated Jenny's older sister's wedding in August and we had an amazing experience with Fifty Flowers. Needless to say, I was delighted when Jenny and Neil wanted me to do their flowers too! They had recently bought their house and wanted to have a garden wedding at their home.
The week prior to the wedding I arrived from Virginia followed by the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. Deluged by constant rainfall their basement flooded, and the backyard became a mud pit. Eghhhaaads. Nevertheless the 2 of them remained calm and steadfast.....working getting everything done in preparation for the big day. Alas, as the weatherman promised, the sun came out 2 days before the wedding. Whew! I must say though, after spending that week with them I know these 2 together will be able to handle anything that comes their way!
The flowers started arriving Thursday for the Saturday wedding. The more delicate flowers were delivered Friday. It was so much fun receiving each box, and watching as Jenny did the honors of opening them up. It felt like Christmas! We routinely trimmed the stems and placed them into 5 gallon buckets to get them hydrated (mind you, by this time the dry vac had done the job of pumping the water out the basement!!!). On Friday, Neil's mom and Jenny's sister and I spent the day together talking, laughing, and arranging flowers. It was delightful.
Neil had built an arbor for the ceremony and we placed another arbor at the shuttle drop off/pick up point for our guests. The celosia and greens along with some salvaged berries decorated the entry arbor and the celebratory arbor was decked with the gothic lisanthus and white roses I picked up at the price club. We adorned each side of the main arbor with birdcages filled with a variety of flowers. We suspended a salvaged grapevine wreathe adorned with eucalyptus and flowers above the dance floor. We filled 12 bell jars with flowers flanking the pathway from the ceremony to the party tents. On the back porch little antique bottles featured single blossoms and greenery.
We could not have been happier with the flowers. They were a mix of muted autumn tones with the pop of "black" from the dahlia and centers bouncing off the dark centers of anemone blooms. The blush bulk centerpiece flowers were gorgeous and sublime. Everything melded together beautifully to provide a beautiful backdrop for Jenny and Neil's special day!
