hi mom!

the spheric shape of hydrangeas overwhelms the shape and simplicity of the vase, so i'm vetoing the hydrangeas as centerpieces unless we had clear square vases, but those are $3 a piece just to rent. i'm the type of girl that would much rather receive a single flower over a big bouquet. that is why i want one of these simplistic looks. i love the look of blackberry branches:





i've purchased a huge box full of these flowers:


the mums would match the bridesmaid bouquets but i'd have to pay for them.


this is a rose i picked from the garden today. each table will have two bottles of wine on it - we could accompany them with empty wine bottles with one flower in each...but i still like the simple look of the small white vase.

hydrangeas

it's very early-july and my hydrangeas are blooming. the first image represents the clusters as they were a couple weeks ago. most of them now look like the second photo. a small handful look like the last two photos, which makes me wonder if hydrangeas from the garden mid-august as centerpieces wouldn't be too far off an idea anymore. my mom had originally said they were definitely a september bloom.



they wouldn't have to endure the stressors of comprising hand-held bouquets, and even if they were all green like photo number two, they somewhat resemble viburnum and would coordinate nicely with our florist-provided bouquets.



i wouldn't necessarily expect to transport my own hydrangeas, but use my mothers, although she says they're not doing anything yet. rose fertilizer perhaps?

dead things

today on my lunch hour i visited a cobbler in bellevue to get the inside soles of my ballet slippers reglued and popped into michaels and was delighted come across these "mums" handmade from dried yucca pods!

i've been scouring the internet for dead things and came up with very limited retailers. i did, however, realize that all my beloved pods are actually from india as 90% of the websites that came up from my pod-related search strings were based out of "Kolkata" (Calcutta?). i shot off emails to half a dozen of these indian wholesale websites, not anticipating any replies, and i got none. andrew's heading back to vancouver this weekend (happy graduation, emily!), and i'm making him hit up little india to see if, in amongst the lavish fabric shops and yummy curry houses, there are any shops that sell my dead things.

but after going through everything i'd bookmarked, i realized there was on in the UK, one in oregon, one in texas, one based out of california that has both a wholesale and a retail front, and even one in canada!














i love this ball shaped one directly above - it's called a crepe sola (or crape shola depending on the engrish translations), or a sola x-mas ball. i've been unable to google US-based retailers for this.

dead things

so here are my beloved "dead things" that i'd like to have at the wedding because i can't imagine spending $2000+ on flowers that will die within a week's time and that i couldn't even bring home across the border! i seriously walk into florist shops and exclaim, "dead things!" with great glee, to the dismay and embarassment of my BM's. i could even reuse a lot of these pieces in the home. i adore the bell cups. so here they are - images from nettleton hollow, that is by no means a new topic to weddingbee

red

hello red. lots and lots of it. instyle weddings tells me to use ranunculus as a cost-saving alternative to roses. personally i really like dahlias, and for some reason, hydrangeas, but perhaps for the latter that's just because i'm thinking of something that would go with hycroft. and i of course had wanted a bunch of "dead things" for my decor - branches, bold and contrasting dried arrangments....but pish posh wedding magazines aren't going to feature a whole lot of plant carcases for me. back to the topic at hand: red. red has some chinese overtones. i like the use of levels in the last photo. it reminds me of prop placement in plays.



via martha stewarts wedding color guide magazine


via simple stunning weddings

i love the use of these long grass blades! and i'd love to make simple boutonnieres with them too....with something small - perhaps some lily of the valley? or are they too delicate and would die quickly?