more bouquets.

"If the sun always shines, there's a desert below. It takes a little rain to make love grow." -- Unknown

So a couple of entries ago I mentioned my new approach to flower finding, which excludes many different flowers (including this lovely, simple bouquet). Note to future brides: get married in the spring... tons of gorgeous flowers in season! But since a spring wedding wouldn't work for me anyways, let's not cry over spilled milk. So moving on, for the bouquets (mine and the bridesmaids') I think I want to try to keep things simple beautiful (aka not too many different flowers and vibes going on at once). To that end here are a few bouquets from theknot that I've been liking lately:


Clockwise from top left:

1. double Dutch tulips and sweet pea -- very simple and light, the sweet peas add some texture
2. yellow mini calla lilies, ivory roses, light green hydrangea, and green poms, kumquats, and berries -- a little too busy for me, but I like the way they incorporated unique pieces, like berries
   
3. blue hydrangea ball -- simple and full, i think this might make a nice bridesmaid bouquet
4. white peonies and yellow garden roses accented with green hypericum berries and sprigs of rosemary -- again, I love round flowers like peonies, and I like the way they used sprigs and berries.

"He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden; it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks and looks for a place among the stones." -- Job 8:16-17

flower power.

"To know someone with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts unexpressed... That can make this life a garden." -- Goethe

When I was in a bookstore the other day I stumbled upon another wedding magazine cover with a beautiful, yellow bouquet. This particular cover bouquet is of ranunculuses (Persian buttercups) and calla lilies, both of which I love. Since this is the cover of the summer issue of Pacific Weddings, I was surprised to learn that ranunculuses are not in season during the summer! This was quite sad news to me because it means I probably will not be having them in my wedding bouquet since I've been reading a lot about how choosing flowers that are in-season saves a lot of money.

So alas, I wised up and restarted my flower search looking for flowers that I like that would be in-season in August (as opposed to flowers that just looked "pretty"). Based on our color choice of yellow (with blue accents), here are some of my new favorites:

• yellow dahlias - very soft and modern looking
  
• white tuberoses - small and sweet
• blue delphiniums - cute and blue
  
• blue hydrangeas - small flowers but full bundles, plus these grow at the house where I grew up, so it would add a homey feel
• yellow zinnias - similar to dahlias (I like round flowers)
• yellow freesias - my favorite flower, luckily in-season

And as promised, more polyvore! Here's a collage of some of the flowers mentioned above (plus some ranunculuses and calla lilies, too)

Click on above image to see individual images

"That fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like a fig ripe before harvest— as soon as someone sees it and takes it in his hand, he swallows it." -- Isaiah 28:4

he loves me, he loves me not...

"There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -- Anais Nin

So apparently Martha Stewart agrees that yellow is an excellent color choice for a summer wedding (pick up the summer 2008 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, shown here, if you don't believe me).



I'm not sure if it's the nice weather or the weekly emails I get from ProFlowers.com, but lately I've been getting a lot of floral inspiration. To that end, I am really excited about figuring out my bouquet, although I think I'm still a long way off from deciding. So far a few of my favorites include:

• Calla lilies - very clean and formal looking.
  
• Freesia - they smell so good! and are pretty too.
• Rununculas - fresh and soft, rose-like.
• Gerbera daisies - just because my sister loves them.

Here's one bouquet recommended by Martha that I happen to really like a lot. It's very soft looking (which I like) but I think my bouquet will be little brighter (aka not so pastel).


"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." -- Isaiah 40:8