baby's breath

Lindsey and Nick - 11/26/16

Lindsey and Nick got married Thanksgiving weekend. Most of you know that I work retail as well but I decided to take on this wedding anyway. I'm so glad I did because it was gorgeous!

The wedding was at Olde St. Anne's Church and Lindsey was walked down the aisle by her children. Is there anything cuter?

The Wednesday before the wedding, I participated in a Friends trivia night with some friends. I went over to the table that was our biggest competition and one of the girls recognized me and asked if I was a florist. She exclaimed that I was doing her brother's wedding that weekend. It was fun to get a chance to meet a lot of the people from the wedding in a casual setting beforehand. (BTW my team totally won trivia but they gave us a good run for our money!)

Images by Fetography Portraits 

Images by Fetography Portraits 

Lindsey carried a bouquet of baby's breath, white roses and white mini calla lilies. The bridesmaids wore mismatched champagne dresses and carried bouquets of baby's breath. The bride's daughter carries a smaller version of the bridal bouquet. 

The groomsman on the left is a good friend of mine and I provided flowers for his wedding this June!

I wish Lindsey and Nick (and the kids) such a long and wonderful life together! They were an absolute delight to work with! Congratulations on your marriage and new family!

 

Jordan and Kendal - 09/24/16

Jordan and Kendal were referred to me by a friend and past client of mine. I've always had a rule about not working on my birthday, but I broke it for them. I am so glad I did! They turned out to be perfect clients and Jordan has grown into a friend. I've even recruited her to help with weddings. Their pictures are to die for, so I'm not even sorry for how many I'm going to post. There were too many good ones to narrow down for this post, I don't know how they decided which ones to print/order!

Jordan carried a bouquet of baby's breath, white roses, blush garden roses, white mini gerberas and silver dollar eucalyptus and a last minute addition of white snapdragons. I usually have a vision when it comes to making bouquets. With this one, I started out hating what I was doing but then I started falling in love with it

I just love special moments - like a father walking his daughter down the aisle, when a groom sees his bride coming down the aisle, and a mother helping her son get ready.

The bridesmaids carried bouquets of baby's breath, white roses, white gerberas, and silver dollar eucalyptus

Her toss bouquet was baby's breath and silver dollar eucalyptus with blush streamers.

Her flower girl had a baby's breath flower crown with blush streamers. I love this picture where she is in the middle of all the girls. You can definitely tell she was in heaven being the center of attention.

This bridal party seems like a lot of fun! The girls wore dresses with convertible tops so they could wear whatever was comfortable for them. With a color scheme of blush and navy, they were perfectly on trend for 2016.

I'm not sure if it was the photographer or these girls have natural bouquet holding talent, but with a group so large, it is refreshing that none of them were holding them awkwardly or at a weird height.

I always love a shot with a groom holding the bouquet. I love the juxtaposition of the classiness of Kendal with the bouquet and the girls chugging a beer. 

I'm truly thankful I broke my "no work on my birthday rule" for this couple. I love following their married life on Facebook and Snapchat. Their dogs remind me SO much of my own. You'll find Jordan helping me with weddings in 2017 and I'm very excited to have her on my setup team! I'm so thankful they let me be a small part of their happily ever after :)

 

Samantha and Jake - 05/28/16

Samantha and Jake were a referral from my mom! Samantha is my mom's massage therapist and my mom suggested she reach out to me during her wedding planning process. One of her bridesmaids also used to work for me at Claire's. Our paths were destined to cross. 

When we first got together, Samantha pulled out pictures from my Facebook page and showed me a bouquet from a previous wedding that was exactly what she wanted. Ironically, they were getting married in the same church as well! 

Images by Kelly Cook Photography

Images by Kelly Cook Photography

Jake was one of the few grooms to attend a floral appointment (they are always welcome!). To incorporate Jake's personality into their wedding, the groomsmen had their boutonnieres in shotgun shells. He found pink shotgun shells so they would match the wedding!

Images by Kelly Cook Photography

Images by Kelly Cook Photography

Samantha and her bridesmaids carried bouquets of baby's breath with white and light pink ranunculus. Ranunculus is definitely a hot flower right now and I'm so glad, because it is gorgeous!

Images by Kelly Cook Photography 

Images by Kelly Cook Photography 

Samantha and Jake are super cute together and are some of the nicest people. They took pictures with their dogs on their wedding which is clearly the greatest thing. After their wedding, Samantha and Jake sent me a thank you note that used a photo of her bouquet as the background. Ironically the couple that inspired their wedding flowers did the same thing! I don't get a lot of thank you notes so it was a huge coincidence!

Images by Kelly Cook Photography

Images by Kelly Cook Photography

Thank you so much for choosing to work with me for your wedding! I hope your marriage together is as perfect as your wedding day was! 

 

Jenna and Jeff - 05/07/16

I met Jenna back in high school through a mutual friend. She did cross country and track with my friend Rachel from church (Rachel is now my running partner). When Jenna was a senior, I actually did her hair (and several of her bridesmaids' hair) for prom! I searched really hard for a picture but that box of pictures seems to be missing from my house and the girls have managed to keep prom pictures off Facebook. :) It meant so much to me that she chose to work with me for yet another milestone in her life! 

Jenna met Jeff when they were both coaching cross country. They soon clicked as running partners and now as life partners! It was only fitting for them to take pictures by the Augustana track, where they both ran in college. Jenna's love of running is only surpassed by her love of Jeff. 

Their wedding was "Starry, Starry Night" themed so we tried to incorporate that into the flowers. We selected white stock, white spray roses, yellow roses, yellow gerbera daisies and brought in stephanotis for the stars. Her bridesmaids carried baby's breath to simulate the stars in the night sky. Jenna made all her own boutonnieres! 

I love the simplistic look of all baby's breath for the bridesmaids. It makes the bridal bouquet really pop! 

When a girl named McAdam starts dating a boy named Adams, you know its destined to be forever (and full of jokes about hyphenation). 

I look forward to running in to (quite literally) Jenna and now Jeff at many more events in the near future! Be sure to look for the set of 3 girls pictured above every year during the Bix, because they create some incredible costumes to run in! 

Congratulations to Jenna and Jeff! Thank you so much for choosing to work with me for your wedding! I wish you all the best in your future together! 

 

Chloe and Blake - 05/06/16

Chloe emailed me in early February when she was frustrated with her selection of florists near her. Her wedding was fast approaching and she lives in the Waterloo area. We did all of our communication via email but I knew she was an awesome girl from our first few emails. She was completely prepared with everything she wanted (including flower names, quantities, and photos).

Due to Chloe living over an hour away, she wanted to come pick up her flowers a few days before. That provided me with a challenge for how to keep flowers fresh for several days without water. I learned about tupperware being able to keep boutonnieres and corsages fresh for quite some time. That has greatly made my life easier because now I can get started on all my weddings sooner (you're my hero Chloe)!

Left - centerpieces of milk glass and baby's breath, Right - Daisy bouquets for grandparent memorialsImages by Alaytra Photography

Left - centerpieces of milk glass and baby's breath, Right - Daisy bouquets for grandparent memorials

Images by Alaytra Photography

Unfortunately, like a lot of brides, Chloe learned she had selected expensive flowers that didn't quite fit in her planned budget. I drew up another estimate for her substituting some of the flowers for less expensive ones. Chloe decided to splurge for the bouquet of her dreams and save some costs by choosing the less expensive corsages and boutonnieres. They opted to not have a bridal party to be able to invite more people to their celebration (50 tables worth!)

Ringshots - Images by Alaytra Photography

Ringshots - Images by Alaytra Photography

Chloe carried a bouquet of blush garden roses, blush ranunculus, coral hypericum berry, coral carnations (mounded together for a peony look), white spray roses, baby's breath, succulents and dusty miller. It's one you would definitely want to "pin" on Pinterest. 

This wedding was amazing. Perfect weather, fabulous details (that dress and ring!!) and a couple (probably mostly bride) that knew what she wanted and where she was willing to splurge and save. I love the following picture, because weddings and the photos are so often all about the bride, but this is all about Blake. 

Since the wedding, Chloe has helped me on a project I'm working on about what people think flowers cost vs. what they actually cost. So many couples (again probably mostly brides) get swept up in Pinterest and have no idea the cost of what they desire. Stay tuned for that blogpost coming in the next few weeks!

I hope their future together is as perfect as their wedding day was! It brought so much joy to me, knowing that Chloe and her mom drove over an hour to come pick up her flowers, especially when she had never met me. Sometimes, you just click and those are my favorite weddings to be a part of. Thank you again for choosing to work with me!