garden roses

Jennifer and Grant - 06/17/17

Jennifer and Grant were another one of my couples during my 4 wedding weekend this summer. Julie from J. Blu Design out of the Peoria area helped me out for that weekend to make sure everything ran smoothly. Thank you to Seneca Epley Photography for these gorgeous images! If there was ever a wedding that looked like a perfectly curated Pinterest board, it is this one. Every single detail was absolutely on point. 

Everything was very heavy on greenery, which is definitely the current trend! The ladies carried bouquets of white peonies, white garden roses and white ranunculus with silver dollar eucalyptus and laurel greens. 

Image by Seneca Epley Photography

Image by Seneca Epley Photography

This is a seriously stunning group of ladies! We are going to be seeing a lot of purples in 2018 so I hope to see this look more often. 

The paper products such as invites and programs all had touches of greenery on them to pull the look altogether. The men wore boutonnieres of white roses, white waxflower and laurel greenery. 

Here is an indoor view of her bouquet :) This was the first wedding that made me fall in love with a new bouquet technique that makes it easier for me to hold when I'm working on and lighter for the brides to hold. Often with this garden type bouquet, you can do minimal flowers on the back side of the bouquet, which also allows it to be less expensive than full flowers front and back. 

The reception was at the Stern Center in Rock Island. It featured several different styles of centerpieces. This is the head table, but we did a garland of greens down the center of some long tables as well. On the long guest tables, we included some flowers tucked into the greenery as well. These were garlands of silver dollar eucalyptus, Italian ruscus, and laurel greens. The cake featured laurel greens between the layers. 

On other tables there were a variety of different gold terrariums - one with a candle inside and one with flowers inside and greens around the base. All of the tables had gold mercury glass votives around the centerpieces - remember when I said total Pinterest wedding?!

The third centerpiece was a gold compote vase with greenery, white hydrangea, white garden roses, white spray roses, white snapdragons and white waxflower.

Congratulations again to Jennifer and Grant! If your wedding is half as picture perfect as your wedding, you're in for a great future together! I hope I get to do more weddings that are this stunning because I'm still obsessed with this one! Thanks again to Julie for her help :)

 
Live Love Flowers - Michele Signature (1).png

Lexi and Brian - 06/10/17

Where do I begin with Lexi and Brian? I remember the first time I met Lexi - I was interviewing her for my assistant at Claires. It was Halloween and I was dressed up as an angel. Despite that, she decided to not only work for me at Claires, but to become one of my best friends and now she works for me doing wedding setups! 

Avenue Studios Photography

Avenue Studios Photography

I don't remember the first time I met Brian, but he treated me like we have known each other for years. I was blessed enough to be the Maid of Honor AND the florist for their wedding! I'm not even sorry for how many pictures I'm going to share!

Brian wore a boutonniere of a wine colored mini calla, blush astilbe, white waxflower and a paper flower made from book pages.

I would just like it to be known that I am a regular sized person and I wasn't even wearing heels yet. All dresses were from Storybook Ending in DeWitt

Lexi carried a bouquet of blush peonies, wine mini calla lilies, burgundy garden roses, wine dahlias, white anemone, blush astilbe, white waxflower, book page paper flowers and silver dollar eucalyptus. A total pinterest worthy bouquet!

Their ceremony featured my new lighted backdrop with Italian ruscus draped from the top. I love how it softened up the dark room and made it look so romantic. Ceremony and Reception at River Center Davenport.

As bridesmaids, we carried smaller versions of the bridal bouquet but with white peonies. Lexi's were SO blush they almost looked white so it's hard to tell the difference. 

At the end of the aisle, were 2 arrangements of white hydrangea, wine snapdragons, blush stock, blush peonies, wine calla lilies, wine dahlias, burgundy garden roses, white waxflower and assorted greens. 

The front of her bouquet included an Origami Owl brooch with special charms inside. 

In between these 2 photos, the bottom of my dress got stuck on the bottom step and I took a tumble while throwing my bouquet across the room. I now have a pretty sweet scar on my elbow from the rug burn. I'm honestly disappointed that it wasn't caught on video or in photos because it was hilarious. 

My elbow rug burn became a conversation piece for the rest of the day and made it into my MOH speech. Bridal Party pictures at Hotel Blackhawk

I tried to do classic "Brian Duck Face and Point" but I turned my hand and now I look like I'm doing finger guns. 

Thank you both for letting me be a part of your special day in such a big way, and be a part of your life! You're stuck with me now!

 
Live Love Flowers - Michele Signature (1).png

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!