peonies

Shannan and Steve - 07/01/17

I absolutely loved Shannan and Steve's bright summer palate. I have had so many neutral weddings that this was a fun change.

Image by PhotoFrog

Image by PhotoFrog

The girls wore pool blue dresses and carried coral and peach bouquets. The bouquets were coral charm peonies, white stock, light pink spray roses, coral spray roses, coral ranunculus, coral hypericum berry and white waxflower.  The bridal bouquet also had blush calla lilies. 

Image by PhotoFrog

Image by PhotoFrog

Image by PhotoFrog

Image by PhotoFrog

The flower girls carried bouquets of baby's breath and light pink spray roses 

Image by PhotoFrog

Image by PhotoFrog

Steve wore a boutonniere of a blush calla lily and peach hypericum berry. The groomsmen wore boutonnieres of a light pink spray rose, coral spray rose and peach hypericum berry.  

Image by PhotoFrog

Image by PhotoFrog

Shannan and Steve got married in the Christ the King Chapel at St. Ambrose University where they attended. That was my most popular ceremony location of 2017.

Image by PhotoFrog

Image by PhotoFrog

The wood sign is made by CraftSavy and was my wedding gift to the Campbells.

Image by PhotoFrog

Image by PhotoFrog

It's been almost a year, so instead of wishing you the best on your future, I'll wish the Campbells a Happy Anniversary :) 

Image by PhotoFrog

Image by PhotoFrog

 
Live Love Flowers - Michele Signature (1).png

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

Elly and Nathan - 11/04/16

Elly is one of my brides that I didn't meet before her wedding due to them living out of town. I actually didn't meet her until the day after the wedding but we clicked from the very first phone call. Elly worked in the hotel industry so she's been around a ton of weddings and has a great eye for design!

Even though they got married in November, the weather was absolutely perfect! The wedding and reception were at Isle of Capri in Bettendorf but I'm glad they got a chance to go outside for pictures. 

The bouquets were white peonies, white roses, blush spray roses, baby's breath and silver dollar eucalyptus. Peonies are really rare in November and they did not want to open for me, but they turned out so lovely and perfectly on trend. 

The reception featured greenery, gold terrariums and tons of candlelight. It was a really romantic and trendy vibe. 

On half of the tables, there were triangle terrariums with ruscus and baby's breath around the base. On the other half, there were hexagon terarriums with roses, spray roses and eucalyptus around the base. 

The real showstopper was the ceremony backdrop that Elly and I spent months deciding what to do. It was truly stunning and one of my favorite pieces I've created. 

The design featured a variety of sizes of cylinder vases with flowers and candles. From the top down, the flowers were dendrobium orchids, white hydrangea, white carnations, blush spray roses and the small gold vased arrangements double purposed as the centerpieces for the parents' tables. 

Top images - Giraffe Photography , Bottom images - pinterest photos from bride

Top images - Giraffe Photography , Bottom images - pinterest photos from bride

After many discussions and email threads, Elly sent me the photos on the bottom and asked to do something similar. I'm obsessed with what we came up with. Our biggest issue is what we were going to sit all the vases on. We wanted the candles to really dance and sparkle so we didn't want to just use a table. We considered huge mirrors, but one this size would have run hundreds of dollars and that was out of the budget. We landed on using the glass top from my entertainment center! Never underestimate the use of random objects around the house. 

Since the wedding, Elly has started a business of her own. Lattz Travel Group focuses on romantic vacations such as honeymoons and anniversary trips. Elly is a delight so if you need help planning a honeymoon, you should check her out!

I loved working with Elly and Nathan for their special day and have been lucky enough to keep in touch via FB. I hope they continue to live a blessed and happy life together!

 

Kayla and Corbin - 01/16/16

Kayla and Corbin were married on a VERY cold January day. Her bridesmaids were SO cute in their fur shawls. 

I have known Kayla and Corbin for a very long time. Corbin was a year behind me in high school. Kayla's parents and my parents have been good friends for a number of years. I remember doing Kayla's hair for a daddy/daughter dance when she was about 8. I was thrilled that she wanted me to do the flowers for her wedding. I was even more thrilled when I was invited to join in the celebration! True to the winter theme, their reception had a smores bar! What more could you want?!?!

Kayla and I never had an actual in person consultation due to her being away at her last semester of school. She was so good at communicating her vision via email. She was in love with peonies and roses and a soft fluffy look. She sent me a lot of pictures from Pinterest so I could feel for the style of her day. 

Kayla and Corbin's wedding was ALL about glitz and glam. There were sequin tablecloths, gems and sparkle everywhere. I'm sure it wasn't Corbin's dream come true but it was mine! If you know me, you know that I would put glitter on everything if I could :)

The bride and her mom designed their own silk centerpieces but I created a statement piece for the table in the center of the room. You can see the branches they rented from me in her centerpieces in the background. They did an excellent job of making their centerpieces! I was very impressed with their craftiness. Even if I don't make your centerpieces (like in this case) you can always rent items to make your wedding complete. Kayla and Corbin rented glitter branches and a TON of gems to scatter around on the tables. 

One of the ideas Kayla was in love with was floral headwreaths for her three adorable flower girls. Being so crafty, she designed and made signs for them to carry down the aisle. She designed several other graphics for both ceremony and reception. After the wedding, Kayla opened an etsy shop to sell graphics and handmade items. If you're planning a wedding, be sure to check her shop out here because the items are super cute! 

Image by Wiz of Oz Photography, Signs for sale in Kayla's Etsy Shop

Image by Wiz of Oz Photography, Signs for sale in Kayla's Etsy Shop

I want to thank Kayla and Corbin for allowing me to be a part of their special day! This was definitely a group that knew how to have a good time! I've loved being able to watch their love grow and can't wait to continue to watch their life together as a new family. 

I also want to thank them for allowing me to use their venue to do a photoshoot for my website photos. The Outing Club is a gorgeous venue and I feel so lucky to have been able to take my headshots and other images for my site during their wedding set-up. I wish Kayla and Corbin all the best for their future!!