white wedding

Kelsey and Nick - 07/01/17

Kelsey has been a good friend of mine for almost 10 years and Nick is the perfect person for her to spend her life with. 

She gave me a lot of freedom when it came to her flowers. She knew she wanted white and Tiffany blue and picked out a few flowers that she liked. I don't think there is anyone else I would sprayed hundreds of flowers light blue for. All her flowers were roses, lisianthus and freesia.

Nick wore a boutonniere of a white rose and blue freesia. 

As a florist, I often get recruited for other jobs aside from flowers. Nick had a groomsman break his tux pants, and thanks to my tool kit, I was able to fix them. The process of me on the ground trying to fix pants was heavily photographed by both the photographer, other groomsmen, and both the fathers. They all found it hilarious. I liked this photo because it looks like we were having a moment. 

Their pew ends were white hydrangea with blue bows. The flower girls wore little corsages with long streamers and tossed petals. Sofia (pictured in front) was such a little helper. Because we were using hydrangea out of water on a hot day, I needed to spray them with a hydration and protection spray. Sofia was watching me and wanting to help so she was in charge of spraying all of the pew ends for me. She did a great job!

The altar had 3 arrangements on the altar and a unity candle. 

Kelsey said she knew Nick was "the one" the first night she met him. They met at a wedding and they talked all night. Even though it was late, he said he had to get up early for church the next morning. And with that one sentence, she knew he was a keeper. 

Kelsey and Nick both grew up on a farm so it only made sense to take some pictures out on Nick's farm! Ironically Nick's family farm backs up to farm land that belongs to my mom's cousin. 

The baker added the florals to the cake based on the photo Kelsey loved. But isn't this stunning?!?! It was delicious too!

The outdoor tables all had vases with blue hydrangea in them. The inside tables had centerpieces of a cylinder vase and a mixture of all their flowers (I don't have a picture of those) 

Kelsey's bouquet was wrapped with lace from her mother's wedding gown. I love when brides add a personal touch to their flowers!

Happy Anniversary (plus 1 day due to technological issues)! Thank you for including me in your special day, both as a vendor and as a friend. I wish you a blessed marriage and life together!

 
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Laura and Paul - 06/17/17

I have known Laura for our entire lives so I was honored when she asked me to be a part of her and Paul's special day! Thank you to JW Wedding Photography for all the gorgeous images!

Laura carried a bouquet of white hydrangea, white roses and just a hint of baby's breath. I am SO glad I experimented last year so I can provide hydrangea bouquets that live - especially in summer!

Image by JW Wedding Photography

Image by JW Wedding Photography

Laura and Paul got married at First Congregational Church in Moline. I may be biased since I went there my whole life, as has Laura, but I think it is the most gorgeous church in the area. I'm obsessed with the stained glass windows and how dark and moody it is. 

Her bouquet was wrapped in the lace from her mom's wedding dress. I always love when couples incorporate something special into their flowers. Part of mom's dress or veil and grandma's jewelry are the most popular items, but we can use anything that is special to you! 

I love the contrast of the dark purple dresses with the lavender flowers. Purple is the color of the year but its a hard color to match so I love when brides are open to doing a color palate instead of just a specific color.

The bridesmaids bouquets were white and purple alstroemeria, lavender stock, lavender roses and white roses.

We did pew ends of puffs of baby's breath with a purple bow on the church candelabra. We later transferred the puffs of baby's breath to be a part of the centerpieces at the reception.

Paul wore a boutonniere of a white rose and white altroemeria. The groomsmen wore boutonnieres of white and purple alstroemeria. Because alstroemeria is a type of lily and smashes easily, they decided to add on an extra boutonniere for Paul to wear for pictures. After you hug 200 of your closest friends and family, your boutonniere can look rough so adding on an extra is a cost effective way to make sure your wedding photos look perfect. 

I don't have photos of the centerpieces but one set was a variety of cylinder vases, two with baby's breath puffs and the other with a bouquet of alstroemeria. The other tables had lanterns with petals around the base. The reception was held at The Radisson in Davenport. 

Thank you so much to Laura and Paul for including me in your special day! I can't wait to watch your love to continue to grow in the future. Congratulations on your life together! 

 
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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 :)

 
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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!