Carnation Urn

Photo by Heather Boren


Photo by Luke Rutan


Want the lush look of ruffled peonies but it's not peony season? Try carnations! This is the one and only way I like carnations-- en masse. They take on a whole new aesthetic when presented this way. I did this centerpiece for the young life event, and also for a wedding 2 Septembers ago. The bride really wanted peonies, but they were just too far out of season locally to be affordable (read: I could have had them flown in from New Zeland, but that would have put her waaaay over budget!) so I went out on a limb and suggested carnations. She was thrilled with the result! (see second photo)Many people turn their noses up at carnations (trust me, I understand!) but they really do look lovely when they are used by themselves in a large arrangement or pomander.

Color Cube

A couple more centerpieces from the Young Life event. These are 2 variations on the same idea--LOTS of color in a cube vase with an interesting accent. The first one has roses(red intuition variety from rio-- take a closer look! One of my favorite roses!), spider mums, hypericum, freesia and anemone. We added black accents with paper, ribbon, and colored wire. This would be a great way to add color to a wedding where the attendants were wearing black (which happens more often than you might think!)

The second arrangement has a lot more orange and no black accents, so the overall look is brighter. It's made up of roses, freesia, asiatic lilies, kermit mums, anemone, and hypericum with lilly grass accents. We also used a piece of scrapbook paper under the vase to make the arrangement stand out more against the white tablecloth. This is one of my favorite inexpensive ideas for table decor. It's a great way to bring in a theme like black & white damask.

Thanks again to Heather Boren for the photos!

Picnic in the Grass

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of donating some centerpieces to the Young Life "Palate of the Plateau" event. I love this event because I'm given total creative freedom. They auction off the centerpieces, so it's good for them to be different to appeal to different tastes. I'm not given a color scheme, style, size, or anything-- I just get to do what I want! It's so great because I get to have the BEST time creating and support an organization I believe in at the same time.

So, I made about 12 centerpieces and was pretty happy with the results. Then I realized that I was about to have another missed opportunity to add to my portfolio. I'm not great at taking pictures, and I don't have a good camera, either. So, anytime I try to take photos of my work, they end up looking lame. So, I called up my new friend Heather Boren with Heather Boren Photography and asked her to do me the HUGE last-minute favor of swinging by the event during set-up to take some photos of my centerpieces. The venue was a high school cafeteria, so needless to say, the conditions for shooting decent photos were not ideal. I just got the photos back from Heather, and I have to say, I am SO impressed with what she managed to do in that big, ugly room! If you or someone you know are getting married, needing senior pictures, or a family photo shoot, PLEASE give Heather a call. You will not be disappointed!

There are so many of these centerpieces, I was tempted to put them all up in one post. But, I decided that since they were all different, it would be fun to blog them one at a time. I had a hard time picking a favorite, so I went with the one that seems to fit the best with today's beautiful, sunny weather. I'm calling it "Picnic in the Grass:"





Photos by Heather Boren Photography

Discount for Available Dates

Do you know anyone who is getting married this summer? I have a few un-booked dates on my summer calendar and will be offering a 15% discount to a bride referred by someone who reads this blog who books one of my open dates.

Available Dates are:

May 15th
May 22nd
June 12th
July 3rd
August 28th

If you know of anyone getting married on one of those dates, have them contact me (contact info is on my website- www.paisleypetals.com) and mention this blog post. If they decide to book me for their wedding, they will receive a 15% discount off of their total flower order!

Stop The Madness!!

I'm working on a really fun wedding this weekend with mostly green flowers. While I was out in the shop, I was reminded of one of my least favorite occurances in the floral world: the dyed green carnation. Having just recently celebrated St. Patrick's day, the annoyance is fresh in my mind. So, I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of some of the flowers I'm using for this wedding. None of them have been dyed-- these are naturally-occuring green flowers/berries/foliages etc. So, I ask you:

Why would you want this:


When you could have any of these instead?

 

There are so many naturally occurring, beautiful green flowers out there. Accept no substitutes!

Featured Flower Friday: Lisianthus

 

Lisianthus (or lizzy as it is often called in florist land) is one of my favorite flowers to use in hand-tied bouquets for weddings. It has an almost rose-like look at a nowhere near rose-like cost. I love it's papery ruffled blooms- they add just the right touch of texture. Even the un-opened buds look really sweet in a garden-inspired bouquet.

Lisianthus are available year-round. Single and double forms are available, but I prefer to use the double. The dark purple is one of my favorite varieties- such a rich, royal hue! They have a nice, long vase life of 7-14 days. Their victorian flower meaning is calming and/or faithfulness.

Perhaps the only downside to lisianthus is it's lack of scent, but it has so many other great qualities that it doesn't really matter!

Abby's nature-inspired bouquet from last summer includes white lisianthus... see if you can spot it!





Laura's all-white bouquet also featured lisianthus. This is a totally different style from Abby's bouquet, but the lizzy still works!

Photo by Luke Rutan

Happy Friday everybody-- enjoy your weekend!

Fresh Flower Rings!

My little flower rings have been a big hit lately! I made a couple for Heather Boren's girls for the Father/Daughter dance in February. Heather is a super-talented photographer, so she snapped a couple of shots for me (check her out at http://heatherborenphotography.blogspot.com/). I'm so happy to finally have some professional quality shots of my flower rings-- the others I have are blurry and just don't do them justice!



These rings are great for bridesmaids to wear at the reception-- they still get to feel special without having to carry their bouquet around all night! They are also fabulous for prom, birthday parties, bachelorette parties, girl's night out, etc. Rings range from $15-$25. Once you have your ring, I can re-do the flower for $5- $10 for future events.