The Bouquets

The inspiration for my bouquet. Isn't it lovely? Originally spotted on Style Me Pretty,
with photography by Yasmin Khajavi.

I was struck by that bouquet. In all my searching and saving of images, I kept coming back to this bouquet. It's so classic and stunning. I've always loved cream colored roses, so combined with dahlias, white astilbe (the greenish-white lacy stuff coming out the bottom-I had never heard of astilbe before the florist told me what it was!), this was just the perfect bouquet.

The only flower I wanted to change: the yellow/peach roses. Our color scheme had a pale peach in it, but no yellow, so I wanted to keep my bouquet in the palette. So we went with pale peach roses and cream colored cabbage roses with a hint of blush at the centers.

The bridesmaid bouquets were much less elaborate. Since we had to transport all the flowers ourselves to Mohican, in coolers, it was vital that we bring loose stems instead of six completed arrangements, for space reasons. So I went with a simple but striking choice: purple alstroemeria with variegated pitt. The bridesmaids assembled their own bouquets the morning of the wedding while getting ready (and while I was off taking photos with John) and wrapped them in champagne floral lace. They turned out incredible and really popped against their jade and teal dresses.

When I picked up my bouquet the morning before the wedding, it was perfection. It was wrapped similarly to the inspiration bouquet, with ivory ribbon and little pearl-topped pins. Pretty, but too traditional for me. So I dug through my tiny collection of lace from my grandmother and found the most stunning rose lace to re-wrap my bouquet.

To top it all off, I wanted to wrap vintage gold heart lockets around the lace, with photos of my grandparents on their wedding days (since none of them could be with me on mine). It was a way that I could carry them with me down the aisle, in my heart (and literally, in a heart!). I scoured vintage stores and Etsy until I found two perfect lockets for the task: one with etched and tinted daisies and the other a tiny, delicate heart with a purple flower flanked by green leaves. They looked stunning when hung together on a delicate gold crinkle chain, and I've worn it as a necklace ever since the wedding.

It all came together so beautifully. If I could have changed one thing about the wedding, it would have been to include more flowers somehow. I loved working with a florist and the bouquets were just incredible in action.