bouquet recipe

Friday Flowers :: Jessica’s Early Spring Bouquet

0 · Apr 6, 2018 ·

Jessica has freelanced with me for a couple years now and is a flower lover herself. I’ve been somewhat desperate for someone plan a late winter, early spring wedding because of the stunning variety of blooms available this time of year. So when Jessica became a client AND she planned a mid-March wedding, it made it nearly impossible to contain myself. I wanted to buy all the flowers. And I wanted her bouquet to be absolutely perfect.

Each angle of this bouquet was completely different, the variety was beyond my normal creative scope and its hard to remember what all this bouquet even entailed. But the star was for sure the ranunculus. I often have brides come to me not knowing what flowers they love, not knowing their names or just knowing a variety or two that has captured their attention. One of those often found on the list is the coveted Cloni Hanoi Ranunculus, which is only available during these late winter months. Ranunculus can be found throughout the year in various shades, but these are nearly the size of a peony and have the ever so slightest kiss of blush – they’re perfection.

I could have built the entire bouquet out of these beauties. They’re Italian and dance in a bouquet like a ballerina’s ruffly tutu.

Burgundy fritillaria twirled around the edges, lilacs gracefully extended there blooms and delicate sweet peas added their frangrance.

A few smilax vines added a small touch of green and dried goldenrod brought us back to the local winter season.

Photography: Katie Grace Photography | Floral Design: The Day’s Design

I’m excited to bring this Friday Flowers back and can’t wait to share more beautiful blooms with you. And if you want to see all of Ryan & Jessica’s beautiful equestrian wedding day, you can see it here.

Happy Friday!

Friday Flowers :: Shelby’s Autumn Bouquet

0 · Jan 27, 2017 ·

First off, I need you to take a look at this gorgeous scenery…

Mistry Farms Ann Arbor | The Day's Design | Ashley Slater Photography

These are the views that would surround Shelby and Paul’s guests, making them fall in love with this wedding day even more. And as a designer, I couldn’t imagine creating something that could complete with this natural beauty.

I knew this would be a day spent in the sun, with all of creation singing with glory. Cowboy boots, wheat grasses and cool fall tones inspired me. Autumn’s textures were abundant and I wanted Shelby’s bouquet to fit right in with this breathtaking backdrop.

Fall Bridal Bouquet | The Day's Design | Ashley Slater Photography

This bouquet was filled with lots of goodness. Roses are always a standby in my recipe making, I chose to us Vendela Roses for their slightly off-white and creamy appearance. I paired them with White cloud garden roses, which often have just a tiny kiss of pink or at least a warmer white hue. Shelby had specifically requested cotton, which I was happy to deliver and added in some tallow berries to accent the woodiness of the cotton stems. I always like to add at least one linear item to the design and chose tuberose for this bouquet. Again, it has a white appearance but the ends fold into a mauvy blush tone adding a little depth to the muted palette. We had talked a lot about using wheat throughout her wedding design, but wheat just didn’t have the right movement, so I opted for pampas grass which would give a similar color but swayed nicer in the wind. I then added a couple of grasses that I plucked from the side of the road which had a similar size and scale to the wheat. My bouquets always require a pinch of green, especially since I knew there would still be plenty in our stunning autumn background, so I added snow on the mountain, which would serve to act as a bridge we transitioned from the greens to white. Lastly, I added in one single hydrangea. It was trimmed from a plant that I had bought earlier in the season and it served a couple of purposes. One, it filled a whole that was daunting me during the design process. Two, it added a little more depth the pale color palette. And three, I knew there was an amazaing hydrangea bush on property with similar tones and I had high hopes that the bride would be photographed in front of it. She was.

Autumn Bridal Bouquet | The Day's Design | Ashley Slater Photography Fall Bridal Bouquet | The Day's Design | Ashley Slater Photography

Oh the places the bouquet traveled that day, it was such a dream.

Autumn Bouquet Recipe | The Day's Design | Ashley Slater Photography

Photography: Ashley Slater Photography | Venue: Misty Farms in Ann Arbor, Michigan | Floral Design: The Day’s Design

Friday Flowers :: Olivia’s Burgundy & Blush Summer Bouquet

0 · Nov 4, 2016 ·

Olivia’s bouquet was to be completed after what had already been a full week of flowering. It was an unbearably hot day in the middle of July and I was feeling the burn – quite literally. I don’t like leaving such an important piece until the end of the day but unfortunately in this instance, I had no choice. Flowers are such a perishable items and these needed to be in their prime.

Burgundy & Blush Bridal Bouquet | The Day's Design | Bethany Small Photography

I’m guessing it was about midnight when I finally gave up. Try as I may, I couldn’t make the flowers flow right, there was something missing and I simply wasn’t satisfied with the results. I had the most beautiful burgundy charm peonies, some stunning red spray roses, burgundy scabiosa and some Talea roses in the palest shade of peach.

It just wasn’t enough. It felt lackluster and boring. Olivia had gushed over Good Seed Floral of Oregon and their gorgeous design work and mine was failing dreadfully in comparison. While I never try to replicate another artist’s work, I knew my results would never do. Her bouquet needed to be a piece of art marrying burgundy and blush shades in perfect harmony while capturing the essence of Northern Michigan and the pristine beach where she would be wed.

In situations like these, I do what any good florist would do – I take a trip to the hardware store. I fell in love with one bendy stem of speckled foxglove. I grabbed some coleus, yarrow and chocolate poke weed. And then some lacy, red, unidentified annuals off of the clearance rack.

Burgundy & Blush Bouquet Recipe | The Day's Design | Bethany Small Photography

Photography: Bethany Small Photography

These were the magic missing ingredients. Her bouquet few together in mere minutes of time and was one of my very favorites this season.

Shelby signature

Flower Friday :: Christina’s Springtime Bouquet

0 · Sep 30, 2016 ·

To some it may seem crazy that even 18 month later, I can still remember what ingredients I put into a bridal bouquet. Mentally, I spend so much time on each of these artpieces that it makes it nearly impossible for me to forget.

Christina’s bouquet was extra special. She wanted a little touch that I’ll never forget. Loosely tucked into the backside of her bouquet were two tulilps. These tulips were each adorned with their own silk ribbon and were meant to be plucked out and presented as a gift to both the mother of the bride and the groom’s mother as Christina made her way down the aisle.

This was one of the sweetest gestures for one’s mom I’ve ever heard. And while I didn’t actually get to see the moment take place, I can still imagine mom wiping a tear from her eye and cherishing that tulip for the rest of it’s blooming life.

There’s a meaning behind each flower and while I don’t always get into the historical significance of each bloom, I do find it really interesting. Tulip represent perfect love. This type of love is an enduring love between family and partners. I made this choice untensionally, but love how perfect that symbolism is.

Beyond these extrodinary tulips, there where a bunch of other flowers in her bouquet as well, which made it so textural and luscious.

In building the bouquet, I used a couple different varieties of eucalyptus to create my base. I love the soft, blue green tones paired with pink. I seldom stick to only one variety of greens, so I also foraged some wild honeysuckle from my neightborhood. It was at the height of perfection and added leavy green texture along with it’s delicate, honey sweet frangrant blooms.

Foxglove was included next. It adds the perfect linear illusion and also an element of fun with it’s polka dotted little hoods. I had this flown in from California as Michigan’s wasn’t ready quite yet.

I started layering in some focal flowers, including ranunculus, quicksand roses and lilies. Lilies sometimes get a bad rap, but I really like them. They’re bold and showstopping. They transform throughout the day, opening more and more and making your bouquet so differnent from morning to night. I love that. And quicksand roses are my go-to’s, the perfect shade of beigy pink.

As I was layering these ingredients in, something was missing. It just wasn’t “wowing” me. Then I remembered I had two white peony blossoms left in my cooler. These flowers were from a photo shoot earlier that spring and nearly 3 weeks old. But sometimes peonies are magical in that they just seem to last forever. They were perfect.

A couple of clematis and draping tulips around the edge and Christina’s bouquet was complete.

Photography: Kelly Sweet Photography

You can see more from Tina and Chris’s Witt’s Inn Wedding here. I won’t be playing with any flowers this weekend, I’m off to other adventures. Happy Friday!!

Style Me Pretty Bouquet Breakdown :: Nautical Lake Michigan Wedding

0 · Mar 21, 2016 ·

Building a bridal bouquet is so much more than just gathering a handful of flowers and binding them with a silk ribbon. It’s an artful composition of design. It’s a process of sourcing the right ingredients, crafting the perfect recipe and then weeding out any blooms that don’t quite meet the cut. And then the labor of love truly begins.

I remember the day that Becca send me a gorgeous, white mounded bouquet with the caption “this would be a dream”. I would never copy another artist design – there are a number of logical reasons behind this, but for the most glaring of those is because I wouldn’t be true to myself, I would be relying on someone else’s creativity and it might actually rob not only the other artist, but also the bride of having a piece that’s a one of a kind treasure that’s designed solely for her. The bridal bouquet is an artist’s floral interpretation of each bride, their story written in flowers.

So I asked, “What is it that you love so much about the bouquet?” After a little thought, she determined that it was the way that it was white, and yet had the tiniest tinge of pink scattered amongst the petals. It was so subtle and barely noticeable, and yet, there it was.

Becca was a very elegant and chic bride, so her bouquet was designed to be a reflection of her. It was just a touch nautical, perfect for a beach wedding. The blue hint in the greenery blended with Lake Michigan’s shoreline and the wild dune grass which prevalent all around. Then a couple anemones were added to tie in the nautical navy of the men’s suits. I chose to make the clematis and its silky smooth petals, the star of the garden rose infuse bouquet. This provided a resting place of the eye to naturally fall and also nodded to Becca’s appreciation of simple, clean lines.

Photography: Clary Pfeiffer Photography

You can read more about the individual floral ingredients and inspiration behind the bouquet here, as it was featured on Style Me Pretty over the weekend. You can also see the full St. Joseph wedding here as well from its feature back in December.

1 Recipe… Endless Possibilities (Part 2)

0 · May 15, 2015 ·

I think today calls for another dose of cheery blooms. So I’m sharing what I learned from Kaci with Damsel Floral Co about creating a more traditional, or formal style bridal bouquet (here’s the post from last week talking about looser, more asymmetrical bouquet styles).

We stayed true to the original nature of this project, further proving that just because we’re using the same flowers, it does not mean we’re going to yield identical results. In fact, far from it. There’s so much to factor into the equation but the major influence is the designer’s eye and personal preference. This is an art form, you wouldn’t expect 2 painters to paint the exact same painting or two sculptors to sculpt the same statue. It’s all in the eye of the beholder. And no two flowers stems are the same.

To create a more traditional bridal bouquet, we’ll start from the inside and work our way out. Pick a cluster of blooms that will be the central focal point. In a circle pattern, startarranging around that focal point, one blossom at a time. Keep the stems in a tight and in a spiral pattern.

As you work, startadding a few textural tidbits and accent flowers into the bouquet. This will soften the overall look and add more visual interest. Once the bouquet is complete and has reached the right size, perfect it by adding a few more greenery touches and even out any gaps making sure the bouquet is aesthetically pleasing and balanced.

An extra tip: Pay attention to the natural curves of each flower’s stem. Blooms with straight stems fit better towards the middle of the bouquets and those with a slight curve or angled flower head make better border flowers.

My final results.

And Kaci’s beautiful bouquet… while I struggled a touch, she whipped this up effortlessly.

I loved seeing all the completed bouquet (minus one we had to disassemble due to running out of flowers!). They were all so different even though we had used the same ingredients.

Photography: Hetler Photography | Floral Design: Damsel Floral Co and The Day’s Design

1 Recipe… Endless Possibilities (Part 1)

0 · May 7, 2015 ·

Yesterday I received the most amazing flower order. I think I literally squealed when I opened the box – they were knock-your-socks-off pretty, oh my! And even though I’m the one that placed the order, it’s still like Christmas when they arrive. I don’t always remember exactly what’s in the box or sometimes I just flat out forget how pretty certain flowers can be.

Pulling out each gorgeous blossom made me think back to this fun project that Kaci of Damsel Floral Co and myself put together. As flower friends, we like to learn from one another, there’s always more to know and I love finding different ways of doing things. We were inspired by bouquet recipes — you see them across major wedding blogs, on Pinterest and always accompanied by a picture of a really gorgeous bouquet. However, I think they’re misleading sometimes. For the DIY bride, she now knows exactly what flowers to use meaning she should be able to duplicate that picture. For the less DIY inclined, they should be able to take this recipe to a florist and have them create an exact replica as well, right?

I’m going to compare it to a food recipe. You can give me a list of ingredients. You can even tell me how much of each ingredient to include in my dish. But if I’m not give any instructions with it, I won’t know when to add what and how long to cook everything. While I might be able to use some common sense and come up with a decent meal, the results could also be disastrous.

Back to flowers, if the person creating the bouquet doesn’t understand the basic style and composition, then the results might not be exactly what you hoped for. You might create 2 bouquets with the exact same ingredients and yet yield completely different results.

This was the point that Kaci and I hoped to demonstrate. She gravitates a bit more to a more classic or formal style bouquet and I tend to like mine looser and more reminiscent of the garden (although I’ve seen her create some amazing “loose” bouquets and I should probably watch out, I might have some competition!). We both use the same flowers and yet we created completely different looks.

We started the day my way, meaning I showed Kaci the basic steps I take for constructing a looser, more relaxed style bouquet. My methods usually involved starting from the outside and working my way in. So I begin with usually 3 pieces to build a frame, either line flowers or greenery, and create a tripod type shape. From there, I start to fill in with secondary blooms keeping in mind what I want my focal point to be, which is usually a giant face flower. That focal flower, which in this case were the lilies, are added towards the end and once they’re in place I will start to adjust and add a few more blooms as needed.

Fun facts: I’m always very scattered while making a bouquet… very thoughtful and purposeful, but scattered. Flowers get flung in every which direction until I find the perfect bloom and it often looks like a tornado tore though a flower shop after I create just one bouquet.

And I always keep a mirror nearby. I have to see what it would look like if I were carrying it down the aisle. I never create something for a bride that I wouldn’t carry myself.

Part 2 of this post will be coming to you next week, we’ll see Kaci demonstrate how she takes a more formal approach to a bridal bouquet using the same flower recipe. And of course more gorgeous photos from Kellie of Hetler Photography.

Photography: Hetler Photography | Floral Design: Damsel Floral Co and The Day’s Design

Valentine’s Bouquet Inspiration

0 · Feb 14, 2014 ·

Back in the snow and gloom of January I had an idea. Valentine’s Day would quickly be approaching and it’s a day that always calls for some gorgeous blooms. However, sometimes these mounds of perfectly placed, symmetrical and classic roses need a little extra love – ferns and baby’s breath can only do so much. The careless air of a wildflower bouquet has always been more my style and frankly, sometimes these typical rose arrangements are a bit sophisticated and stuffy for my taste.

So I thought, why not make bouquets out of these readily available Valentine’s flowers that were my style? You don’t have to have extremely high end blooms to make a pretty bouquet, they just need to be artfully arranged and displayed. My goal was to gather some of these grocery store blooms and create something gorgeous and over the top romantic. These are all flowers that are readily available and can be glamorous if just arranged and displayed correctly. So if your man stops at Speedway on his way home from work tonight, don’t lose heart… you can still have some beautiful flowers!

Bouquet Recipe 1:

3 stems pink spray roses
6 cream roses
3 pale pink roses
3 medium (colored) pink roses
4 cherry roses
3 bakers ferns
1 tree fern
1 sprig cedar (salvaged from my back yard – because I promised everything would be easy to source!)

And don’t underestimate the impact a glamorous ribbon can make… the velvet one here is amazing!

Bouquet #2 has a few more components and is a little fancier. But it still has lots of Valentine favorites including tulips – just to tease you with the thought of spring!

Bouquet Recipe 2:

5 pink tulips
4 stems burgundy mums
2 pink snap dragons
3 medium (colored) pink roses
3 stems pink spray roses
2 cherry roses
2 cream roses
2 light pink roses
3 stems eucalyptus
1 bakers fern

And I couldn’t resist putting together a little floral hairpiece with some of the leftover blooms, which is a certain way to make any girl feel like a princess! Then we added some glitter and sweet treats and then convinced Heather Cisler Photography to come play with me in the middle of a snow storm!

This project was also featured over on Burnett’s Boards earlier this week, which was super fun as well, let’s spread the love all around!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

bouquet recipe

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