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Grand Rapids floral design

Original Recipe :: Peonies & Pinecones

0 · Dec 15, 2014 ·

Winter Floral Arrangement | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

People tell me all the time how limited they feel when it comes to winter flowers.  It’s as if their imaginations just can’t see what’s not in bloom staring at them right in their face, or in their backyards.  Perhaps this attributes to the low number of winter weddings, sometimes you just have a hard time finding beauty in all the grey and the muck.

I think peonies are one of these forgotten winter flowers.  It’s often assumed that they’re a springtime bloom, so only available during that time. While this is true in Michigan, it is springtime in other parts of the world and today it’s possible to have flowers shipped all around the globe while still keeping the costs low.  So let’s beat the winter blues and remember that we can create beauty all around us, we might just have to search a little beyond our own gardens.

Winter Flower Recipe | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

Today’s recipe includes a couple springtime favorites (peonies and ranunculus), combined with some winter greens (magnolia leaves, seeded eucalyptus, and foraged cedar greens), a variety of roses which are available for most part all year (amnesia roses, lavender and white spray roses) and then head on out to your back yard for a couple of pine cones – which I think are extra lovely when gilded gold (a little dusting of spray paint should do the trick).

Winter Floral Recipe | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

Peony & Pinecone floral recipe | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

Peony & Pinecone Flower Recipe | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

Gold Pine Cones | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

Purple Winter Flower Recipe | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

Winter Peony Centerpiece | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

Peony Winter Flowers | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

Winter Flower Recipe: Peony and Pinecones | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

Purple Winter Flowers | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

 Winter Wedding Flowers | The Day's Design | Katie Grace Photography

Photography: Katie Grace Photography | Flower Recipe & Design: The Day’s Design

Are there any flowers you’re missing this season?

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Flowers gilded pinecones, Grand Rapids floral design, Grand Rapids florist, Katie Grace Photography, original flower recipes, Peonies, pine cones, purple flowers, purple wedding flowers, winter centerpieces, winter peony, winter wedding flowers

Team Flower Workshop :: The Bouquet

0 · Jul 8, 2014 ·

It’s funny looking back at my time in North Carolina.  I felt like I was surrounded with beauty every single moment of the day, the number of flowers so easily accessible to us was slightly overwhelming and the gorgeous mountainside scenery really did steal your breathe away.  Then I received the pictures back of my work and realized that I really only made two portfolio arrangements.  But that was enough friends, they are two of my favorite pieces ever.

There was an entire day focused around personal flowers.  From boutonnieres to bouquets to flower crowns, I love them all.  I think we should make wearing fresh flowers a part of our everyday fashion, don’t you agree?  By far, the bridal bouquet is always my favorite decor item of the wedding.  It crosses the line of being an accessory and a decoration and is always by the bride’s side.  It holds the most photographed flowers of the day and I want the bride to love it forever.

When creating a bridal bouquet, I often find myself standing in front of a mirror, envisioning myself in a white gown and carrying this lovely bunch of blooms.  It was so fun to see that others do the same, there was a mirror available for just this purpose.  I chose of of the most vibrant magenta peonies I have ever seen, along with a paler, tree peony friend and orange kumquats.  This is was spoke to me and I built my bouquet around them adding smoke bush, mock orange and tulips.  And the icing on the cake was the long, elegant, flowing silk ribbons that cascaded down from the flowers letting the colors live on a little longer.

Peony and Tuilp Bouquet | The Day's Design | Heather Payne Photography

And then we all climbed the largest hill (or mountain — not sure of the correct term here!) I have ever climbed, in the middle of a cow pasture, and handed our blooms off to the beautiful bride model Kelly had waiting for us.  Even to watch the reaction on her face as she took the bouquet from my hand was enough to make my heart go pitter patter.

North Carolina Bride | The Day's Design | Heather Payne Photography

Bridal Bouquet | The Day's Design | Heather Payne Photography

My legs burned and I may or may not have stepped in a cow pie, but it doesn’t matter because I would easily endure these “hardships” for any of my brides, sacrificing my own clothing for the most picture perfect moments, lighting and blooms.  Because that’s what a wedding planner does – in that moment it’s not about me, it’s about making someone else’s wedding day dreams come true.

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You can read more about the Team Flower Workshop in yesterday’s post here.  All photos by Heather Payne Photography, they’re film and they’re amazing.  But more on that later 😉

Business Planning, Flowers Boone North Carolina, bridal bouquet, floral design, florist, flower friends, Grand Rapids floral design, Heather Payne Photography, kumquats, mock orange, mountains, Peony, Philosophy Flowers, silk ribbon, Team Flower workshop, the day's design, tree peony, tulips

Flowers are Coming to The Day’s Design!!

0 · Apr 30, 2014 ·

I am so grateful and beyond excited for the opportunity to follow my PASSION for flowers and offer romantic, garden style blooms to my design services.  This May, my travels will take me to North Carolina to attend Philosophy Flowers’s workshop where I hope to hone some of my floral skills.  Flowers make me feel alive and I want to be surrounded by them as often as possible.

Philosophy Flower Workshop

Flowers and design go hand in hand, so this seems like a natural step for me to take.  It’s becoming a rather requested service of me.  And you’ve no doubt seen my floral work throughout my website, in inspirations shoots and even at my own wedding.  In fact, you may have thought this was a service I already offered, which it is, but on a very small scale.  Putting together a few blooms for a birthday party, brunch or simply brighten someone’s day is a little different than creating a design with hundreds of flowers, moving pieces, aisle décor and centerpieces for a wedding.

So when it comes down to it, fear has held me back and I’ve been scared to book a whole wedding’s worth of floral.  There are so many more details to consider than just hand-tying a few blooms together.  And what if I fail?  This is someone’s dream day that I would be crushing!

In light of this, right now my basement is being reworked, plans are being plotted and floral recipes are being created.  If all goes well, full on large scale floral services will be officially be added to The Day’s Designs offerings soon… like really soon, I’m talking to brides about blooms this summer and fall!  Eeekk… I’m so excited to actually be typing those words!

What does it mean for you, my current and future bridal clients?  It means that you will have yet another resource for beautiful blooms.  It means that the person designing and coordinating logistics with also be hands-on with florals and ideas can easily come from one person and one place, without having to communicate your vision over and over again to countless vendors.  It also means one less vendor to worry about on your wedding day.  However, you by no means HAVE to use my floral services.  I know there are so many amazing florists out there, and if one of them strikes your fancy, I highly encourage you to work with them.  No hard feelings, I want your day to represent you and make your vision come to life.  I will also be taking on a limited number of floral only clients, so bring on the flower love!

I can’t wait to share more about my adventures of adding blooms!

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Business Planning, Flowers adding services, floral designer, floral services, flowers, Grand Rapids floral design, Grand Rapids florist, North Carolina, Philosophy Flowers workshop, the day's design, Wedding Design, wedding flowers, West Michigan flowers

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