The Bride's Bouquet and Wedding Party Florals

The bridal bouquet included roses, succulents, seeded eucalyptus, black berries,
rosemary sprigs, brunia silver pods, small pinecones, feathers, and mini antlers.

One of the many hats I wore for this wedding was that of floral designer. I've never had any real training in floral design, but I know enough about fresh flowers and other materials to be able to do a few things.

We actually went to see a professional floral designer for a bid - but when the bride kept saying "winter white" and soft green (complete with photo examples) and she kept showing us red arrangements, I knew that I might need to step in and take charge of the flowers too.

It was fine with me in the end, because I do like to be in control of all design details, if possible!

The bride's gown was a very unique shade and we noticed right away that many cream roses didn't look good against the fabric. So on my first trip to the floral trade center I had a fabric swatch to shop with.

We found a pink tinged rose called white majolica that looked perfect with the dress. I even made a sample bouquet for the last dress fitting, just to be sure.

The bouquet was hand-tied with ribbon. What a fun bride - she was a dream to work with. 

We created the bouquet on the morning of the wedding and many of the roses opened more than I would have preferred,  but it didn't really matter - it turned out so nice and exceeded my expectations. I think I really lucked out!

A friend of the bride gave her a locket with a photo of her grandmother and
we attached it to the side of the bouquet that faced the bride. She could glance down at it
and feel that her grandmother was with her on this special day.
Photo by Leesa King

The groom's boutonnière included a white majolica rose, a succulent, and seeded eucalyptus. 

Using the same materials, each boutonnière was created a bit different for the seven groomsmen. Two of the bride's aunts arrived in time to help me with the florals on the morning of the wedding. 

They were tied with burlap ribbon and twine.

The bridesmaid's carried lanterns instead of bouquets. We adorned them with 

burlap ribbon, roses, pinecones, pine sprigs, and seeded eucalyptus. We used flameless tea lights so there was no worry about the flame going out as they walked down the pathway.

The maid-of-honor carried a bigger lantern,
but it had the same flowers as the six other lanterns the bridesmaid's held.

The entire wedding party.  Beautiful.

All photos by John Robert Woods Photography in Orange County, CA unless otherwise noted.