Succulent Bouquets

Did I forget to blog this?? I just had a bride email and ask about a succulent bouquet and I thought "oh, where is that blog post I did on succulent bouquets? I'll send her the link..." and well, I couldn't find it! Maybe I forgot to blog it?! So here goes...my florist will have to forgive me as it's 10:30 at night after a long day so I just did a quick search through my library of photos to find some succulent bouquets we have had. If I find better pictures (after a good nights sleep), I'll be sure to post more.

Soft blues...

Vibrant colors...

The photos above were all from our florist. The photos below were recently shared by brides:

You know what the most awesome thing about using succulents in your bouquet? Pinch them off, throw them in water and they will continue to grow! They are hardy little buggers! You can even smuggle them back home on the plane and then when you get home, you'll have a living piece of your bouquet to keep forever (hopefully...unless you're like me and have killed every single plant you've ever owned). 

A maid & her flowers...

The florist and I have recently developed a three tier price for maids flowers. The pricing starts at $30, then $55 and then $75. I know this will create a lot of questions about the differences so what better way to highlight it than a blog post!?

A $30 price point is going to be just a small gathering of flowers, probably 5 or 6 blooms, a little greenery and some ribbon tied neatly around the middle. It won't look like a traditional maids bouquet but almost as if she had just picked some flowers. Here is a photo of 2 $30 small gatherings next to a brides bouquet:

The $75 price is what we consider a "standard" maids bouquet. Nice full bouquet but smaller than the brides bouquet.

The $55 price is what I call a "happy medium" - this bouquet looks like a traditional bouquet but is smaller than the standard bouquet but fuller than the smaller gathering.

Now bridal bouquets start at $110 but you can always request a maids bouquet instead of a bridal bouquet as well.

Hope this was helpful!

Cruise Ships & Flowers

Some of the cruise lines have a policy about taking fresh fruits/vegetables and flowers on and off their ships. Thankfully, I have never had a bride tell me that she wasn't allowed to bring her fresh flower bouquet back on board of the ship (if you are a past bride that couldn't get your flowers on board though, please do leave a comment and let us know!). I think the security guards don't have the guts to tell a bride all dressed in white that she isn't allowed to keep her bouquet!

Some brides have not wanted to take the chance - or simply want to keep their bouquet forever. If this is the case, silk bouquets are a popular choice. I wanted to share a picture I took of a bouquet that a bride brought down a few months ago for her island wedding. There are a lot of online shops that sell silk bouquets (to my surprise, at the same price or much more than fresh flowers). Silk bouquets are also a good alternative for brides that want phalaenopsis orchids (live phalaenopsis orchids are very fragile and do not hold up well in bouquets). In the bouquet below, there were pink phalaenopsis orchids. They really do a great job replicating these in silk flowers!



The pink phalaenopsis boutonniere:

Phalaenopsis No-no's....

These orchids are just gorgeous, absolutely beautiful. Very elegant and very tropical.






But they are very, very testy. As gorgeous as they are, they do not like being cut from their vines. Once cut, they really must stay in water or they start to wilt very quickly. Then they start to look like this:



Not only do they not do well once they are cut, they are also very expensive. The picture above? That one branch of orchids with about 9 blooms on it? That cost the florist over $100. So she has to charge a lot for them. And then I'm completely nervous and the florist is completely nervous that a) they are going to arrive looking like the picture above or b) they are going to look like the picture above by the end of the night. You don't want to spend $200 on a bouquet that looks like that after a few hours!

If you absolutely love the look of these orchids though, I would definitely suggest looking into silk phalaenopsis. I know, I know, a lot of brides will shy away from silks - but there are a few types of flowers out that there look & feel just like the real thing - cymbidium orchids, calla lilies and phalaenopsis orchids are all done very well when "fake". I always suggest to brides using silks for hair flowers - they hold up way better than the real thing and are easy to move around in case they do start to fall. Check out some of the great finds I've seen on Etsy:

Hair flowers::



Bouquets: