Thursday, September 10, 2009

Behind the Scenes with Bella: Bouquets

Everyone loves flowers. The naturally awesome colors, sweet fragrances, unique shapes....flowers rock! When designing flowers for a wedding or event, no one really sees the process of creating a gorgeous bouquet or centerpiece like the one pictured below.



The process from concept to actual design is a very time sensitive one with production starting weeks before a wedding. With this post, we'd like to share a glimpse into how things "happen" with bouquets.

After the concept and color schemes are nailed down, flowers are then ordered from various sources sometimes as far as Holland and New Zealand. Once flowers arrive via air cargo it is extremely important to nurture and care for the stems after having traveled out of water for days at a time. Some flowers travel safely with little to no worries (i.e. orchids), but others like hydrangeas, sweet peas, peonies need to be re-cut to ensure they are absorbing water properly.



After flowers are processed and allowed ample time to "breathe", we then begin to allocate each stem to each designated area. (i.e. bridal bouquets, boutonnieres, etc. ) Once that is complete, we then hand wire blooms from a multi-bloomed stalk (i.e. cymbidiums, mokara orchids) to ensure we get the best use of the stem.



The formation process is next which involves designing and ensuring balance in color, form and overall care for each stem. We like to saturate the blooms heavily with a mixture of water and floral preserve during this time so they can be stored safe and sound for the big day.



Depending on the day of the wedding, we then proceed to wrap the bouquet with a fine ribbon treatment to coordinate with the overall design. The final product is always a joy to present to the bride knowing that a great deal of time and patience went into the creation of a fabulous bouquet. Below is a snippet of a bridesmaids bouquet for a super fun wedding at The Dallas Museum of Art.



... and here is the beautiful bridal bouquet designed with a soft textured blending of ivory garden roses, baby majolica roses, fluttery white orchids and dashes of lilac toned sweet pea for a subtle pop of color.



As you can see, the bouquet is just one area of the wedding where details really do make a big difference. They are photographed with the bride and become cherished tokens from a truly memorable day.

In upcoming posts, we will continue Behind the Scenes with Bella Blogs to showcase the other aspects of creating a wedding. From concept development, renderings, linen selections, lighting design, the list just goes on and on!

Until next time! Happy Planning!

Team Bella

2 comments:

Jackie Lee said...

Thanks for doing this! I love the behind the scene peeks. I have lots of creative ideas but don't sometimes don't know how to implement them. I would love to bring florals in-house for brides on a tight budget.

Adizat said...

I love the behind the scenes posts as well. I think this will be quite informative to birdes into the creative process for making their day special. I look forward to seeing more posts.