Insight into the Bridal Bouquet

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

With each generation of brides, we see an evolution of the classic bridal bouquet. No longer popular are heavy, cascading floral sprays covering the bride’s entire midsection. Today’s fashion conscious brides are opting for smaller, hand-tied bouquets, free of bulk and clutter. Once considered the focal point, the bouquet has now evolved into an accessory to complement the bride’s gown.

· If your gown is heavily detailed, select a simple bouquet, preferably one with only one flower type and color.

· If your gown is very simple and lacks details, then splurge on the bouquet. Bouquets with crystals, pearls or feathers are great for this situation.

· If you plan on wearing flowers in your hair, make sure your bouquet is on the smaller side and has elements of the same flower throughout. You don’t want to look like an overly bloomed bride!

Hand-tied bouquets are constructed to be light and easy to carry. With this feature comes the disadvantage of stems out of water. Although many flowers hold up pretty well out of water for about 6-8 hours, there are a few “problem” flowers. Before selecting the flowers for your bouquet, keep these tips in mind:

Will your bouquet be exposed to heat for a prolonged period of time? This will be dependent on time of year, whether you have an indoor or outdoor ceremony as well as the duration of your photography session.

· If this is the case, stay away from flowers that brown easily like stephanotis and gardenias. White orchid blooms are a great alternative.

· Flowers such as delphiniums, hydrangeas, tulips and queen anne’s lace will wilt quickly out of water.

· Lillies (Asiatic & Oriental) will wrinkle if the bouquet is placed on its side.

· If you must have these ‘problem’ flowers, consider having a vase of water handy for your bouquet when it’s not in use and keep it indoors as much as possible..

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The Green Effect

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

Green is a very powerful color when it comes to floral design. Depending on the shade of green, an arrangement can become heavy and harsh to the eye or it can be soft and uplifting. Green & dark green are the primary colors of most foliage used in floral designs. These green foliages are used as concealers, fillers and separators. They help fill out arrangements quickly at a low cost. The disadvantage of using too many green leaves, is a heavy and somewhat dark centerpiece with minimal floral effect.

Not all greens are visually unpleasing, however. Lighter shades of green, such as pear green or lime green are at times, a design necessity. These shades of green are both neutralizers and highlighters. They come primarily in the form of a flower, rather than a foliage and can complement and soften any color combination.

If you’re working with two sharp, contrasting colors, adding a light green to the color palate will harmonize your color combination. When working with a color palate that needs a little eye-catching “pop”, consider using a light green. It will not only highlight your arrangement, but it will also bring a touch of softness to the piece.

Below are few of my favorite greens to work with:

Viburnum

Green Hypericum Berries

Green Buttons

Green Hydrengeas

Green Cymbidium Orchids

Bells of Ireland

Green Fuji Mums

Green Apples

Green Pears

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

Lighting – A Key Essential

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

To most of my clients, I may seem to be overly obsessed with lighting and color. The truth is, I can’t stress enough about the importance of the right lighting, It is a key ingredient to achieving the perfect display, yet many tend to overlook this simple element. As many of you know, just about 95% of evening events take place in a dim lit setting. It is the typical setting that heralds the beginning of a formal evening affair. It’s also in this dim lit setting that centerpieces either come to life or disappear into the darkness.

Up lighting and pin-spot lighting on centerpieces will help bring those centerpieces to life, but not everyone can afford the additional lighting. If you find yourself with limited lighting, then follow these tips that will help bring visual life to your event:
· Introduce as much candle lighting as possible (votives and pillars candles are our favorites)
· Focus on colors that will “pop” in the darkness.
· Stay away from deep blues, purples, Burgundies and other cool tones that lack vibrancy, as they will disappear into the dark.
· Select colors like whites, creams, lime greens, oranges, fuchsias and other vibrant warm tones.

If you must go with a dark, cool tone, then select highlighting colors to complement and keep your centerpieces alive. A good example would be the combination of purple and fuchsia. These colors paired together complement each other very well. By selecting this combination, you’re able to keep the richness of the dark purple and call attention to the centerpiece with the fuchsia.

I will soon be posting a color chart of some of my favorite color combinations to work with. Stay posted and keep in mind the importance of lighting and color on your next evening affair.

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

Trees – The Discriminating Centerpiece

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

Over the years, I’ve fallen in love with the tree, made of manzanita wood or willow branches. Unlike the traditional tree, these trees have no leaves. They instead, showcase their bare branches, displaying an artistic rapture of unique curves that tell the story of their life. This free and inviting quality of the tree allows us designers to adorn them with our rich glamorous crystal strands or simple earthy orchid blooms.

These trees have the natural ability to transform a simple room into a magical forest, bringing the elements of the outdoors to a magnificent indoor display in grande style.

Not every room, however, is suited for such an undertaking. “Busy” rooms with poor lighting, ornate trimmings and treatments in the background and lots of windows tend to distract from trees.
A clean backdrop or background on the other hand, helps to present the tree as a tree and not a centerpiece. Without the visual clutter and busyness of the background, your setting is no longer a ballroom with centerpieces, but rather, that magical forest.

When it comes to trees, the bolder the better. My rule – never skimp on your branches. A thick clustering of branches help to engage the eye; almost creating a blindness to the background.

If you’re planning to use trees as centerpieces, start with the simplest possible setting and minimize any visual background distractions by selecting the right lighting and bold, bulky trees that say “I’m a tree, not a centerpiece”.---Follow these tips and you will find yourself in that magical forest

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

Consistency – Trickery to the Eye

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

For a bold, statement making look at your next event, stay away from too many colors.
Limit your colors in a single centerpiece to no more than 3 base colors.

Some like to mix and match flower tones from centerpiece to centerpiece, resulting in orange flowers on one table, blue flowers on another table, pink flowers on the next…and so on. This particular design does well in settings that are fun, casual and somewhat whimsical….great for a child’s birthday party. But for a formal, sophisticated look, it appears choppy and lacking in visual balance.

Keeping the colors consistent from centerpiece to centerpiece allows for a visually soothing floral presentation. Tricking the eyes, this consistency throughout the room creates the illusion of abundance.

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

Tips on Maximizing your Wedding Flowers

Brides spend a huge part of their floral budget on the ceremony. To save on the ceremony decor, select a ceremony location that is scenic and beautiful without the need of additional decor. Historic landmarks are perfect for this.
Below is a listing of a few of my local favorites
-Charles Deering Estate in Miami
-Vizcaya Museum & Gardens
-Sundy House in Delray
-The Bonnet House Museum & Gardens
-Grove Isle (a private island off Coconut Grove)

If you find yourself investing in ceremony flowers, I have a few tips to help maximize those flowers. Rather than leaving them to the venue after the ceremony, have your floral designer relocate them to these strategic locations:
Namecard Table
Cake Table
Buffet Stations & Bars
Powder Room

If you have a small sweetheart table, forget about getting a centerpiece for that table. Create your own sweetheart table centerpiece by placing your bouquet at an angle in a short glass vase for everyone to admire.

If you have a large headtable, then have your bridesmaids display their bouquets in the same fashion...placed at an angle in a short glass vase along the head table. You can buy the vases from your florist or recycle your old vases. Bring some personality to the table by mixing and matching old & new vases.

If you have large floral altar pieces, have your designer dismantle the large pieces and cluster them into 3-5 small vases that can be displayed throughout the room for more floral impact.

Mr. Caper's Birthday Party

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

Two months ago, Mrs. Caper walked into my shop, well organized with a binder of party planning notes and vendor contracts. She had taken on the challenge of hosting the perfect surprise party for her husband.

Mrs. Caper had already selected the venue; an upscale, exclusive steakhouse in Boca Raton. The entertainment and photography were already taken care of.
Now she came to us for help with the event design...our speciality!

As far as event design goes, we offer help in color selection, lighting, linens, table layout and of course, FLOWERS!

For the centerpiece, Mrs. Caper wanted something different, "eye catching" as she described it. She also wanted it to be appropriate for a man's party, but at the same time, nothing sports related. Mr. Caper was not a big sports' fan.

Given, the cozy environment, we decided to go with a floor length pin-tuck chocolate brown linen. This presented a clean, masculine backdrop. Since Mrs. Caper wanted a sophiscated look, we found that the brown linen blended well with the setting.

Rather than selecting round tables, we selected 3 long rectangular shaped tables. Rectangular tables provide a more intimate experience. Guests will be seated closer together, which helps in facilitating socialization.

Besides the social aspects of the long rectangular table, there's also the design flexibility. Rectangular tables are the perfect canvas for an artist to work with. These long tables allow us artists to display our talent in the form of a tablescape. A "tablescape" is pretty much a transformation of a regular banquet table into a scenic setting. This is where guests will immediately feel the effects of the ambiance as they encounter a new world of artistry before their eyes.


Given the height of the room (not very high), we decided to go with short centerpieces for the tablescape. Soon we got to work, designing a sample centerpiece that we thought would fit into what Mrs. Caper had in mind, After the design session, we presented Mrs. Caper with the finished product: a floral cake. She was a bit surprised because it was something she never envisioned. A Cake? She said.

As she looked closer, Mrs. Caper realized it was an all natural floral cake made with chocolate brown galax leaves and blue hydrengea frosting. Each cake contained 3 tall taper candles in a triangular formation. This design was both fun & elegant and in Mrs. Caper's mind, PERFECT!

To liven up the tablescape even more, we added about 30 blue candle votives to each table. At the final setup, each table contained 4 chocolate floral cakes set with candles along with blue votives on a brown pin-tuck linen.
A beautiful memory for the Capers.

Designer notes: Generally, long tables are better than round tables when it comes to talbescaping.

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

The Power of Brown

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

Today my studio recievd a call from a wedding magazine doing an article on floral color trends for the year. My first question was which season? I told her every season has it’s own color trend.. but she was most interested in the one color that played the dominant role throughout the year.

My observations on colors trends are based on their popularity in the Fashion Industry. Ultimately, the bridesmaids’ dresses will determine one of the three major colors in a wedding.

The industry forecasted color for 2009 was chartreuse. For those not familiar with chartreuse, it’s a lime-green (50% yellow, 50% green). The name is from the French liqueur, Green Chartreuse which is a naturally greeen liquer that gets its color from chlorophyll.

Although chartreuse as been used a great deal in spring and summer, chocolate brown has shown to be the dominant player. We’ve seen chocolate brown as a base color, paired with accent colors such as pink, tiffany blue, ivory and chartreuse.

In the floral world, brown is the new black. It presents the perfect neutral background to showcase both bold and mild accent colors in a chic, clean, modern display.

Brown also has its artistic flexibility, allowing designers to infuse natural earthy elements into their designs. We see this with the use of trees as centerpieces, willow branches, pods, tree bark, roots, vines and moss. Introduction of these elements can take a design from “beautiful” to “WOW”.

As we move into fall, brown will continue to dominate the color palate of classic designs and then take its exit for winter. A short vacation, until its return in Spring 2010.

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

Fall 2009 Floral Trends: 101

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394

With Fall just around the corner, it's time to plan the designs for this year's parties & events.
I like to begin by categorizing my designs as either classic or modern, both of which carry new looks on a yearly basis. In this session, I'll focus on the modern look for Fall 2009.

I would best describe it as "Bewitching Nocturne"....an alluring combination of deep purples, dark blues, plums, black and a hint of seductive magenta. At the core of this design is a compact arrangement of intriguing black ostrich feathers, deep blue hydrengeas (a favourite of mine), royal purple lisanthus, dark sugar plums and magenta vanda orchids.

Contributions byFlowers Boca Raton  21090 St. Andrews Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33433 561-391-5394