Pretty Flowers

It's been an age since I updated this blog. I have heaps to put on here but very little time at present. But I have some lovely pics to share of some flowers I've done in the last few months.

The most recent was my friend Emily's wedding flowers. It was a real pleasure to be able to do these and she chose some very pretty flowers. My aunt had some gorgeous Victorian roses in her garden which really set the peonies off. I think my old school friend looks really amazing and it was a really lovely day/ night.

A big thank you for permission to use this photo from Amy Walford.

White Peonies, Ornithogalum, Victorian roses and Queen Anne's Lace with Eucalyptus and Hydrangea leaves.

A bit of bling for the stems

I was also asked to do a headpiece for a friend who was taking part in a photoshoot, for the model to wear. Thanks to Loren O'Connor for use of the photo.

Rununculus, Statice, Limonium and Pieris

A Simple Table Arrangement

Wedding flowers can really blow the budget. They are SO expensive. A friend asked me to do her brothers' wedding flowers soon and, we've been discussing a cheap way to decorate the tables. I was a bit worried we wouldn't be able to come up with a suitable option here as we only had $20 left in the budget for 10 or more tables! At $3 stem minimum for most flowers (wholesale), we had to look outside of traditional arrangements. I happened to spot some succulents under a tree while I was out for dinner at my parents. And some flax. So this is what I came up with:

It's about 20cm in diameter and I am thinking a sml candle could be placed in the centre and it could be sprayed with glitter spray, for a bit of evening glitz.

So, here's some quick instructions for anyone who can't figure it out from the pic. The great thing about these is that they will be FREE. All you have to pay for is staples. Unless of course you know no one with succulents and flax (in NZ they're everywhere). And the succulents can be popped straight back in the soil after the event and they will happy re-root themselves in the garden (and the stem you cut off will also grow back again). I've used paper here as an example.

Take your flax, strip it in half (or less if you want it thinner) and fold like this with a tail out the front that will sit on the table under the loop (you'll trim this nicely later).

Staple it to hold the loop flat (you'll need a good stapler)

Cut the excess from the top tail

Trim the tail that will sit flat on the table on an angle like this

So you need to repeat this until you have 6. If you have a grunty stapler that will go through all the flax once you've stacked them together then ignore the next bit. My office stapler wasn't, so I took 2 loops at a time and stapled them together (that would opposite from each other on the arrangement, a bit like a bow would look). Then I grabbed one loop at a time, stapling it to anywhere I could comfortably get the stapler through on the flax of the other loops. Make sure you don't move the loops out of place as you go, ensure the loops are evenly spaced from each other.

Then I just placed a succulent on top, just sitting there (ensure the stem is short enough to achieve a nice flat surface). This will last out of water for days.

Les Fleurs

So I thought I'd go through my old photos of when I was a florist (and after I finished up that idea as a career). Apologies for the crappy picture quality, scanned photos are NOT the best! I loved doing flowers but unfortunately the pay is usually pretty dismal and the hours long = a fair amount of s.t.r.e.s.s not to mention the odd bout of carpal tunnel and frozen shoulders. These days I do wedding flowers for friends as gifts (they pay for the flowers and I save them the mammoth cost of the labour at a florist shop). I also do the odd bit of funeral work for people I know. Weddings are stressful events - trying to ensure the bride and groom get the flowers we've ordered can sometimes be tricky, but thankfully, we seem to get there with something suitably lovely on the day.
Enjoy perusing les fleurs. :)

My friend Rachel's wedding - 2001 from memory. The bridesmaids bouquet.

My friend Amy's wedding - 2001 I think.

My friend Cath's wedding, circa 2001/2002

My friend Rachel's bouquet

A casket spray - 2002

Grooms buttonhole/ boutonniere of Leonidas rose and Hypericum berries

A tear-drop bouquet - lilies, orchids and freesias

A floral tin

A pomander ball

Flowers For Praise - 2004

Flowers For Praise - circa 2002

Calla lily bouquet with bear grass

Oriental lilies, roses and berzillia berries

Roses, eucalyptus, freesia posy

Gerbera and rose with spear grass feature posy

Cake topper

My cousin Rebecca's wedding cake flowers

My cousin's bouquet. Hydrangea, callas, roses, agapanthus, lambsear, celosia

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Gerbera wedding - Steve and Claire's.

Flowers for Grandad's funeral - 2011

My own wedding flowers - 2004

My friends Sarah and Greg's wedding - circa 2007

My friend Circe's wedding - 2009

Grandad's casket spray - 2011

My friend Josie's wedding - 2012 (see other post for  more pics)

My friend Josie's bouquet - 2012 (see other post this month for more pics)

Buttonhole 2012

Hydrangea wedding 2012

Josie's bouquet 2012

Ashley's bouquet - 2013 - Oriental lilies and lisianthus

Bouquet detail

Top of the brides bouquet

Bridesmaid bouquet - 2013

Bridesmaid detail

I made this back in 2004, I think, but I just found a pic and thought I'd add it as I loved this bouquet. The photo is terrible as it's scanned. Pink roses with silver leucodendron and pearls.