Flowers: Twists on tradition
Coming into the flower scene with an image in mind is great; having a budget in hand is better.
“Women look at all these pictures of arrangements prior to coming in — why make yourself crazy?” said Kathie Beamer, floral manager at Christians’ Renolda Greenhouse of Harbor Springs. “It makes more sense and is easier for us to figure out the best way to budget it if she has an idea of how much she wants to spend.”
It is also best for the bride to have a good handle on the color scheme for the wedding, and keep in mind how the flowers will blend with the dresses, noted Jackie Burrell, owner of Sky’s the Limit of Petoskey.
“It just all comes back to the color palette of the bride,” she said.
Changing colors
Taking note of flower trends is a great starting place for brides to decide on the arrangements that best suit their needs.
Northern Michigan florists have seen a significant change recently in flower arrangements, specifically in the color usage. Fewer bouquets are adorned with whites and reds, and are being replaced by lavish, bright arrangements.
“Lime green comes into play a lot more often. We’ve seen that in the last year or so,” Burrell said. “It makes everything brighter and better.”
In terms of lime green, Burrell noted that kermit mums are being used quite frequently.
“The lime trend started with clothes — everything goes with lime green, whether it’s white, purple or pink,” Beamer said.
Burrell agreed that lime is a good choice because of its ability to blend with so many colors. She cautioned that brides sometimes spring for flowers with darker colors, such as sunflowers, but don’t think of how they will turn out in their photographs.
“If they use really dark flowers they will turn out like spots in photographs,” Burrell said.
Although many bridal party arrangements are no longer created with a traditional frame of mind, bride bouquets have progressed less than others.
“Bride bouquets still tend to be only a little bit of color,” Beamer said. “Most bridal bouquets are predominantly white.”
Other colors that have been coming into play a lot more recently have been bright colors, such as hot pinks, oranges and yellows. The most popular flowers have included hydrangeas, calla lilies, roses and gerbera daisies.
“They’re using bright, bright colors,” said Janet Moore, florist at Christians’ Renolda. “We don’t get a lot of people wanting red anymore.”
Burrell added, “There are so many pretty and new varieties now. Next year will probably be about hot pinks, oranges and blues.”
Centerpieces
Bouquets are not the only recent change on the flower end of wedding planning; centerpiece arrangements and vases are seeing revisions as well.
“A lot of times brides are doing high things and low things,” Burrell said. “For example, they might do tall cylinders and matching shorter cylinders with flowers on top of it.”
Many brides display a variety of centerpieces on their tables, not just two different types of vases. Some have short, medium sized and tall vases. Burrell has even seen brides have different centerpieces on every table.
“I think it depends on the venue — some places really need the height,” Burrell said. “When you get all tall things, you get a lot of sameness. It’s best if you can just mix that up.”
Lime greens have been playing an important role in centerpieces as well. According to both Burrell and Beamer, using actual limes have been increasingly popular.
“This (past) summer there has been a lot of fruits used, especially pears and limes,” Beamer noted.
Out with the old, in with the new
As Burrell put it, she’s recently seen many other arrangements with an exotic twist; however, they are the exception, not the norm.
Adding crystals and pearls to bouquets and centerpieces has been seen a couple times at Sky’s The Limit.
“For some brides, it’s the more bling the better,” Burrell said.
Beamer has seen equally exotic arrangements, with a different style.
“We did a whole bouquet this year with all herbs such as sage and basil,” Beamer said. “It was the oddest one I’ve ever seen.”
Beamer added there is a recent trend to stray away from a tossing bouquet. Although brides many times will want to keep their bouquets and have a designated tossing bouquet created, many are not going through the trouble of keeping up with the tradition.
Burrell mentioned for those bouquets that are being made, and bridal party and bridal bouquets, women have been bringing in special keepsakes to tie on to the ends.
Up North Bride Home » Fall & Winter 2010/2011 Edition » Twists on tradition: What’s new in flowers