Oh how I love Fiddle Ferns!  They make such a statement with their fun look!  Fiddle Ferns come in a variety of colors from warm purplish brown to a fun green and finally a bold orange brown.  Not only are they used in floral, they are also used in fine cooking.  I can honestly say I have had a client’s mom tell me that they taste like rhubarb when raw.  Note, though that cute curl only last for a couple weeks before it turns into flowing graceful greenery.  But what I love most about this plant is my grooms and groomsmen think that it looks manly so they’re okay with wearing that personal flower on their lapel of their suit or tux on that special day.

Above is one of my favorites that we here at EOE have designed for our favorite fireman / groom Travis!

As many know I don’t usually take orders for everyday flowers but that’s about to change.  After multiple conversations with many of my clients, friends, and family I have decided to add an additional service to our already wonderful line up.  I’m proud to introduce Forget Me Not Blooms by Elements of Elegance Event Planning and Floral.

What exactly is Forget Me Not Blooms? It’s exactly that, I will help you not forget important dates and make sure that loved one gets something delivered to them on that special day.  All I ask is a list of dates that you know you shouldn’t forget but sometimes do and a list of blooms that your special someone loves.  Then you leave the rest to me!  Now this isn’t some brand new “invention” of service in the world of floral, but I do believe it’s something that is needed.  In the coming days you will see a new link on our website that you can click on to get you started on your way of being the most thoughtful person ever!

Yesterday afternoon I was busy making up corsages for the mom’s in the neighborhood for our annual Mother & Daughter dinner at our church.  While designing my mind began to drift back to all the different things we have done over the years to honor mothers at wedding.

Of course the “norm” is providing moms with a wrist or pin corsage that is a little fancier than everyone elses.  But to be honest, I usually don’t recommend this to my clients much anymore.  The reason being is that when mom has a corsage pinned onto her gown, many times the corsages droops because of the fabric (Helpful hit to try to prevent this is pin it to their bra strap in a couple places.) or the blooms become damage from all the hugging they are doing prior to the ceremony & pictures.  So naturally most opt to have a wrist corsage because they feel it will be more versatile for the actions of the day.  This is true to a point, but I also find that the flowers still droop a bit.  But the number two complaints I receive is that the actual corsage wrist holder doesn’t look pleasant or are too tight.  I have to agree with both statements.  There are corsage holders out there that look cheap and no matter how you dress it up, you can still see it.  We opt to use a beaded bracelet look for that reason, but again there are problems.  The beaded bracelets are beautiful and available in so many designs. The Only downfall is they only really work if you have a small wrist otherwise it’s very tight.

With that all being said, I have started offering up different ideas for my couples to honor their moms. The most obvious was designing moms a nosegay to carry and providing a vase at their table setting at the reception.  Another option was moms were giving roses or something similar during the actual ceremony to honor the love and support they have given the couple.  But my most popular idea last year was actually giving them a potted rose plant that they were able to plant in their personal gardens at home so they were able to enjoy them from years to come.

No matter how you choose to honor your mothers, it’s the thought that counts and they will for sure love it.  Please share your ideas with us!

I love the phrase “April Showers Bring May Flowers” because it’s so true.  I spent the morning looking out my window of my office at the gloomy rainy day and now I’m enjoying the sun as it starts to peak out from behind the clouds.  I’m marveled on the beauty of the rain drops that sit up the silky petals of the tulips in my front yard.

Spring flowers are some of my favorite blooms to use in weddings.  The colors and textures are amazing!  When you think of the fragrant smell of the hyacinths and lilacs; to the delicate petals of the daffodils and Primrose; and the texture of the cherry blossoms and pussy willows, it makes spring designing amazing!

A sampling of a few of my favorite bouquets that I found today on Brides.com, enjoy!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of receiving pictures of personal and reception flowers from a wedding that we did last summer for Stephanie and Matt.  I still remember sitting with Stephanie and her mom one cold November evening back in 2008! We started out with a color palette of pinks and whites.  But as you can see as the date got closer we added LOTS of color!

Matt and Stephanie were married on August 15^th, 2009 on one of the hottest days of summer.  They had a beautiful ceremony at St. John Vianney followed by a wonderful reception at the Crowne Plaza.  Again Stephanie and Matt, thank you for allowing us to be part of your magically day!

All photos courtesy of Kelly Wiseman

Ceremony::: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Reception and Caterer::: Frederik Meijer Gardens

Day of Coordination::: Elements of Elegance Event Planning and Floral

Florist::: Elements of Elegance Event Planning and Floral

Photography::: Katie Morrow Photography

Wedding Cupcakes::: Alicia Giles Cakes

Linens::: Special Occasions

Limo Service::: Dadds Limo

Make Up::: Lindsey Smith Make Up

Overnight Accommodations for couple::: JW Marriot

We had the honor of being part of Sean and Dana’s wedding and what a wedding it was!  It was filled with so much love and special touches that it really was a great event to start off our season with.  When I met with Dana for the first time last year I fell in love with her style!  And I have to say she was my bride that had some of the sweetest DIY projects.

On a sunny Saturday morning we started our day off at Dana’s mom’s house helping the guys finish getting ready and all pinned up with their personal flowers, all being captured by the wonderful Katie and her second shooter Theresa.  Then we were off to the JW to check on the girls and deliver their personal flowers.  Walking into the girls’ suite, you could just feel the excitement and love radiating from the room.  And our bride was amazingly calm as she was having her makeup finished.  Then it was time to slip Dana into her beautiful dress and let her see her groom for the first time on the stunning staircase.

Then our wonderful couple and their bridal party were off to pictures in downtown Grand Rapids.  My assistant Patti tagged along to help with any needs the bridal party  might have had.  As for me, I was off to the Palm Room at Frederik Meijer Gardens to set up for reception with the help of my dear friend Allison Bower!  I arrived to a room filled with activity!  Penny from Special Occasions was busy putting on the chair covers and table linens.  Alicia was busy setting up the yummy cupcakes and placing the most interesting cake topper I have ever seen!  The couple has a love for video games and had a custom made topper of their favorite character from Esty.  Alli and I were busy placing the reception flowers and the bride’s beautifully made Menu Cards, Favor Boxes, and Escort Cards who by the way were all created by her.  Once the room was close to being finished, I was off again to meet up with Patti and the bridal party at their home church in Greenville for the ceremony.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was so quaint and the ceremony was quite moving with a Shakespeare reading and the Bride’s aunt signing the most beautiful song.  After the ceremony, the bride and groom chose to release their guest themselves so they could take a moment thank each one of them for coming.

After the wedding the bridal couple and their party were off in the Limo for some fun photos around the area and our team was off to do finishing touches Palms Room for the couple’s dinner reception.  The brides choose an ivory, dusty pink, chocolate brown, with a touch of green apple for their color palette.  Once all the table settings were placed, the room truly looked amazing!

Once the finishing touches were done, the doors were opened for cocktail hour where guests were served a chill glass of Champagne and along with Butler service of hors d’oeuvres as they walked in.  As the guest mingled, the couple and their bridal party arrived and were ready to be announced.  Our  fun filled evening began with “Grampy” giving a heartfelt prayer blessing both the meal and the couple followed by some fun and lighthearted toasts to the couple.  Then one of the best meals I have had at a wedding was served to everyone!  Frederik Meijer’s caterer group did an amazing job!  After the dinner was served the guest enjoyed an evening of great music and dancing!

Congrats again Dana and Sean!

As I look onto my Facebook home page and my Twitter account, I’m amazed on how many of us wedding professionals season starts this coming weekend.  With that being said  I’m also excited to see that many of us are still getting inquiries for late summer and fall weddings, especially for floral for us here at Elements of Elegance.  I think personally brides are waiting longer this year to book their florist.  But when meeting with a potential florist, what questions should you ask and what should you expect from them?

When I first sit down with a client and tell them about EOE, I get so excited because I love what I do!  But a lot of times after I give “my story” and ask them if they have any questions, I get a lot of nos.  I would love to think it was because I did such a great job at answering all their questions before they asked them, but I know it’s because they more than likely don’t know what questions to ask.  So below are a few that you can rattle off to them and then my answer to that question.

Question:

How many weddings do you do in a single weekend?

Answer:

We have the ability to do multiple weddings a weekend, but we limit ourselves to just two weddings if the second wedding is small. But if we have a client that has booked us both for a planning and floral package, then we only book that one wedding for floral.

Question:

Are your wholesalers local or do you ship the flowers in?

Answer:

My wholesaler is based in Battle Creek and I have been very lucky that no matter what we request, he has been able to find them for us.  We have in the past used wholesalers outside of Michigan, but we prefer to stay local in case we need replacement flowers

Question:

When do you bring in the flowers for the wedding?

Answer:

With a proper cooling system you can bring them in three to four days before.  Even though we do have a proper cooling system, I like to bring them in no more than two days before the wedding.

Question:

Do you charge a delivery and set up fee?

Answer:

If the wedding is over $500 then no we don’t charge a delivery or set up fee?  If the wedding is under $500, there is a $50 delivery and set up fee.

Question:

Once we pick out all our flowers, are we able to make changes?

Answer:

Yes!  You can completely change your design if you like.  My only request is that there be no additional changes three weeks before the wedding due to lead time for flowers.

Question:

How do you help us choose our flowers?

Answer:

In the past I would have my clients skim through lots of floral design books that I had in the office and pictures of past weddings I have done.  I still do this a bit but now I have gotten into more of designing up design palettes for them to look at. We place everything on a corkboard and we look at groupings of designs and then make up a master palette.  I find that my client loves this because they can see more of the finished look.

Question:

Do you do mock ups and do you charge?

Answer:

Yes we do mock ups of the all table centerpieces and some bouquets free of charge.  If your bouquet is something that contains high end flowers, we do charge for the actual flower cost.

As most know fall is my favorite season of the year because to the cooler evenings and the crisp color palettes.  But my second favorite season is spring!  Yesterday as I was out on an adventure with a friend, we both got so excited when we saw the first batch of daffodils in passing yard! It’s amazing how just a splash of that bright yellow puts a smile on your face after a long and dreary winter. So that’s the reason this morning I went on a search for the perfect wedding palette that really jumps out as spring for me! I love the mix of bright yellow with the cool platinum that gives the look so much depth that Wedding Nouveau put together.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

Last Wednesday evening I had the pleasure to be part of the EightWest Wedding Event at Noto’s.  My dear friend and the talented photographer Amy Carroll came to me a couple of weeks ago and asked me to help her design a vintage glam look for her space.  Between our combined ideas and talents; items from our own homes and local antique shops; some simple but beautiful floral; and of course Amy’s gorgeous photo’s, we accomplished what we set out to do!  What a fun evening and I feel so honored that Amy would think of me to help showcase her work.  Thanks again Amy!

Design Palette 1: The Bridal Blog Design Palette 2: The Bridal Bar