It’s funny looking back at my time in North Carolina.  I felt like I was surrounded with beauty every single moment of the day, the number of flowers so easily accessible to us was slightly overwhelming and the gorgeous mountainside scenery really did steal your breathe away.  Then I received the pictures back of my work and realized that I really only made two portfolio arrangements.  But that was enough friends, they are two of my favorite pieces ever.

There was an entire day focused around personal flowers.  From boutonnieres to bouquets to flower crowns, I love them all.  I think we should make wearing fresh flowers a part of our everyday fashion, don’t you agree?  By far, the bridal bouquet is always my favorite decor item of the wedding.  It crosses the line of being an accessory and a decoration and is always by the bride’s side.  It holds the most photographed flowers of the day and I want the bride to love it forever.

When creating a bridal bouquet, I often find myself standing in front of a mirror, envisioning myself in a white gown and carrying this lovely bunch of blooms.  It was so fun to see that others do the same, there was a mirror available for just this purpose.  I chose of of the most vibrant magenta peonies I have ever seen, along with a paler, tree peony friend and orange kumquats.  This is was spoke to me and I built my bouquet around them adding smoke bush, mock orange and tulips.  And the icing on the cake was the long, elegant, flowing silk ribbons that cascaded down from the flowers letting the colors live on a little longer.

And then we all climbed the largest hill (or mountain — not sure of the correct term here!) I have ever climbed, in the middle of a cow pasture, and handed our blooms off to the beautiful bride model Kelly had waiting for us.  Even to watch the reaction on her face as she took the bouquet from my hand was enough to make my heart go pitter patter.

My legs burned and I may or may not have stepped in a cow pie, but it doesn’t matter because I would easily endure these “hardships” for any of my brides, sacrificing my own clothing for the most picture perfect moments, lighting and blooms.  Because that’s what a wedding planner does – in that moment it’s not about me, it’s about making someone else’s wedding day dreams come true.

You can read more about the Team Flower Workshop in yesterday’s post here.  All photos by Heather Payne Photography, they’re film and they’re amazing.  But more on that later 😉