Thanks to Darleene for inviting us to fill in with a guest blog. As photographers in Orange County we are blessed to work with some really resourceful people like Darleene who make our job much more fun. Today we’d like to share some details about an autumn wedding that featured inspiring home-made designs –everything from the guest invitations to the final banner which the couple ran through football-style as they headed off to their new life together.
Anywhere I am, if an arrangement of flowers catches my eye, I will take a picture — if I can. And since I choose purses with the size of my digital camera in mind, I often do take pictures. It kind of drives my husband a little crazy.
I found this little bitty flower arrangement and a partner — more about the partner later — at work, of all places, in the bathroom. Now, trust me, my work is not a fancy schmancy type of places that has fresh orchids and roses in the bathroom all the time. But I think there were a bunch of corporate executives at my station for some sort of meetings, hence the pretty-fication of our most heavily-trafficked bathroom.
I was at Costco the other day for a few things when I spotted these vases. My husband sighed in disbelief that I was about to take pictures of Costco products, but you would think he would be used to me whipping out my camera for any little thing by now.
These are exactly the types of vases that are in style for weddings now. Tall, clear glass, plus I believe they come with tealight holders, so you could actually put whatever you want on the bottom, and light a candle midway through. Technically, I think these were labeled hurricane vases.
Anyway, these vases were amazing, but I probably wouldn’t recommend them for guest table arrangements, since they’re kind of pricey. How pricey you might ask?
I’ve never been into trends — I mostly like what I like — but its a good gauge for where you should go. I was browing TheKnot.com’s flowers section recently and found this article about what’s hot for centerpieces.
A lot of it is what I expected, but I was sort of disappointed when they didn’t provide pictures. C’mon guys! Anyway, you know I’ll hook it up, thanks to a little bit of surfing on Flickr.
By the way, this arrangement above, from Whittier’s Friendly Hills Country Club, fits the article because it keeps the view.
It’s hard to have a conversation with the person across the table when there’s a big centerpiece blocking your view. To mitigate this, designers are making increased use of glass and Lucite containers, which add height to the table, but don’t entirely restrict sight lines. Consider using short square and tall rectangular glass vases spaced evenly apart down a banquet table. The look is spatially interesting and still functional.
Maybe its just me, but do you ever just look at pictures of weddings in Flickr? I do. Often, that’s how I find simply spectacular wedding decorations. Sometimes I get down time at work (shhhh) and just surf around checking out flowers, churches, receptions, gazebos….oh, I’m the only one? Hee. Oh well.
Wedding in Syria. Photo by Flickr’s noble4
At any rate, I have found some spectacular pictures, from around the world, really. Seems that we Americans are kind of stinting with our weddings, compared to Brazilians or Syrians. Above, the flowers are mostly, carnations and Gerber daisies, but check out those elaborate branch lamps. But it wasn’t enough to just have those elaborate lamp/vases, they’re also entwined with what looks like English netting. Amazing.
Dreaming of a tall flower guest table arrangements for your wedding? I can sympathize. Tall arrangements always look elegant and graceful. But it would surprise you what flowers work well for tall arrangements. Here’s a hint — a tall flower, like birds of paradise, don’t do well for most tall arrangements. They’re too heavy and prone to falling over. Above, you’ve got a very simple but striking arrangement. It’s just gerber daisies and bear grass. You don’t need a lot of gerbers for big color impact.
This arrangement is not your typical tall arrangement — first, there’s so much going on here! Goldfish at the bottom of the cylinder vase, black and white ribbon around the cylinder, then the bouquet (which was possibly used as a bridesmaid’s bouquet?) tucked into the vase. If you go with doubling your bouquets as flower arrangements, that’s smart to make your flowers go double duty, but you mind end up spending more for a vase that can support a bouquet. Bouquets can be heavier than actual table arrangements. Trust me, I know.
Here’s an oldie, but goodie from my mom. The pedestals are made of steel, so they can support just about anything. But the arrangements are topped with dendrobium orchids, a type of heliconia, ti leaves, leather fern and oranges. The neck is wrapped with sinamay, and there are more ti leaves and oranges at the base. If you couldn’t tell, this was a luau-themed party.
This arrangement is from one of my favorite recent weddings, in Whittier. This arrangement’s vase has a dendrobium orchid inside a water-filled vase, and is topped with an arrangement of orchids, larkspur, stargazers, leather fern and bear grass. That’s not a lot of flowers, and its actually pretty light. But it looks so pretty and elegant anyway.
This is from a wedding that I plan to revisit, but I can’t remember the name of the reception site! I do remember it was in San Pedro, which I love. Anyway, this arrangement is on the same steel pedestals, this time the neck wrapped with red ribbon. But the weight of the pedestals allows for more flowers — two types of orchids, gerber daisies, pink larkspur, roses, stargazers, and more I can’t name. My point — with a tall arrangement, less is more, unless you’re using a steel pedestal. Hehehe.
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I don’t know about anyone else, but the Ikea catalog that just seems to magically arrive without you’re doing anything is massively dangerous for me. There are always so many thinks you can see in your own home, am I right? Anyway, as I thumbed through every page, I saw various possibilities for a budget wedding. Follow me inside the catalog…
On page 334 and 335 of the catalog is Ikea’s vase offerings. All of them are really nice, with some lovely colors, but there are a few I’d really like to point you toward. I really like the BLOMSTER bowl, a glass, shallow bowl. They’re $9.99 each and can easily be filled with water to hold floating tea lights or candles and a few blossoms.
On the same page, at the end of that top row is the SNARTIG (sorry, I have no umlauts) vase. This vase has a narrow mouth, so you can’t have too many flowers in it, but picture it with some food coloring-dyed water (matching your colors, of course, with a white Casablanca lily or a similarly thin-stemmed, big blooming flower. Nice, huh? This vase is only 79 cents each.
Below it, in the middle of the second row, is also called a BLOMSTER vase, but this one is a bit cheaper at $3.99, with a small mouth, but a very round, almost apple like shape. I’d say you should also go with some big bloom flowers for this vase, also — maybe a hydrangea or even a fully matured rose bloom. The flowers in this picture are also very nice; I think those are baby roses, but I could be wrong.
Next to that picture is the BLADET bowl, which is $12.99. It’s a bowl, so you’ll have no trouble putting things in it. The arrangement here is interesting — they appear to be flowering roots in rocks — but I would suggest something a little more flashy if you want it to be a reception centerpiece. Maybe colored water, maybe colored rocks? Shoot, you could even put a stack of Granny Smith apples or plums in there, depending on your color.
In the bottom row, at both ends, are more traditional vases. The BLADET vase is the most expensive of the bunch at $14.99, and its apparently 11 inches tall, which is not bad at all. There are so many possibilities for a vase like this.
Many possibilities for a vase like the second one that caught my eye — the VASEN vase. Its 8 inches tall, and costs $1.49 each. I think this one might be the best deal of the bunch, really. It’s got that interesting hour-glass shape and a wide mouth. And its cheap!
A couple pages over is Ikea’s candle page. I really liked this section too and I think there are so many possibilities with these candle holders — especially when you combine them with the vases. 🙂
The KARABODA lantern is really nice. It’s made of glass and steel, is 11 inches tall and goes for $2.99 each. I like the texturing on the outside. However, I wonder if the handle on top gets hot?
The STOCKHOLM candelabra is really nice. It’s pricey at $39.99, so maybe this would be something nice to decorate the cake table or sign-in table with. If you do use this candelabra, I think it would be very easy to decorate the foot of it with some flowers.
Check out the HALLARE tealight holder. I know that there are some who like the idea of the long guest tables that hold many on both sides of the table, rather than the round tables that have been in fashion for so long. A tealight set up like these would be ideal for ambiance along each side of the table. This tealight holder is 22 inches long. I can also see it being used on a round table, maybe 3 of them in a triangle, but with all the stuff put on a round table, there may not be enough room.
Next to the tealights is the GALEJ candleholder. I really like these. They’re 9 inches tall and are $3.99 each. You can simply add a tealight with your color, or maybe add a blossom of some kind for a little pizzazz — I think I’ve seen a gerber daisy used with a candle holder like this one.
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