Designing bouquets and wedding flowers isn't a cut-and-dry procedure. As ideas evolve from a mass of flowers with no direction to carefully crafted bouquets and arrangements, so can your opinions and style begin to change. Here is an example of what typically happens as a bride and I work through her original design ideas and end up with the finished product. Enjoy!

The bride chose burgundy and ivory roses, and orange, gold, and burgundy callas for her fall wedding.

The bridesmaid posies incorporated mini ivory callas and larger burgundy callas.

She felt as if something was missing so we tried adding a larger ivory calla in the middle.

It wasn't quite doing it for her, so we added a gold calla, and bingo! Just adding a little pop of color made it feel complete for her.

Some ivory ribbon gave it that final touch for an elegant and unique bouquet.

Here's the changes her bridal bouquet went through:

Her bridal bouquet incorporated all her chosen flowers and colors and when she saw the original shape, she felt there was a little too much going on. So we began to play around with it.

Our first step was to take out the ivory, which decreased the size of the bouquet and left some holes. So she suggested we dye the ivory roses burgundy and re-insert them into her bouquet. The verdict? Too much burgundy.

Her final look was achieved by removing only some of the dyed roses, using those for corsages, and instead adding them to the bottom of the bouquet for a rounder look. Of course the ever-so-classy satin ribbon gave it a touch of elegance and made for a happy customer.

While this may seem like a lot to go through, don't be scared of speaking up! Your florist should be open to your suggestions and feedback. Voicing your opinion is the only way to get what you want. Of course, going with silk flowers is a great way to know ahead of time exactly what you'll be getting, and it will already have your stamp of approval.