boxwood

Green and White Winter Wedding - Reveal and Review

Today, I get to share bride Melisa’s green and white winter wedding flowers. She lives in my neck of the woods which made it extra fun. I work with brides all over the country, so when I get a local bride, it’s extra special because I get to meet them in person when they pick up their flowers!

(“Wait, I don’t get to see my flowers beforehand?” Fear not, happy bride, you do! I send photos during the production process so you get to see how they are coming along. That way, when you pick them up, or open your box, there are no surprises…of the bad kind anyways.)

Back to Melisa’s flowers! These amazing photos are by the very talented Eric Vest Photography. If you are a Twin Cities resident, check him out for your upcoming wedding!

Here is our beautiful bride Melisa. And brave might I add for taking outdoor photos during a Minnesota winter! Her round handtied bridal bouquet was a mix of Roses, Ranunculus, Dusty Miller and Boxwood greens. It was simple, elegant, and gave winter vibes without being too on-the-nose.

The groom’s boutonniere was a Ranunculus, greens and Dusty Miller.

Erin was super easy to work with. I felt a lot of relief knowing that I’d get to see the flowers along the way, although Erin was amazing at understanding my vision and I didn’t need any revisions! I would highly recommend her, everything turned out better than imagined and pricing was very reasonable!
— Melisa | Minnesota

We kept things cohesive with the bridal party and made smaller versions of the bridal bouquet for the bridesmaids to carry and stuck with a Ranunculus and greens for the groomsmen. Slight differences set apart the bridal bouquet and groom’s boutonniere, but sometimes that’s all you need!

I love the way Melisa is looking at her new husband!

Melisa’s friend had gotten married at this venue not long before her, so she knew what décor would look good there. She helped me design this 90” long garland for the mantel of the fireplace. It incorporated the same Boxwood greenery along with a mix of white Garden and Spray Roses.

The venue provided simple vases for centerpieces and Melisa had another great idea to do a simple ring of greenery and roses to tie it all together. It was a great way to brighten up the tables without taking anything away from the romantic glow of the candles.

One of the things I always recommend to brides who need to stretch their décor: purchase vases that your bouquets can just drop into and use them at the head table (like Melisa did) or around your reception area. Some other great places to have your bouquets do double duty are the cake table, gift table, cocktail tables, or if you have a smaller amount of guests, use them as your centerpieces!

Thanks again to Eric Vest Photography for his excellent work. If you have a winter wedding but aren’t into some of the more traditional accents, let’s talk about how to make it happen. Fill out the Free Bride’s Checklist today!

Winter Wedding Silk Wedding Flowers Review

I’m so excited to share Emily’s beautiful Scottish Norwegian inspired wedding with you! A few weeks ago, I shared their Wild Winter silk wedding flowers. You may remember her beautiful silk bridal bouquet that included Eucalyptus, Thistle, Anemone, Boxwood, Pussywillow, Mistletoe and Freesia. Take a look at these flowers in action!

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Photography by Phil Addis. Check out his art here.

Photography by Phil Addis. Check out his art here.

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Erin was so amazingly wonderful to work with. She is so creative, patient, and kind. Everything turned out beautifully! Our wedding was last week and i think my bouquet was even prettier than me!!! She was able to work in a lot of special requests for a very personal piece. The bridal party bouquets and boutonnieres were lovely too! And on top of that, everything was so timely! Thank you so much, Erin!
— Emily | Minnesota
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I feel so lucky to be able to work with wonderful clients like Emily and Scot. They had some fantastic ideas and suggestions that made their custom silk wedding flowers perfect for a wedding that already had their personal touch all over the place. If you are in the market for custom silk wedding flowers that match a unique theme, color palette or style, fill out the Free Bride’s Checklist for a quote and to start your custom design process.

Wild Winter Wedding with Silk Wedding Flowers

I thought this post would be a good kickoff to the official first day of winter! With Christmas right around the corner, I wanted to show you something that captures the spirit of winter without being all, “Hey, I’m a Christmas bouquet!”

They say snowflakes are all different, so why can’t wedding flowers? I get the luxury of coming up with custom designs for my brides. There are no books of silk wedding flower packages to limit you to. If you can dream it, I can do it!

I feel like Emily’s flowers fall into this category. She wanted a wild, winter look for her December wedding flowers with twigs, branches, pussy willow, mistletoe and pops of jewel tones to accent her green wedding dress.

Her bouquet was another “may appear bigger in real life” bouquet that is just magical. The blue thistle pays homage to her fiance’s Scottish background, and the bits of burgundy Eucalyptus keep this bouquet on the warmer side of becoming too frosty.

Herer’s the toss bouquet that matches the bridal bouquet in a simpler style.

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We went a little different route with the bridesmaid bouquets. Instead of them closely matching the bridal bouquet, we used more of the burgundy with some Calla lilies, along with the white Freesia, blue Thistle, Boxwood, Pussy Willow, and Mistletoe.

The boutonnieres and corsages used a little bit of everything so that we could customize some of the personal flowers based on who would be wearing them.

If you don’t want a traditional wedding flower bouquet of pine branches and Amaryllis, fill out the Free Bride’s Checklist to get a quote for your custom silk wedding flowers.

Winter Perfection--Red & White Silk Wedding Flowers


Here in my neck of the woods, we just got our first major snowfall. Pretty crazy considering it came at the tail end of February--usually we are already up to our elbows in snow. This put me in the mood to showcase some beautiful pictures sent over from Michelle at Maida Photography of a wedding in a classic color scheme for winter. And since winter is almost over, I thought I'd better get on it!
Like I mentioned in this post, I've had lots of different color palettes, so doing a read and white one didn't feel like the same old, same old. And as you can see below the red wedding flowers really pop even against red dresses!
Bride Katie contacted me and set up a consultation back in August for her January 21st wedding. She liked the looks of Beth & Bryan's wedding flowers as well as Amanda's silk wedding flowers. So we designed a hybrid of the two styles and came up with these beautiful arrangements.

Katie carried red Roses, red Orchids, white Orchids, and Boxwood in her bouquet. Her girls carried solid red bouquets with both Roses and Orchids and finished off with a halo of Boxwood.


The happy couple!



Katie and her 'maids.

Thanks again to Katie for the opportunity to design such classy arrangements. And a great big thanks to Michelle Maida for sharing these beautiful pictures of my designer silk wedding flowers. If you are looking for a great photographer, head on over to her website and check her out.
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Ruth & Michael- Boutonnieres & Corsages

The orchids worked perfectly for the boutonnieres and corsages. We found ways to make the bridal party members match each other and for all the other personal flowers to fit the feel.

Groom's Bout: White Orchid and magenta Orchid

Groomsmen: Purple Hydrangea and magenta Orchid

Ruth's dad passed away a few years ago and Ruth had chosen a dear friend to walk her down the aisle. His boutonniere had a magenta and a lavender Orchid.

Mothers' Wristlets: White orchid, magenta orchid, boxwood, Sangria ribbon, pearl wristlet

Officiant: White Orchid

Ruth chose to honor some very special people with flowers, many of whom I knew. It was a very sentimental moment to be creating these flowers with each person in mind.

Last up: Come back tomorrow to see how Ruth and Michael chose to honor their Dads.

New Bride Welcome!


It's been a while since I've done a shout out to my newest brides. So I thought I'd take a minute and say welcome to Julie, Briana and Katie. All 3 gals are January 2012 brides with their own unique styles and color schemes.


  • Julie's deep purple and ivory flowers will incorporate Roses, Hydrangea, Button Mums, and Stephanotis.
  • Briana's choice is all about the Peonies in vibrant magenta and white and Ranuculus in crisp white for the bouts and corsages.
  • Katie's deep red Roses will be accented with red Orchids and lush Boxwood.


I'm looking forward to bringing you sneak peeks of their gorgeous arrangements once they are all finished up -- but for now, I better get back to work!
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Alternative Arrangements

Amanda, who I mentioned in my last post, had settled on the luxurious St. Paul College Club for her reception. Located next to the Governor's mansion in St. Paul, Minnesota, this charming and historically rich home is a great place for a wedding any time of year. Built in 1916, it boasts 25 rooms, 10 baths, and 7 fireplaces. Their website not only provides the historical context for this fascinating building, but also provides virtual tours of the facilities. Be sure and check it out!

Ok, back to Amanda...after she picked up her finished flowers, she made a discovery about her venue. There was a gorgeous fireplace, with a not so gorgeous feather wreath and she really wanted an alternative arrangement. We talked through several ideas including another wreath that incorporated her flowers and colors. But as I hunted around I came across a beautiful, rustic, detailed window pane that I knew would be perfect for the space. The wrought iron detail made it interesting on its own, but adding in flowers and greenery would make it that much more spectacular.

(This is a picture of the actual fireplace.)

Our original idea for the design was to have small clusters spread out over the pane. But as I started playing around with it, we realized it was just too pretty to be covered up so much. So we kept moving the clusters until they got farther and farther away from ironwork, allowing it to showcase the beautiful details. We added in some greenery and voila, it was perfect! So without further ado, here's the finishing touch on Amanda's beautiful fall flowers:

Boxwood, Phalenopsis Orchids in cream, Mini Phalenopsis Orchids in Burgundy, and Bear Grass.

I'm looking forward to seeing this beauty hanging in its rightful place come September. And the great part about this piece is that we designed it to also hang in Amanda's home after the wedding. Amanda was so easy to work with and gave such great feedback all throughout the design process. Best wishes to her and her fiance'!

Keep the stress low by planning ahead

The wedding planning process often starts many months before the actual wedding day and there are lots of reasons why you need so much time. For local bride Amanda, she would be spending the year leading up to her September 2011 wedding studying for and then taking the BAR exam. Amanda's aspirations to become a lawyer meant she needed to make some big decisions about her wedding before her brain was too full of legal jargon to think of anything else.
Amanda saw my booth at the Maple Grove Wedding Expo last January and decided silk flowers would be a good option for her. Knowing that she wanted to take care of as many details ahead of time as she could, she liked the idea of choosing, ordering, and receiving her flowers before the calendar even flipped to 2011. After a couple meetings, we decided on deep red roses to complement the season and her style. She also wanted some greenery that wasn't the typical ivy or even rose leaves. I found some rich colored roses and perfect boxwood greens to give her arrangements a little bit of fall and a whole lot of fabulous.
Bridal Bouquet:
Bridesmaid Bouquet:

Boutonniere:
I get the warm fuzzies each time I get the chance to really help someone prepare for their wedding. And in this case, providing Amanda with her flowers a year before her wedding not only gave her the convenience of planning at her pace, but now she's got a little more room to learn about the legal system. Good luck Amanda!