A Cascading Bridal Bouquet
The recent weddings of the Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlene of Monaco have brought about nostalgia for all things royal, even in floral design. Brides are looking to more romantic flowers such as garden roses and peonies, preferably arranged organically as opposed to more traditionally structured shapes. The return of this trend has reintroduced the free flowing cascading bouquet, which were at its peak of popularity during the 70s & 80s. Undoubtedly, the bouquet Princess Diana held at her wedding to the Prince of Wales in 1981 solidified its modernity and inspired brides around the world.
Princess Di's long and trail bouquet consisted of Gardenias, Stephanotis, Lily of the Valley, Freesia, Ivy and Myrtle which are traditional flowers for the Royal Family.
When Brides Magazine asked us to create a updated cascading bouquet, we looked to it's history for inspiration. We picked a palette of whites, creams, and touches of greens with pops of peachy undertones. Base of the bouquet consists of a tight arrangement of white garden roses, white & peach Ranunculus and white Lisianthus. We created the trailing effect with long stems of flowering jasmine to give the bouquet an unstructured and free shape. The bouquet compliments the romantic Jenny Packham gown and art nouveau feeling of the story.
Cascading Bouquet
A Garden Wedding for a City Bride
One of our favorite sorts of bride is the kind that not only feels open to an interesting design proposal but one that comes to us with a specific concept around which we can design her wedding. That’s why when Lauren came to us with 60 vintage & unique teacups she had been collecting for the year prior to her special day, we wanted to offer a dream design unlike any other in In Bloom history.
Preferring a garden ceremony and reception in a colonial mansion to a city wedding, the bride & groom chose to marry just North of Manhattan at the Round Hill House in Washingtonville, New York.
Given her taste for a romantic & old world wedding, Lauren asked for a primarily white bridal bouquet with pops of green and hints of the most subtle pink out there. We came up with a mix of white freesia, white garden roses, blush ranunculus, and white sweet peas – keeping the stems naturally long.
For the bridesmaid’s bouquets, we simply paired white garden roses and white hydrangeas. For the groom’s boutonniere, we coupled a white ranunculus with sprigs of rosemary. This became the first introduction of herbs later to be seen in the reception table designs.
Pillar candles of varying heights with small groupings of white rose petals marked the aisle for the youngest participant to walk down to the altar.
We decorated the cornice of the birch altar provided by the venue with trailing Spanish moss, spraying dendrobium orchids, light pink & white peonies, and open garden roses.
Pale pink ostrich feathers at each place setting added an interesting element to the two table designs centering around Lauren’s collection of vintage tea cups.
The first design included an antiqued white candelabra with five unique teacups and saucers. Each cup contained a single type of either blush or white peonies, blush or white ranunculus, or white garden roses to keep the design pure.
The fruit bowl table design incorporated green grapes, green apples, brown sugar pears, and touches of white spray roses as well as fresh spearmint in a brushed gold pedestal bowl. Three teacups turned into appropriate candle holders for white tealights.
What a memorable trip outside the city to filfill a dream wedding for Lauren and Jarrod. Congratulations again to you both!
Photo Credits: Growing Tree Photography
-Parker Voss
The Hispanic Society Gala 2010
The Hispanic Society held their annual Fall Gala this past October 5, 2010 at 583 Park Avenue. Since its founding in 1904, the Hispanic Society has promoted the study of the rich arts and culture of Spain and its areas of influence throughout the world and Latin America.
MF Productions seamlessly organized the event, honoring the following individuals and institutions for their exceptional contribution to the Hispanic arts:
Fundación Vallelongo, Fundación Juntos Actuando por la Superación, A.C & Javier Godo, Count of Godo
The gala kicked off with cocktails in the arcade of 583 Park Avenue. The color palette for the evening revolved around the soft greens of antique hydrangeas along with dusty tones of orange & creams. In Bloom decorated the music-filled arcade with two large bar arrangements consisting of camellia leaves, green hanging amaranthus, rust-colored dahlias as well as touches of orange ranunculus and mint roses.
The eight cocktail tables each glowed with three mercury tea lights positioned around a small julep cup arrangement of dark greens, orange dahlias and ranuclus with sprigs of lisianthus.
In Bloom found inspiration for the centerpieces in a floral motif painted on an antique dish from the Hispanic Society's art collection. Our designers aimed to translate a painterly quality to the combination of antique hydrangeas, orange ranunculus, yellow alstromeria, rust colored dahlias, mint & buttercup roses as well as delicate, scented geranium leaves.
We were pleased to achieve our stylistic goals without obstructing the guest and patrons' views of fellow attendees across the table. Like all things fun, the mingling and conversation lasted until the music stopped and the candles burned low.
-Parker Voss
A Spring Bridal Bouquet
With the change of season comes a new fresh assortment of flowers in all all hues and textures. Our daily deliveries from Holland has been stocking the store with gorgeous flowers, relieving us from our winter blues! We created a wild and wonderful bridal bouquet yesterday in celebration of the season and warmth to come!
A collection of white ranunculus, green and cream lisianthus, ivory garden roses, cream liberty roses are flanked by green hanging amaranth and mini green hydrangeas. A touch of green Yoko Ono Mini Poms and trachelium add pops of color and create a nice contrast against the cream and white blooms. We finished off the bouquet with a twist of cream satin ribbon with an olive chiffon ribbon overlay.
In Bloom Spotlight on Ranunculus
The Ranunculus, which is often mispronounced and misidentified, is one of my favorite flowers. It is primarily available 6 months of the year, December- March and comes in various colors including white, purple, pink, red, burgundy, orange and yellow.
What I love the most about this flower is that every stem is different, it is incredibly rare to find two identical stems. You may buy "red ranunculus" however when each bloom opens, it's a mini surprise, maybe a little darker, maybe a little more orange than the one next to it. But that is the beauty of it no? The above picture is an arrangement we created for Versace, about sixty stems in an 8x10 black ceramic vase.
Ranunculus is also sometimes referred to as Persian Buttercup or Rununculus and usually lasts about 4 days. When Versace asked us to fill this antique vase that was from Gianni Versace's private collection with a beautiful red flower we immediately dialed our farmer in Holland. For this particular case, I left some natural greens and unopened buds to separate the blooms and to create depth. Two pictures of the final product below and more can be found in our Gallery.
