Wedding Work

For the last couple of years, I occasionally help my friend Vickie in her florist business, Young Blooms.  She is a small business that operates out of her own home, and she hires friends to help out from time to time.  Her latest project was the wedding of one of our mutual friends' daughter's wedding.  The family has been a family friend of my family for many years and I have watched Alissa grown up from infancy.  About a week ago, I met with Vickie to make last-minute plans and to look for a few floral accessories that she needed.  Allisa and her fiance' had chosen navy, gray and pink for the wedding and they both love roses and peonies (who doesn't, right??).  Then, this week, I spent all day Thursday helping her (and a friend, Megan) prepare anything that could be done in advance.

I was on "bow duty", so as Vickie and Megan completed the boutonnieres, I added ribbon.

and made pew bows.

We also created all of the arrangements for the reception tables before heading down to the chapel to begin work on the requested arch.

The construction of the arch was tricky, but by the end of the day, the chapel was looking like this:

Because the wedding was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, we needed to have as much as possible in place by Friday night, so we returned that afternoon to place all except the most delicate flowers.  There was quite a bit of engineering involved in counter-balancing the weight of the flower blocks that would be used in the center of the arch, and we were all completely exhausted by the time we left, but everything was beginning to look so pretty!

Saturday morning, I was scheduled to meet Vickie at the chapel at 7 a.m. to put on the finishing touches before heading to reception venue to set up things.  Unfortunately, I set my alarm for the wrong time and just happened to awake at 6:45, jump out of bed and into the shower.  Ron was completely stunned by how fast I got ready---and I was so relieved that the chapel was only a 5 minute drive from my house!!  I made it there before Vickie arrived and was able to place the outdoor plants (beautiful white hydrangeas) before she got there.  

Her husband and I climbed the ladders and wired the centerpiece in place.  Vickie really outdid herself--the chapel looked beautiful!  

We drove back to their house, loaded up both of our vehicles with the sweetest smelling cargo you can imagine!   Vickie joked that it reminded her of the lines in "Steel Magnolias"  when Shelby corrects her mother about the colors of her wedding:

M'Lynn:  "Her colors are pink and pink."

Shelby:  "My colors are blush and bashful, Mother."

Poor Vickie woke up ill Saturday morning, so I was so glad she had planned for me to help out on Saturday--it took a little bit of the load off of her.  I was able to take some photos for her portfolio, which was fun.  Here are few of my favorites.

I love working with Vickie and am beginning to learn some basics about floral arrangement.  One of my favorite elements that Alissa and Kellan included was using their bicycles in the reception decorations.  Vickie designed flowers to go on them while I hand-lettered a sign for the back

and added some wording to the tiny cans that she'd painted.  

The wedding so perfectly reflected the couple.  Their personalities were evident in every aspect of the celebration and I couldn't be happier for them and their families.