Boutonnieres

I still have no idea what I want for my own flowers, but I've found some inspiration for boutonnieres.

My first idea was to do something with hydrangea, to echo the bridesmaid bouquets:

credit: A Floral Affair flowers

I don't know exactly what is going on with the stem there--I don't think I'm a super huge fan, but I do like the look of the hydrangea, mostly. The problem is, hydrangea by itself is just too plain.

That's a problem easily solved, though, with the addition of a little lamb's ear or dusty miller--which also echoes the bouquets.

credit: Martha Stewart, lamb's ear and orchid boutonniere

I like that lamb's ear a lot, but not a huge fan of orchids. There's going to be stephanotis in the bridesmaid bouquets, though...

source: The Bride's Guide to Chic

How pretty is that? I still don't like that weird metallic stem thing, but the stephanotis is so pretty, and the dusty miller and eucalyptus both look gorgeous. I love eucalyptus.

So I'm thinking perhaps for the groomsmen we can do a martha-like look with the leaf of lamb's ear or dusty miller and then maybe a spray of hydrangea, and for Dave we can do the same thing, but with stephanotis. I'd love to work some eucalyptus in there somehow, too; it's got that same silvery-green look to it, and it smells divine.

Les Fleurs, Deux

I've been continuing to think about wedding flowers. I should be writing a paper, but sometimes I need to take a break and let things percolate, so I don't view this as procrastination... I view it as letting my thoughts settle into something cohesive. It's sort of like sleeping on it, only without the sleep part.

I decided a good way to go about encouraging my history-paper-related thoughts to settle would be to stir up some wedding thoughts instead, so I got on Flickr and started browsing. I collected a mosaic of pictures of most of my favorite flowers and foliage.

As I've mentioned before, my mom is doing my flowers. Sadly, she's also on the other side of the country. This is where this blog can be really handy, because I can collect those pictures and make a mosaic and blog my thinking on wedding flowers as it evolves, and she can probably get a better idea from that than if we were sitting in the same room and I was trying to explain it without pictures or the clarity of thought that comes from actually writing things down.

These are the pictures I found:

(Source: 1. dried wedding bouquet, 2. Peonies Floating in Thin Air!, 3. plumeria "celadine", 4. Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa), 5. Green Maple Leaves, 6. rosa-lírio, 7. Women... It's for you! I'm in love with you this morning!, 8. Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris), 9. the madonna lily, 10. Turkey Run - Lamb's Ear, 11. Hydrangea, 12. Wild Welsh Poppies, 13. B_W Dusty Miller)

This is resized to fit on the page, but if you click the link here you can see the mosaic full-size.

Top row (L-R): Peonies (one of my all-time favorite flowers), Plumeria, Tuberose, Maple Leaves
2nd Row (L-R): Stargazer Lilies (tied for top-favorite flower with peonies), Roses
3rd Row (L-R): Lady's Mantle, Madonna Lilies
4th Row (L-R): Lamb's Ear, Hydrangea, Poppies, Dusty Miller

In a nutshell, I like lush, large, fragrant blossoms, the smooth, cool green of tree leaves (it isn't just maple leaves; I have similar feelings about oaks and aspens), and the smooth, fuzzy, silver-green of lamb's ear and dusty miller.

While searching, I also found a picture on Flickr that immediately became my newest vision for bridesmaid bouquets:

(Credit: Flickr - Epressions Floral)

Hydrangea, stephanotis, dusty miller (according to the picture description... but I think that looks more like lamb's ear than dusty miller). Picture this with a green-tipped or white hydrangea instead of blue-tipped. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

In my imagination, the guys have boutonnieres that probably involve lamb's ear or dusty miller, and maybe a small poppy or mini-cluster of hydrangea blossoms.