How to NOT follow an inspiration picture

Ha! The inspiration bouquet doesn't resemble the bouquet or I should say bouquets  that were made Saturday for Zoe's bridal portrait shoot AT ALL.  To catch up on the story of this metamorphosis of flowers go here.

I knew the flowers would be off from the look of the inspiration picture because there were no black centered anemones and no wax flower.  It isn't easy to achieve the same shape as the inspiration picture when said flowers were no where to be found.  AND the dark purple flowers that Zoe loves weren't available either.  I kept telling myself, this is practice, this is to see what will work and won't work.

As I started putting the hand tied bouquet together, I got a little panicked.  I KNEW the color was off and I certainly didn't want my niece to feel she had to use the bouquet for her portrait.   I needed a poster that read KEEP CALM AND MAKE A BOUQUET!

Progress of the hand tied bouquet, that I will refer to as bouquet one. I am using more of a fuchsia colored carnation, white sweetheart roses, white fuji mums, fuchsia alstroemeria lilies, purple asters, limonium and a little bling.  I was digging that limonium and those fuji mums, but that fuchsia color was freakin' me out!  Zoe WANTS purple-not fuchsia!    So I called and had her to come over and look at the bouquet.

While I waited for her to arrive, I had a brain storm-why not make TWO bouquets?  I have all these buckets of flowers...duh I could have had a V8!  I got busy making bouquet two that was totally different. 

This is bouquet one in the progress of adding Lemon leaf and Ruscus.

When Zoe arrived I showed her bouquet one.  She was very sweet about it, no Bridezilla here! She was calm, just like the Keep Calm posters.  She knew the color was off and asked about being able to get a truer purple for the wedding and the answer is yes.  

Here are the details of the wrapping for bouquet one.

While she and her mom waited I finished making bouquet two.  

Details of the wrapping for bouquet two.

Bouquet two consists of white fuji mums, white sweetheart roses, limonium, purple asters, dusty miller, ruscus and purple bling.  Zoe's face lit up.  This was the one that she seemed the most excited about.  


For the photo shoot at the city park we took both bouquets with us, just in case.

Surprisingly, bouquet one LOOKED purple outside. Go figure... 

Of the two which one do you think Zoe liked the best for the photo shoot?  =)  I know you know.

What was in your bouquet or in your dream bouquet?

I am linking to Between Naps on the Porch  for Metamorphosis Monday and Stone Gable's Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits


Mary

Practice Makes Perfect

Practice doesn't always make it perfect, but it sure helps to calm the nerves, especially when making a bridal bouquet!  

Saturday morning I will be up early and putting together a bridal bouquet for my niece, Zoe's bridal portrait session with photographer,  Stephanie Michelle. You can find Stephanie on facebook too.

In February, 2013 Jason proposed to Zoe on Jeannette's Pier in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They surprised all of us by deciding on a fall wedding! My sister, Wendy aka, the MOB, got into high gear. She made lists and phone calls and in what seemed like a blink, the bulk of the wedding was planned.  Zoe and Jason will be married at the newly renovated Woman's Club of Portsmouth.  

We have great plans for this fire place; can't wait. It is going to be pretty. 

Standing on the porch of the Woman's Club are Zoe and Jason

We have been on Pinterest pinning away all kinds of ideas and having lengthy discussions on how to achieve the look that Zoe and Jason have in mind for their wedding. If you click on the Pinterest board Ball jars, Burlap and Bling you will find the headquarters for Zoe and Jason's wedding. Several of the flowers that Zoe likes are not available to our area in October. We've had to go back to the drawing board a couple of times substituting flowers. When I went to the wholesale house to purchase flowers for the practice bouquet I purposely did not order ahead of time. I wanted to see what was available and looked the freshest. The practice bouquet will be good for Zoe and me. We will both have the opportunity to see various flowers mixed together and Zoe will have a better idea of what she likes. 

                                      Pictured is Zoe's inspiration bouquet

source

                                                          

Two of the inspiration flowers, lisianthus and wax flower were not available yesterday. I will substitute white sweetheart roses and alstroemeria lilies for the lisianthus and asters for the wax flower. Instead of lavender we will be using limonium since Zoe has selected that as a favorite. I will be adding purple carnations and dusty miller, plus a little bling. Substituting flowers is easy and can be helpful when on a budget.

Carnations, sweetheart roses and hypericum berries

Asters will be used instead of wax flower. Aren't these Asters gorgeous?

The flowers are prepped and cooling near the AC vent. Every time I walk by I can't help but feel excited that I have the honor to make my niece's bridal bouquet, both the practice one and the perfect one; because I practiced by October 19, 2013 it will be perfect. 

Come back Monday and be the judge of how the practice bouquet turned out.

Mary