Board #4: Grapes, Pears and Plum

I recently met with a new bride named Kristie. She is getting married in October 2009. She came to me wanting autumn feel to her wedding, but she was without a set color palette. She was intrigued by the combination of purples and reds that I had put together in a sample bouquet, and wanted to add a few more colors to spice it up. A few days later I sent her this inspiration board:

The inspiration for this board was drawn from 2 sources. With the guidance of a tiered centerpiece from the Winter 2006 issue of O at Home (via brown turtleneck sweater) and a splash of red and burgundy from a sample bouquet, a rich autumn color palette was born. The unexpected palette combines plum, burgundy, red, fuchsia and chartreuse. The board was such a hit that I decided to make one for all of my brides as a prerequisite to the quote!

Row 1: Fern Curls, Jessy's Velvet mini cymbidium orchid, Schwartwalder mini calla, wine ranunculus Row 2: smoke bush, Majestic Red mini Calla, white grapes, Black Baccara rose Row 3: Elsie Sandersen mini cymbidium orchid, Miss Singapore dendrobium orchid, Safari Sunset Protea, Safari Sunset leucadendron Row 4: burgundy dahlia, red grapes, liquid amber, Madame dendrobium orchid Row 5: Cool Water rose, Anjou pears, chocolate artichoke, green hydrangea

Board #3: The Autumn Blues

Blue is one of the most commonly requested colors in wedding flowers. Many people think of spring bulbs like iris and hyacinth when they think of blue. However, the period between late summer and early autumn is one of the best times to find wild and interesting blue blossoms. Delphinium, bachelor's button, hydrangea, tweedia, thistle, and scabiosa are all wonderful fall flowers. But how do you work blue into an autumn themed wedding?

When brides ask for blue a common florists' trick is to suggest the standard purple-blue-white color scheme. The purple flowers are used to disguise the purple undertones that prevail in many blue flowers. With a mixture of many shades of blue and purple the hope is that one of the colors in the bouquets will match the color of the bridesmaids' dresses. This trick usually works, but the resulting bouquets don't speak the language of autumn.

The lofty color blue becomes firmly grounded when it is used as an accent to autumn hues. Here soft blues are paired with brown, orange, olive and muted yellow. This particular scheme is meant to work with pale blue bridesmaids' dresses, but may also be used with beige, chocolate and certain greens and yellows, too.

Row 1: Tokomaru Coca Cola mini cymbidium orchid, baby green artichokes, Sensation mini callas, pale yellow freesia, magnolia foliage

Row 2: yellow stock, tweedia, chocolate ranunculus, green wheat, Indian Summer spray roses

Row 3: feather celosia, Mt Everest rose, rain tree, eucalyptus pods, Lemoncello spray roses

Row 4: chocolate cosmos, scented geranium, Mood Cushion pomp, birch branches, Gold mokara orchids

Row 5: berzillia baubles, Sole Mio Asiatic lily, blue antique hydrangea, Aethiopica mini calla, cat tails

Board #2: Early Summer Garden Wedding

This board is for a very special wedding in early July. My bride has already chosen bridesmaids dresses that are teal on the bottom and black lace on top. She has expressed an interest in using blue, green and white flowers, with the requirement of including her sorority flower - the iris.

Refreshing, summery scents will permeate the ceremony and reception. The bride and bridesmaids will carry several stems of sweet and lightly fruity smelling freesia. The centerpieces will freshen the reception with scented geranium, which has a delicate lemon scent, and ivory stock, which smells of cloves.

Though wonderful, scented flowers are ephemeral in nature. The effort a flower expends to produce scent often reduces its vase life. So along with the temporal iris, these scented flowers will be carefully selected and pampered, to ensure peak beauty and fragrance for the day of the wedding.

Row 1: ivory stock, white mini calla, variegated ivy, light blue bella donna delphinium

Row 2: Mint Ice cymbidium orchids, green hydrangea, Del Norte iris, bupleurum

Row 3: Trinity iris, scented geranium, white freesia, Niagara double-faced satin ribbon from Midori

Row 4: stellata pods, Polaris cushion spray chrysanthemum, blue scabiosa, fern curl