Earlier, I addressed pinning pics of flowers that inspire you. Today we will look at our choice of flowers and how seasons can effect that color choice.
If you have chosen colors for your special day and you absolutely do not want to change those colors, then the obvious option is making a list of all of the flowers in your color scheme, that you find beautiful. Keep in mind that you will want a variety of textures. Also be willing to pick flowers in varying hues of the same color. This can also mean that you might find yourself looking a whole different color. What do I mean by this? Well, take a look at the picture above. These are the flowers I chose for our Thanksgiving table this year. I had decided that my brown toile dishes would not look so drab if I pulled out the red tones that that appeared in only 1 square inch of the entire plate. I decided that I'd use our cranberry Kings Crown Thumbprint goblets to pull that red out of the china. So why not use that cranberry for the flowers too? Well, when I arrived at Trader Joe's I was amazed at their selection. I must have spent 30 minutes picking up bunches of flowers and comparing them to the pictures I had of my china. The huge chrysanthemums were the perfect color but I did not want a monochromatic color scheme. So I opted to go with shades of this vibrant color. The pink & red freesia blended perfectly. Then I spotted Scabiosa. These blooms are hard to find. In fact, I had ordered some only 3 months earlier, but they did not arrive in my shipment. So you can imagine my excitement when I spotted this almost black specimen at Trader Joe's! Whether it matched or not had no barring on my decision. I had to have them. But since I had already decided to add cream roses to the mix, the thought of dispersing only 1 or 2 scabiosas in each arrangement delighted me! Not only did their unique features bring texture to the mix but the color was exactly what I needed to make the combo pop.
So that was an example of choosing various shades of color, being open to a variety of flowers, and adding an extra color to draw the eye in. Now to address seasonal flowers. I don't believe I've done a wedding where I was able to get every single flower the bride wanted, simply because it was out of season. So what is a girl to do? Of course, pick out your dream bouquet to use as your inspiration. Then head to one of the following DIY sites to see if you can get every bloom the month of your wedding: Fifty Flowers & Flower Moxie. Here you will find a plethora of information.
Scour these sites for each of the blooms you desire. If one is missing from their selection, make note of this and see if you can find a comparable bloom. If a particular rose is not showing up, don't worry. You would be surprised just how many roses our good Lord created. You will most likely be able to find one in similar hue or you just might find the right color in a different size. Roses vary from miniature (1 inch) to ruffly extravagant peonies.
Speaking of peonies, these gorgeous specimens peak season is early spring through June and can be found again in November/December. Of course brides love these and are clamoring to get at least one for their bouquet even if they do not have a summer wedding. If you are one of these brides and your wedding does not fall in line with the peony growing seasons, then finding alternatives is a must. If color is not as important as the "look" then maybe you focus on finding a different flower all together. Hydrangeas work well if you are looking for a large flower like a peony.
Back to the DIY floral sites: You will find that these suppliers also give you presorted collections. This is an awesome option. In fact, I sometimes like to choose one of their collections as my base and then add other flower choices until I have exactly what I envision. One of the perks of purchasing a collection is they include a variety of green filler which makes one less thing for you to consider. And they also offer some nice tutorials.
If you decide that making your own floral arrangements is too much, see if one of your bridesmaids or a family member would like the challenge. There are a lot of us creative types out there who love to learn a new creative outlet. And if all else fails, and you live in the Dallas area, give us a ring and we'll make them for you!