Star Bouquet: Vanessa Minnillo

Recently there was a two hour special on tv showing the wedding of Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo.  It is always fun and interesting to see what stars do for their big day.  The details, the dress, the location, the food and décor, even who attended their big day!  But, of interest to this designer is always, what did the bridal bouquet look like? Needless to say, Vanessa’s bouquet was stunning and it was created using only one type of flower:  the Gloriosa Lily! It was a bold choice as many star brides tend to go with mainly all white/cream bouquets.  It fit her personality as well as the lovely setting the couple was married in: Sir Richard Branson’s private tropical island.

But, what is a gloriosa lily and why do we not see more of this stunning flower?  Well, mainly because it tends to be rather fragile and it can be costly for many people.  We are seeing more of them as accents in a bouquet but this is really one of the few times it has been seen as being the only flower in the entire design. Gloriosa or Glory Lilies are members of the lily family.  They tend to have a short life span and arrive at your floral designer with very short stems.  So, more than likely, Vanessa’s bouquet probably had a bit of wiring to hold the stems in place as well as lengthen them to the point where it created a nice handle for her to hold onto.

In addition, the gloriosa lily does not come in any colors but a deep crimson/hot pink tone with outer edged petals in white/golden/yellow. This color does not work with all wedding color schemes  which when coupled with the expense, it keeps it out of the list of potential flowers for many weddings.

The gloriosa lily looks similar to many 5 petal lilies but as you can see in the slide show pictures, they have a cupped appearance with the petals reaching back away from the stem.  When massed together they create a very pleasing round shape to the look of the bouquet.  Gloriosa lilies can easily be used as an accent flower to get that special touch without spending quite as much as you would by using them as the only flower in your bouquet.

If you have the budget and are able to work this rich color into your color scheme, work closely with your floral designer on having this little used flower be a part of your bouquet and possibly the groom’s boutonniere just like Nick had for his.  This particular flower is not meant for a do it yourself bride simply because there is a lot of special care and handling required when using this flower and only an experienced floral designer will be able to take care of it so that they will be beautiful for your special day.  They are also not available via any of the retail bulk flower sites.  It may be possible to order them from your local floral designer but again, the stress these beautiful but fragile flowers would cause would not be worth saving a little bit by attempting to work with them yourself.

yellow bridal bouquets, wedding flowers for brides

I was putting together an arrangement of yellow tulips the other day, when my eye fell on this design from Queen of flower arrangers, Jane Packer. Yellow is one of those colors which means ‘sunshine’ and is a good color for almost any time of year. In winter, daffodils bring the promise of spring, and yellow forsythia blossom can add sweeping trails to any bouquet, later in the year tulips and roses can be found in many lemon and yellow shades, while the ultimate yellow flowers, the gerberas, daisy and sunflowers are perfect for late summer and fall.

Here is a selection of some of the more interesting yellow bridal bouquets I’ve seen lately.

If you plan to make your own bouquet, here are some points to bear in mind.

If you’re working to a strict budget, cascade bouquets, though usually larger are typically cheaper to make since they use a smaller number of flowers. Unless you are an exepriences florist (of you’ve had time to practice a lot) you may want to use silk flowers rather than fresh as you can create the bouquet well in advance and keep working on it until you get it right. Some flower are more convincing in silk than others. Calla llies, for example are very realistic as are gerbera daisies, daffodils however don’t look so good in artificial form. When creating a bouquet, remember it may be seen close up by guests and in photographs, so if you plan to use silk flowers choose flowers that look realistic. Foliage looks great in bouquets, but be sure to get good quality leaves as plastic stems can make an otherwise realistic flower look very fake. If possible look for ‘hand wrapped’ or ‘real touch’ when you buy. It makes a huge difference to the realism of the flower. In some cases, even when you touch it, you still won’t be sure. Note: some ‘real touch’ flowers look realistic by having imperfections, just as real flowers do. Also many will tell you that silk flowers are cheaper, if you go for the more realistic artificial flowers, you may find this isn’t true. However, with a silk bouquet you will have a keepsake you can keep forever. If you love tulips, silk tulips are easier to work with as real tulips are difficult to  push into florists foam.

RT @: I'm selling Formal #Wedding Tropical Flower Bouquet Black Rayon @

I'm selling Formal #Wedding Tropical Flower Bouquet Black Rayon @

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