“The Truth About the Bridal Bouquet & Other Wedding Traditions”

There is something special about traditions. Knowing your parents, grandparents, and even great grandparents incorporated the same tradition into their weddings years before you makes a your wedding all that more special and personal. While, every bride is unique, there are several traditions we see time and time again, passed down generation to generation.  

Brides traditionally stand to left of their groom for a reason that dates back centuries. "Marriage by capture," according to Mr. Specktor from Reader’s Digest, was a common practice. A groom would literally steal his bride from her home. The groom would hold his bride with his left hand leaving his right for a sword fight if necessary.

Bridal Bouquets, our favorite wedding tradition, have changed quite a bit over the years. Back in the day of the Great Plague bridal bouquets traditionally were made of herbs like garlic and dill to fight off disease. Luckily, medicine has improved and brides no longer need to cover themselves in garlic and vinegar to be healthy on their wedding day. Instead, brides opt for much better smelling roses or peony, thank goodness!

The classic white wedding dress was first popularized by Queen Victoria. Before the Queen, British nobility was know to wear flashy silver and gold embroidered fabric on their wedding day. Queen Victoria chose to go in a different direction. She wore an extravagant white gown embellished lace with flowers, we like her style, to stand out in the crowd of silver and gold.

Vena amoris, the vein on the fourth finger on the left hand, traditionally know as the ring finger, was believed to connect directly to the heart. Turns out all veins in the human hand connect to the heart but hey, it makes for a beautiful tradition. 

Credit: blog idea - Brandon Specktor / photos: Sowing Clover, Morgan Blake Photography, Rustic White, Caroline Fontenot Photography 

Florist to Our Friends

As a wedding vendor, there's a lot of pressure to make every event as perfect as can be. It's not just an annual office party or family get-together, it's a wedding: a once-in-a-lifetime-if-you’re-so-lucky, magical day full of happiness and love and months and months worth of anticipation. And wedding vendors have to be spot on, each and every time, because there are no do-overs, no “next time”. It’s exciting! And the overwhelming joy absolutely outweighs the pressure. What an amazing thing to be a part of! And we love it even more when we get to participate in a wedding of one of our friend’s or family member’s, or their children.




Bloomin’ Bouquets recently had the pleasure of doing the flowers for a wedding of a dear family friend of our talented florist Sarah's. The bride, Katie Devos Littlejohn, was a neighbor of Sarah’s family and was childhood best friends with her daughter. Since Sarah has known Katie since she was in elementary school, Sarah was thrilled to be a part of the big day! The wedding, especially the bride, was stunning.




Out of about 50 weddings that Bloomin’ Bouquets does in a year, we usually know only a handful of the brides and their families. Every bride deserves the most beautiful, perfect wedding day - and while it’s a treat when we know the couple, it can also add a bit more pressure. You want everything “just right,” and Katie’s wedding was exactly that!

Attention Vendors and Brides: New Updates for Love Gives Way!

A few weeks ago, we wrote about our involvement with Love Gives Way. For those who didn't get a chance to see, Love Gives Way is an organization we have partnered up with whose sole purpose is to raise funds and awareness to fight sex-trafficking via the wedding community.

Wedding vendors give a certain amount of their proceeds to local partner causes through the Love Gives Way organization. Brides and Grooms help by choosing as many, or all, of the vendors from the Love Gives Way affiliates list as they can!

When we heard about this opportunity, we signed up right away! After all, being a part of something like Love Gives Way gives deeper meaning to our work as vendors. We create beauty and spread joy through our work with wedding celebrations, and we can now use that joy to fuel an amazing cause.


Vendors: Love Gives Way has now made it easier and clearer for you to sign up. Details below, and HERE.

• Three levels of monthly investment so that you can choose which is exactly right for YOUR business
• 100 PERCENT of the donations that come from the actual proceeds go to your local affiliate cause
• Get APRIL FREE when you sign up this month!! 

Bloomin' Bouquets is a proud Love Gives Way vendor in our Atlanta community, and we look forward to seeing more of our vendor friends sign up to help with the sex-trafficking fight!

...And for all those brides and grooms out there, we hope you choose as many Love Gives Way vendors as you can --- because this an opportunity to share your love for each other in a bigger way than we could have dreamed possible!

Image: Love Gives Way

2014: The Year of Radiant Orchid

As we ring in the new year, it's no surprise that most of us start thinking about resolutions. Maybe we promise ourselves that we'll hit the gym at least 4 times a week, or perhaps we vow to keep in touch with friends and family more often than just birthdays and holidays. Either way, a new year can mean an opportunity for a fresh start for many of us; it's a chance to say, "This year, I'll do better. This year, my actions will define who I am and who I have always wanted to be."

A new year's resolution is similar to planning your wedding in that aspect. Just as you might ask, "How will I define myself in 2014?," I've frequently found myself wondering, "What will my wedding say about me? How can I showcase myself and my relationship through our celebration?" The obvious answer is through the design and formality of your wedding. It's through the venue, the cake, that amazing dress you put on and said, "This is me." And you can absolutely showcase your personality through your color theme, too.

Pantone, the world-renowned color technology company, has recently released the 2014 Color of the Year. This year, it's Radiant Orchid.  

Photo: Pantone

As Pantone Executive Director Lee Eiseman said in an interview, this pleasing shade of purple was chosen because of its complexity. With undertones of fuchsia, pink, and purple, it has a subtext that reads of intrigue - and the orchid name hints at exotic origins. For brides-to-be, Pantone's color choice couldn't be a better guide. If you're looking to stay in line with the trends of 2014, the Color of the Year name itself inspires flower choice. Purple orchids are a vibrant and stunning choice, one that lends itself to both classic and contemporary wedding celebrations.

Photo: Wedding Decor

                                                        

So just as the New Year has commonly come to be about defining yourself, you have the same opportunity with your wedding. How will you let colors help speak for you on your wedding day?

Meeting With Your Florist

When I got engaged, the first thing I bought was a planning book with a month-to-month timetable and checklist inside so that I knew what needed to be done, and when, for the wedding. For instance, eight to ten month before: find your dress. Three to four months before: order your wedding cake. Even with a checklist, it is very overwhelming to know how to go about it all. So here's a little help with how to approach your florist with your ideas.

First things first, make sure you book your florist as soon as you can. Talented florists fill up their schedules quite quickly - especially during busy wedding seasons! Once you have committed to your florist, it's nice to know what you can bring as the bride to the table so that there is some direction. After all, everyone is working on the same team to give you the wedding you've always imagined --- so don't be afraid to share those ideas!

For instance, one of our brides didn't want petals in any of her flowers. So Bloomin' Bouquets created the beautiful yellow bouquet below for her and her bridesmaids:




Maybe you don't know exactly what you want. That's where Pinterest can help. Visually, having a Pinterest boards is a great starting tool. It helps your florist understand the kind of colors and shapes that excite you.

It is also very helpful if you come into your design meeting already having picked out both your dress and your bridesmaids dresses. Having your wedding dress picked out helps your designer work on finding flowers that compliment the shape of the dress, and having the bridesmaids dresses picked out helps with the overall color palate and theme of the wedding.























Most important of all, be as flexible as you can be. Just like produce, flowers have peak seasons. Letting the season of your wedding guide you can help you use your money in the wisest way possible. For example, sunflowers are in-season for fall weddings, or calla lilies during the summer months.

So bring all of your ideas to your meeting and don't be shy about sharing your thoughts. Just make sure to keep an open mind....and always remember that everyone involved in this planning process is working toward one goal: making your wedding absolutely incredible.

Someone Else's Shoes

Over this past Thanksgiving week, I’ve personally had a lot of time to reflect on all that I am thankful for. Being just recently engaged, I am thankful for my fiancé and the love we share. I am thankful for his family and their excitement in having me join the family. And above all else, I am grateful for my own family and their generosity, support, and patience as we all try to tackle wedding planning.

            It’s been a some-what overwhelming adventure so far with my family as we have jumped right into booking our venue, church, and most of our vendors in the past 5 weeks alone. The most overwhelming aspect of all? The cost! No one can say that weddings are easy on the wallet!  And working within a specific budget is a necessary option – but one that can seem impossible at times!

            Like many new brides, I found myself wondering why things are so expensive! For instance, the flowers – why does hiring a quality florist eat up a chunk of the budget?

I was lucky enough to take a break from behind the computer to get out on the road and travel around with Bloomin’ Bouquets to help them set up for a wedding two weeks ago –--- and it didn’t take long for me to find out the answer.  Being a wedding florist is so much more than the hours spent ordering, designing, and preparing the arrangements.

            Within two minutes of arriving at “headquarters,” I was loading up masses of exquisite bouquets, table arrangements, boutonnieres, candles, and decorations into the back of my SUV. Within three minutes, I was sweating! Man, oh, manual labor!

Our day went a little like this: we went down to Buckhead, set up the church flowers, went downtown to the venue, unloaded and set up there, went back up to the church after the ceremony, loaded up the flowers to bring to the venue, and continued again to the venue to complete set-up there. After the reception, we went back to the venue to load-out, or “strike”, all of our things. Our 13-hour day was over. 

            Now, I’m not complaining about all the carrying and lifting! In fact, it was a nice little bride-to-be bootcamp for my biceps! But the point I’m trying to make is that I had no idea about all the physical effort that went into being a wedding florist. I always knew it took hours and hours to design and create the arrangements, but I never thought of the day-of execution. As a future bride, I’m glad I had this experience. I never would have known what it takes to make weddings and receptions look so extraordinarily beautiful.

            So this holiday season, I am thankful for the quality and passion of the vendors I have selected for my wedding. I am thankful for the understanding I now have for their specific costs, and I will definitely appreciate the hard work each will bring on my Big Day. 

....... I guess I just had to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes to realize that it is the climb, not the shiny shoelaces, that makes the mile so valuable. 

What will you carry down the aisle?

By the time many women are engaged, they’ve already dreamed about what kind of wedding they want to have. Maybe it’s an extravagant black tie affair, a down-home country barbecue, or even a theatrical masquerade of medieval costumes. Maybe that bride is YOU. 

(Bouquet by Bloomin' Bouquets)

You’ve imagined yourself a thousand times, walking down the aisle, headed toward your handsome groom while you are excitedly clutching your bountiful bouquet made of dill and garlic. ---- Wait, dill? Garlic? Well, if you’d gotten married during the Middle Ages, there’s a good chance that’s what you would have carried.

(Dill bouquet)

(Mixed garlic and floral bouquet)

History suggests that bouquets were originally made of herbs and spices during the time of the Plague so that brides could protect their nose and mouth from those around them during the ceremony.  Many thought the herbs had a protective quality and found comfort in the scent of a pungent posy. 

Obviously things have taken a turn for the better over the centuries, with brides now substituting more aesthetically pleasing (and better smelling!) objects in their bouquets. The meaning has changed over time as well, with flowers becoming representations of love, loyalty, and a bright future for the couple – an extension of the bride’s beauty and love for her partner.

(Modern bouquet by Bloomin' Bouquets)

(Bouquet from the Victorian era)

As for planning, the bridal bouquet is truly where it all begins when it comes to decor for the whole event!  When brides come in to Bloomin’ Bouquets, the first thing we talk about is the theme and vision for the wedding and then immediately start designing the bouquet. It helps us figure out the rest of the floral designs once the big decision of the bouquet has been made!

 

(Bouquet by Bloomin' Bouquets)

Many modern brides use their bouquets to represent their own unique taste and style! And with so many choices, there are endless possibilities.  From white calla lilies to pink roses, baby’s breath to bedazzled brooches, brides are getting creative with their choices and Bloomin’ Bouquets is there to help!

  

(Bouquet by Bloomin' Bouquets)

We can all be glad the days of garlic and dill bouquets are behind us! Unless that’s your vision of course, and then hey – we can make the magic happen!  So the big question is … what kind of bouquet will you be carrying down the aisle on your wedding day?

(Bouquets by Bloomin' Bouquets)