Flowers and Foliage

Wedding flowers was one area I went off script. And I don't regret it one bit, thankyouverymuch.

There are many naysayers about choosing nontraditional wedding flowers. They say every bride needs a bouquet and that it should be made of fresh flowers. They contend that the bridesmaids won't know what to do with their hands if you don't give them a bouquet to hold.

To that I say bollocks.

I decided I didn't want to hold a bouquet. It was too much like a prop and I wanted something different than every other wedding I had seen. But I did want some pretty flowers. And I wanted something modern. The solution was a wrist corsage.

But not just any corsage. A bridal corsage. I loved it. My hands were free but my flowers were always with me.* 

My corsage had vanda orchids, which are the pricy purple ones with white specs, white cymbidium orchids, purple filler flowers, and sheer white ribbon. The thing was substantially large and oh so pretty.

Unfortunately my maternal grandmother didn't feel well enough to make the trip to Chicago. In her place she sent a blue ribbon that she wore pinned under her dress on her wedding day in 1951. The ribbon was from a single ladies church group that my grandmother belonged to before she got married. When the women would get engaged, they received a little medal attached to the blue ribbon. It was tradition to include it in their wedding ensemble, often hidden, as their something blue. 

When my aunt got married she also pinned the blue ribbon under her wedding dress. 

So I pinned the ribbon to my corsage and was able to look at it all day and think of my grandma.

My brideswomen also got wrist corsages. They were slightly smaller than mine and consisted of white cymbidium orchids, purple filler flowers, and sheer black ribbon. They were very elegant.

 When it came to the boutonnieres for Mr. Beagle and his groomspeople, we decided to, yet again, deviate from the script. Mr. Beagle loves bamboo for it's modern and minimal look, so I proposed the idea to our florist of bamboo boutonnieres. She loved them.

Each boutonniere was wrapped in sheer black ribbon and was made of two stalks. Mr. Beagle's boutonniere had the addition of silver wire wrapping.

Even the groomswoman wore a bamboo boutonniere. She looked smashing with it on. 

For our ceremony readers, Mr. Beagle's youngest sister, and the girlfriend of Mr. Beagle's brother, we gave them each a white rose wristlet (see the right wrist of my friend doing a reading above). It was literally a bracelet made up of roses! I thought this was an incredibly clever idea by our florist.

Our fathers and my grandfather received a Picasso calla lily. It is white on the outside with a purple interior.

And our mothers wore a slightly smaller version of the brideswomen's corsages with white sheer ribbon.

I thought we all looked quite sharp with our nontraditional flowers and foliage. And see, women can figure out what to do with their hands even if they aren't holding a bouquet!

We hired Jenna of Avant Gardenia to do our flowers and definitely recommend her. I never got a chance to meet her since I live so far away, but she knew her stuff and was excited about my unusual ideas and didn't mind our small budget and small amount of product.** She understood my vision for modern, unique, and chic and executed perfectly. And the flowers were delivered right on time for a very small delivery fee.

*Except on the dance floor when I decided that I needed to be able to throw my arms in the air (and wave them around like you just don't care. [yes, i'm a nerd]).

**I was turned away by many florists who felt our event just wasn't big enough to be worth their time.

photos by Justin Runquist and Craig Watson

Please do not repost any of our wedding pictures without our written permission.