Week 10

 This week we were busy pulling all kinds of things for both of our weddings coming up for the weekend. I didn't think my job of cleaning and prepping candles and vases was ever going to end! Everyone ended up tackling the job and then it was time for the fun part…flowers!

Each wedding we do requires a specific recipe for all of the arrangements and bouquets. I helped to set aside each recipe on the work bench so that we could start putting together all of our bouquets. This week I got to make the brides bouquet for the wedding in Boca Grande. I was so nervous! I have never made a hand tied bouquet so I ended up spending quite a bit of time on it. The bouquet had hydrangea, garden roses, ranunculus, and English Ivy. I really learned a lot from making the bouquet.

While I was designing the bouquet I was having a hard time fitting in the smaller ranunculus stems and some of the last few garden roses. Athena and Tiffany showed me that if I just simply loosened my grip on the flowers I could place them in and then tighten my grip when I felt like the flowers were placed correctly. Loosening my grip helped me to adjust and move the flowers and get them to sit where I wanted to. I’m really glad I got the chance to learn how to build a hand-tied bouquet. Hopefully I will be designing more in the next few weeks.

The Brides Bouquet:

Once I was done with the bride’s bouquet I got to move onto the junior bridesmaids bouquets. The junior bouquets had hydrangea, dahlias, and ranunculus. They we’re much smaller than the bride’s bouquet and went much faster for me.

Junior Brides Bouquets:

On Friday the boys and I went to a venue called the Vault to set up draping and furniture for Ian and Zoe’s show. The Vault used to be an old bank so it really has a huge old bank vault towards the back, which I think it would be great in a party for a VIP area. Although in our setup we just draped off sections for the different areas of the show.

The Vault:

Saturday! My favorite day of the week finally came and Athena and I headed off to Boca Grande which is an hour or so away from the studio. Once we got there we drove to a cute little cottage on the side of the Boca hotel to deliver the bouquets and corsages to the bride. It was so fun seeing the bouquet I made go from the studio, to the bride.

Personals: (Bouquets and Corsages)

We walked across the little cottage to the hotel where the dinner would be held after the ceremony and set out table arrangements and.

Boca Grande Hotel:

Once we delivered the personals and table arrangements we moved onto the beach setup for the ceremony. The bride and groom wanted an archway facing out to the beach. We took curly willow and secured some around cement posts. We took two of these posts and buried them in the sand to secure them. The wind is so strong on the beach you have to make a strong foundation first to make sure nothing comes apart mid-way thorough a ceremony. To complete the archway we took more bunches of curly willow and curved them together to create the arch.

The Arch:

We also had flowers to secure on the arches but we had to wait just before the ceremony to secure the flowers on. In the direct sunlight and wind the flowers would wilt quickly if they were put out right away.

The Archway Finished:

Time For The Ceremony:

While Athena and I were in Boca Grande the rest of the Botanica crew was busy setting up another wedding at the Ringling Museum. I came back with Jordan later that night to pick up our product after the wedding. This place is so beautiful! Especially with all the candles lit up at night.

Ringling Museum: