It’s official! Favourite colour palette of the season. There is something so exquisite about purple, green, and white. This wedding had it in spades. What a beautiful day it was on so many levels. Beautiful sunny skies, beautiful flowers, beautiful venue and a beautiful bride and her dapper captain. Kelli is my friend and I guess that makes Duke my friend now to. I was thrilled to be able to create the florals for this wedding. The other thing that was thrilling was being able to work with Stephanie Rae Hull of Centric Photo. I have been watching her work for years and, yearning for the day we might meet up.

My pictures capture some of my favourite bits and pieces of the weddings I get to be a part of.Here is a sweet sequence of photos documenting the two of them seeing each other for the first time.

Now let’s talk details… Bouquets,

The ceremony and reception took place at the beautiful Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse. It was a beautiful ceremony made even more spectacular by Duke’s kilt and his beautiful niece in her quilt as well. Kelli’s number one man Tucker, her sweet, sweet labradoodle walked her down the aisle and waiting paitently till they were finished.

Lynn has the biggest smile! Every time we met to discuss details she had this beautiful smile on her face, she was beaming all the time. And her laugh…always laughing. It was such a joy to work with her. Her bouquets were an explosion of pink. Garden roses, spray roses, dahlias, astilbe, so beautiful and lush. This was the first time I had a chance to work with Tamara from Poppy Photography, and we are itching to see her pics from the day!

There was so much loveliness involved in this wedding. It started of course with the bride and groom. Jen and Eric were high school sweethearts and some of the nicest people. Jen is a gardener so we had the oppurtunity to incorporate lots of different elements into the designs. The best part was this little tiny green bean attached to some of the vine tendrils incorporated into Jen’s bouquet.

The inspiration point was the use of sunflowers with the petals removed. This added a fabulous texture and depth to all the arrangements and the bouquets.

The bridesmaids bouquets were a beautiful combination of white’s, cream’s and deep sunflower centres.

Centrepieces were a whimsical and rustic combination of so many elements, they were the best of fall! Jesse Holland was the photographer for this wedding, and we were thrilled to have a visit from her on Friday while the chaos that is the “day before” ensued. A behind the scenes peek at how it all comes together. Her pictures are going to be incredible, so stay tuned…. For now back to the centrepieces.

The guy’s flowers often get forgotten in these blogs of mine, so for all those grooms I have neglected over the season here is Eric’s bout in all it’s beautiful garden rose glory!

Laura Taylor is a very talented wedding photographer here in Victoria, so given her exposure to some of many talented floral designers here in Victoria, I was so flattered when she came to me for her bridal party flowers. What a treat it was working with her, and her bouquet was by far one of the most beautiful we have made this season. Many shades of pinks, creams, and peaches. So lovely just like her. There was a collection of some the best photographers around, both attending and shooting the wedding. Eunice Montenegro even flew out from Nova Scotia and teamed up with Christina Craft to capture this beautiful wedding. Can’t wait to see the many photos…..

We finished the stems off the bouquets off with a beautiful dusty pink satin ribbon and added beautiful braided details in grosgrain and chiffon.

This wedding was an ode to the daisy! Daisies were used everywhere. This was one of the neatest bridal bouquets I have made all summer long. What treat to make a mass of white daisies into a beautiful and whimsical bouquet. The smile on Kathryn’s face when I dropped it off said it all. Her girls carried fabulous, bright and bold bouquets of gerbera daisies in 3 different colours.

The tables at Church & State were dotted with cheerful arrangements of the same daisies. The tables were marked and named by different photographs of Kathryn & Alex on their world travels. Jenna & Tristan were the photographers on this wedding and no one is more excited then me to see their version of this great couple and their wedding.

Wendy &  John were married at the beautiful Sooke Harbour House on a sunny September afternoon. Wendy and I corresponded entirely through email. The bouquets were designed and blooms chosen over a few exchanges, and we finally met on her wedding day when I dropped her bouquet off to her at the hair salon. I dont have a picture of her in her dress with her bridesmaids, but I know that the lovely Karen McNeil captured her and more, so keep checking her blog for photos. In the mean time more details of Wendy’s day.

Some more “overall look shots” before we show you the beautiful bride and her groom…..

The brides bouquet was a gorgeous, hand-tied filled with amazing blooms of whites and greens. Roses, ranunculus, lisianthus, mini calla’s little buds of echevarria, lady slippers, and the best part little fronds of boston and maidenhair ferns.

Sarah was a vision! What a stunning bride she made. She has an elegance about her that is breathtaking. Mel Baird and Elena from Concious Hair did a fantastic job with hair and make up for Sarah and all her family. Just look at how beautiful she is!

Ashton wasn’t too bad either. He looked very dapper in his suit. and we pinned him with a lady slipper to match Sarah. What a pair these two are. Can you see why we all fell in love with them?

Some beautiful shots of Sarah and her soon to be mother in law watching the guests arrive for the ceremony. Even Piper the couples sweet dog got some flowers for her collar.

The ceremony was bathed in the gorgeous light from the setting sun. So incredibly beautiful. We were thrilled to be there and thrilled to be a part of such a wonderful day filled with so much love, laughter and joy.

I don’t even know where to start writing about this wedding and the couple that got married in the middle of all this stunning beauty, not to mention beautiful Piper and her floral collar. I have said this before but it begs repeating. There is, in my opinion, no where in the world more spectacular then Vancouver Island on a late summer afternoon and evening, and this wedding showcased it perfectly.

Sarah, Ashton and their families were an absolute pleasure to work with, and more than that, they were a joy to be around. Some of the kindest, warmest, most welcoming people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. The job was easy as it took place in a garden that rivals Buchart Gardens. Sophie the master behind every leaf, petal and mossy rock was an absolute delight. We were all honoured to be in her space for the afternoon.

Our job was easy, every detail in this magnificent space was already taken care of, we just added a little bit of floral flourish to enhance the beauty that was already there. We got our inspiration from the natural spaces that surround this home and it’s property. We used lots of ferns, salal, live edge cedar stands and platters. This applied to everything from the welcome arrangements to the bridal bouquet. What we ended up with was a feast for the senses.

Once again, we teamed up with David and his team from Feys and Hobbs Catered Arts and the evening was flawless. I only wish I had taken the time to snap some pictures of some of the amazing food coming out of the kitchen. You will have to just trust me on this when I say that he is at the top of his game!

Guests were welcomed by a large arrangement in an antique crock pot and a homemade chalkboard with a simple and sweet greeting.

The aisle was marked by two massive arrangements filled with a cornucopia of late summer blooms, like hydrangeas, lilies, sedums, snapdragons, grasses and the always classic phalenopsis orchids. We used the centrepieces to create a beautiful “wall” of blooms to line the aisle

The table was a spectacular 112 foot “Family Style” table laid with a lovely black and green damask linen and we added some live edged cedar platters to the mix with “scape” of some candles, ferns and the most incredible blooms of rare Lady Slipper Orchids. It was the perfect “rustic” touch.

More to come in Part Two……

The fresh comes with the use of freesia, maiden hair ferns, lilies and sedum.

The magic happens when we incorporate these little beauties….some stunning white phanlenopsis orchids and some rare lady slipped orchids.

It didn’t just rain a little bit, it poured, and poured and poured some more. Here in Victoria, you can usually count on at least one weekend of the summer wedding season getting rained on, and this was the weekend. The upside to this was that Lindsey was a great sport about it. The wedding took place in the beautiful, lush gardens of The Villa Marco Polo. The beautiful green foliage was a perfect backdrop to the rich colours of deep velvety reds, sandy shades of cream and hits of silver.

Lindsey and Sina were a dream to work with, and we were able to follow the palette of black, white, pewter and rich reds with and amazing combination of textural blooms like, berzillia, scabiosa and poppy pods, dusty miller and a combination of red and black roses and cream tan roses.

We finished Lindsey’s bouquet off with a fantastic wide Italian taffeta ribbon and a large structured bow.

The bridesmaids carried an equally textural and rich hued bouquet which was set off perfectly by their floor length black gowns.

The tables were set with square glass vases wrapped in black a cream stripped fabric and a beautiful pewter satin ribbon and topped with a fantastic mix of colour and texture. The centrepieces were surrounded by mercury glass votives and each table had a carved black number mounted on a black and white pattern and surrounded in black frame.

Each guest recieved a set of 4 handmade ceramic coasters. Made by the bride and her mother. Every single set was different.

The ceremony took place in the shelter of the wrought iron gazebo, which we finished with a crystal chandelier, some glass orb votive holders, a rich red carpet of rose petals and some swags finished with a fantastic black and white stripped bow.

The cake by Patisserie Daniel was finished with strips of black and white ribbon, and a cluster of of blooms.

The bouts were a sophisticated cluster of dusty miller, poppy pods and a few black and white blooms. Lindsey’s Dad wore a sand coloured rose finished with the same hint of silver dusty miller.

See Lindsey and her bridesmaids in Part 2…..