First Bridal Bouquet

So this weekend I made my first bridal bouquet ever.  My husband's best friend was getting married in the backyard of the California home he shares with his partner.  They were having a do-it-yourself, everyone-pitch-in, low-key backyard bash.  They and their children were the musicians, their backyard was a beautiful venue and they were very much in love and ready to celebrate!

I had tried to reach out to local flower farmers via the Association of Special Cut Flower Growers but to no avail.  I ended up going to the Poway Farmer's Market and taking my chances on using whatever I could find the day of the wedding... and boy was I nervous!  And even though I called the market manager, she wouldn't put me in touch with any of the flower vendors saying they didn't like their contact information being given out.  I was really hoping that I could talk to them in advance about what they would have available and so I could place an order.  

The market opened at 8am and I was there at 7:15 .... but no flower farmers.... and then I got in touch with the market manager again and she said they all must be running late.  All I knew is that I had to have flowers ready to deliver to the bride no later than 2pm and I didn't have a single flower.  FINALLY around 7:45 2 flower vendors showed.... the first had some dahlias and some mixed bouquets... I bought a few too many things from her before I found the other guy... who had more of what I wanted.  He also had some beautiful things under his table but he said they were already sold and if I had wanted some of those then I should have called him in advance...(I told him about my conversation with the market manager).  

I actually had picked some succulents, a feathery leaf of some sort and some salvia leucantha from the bride's yard the day before as I thought it would be a nice touch to include some things from what they already had growing.  They provided nice touches to the rest of the bouquet which consisted of some amazing orange safflower (must grow this next year!), white and orange cosmos, sunflowers, burgundy dahlias, purple gomphrena, solidago, white statice, purple protea, pink strawflower, dark burdundy amaranth, and a beautiful ivory dahlia.  All wrapped in twine with a little bit of silver embellishment to match the bride's dress.

Of course I was running around like a mad woman chasing my toddlers and didn't take great pictures.  But thank goodness others got some great shots of the bride and groom that also featured the bouquet:

I hope they made her happy!  And I was happy to be a part of their special day.  And each of their daughters also carried a bouquet:

But if you want to see the real masterpiece of the day, you need to see the amazing music stand my husband made for them:

Again, these photos do not do this beautiful piece justice... but that's what you get when you are trying to do all of this with two toddlers underfoot!

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