Before and After: Pink Pink and Pink!

The wedding this weekend is a fun one - Melissa, our bride, doesn't love roses, so they were to be used minimally (except for garden roses in her bouquet), and she LOVES Dahlias. Okay, so it's June, and the Dahlias that were shipped in to our wholesaler here were NOT looking so good. That's the thing with out of season flowers, even though we can often get them from a warmer place on the planet, that doesn't mean they look good. Dahlias like August. (I won't mention that all my August brides WANT peonies, which of course are incredibly stunning this week). Sigh!

Even though we have fabulous connections with wholesalers and growers in Los Angeles, Holland and Ecuador, pink dahlias weren't meant to happen in Seattle this weekend. Design-oriented as Melissa is, we came up with some alternatives.

Instead of Dahlias, we came up with some fun Chrysanthemums that had a similar feel. I think these get a bad rap, along with carnations. It's all in how you use them! All greens and filler flower with a few roses and mums? Ick. But a lush design of all one flower, or these Mums as a showcase, along with peonies, is different and refreshing.
Melissa also wanted some Stargazer lillies(we found a view variations on this theme), so I obliged, although I am NOT a fan of lillies usually! (I'm actually allergic to the white Casablanca ones, but so far, so good on these Fuchsia beauties.) They require way too much babysitting! From the moment they arrived tightly closed, you place them in warm water, and out in the sun if possible, to get them to open up. Coaxing them along, as they each open at different times, you place each open one immediately in the cooler to keep them at that aperture. Not to mention taking out the stamens! Melissa, if my hands are stained yellow this weekend, it's because of those lillies!! :)

They are also incredibly fragile, creasing terribly when bent. So, no one crash into my delivery truck please! (Good general rule, actually, lillies or not!)

The lillies did provide a nice shade of pink, as we ended up bringing in some other lillies to replace some of the not yet blooming pink dahlias we had wanted. Melissa wanted various shades of pink, with accents of white, and a background of slate blue (ribbon/bridesmaids dresses/ties).

Here is a bucket with flowers for one type of centerpiece, waiting to be arranged. How will it all turn out? Check on Monday to see!

Daniela