Thursday, February 25, 2010

Before: Jacqueline's wedding

The other wedding we have this weekend is for Jacqueline. I have been following Jacqueline's journey for aaaaggees and am really excited to see all of her planning come together! Only 2 more sleeps to go!

Jacqueline is keeping it really simple and having rose posies. I love them. I think they are pretty, elegant and they will never date.

Here are the flowers:


 On the left of the photo are some small spray roses which we will use for the corsages and flower girl halos - yes the flower girls are having halos... how cute!! And on the right of the photo we have some ivory roses called Vendella. Beautiful!

I'll be back on Monday to show you Jacqueline's flowers.

Before: Francine's wedding

This weekend we will have 2 weddings to show you.

The first one is a little bit different and I can't wait to see how it turns out. Francine is having a fan arrangement instead of a regular bridal bouquet. We are using a fan backing, then placing vine on the front of it with orchids wired through it and a focal area at the base of the fan of some phalaenopsis orchids. Does that sound interesting?? I haven't made anything like it before and I'm looking forward to getting in to it. We wanted to use water lilies for the focal area but had to change to the phalaenopsis orchids when we weren't able to get them. I think it will look fantastic.

Francine had such a bright and bubbly personality and I just know that her wedding is going to be amazing. Here are her flowers:


From the left we have some vine, behind  that some singapore orchids and then to the right in teh little vases are the phalaenopsis orchids. Here is a closer look at the orchids:

The first picture is of the Phalaenopsis Orchids, they are a white variety with hot pink lips
The middle picture is of a Singapore Orchid variety called Chanel     
And the picture on the right is of another type of Singapore Orchid called Red Lip (although I don't know why they are called that when they look to be more of a purple colour).

I'll be back on Monday to show you how the fan arrangement turns out. I am excited and nervous about it all at once! :-)

Monday, February 15, 2010

After: Louise's wedding

It was an early start on Saturday morning for Louise's wedding. She was having a lunch time wedding at the most gorgeous wedding venue - Bells at Killcare.

I met Louise at her hairdresser to give her some flowers for her hair, and drop off her bouquet (there were no bridesmaids so only one bouquet to drop off). Then I made my way to Bells to set up the wedding venue. I hope you are ready for a photo overload because I have a few to show you....

Bride bouquet: Louise specified that she wanted her posy to be more of a ball shape - so there was no frame of foliage around it. The colours aren't right in the first photo as the reflection from having the lights on in the studio threw a yellow tinge on the bouquet. The flowers were ivory david austin roses, white lisianthus, white freesias and white singapore orchids
And I had to show you how we finished off the stems with white ribbon and a thin black ribbon criss-cross pattern:

These are the hair flowers, white singapore orchids:

Buttonholes: the groom had 2 ivory david austin roses, whilst the best man had 1 ivory david austin rose

Ceremony: the ceremony was supposed to be held outside in the beautiful grounds at Bells. Unfortunately the weather wouldn't cooperate and it looked like the ceremony was going to be moved inside. This is where they usually hold the wedding ceremonies:

Petal Cones: we made some petal cones for the ceremony. These were supposed to sit on each of the chairs along the aisle so that the guests could throw petals over the newly married couple as they walk up the aisle together

Reception: Louise wanted to keep the reception flowers very simple, just a couple of vases of white flowers on each table.

Bridal Table: a low vase in the centre of white dahlias surrounded by little tealights of white lisianthus flowers

Guest Tables: there were four long guest tables. On each of these we put two low vases of white dahlias


The view of the reception room with the round bridal table in the centre, and two of the long guest tables on either side:

Cake: the cake topper included white dahlias, ivory david austin roses, white freesias and white singapore orchids. And we added a spray on the bottom using the same flowers

Congratulations Louise! I hope you had an amazing wedding day. The venue was absolutely stunning and I am sure everyone had a great day there.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all have a wonderful day with your loved one xxx
Me? Hubby and I have the day off together (yay!) so I think we are going to the local cinema to watch a movie. I have been dying to see 'Valentine's Day'. But if it's a rainy day, we could just as easily curl up on the couch and watch some DVD's instead.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

After: Polly's wedding

I finally got to meet Polly! She loved her bouquet and the bridesmaids wrist corsages!

I've got quite a few photos to show you so I'll get straight to it.

Bride bouquet: posy of green hydrangea, pink david austin roses, champagne david austin roses and white lisianthus           


Bridesmaids wrist corsages: pink david austin roses and a touch of green hydrangea on a pearl wristlet
                                      

Buttonholes: the groom had champagne david austin roses and a touch of green hydrangea, the groomsmen had pink david austin roses and a touch of green hydrangea, and the Dad's had a simple pink david austin rose
The Mum's had a dress corsage of pink david austin roses:

The wedding was held at Linton Gardens in Somersby and here is what we did while we were there....

Ceremony: there is a large grassed area on site for wedding ceremonies. Polly had a carpet set up for the aisle, but we scattered some petals across the lawn leading up to the carpet. We also scattered some petals on either side of the carpet, and then had a little circle at the end where the bride and groom stand throughout the ceremony:                                        

Then for the reception, Polly had purchased some vases to sit across the bridal table. In these we just put a few stems of the hydrangea:                                

Congratulations to Polly! I hope you had a wonderful wedding day..... and I was glad to see that the rain stayed away until after the ceremony!

I hope you all liked the flowers from Polly's wedding. I'll be back soon to show you some photos from the other wedding we had this weekend.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Before: Louise's wedding

This weekend we also have Louise's wedding. Louise is originally from the Coast but doesn't live close anymore. Luckily she had her Mother - who definitely knows a thing or two about flowers - to help organise things.

I went to visit Louise's Mum for an initial consult to get some ideas together for Louise, only to find that she lived in the same street as the childhood home I had grown up in for 20 years. And not only that, but she was only 2 houses away! It's such a small world.

Louise is having a small wedding so there is only one bouquet to make as well as a couple of buttonholes, a small cake posy and spray, and some flowers for the reception tables.

This is what we are starting with:
From the front left hand side - anticlockwise: ivory david austin roses, whhite freesias, white singapore orchids, white dahlias and up the back are some white lisianthus

I'll show you what we do with them after the weekend!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Before: Polly's wedding

I have alot of brides that email me or call me about their wedding flowers and are a bit worried because they live far away and can't meet me in person to go through their flowers - actually I had one today from Canberra! Well there is no need to worry, it really can all be done by phone or email and Polly is proof of that.

I haven't met Polly yet, we have done most of our talking through email. By asking lots of questions and sending pictures back and forth, we were able to organise all of Polly's wedding flowers.

These are the flowers that we are using for Polly's wedding:

From the left there are pink david austin roses, cream/champagne david austin roses, behind those some white lisianthus and some green hydrangea and petals for the ceremony aisle.

I'll show you the photos that we are using as our inspiration:
Polly is having a bouquet similar to the picture on the left. Hers will have green hydrangea (we couldn't get the same colour as what is in the picture so we got the darker green colourwhich is in the picture above), pink and cream/champagne david austin roses and white lisianthus
And the bridesmaids are having wrist corsages of pink david austin roses, like the picture on the right:


Hydrangeas and david austin roses are 2 of my absolute favourite flowers! I can't wait to see what Polly's bouquet looks like. I'll be back to show you when I am done.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Gosford Golf Club Bridal Fair pics

Last Sunday I was an exhibitor at the Gosford Golf Club Bridal Fair. It was a lovely day meeting new, excited brides. I have to thank my wonderful husband for coming with me so that we could spend the day together (awwwwwww), as well as Gerri from I Do Cupcakes, and Lisa from Lisa Lent Photography who had stalls on either side of me and kept me entertained in between talking to all of the lovely brides.

I had a very busy weekend with an engagement party in Sydney to attend, and a wedding order for Monday to make, so I kept it very small and simple for this expo. This was my stall:


I didn't take a photo of one of the bouquets because it was a last minute addition - it's the one on the left of the picture, just a simple hydrangea posy. Here are the other 3 bouquets:

Posy of white roses and white spray roses


I love how this one turned out. Actually I love anything that has berries in it! This is a grouped posy of mauve roses, purple calla lilies, purple vanda orchids and berzellia berry


And lastly, this bouquet is a posy of artificial frangipani's

I hope you like them!

For anyone that was at the expo. did you find it fun, helpful? Let me know if it was worthwhile.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Happy Birthday to my blog!

Well it has been exactly a year since I started my little blog about the business I was just about to start. Back then, I hadn't seen a bride or booked a wedding, I was still thinking about setting up the studio and what colour to paint it.

Well what a difference a year makes! The studio still isn't completely finished *hangs my head in shame* but it only really needs some light fittings and photos for the walls. But rather than focus on what I haven't done, how about I focus on what I have accomplished in the past year? 
-I have been excited to meet lots of wonderful brides
-knowing that it would take a bit of time for my name to get out there and to build a reputation (and also because couples book their wedding vendors in advance, I was prepared that I probably wouldn't actually do a wedding in the first 6 months), I set a modest target of 20 weddings for my first year. I am happy to say that target was accomplished quite easily! :-)
-I exhibited at 3 wedding expos
-created facebook and twitter accounts (see the links to the right of the page if you would like to follow me on either site)
-I have met some great vendors that I would recommend to any bride: *waves to Julie, Lisa, Odette, Jean and Melli* (well, I haven't met Melli yet but I have seen her work and love it and hope to meet her soon)!
-I have had emails from aspiring florists telling me how much they enjoy my blog and how I am inspiring them to pursue their passion for floristry
-and had over 3000 visits to my website and over 3500 visits to my blog

It has been a great first year of business for The Kissing Tree. I have to say a massive THANK YOU to all of my wonderful brides, to the family, friends and fans who have supported me, and to those of you who have been following me through here, facebook or twitter. I wonder what is ahead in year 2?!

After: Rebecca's wedding

Well yesterday I was in the beautiful Hunter Valley to deliver flowers for Rebecca and Kristian's wedding. I had never been to their wedding venue before - the lovely Tuscany Wine Estate. I especially loved the courtyard with it's big fountain that is perfect for wedding ceremonies, and the deck that came off the restaurant so that you could go outside and dance. If you are looking at wedding venues in the Hunter Valley, make sure you add Tuscany Wine Estate to your list of places to check out.

Here are the flowers for the day......

Bride bouquet: small posy of David Austin roses

Bridesmaids Bouquet: smaller posy of David Austin roses

There were no buttonholes or corsages for the bridal party or family members. However there was one special VIP guest that got one, and that was Kristian and Rebecca's dog Pugsley (sorry about the blurry photo):

These are the flowers that were used to decorate the ceremony. The petals were used to line the aisle, whilst the dahlia flower heads were placed in the fountain:
This is a picture from the Tuscany Wine Estate website to give you an idea of how it would look:

Next for the reception. These were kept very simple and pretty with a low vase of white hydrangea in the centre of every  table, surrounded by small tealight candles. It would have looked so pretty at night:


Well the weather was gorgeous, the venue was gorgeous, the flowers were gorgeous and the couple were gorgeous. It's hard to imagine that this wedding was anything less than absolutely stunning! Congratulations Kristian and Rebecca! I hope you both had a great time.