San Diego Inspiration Board

Following the flower trial last week, the bride and I discussed a few options. Namely, we decided that the spider mums were just too spikey for her bouquet. Perhaps a bit too much texture, especially sense she is wearing a vintage style sheath. We decided that soft ivory football mums might be a better alternative.


She also nixed the hanging amaranthus for the tree. So it will just be yellow and purple orchids dressing the manazanita branches.

So, all in all, we pretty much have it down. I put together a final inspiration board for their wedding.

San Diego Trial II - their Tree of Love

Again, this is a more ghetto-fied version of what their actual Pièce de résistance will be. They have requested that guests write a poem or other loving thoughts on pieces of paper to hang on their "tree of love" which they will have prominently displayed at their reception and then later in their home.

Their tree will composed of large manzanita branches. They are still unsure if it will be sandblasted, natural brown red, or spray painted. If they go out and collect them on their own (again manzanita grows like wild here), I think they should spray it a soft gold. If they buy it, I like the sandblasted.

Here is a pretty good tutorial of how to make your own from the WeddingChicks.

Sandblasted Manzanita

I started messing around with this just to get the feel of what it is like to work with branches. I collected some dead branches from off the side of the road (near the florist coincidentally). I can tell you this, one of the reasons why manzanita is so popular for floral decor is that it is so strong. These dead branches - not so much - I have crap all over my car.

So again, just screwing around, I hung some green amaranthus on them. The amaranthus is really cheap here at $5 for 5 stems, which I used here. Side note - I actually had a beautiful red amarnathus in my garden, but my damn landlord chopped it down. Oh well.


Again, this isn't the same type of branch, not the same type of vessel. But I think I like it better with orchids on them. These are with my cheap dollar store orchids.


If they decide to go for the orchids, I think we will just order yellow and/white dendrodiums as they are so much cheaper than the other orchids (anywhere from $15-30 for 75ish blooms). These fake ones are supposed to be mokara orchids, which I admit are a more interesting flower to me. Sam's club is selling them super cheap, so you never know.


For a tutorial on how to hang and conceal the amaranthus flowers, see this article from wonderful Nettleton Hollow blog.

More florals - a trial for a San Diego wedding

One of my friends from Miami is getting married in his home town of San Diego. He is a great, chill, outdoorsy fellow - very San Diego. Well, I offered my floral services to him and his lovely fiancee and they were so excited to have something off their plates.

The wedding, which will be in a month, will be held on the beach followed by a reception at a nearby home.

For the ceremony, they will have manzanita and/or driftwood branches lining the aisle,

as well as vases hanging on shepherds hooks. Here is a trial go at the ceremony vases

They are a white hydrangea bloom and two marigolds with green amaranthus hanging down.



The bride requested that her bouquet include alot of texture and a variety of different blooms. She also had a preference for yellow and white. Here is what I dreamed up with some excess ribbon leftover from my wedding (I personally dislike this ribbon).










I used white spider mums, yellow button mums, white carnations, and yellow marigolds. This is about half the size I will make for her actual bouquet. I will also add in yellow cockscomb and probably switch out the marigolds with yellow carnations (the marigold stems just don't hold up well).



As for the groom, I suggested rosemary and they loved the idea of it. Here is what I came up with, and I hope they love it as much as I do. It is just two sprigs of rosemary from my garden and three tiny yellow button mums. It smells lovely and I think it will accompany her bouquet very well.





















For the reception, they have beautiful metal rectangular containers, that they plan to fill with succulents like the ones shown and rocks.



























To give it a little more zing and color, I think we are going to add a sweeping small manzanita branch covered with some smaller orchids. Here is my inspiration, using my very own succulent plant garden, a branch from one of my juniper trees, and some dollar store fake orchids - yes it is a ghetto-fied trial

On the tables, they will also have some smaller vases with succulents for their guests to take home


All in all, I think this is going to be a fabulous looking wedding, which will be minimizing the amount of cut flowers, but adding in lots of texture with living plants and branches (manzanita grows like wild in Cali).

More soon on their Pièce de résistance !