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.