The Lovely Australians!

The lovely Australians are getting married.
The first thing I do on a wedding day is deliver the personal flowers to the wedding party.

Close up detail of the bouquets.
After delivering the personal flowers and dressing the ceremony site if applicable, I dress the wedding cake and reception tables. Notice the cake topper is of two grooms.
Meet my lovely Australians Jim and David. They are getting married. Yes, this is a same sex marriage, and if you have a problem with same sex marriages, you probably should not read any further. No hard feelings.
They have a beautiful kind of love and they came all the way to Victoria, B.C. Canada to get married! Yup. It's true.
Instead of groomsmen they had groom's women. The lovely ladies were supposed to be in black cocktail dresses, but, alas, something went wrong as it can do when you are traveling from another country. They look lovely all the same!
I made two matching bouquets for the girls. Jim and I worked together to create something the girls would love. He loves orchids. The man has good taste!
The exchange of the rings. Yippee!
One of the centerpieces.
Beginning to dress the tables with mokara blooms scattered, submerged cymbidium orchids and floating candles, and matching bouquets.
I love the series of following photos that photographer Mark from www.marksphoto.ca shot and I thank him for sharing them with me.
Love.
More love.
The boys running through Victoria with bubble wands makes me so happy!
Married and so adorable! Congratulations Jim and David may you have a lifetime of love, joy, and happiness! What a pleasure it was to work on your wedding!

Honeysuckle Rose

Every honey bee fills with jealousy
When they see you out with me
I don't blame them
Goodness knows
Honeysuckle rose

When you're passin' by,
Flowers droop and sigh
I know the reason why
You're much sweeter
Goodness knows
Honeysuckle rose
~Louis Armstrong~

Meredith and Rob

Meredith and Rob got married on what turned out to be a rainy day. I remember this wedding well because it was my birthday! I love this shot!
The flowers were all about the bold colours of chartreuse, purple, lilac and fuchsia. I used varying shade of dahlia and orchids. This is Rob's boutonniere.
The flowers are ready to be delivered!
Meredith and Rob were married at the Chief and Petty Officers Mess right on the ocean, as I was setting up this ship was just outside the window!
My son who was helping me set the wedding up swears he took this photo but I know better (hee!). I love this shot of the view through the windows of the venue.
All the photos labeled Bella Photography were taken by the professional photographer and we thank her for use of her images. The other photos were taken by myself. I left them unlabeled as to not confuse as the photographers business name closely resembles mine :)
Meredith and Rob had this cake topper made in their likeness. It really looked like them!
Cutting the cake. The cake was made by their friend who had never made a wedding cake before!! Amazing!
Here is a closeup detail I took of the cake flowers I placed on the cake.
Tied to the ends of the chairs bunches of colourful dahlia.
Each table at the reception was labeled with a song title. The bride had made blackberry jam as a wedding favour. Also, Rob is a dentist and Meredith is a dental hygienist so they provided their guests with toothbrushes!!
The night effect of the simple centerpieces I made with floating Dahlia, river rocks and floating candles.
The whole beautiful group.
Aaaah, love. Congratulations to Meredith and Rob, thank-you so much for letting me participate in your very special day!

A Beautiful Family :Tony and Nikki in Spring

Well, I'm finally getting around to blogging some of my weddings. I finally, have some time to sit down and blog! Blogger is doing something strange and not letting me see what the pictures are as I blog so I am blogging at the end of the pictures as opposed to my usual comments after each picture.
Tony and Nikki were married in May. I remember when they first came for their consultation and thinking to myself what a gorgeous family! Nikki was pregnant and I love pregnant brides. They always look like Goddesses and Nikki is certainly no exception! Also, their little daughter was so adorable and interested in everything I had in the studio. I had her draped in ribbons and playing with little birds. ADORABLE.
The flowers were bright and bold. I also made Nikki a custom hair flower for her hair that you can see in the picture where she is kissing her little daughter. I love that picture! All the professional photos were taken by Mary Jane Howland Photography and I thank her for sharing some of the images of their special day with me the rest are taken by yours truly.
Congratulations Nikki and Tony and your beautiful family!!

Cake Inspiration

I was wondering if Bride's thought about their wedding cake as an extension of their style? Quite often when I talk to brides they have not thought about their wedding cake in very much detail. When I think of the wedding ceremony and focal areas that absolutely need substantial floral pieces I always think of the front altar or where the ceremony is taking place. I absolutely cringe inside when a bride says she is forgoing altar flowers. Sorry, but I do. I almost always try to convince them otherwise. Sometimes they listen, sometimes they do not. The reason why altar flowers are so important is that it frames the ceremony. It creates the focal point for all the guests at the wedding to look at while they are seated. Also, and most importantly it frames the wedding ceremony photographs. I understand there is a recession going on and that not all brides have big wedding budgets; but I would even go so far as to suggest cutting the flowers from somewhere else to avoid forgoing altar pieces. The good thing about altar pieces is that they can be reused at your wedding reception in so many ways. But this post is not about altar flowers; it's about wedding cakes!
I view the wedding cake like I do the altar flowers. Quite often it is one of the first places your guests look after they have entered the reception site and oohed and awed over the centerpieces and decor. Not to mention the huge photo opportunity the cake cutting ceremony actually is. I also like cupcakes. I like anything that extends the bridal couple's personality. An artful cake is one way to extend your style no matter what that style may be.
These fabulous cakes were made by Allyson Meredith Cakes from Toronto. A very fine cake artist in my estimation! I think they illustrate the very many different styles and ways you can express your personality at your reception and like altar flowers should not be brushed off as dispensable.
A little pink and green whimsy.
Perfect for an orchard, vineyard or fall wedding. Understated elegance.
Patterns on your cake can mirror a pattern else where in your wedding....linens,lace, dress or china.
Look at the gold damask pattern on this one. Ooh la la!
Did you know I love cherry blossoms but they make me sneeze!
So many different styles of cakes, so many different kinds of brides. Please have a look at all the different styles of cakes on Allyson Meredith's site you are sure to be inspired to think about cakes in a different way.
Your wedding ceremony may only last half an hour and your cake cutting ceremony 10 minutes but the memories you will have through the photographs will last forever. Make your memories beautiful and rethink cutting those altar flowers from your budget! Oh yeah, this post is supposed to be about wedding cakes......