Hot Date w/ Hydrangea, part 2

Now that we had the basics straightened out, the first hands-on thing (think: fun with flowers) we did was sort out the centerpieces. As I mentioned earlier, she suggested we provide our own glassware, and told me that for the size tables were having (60 inch rounds that seat 8-10 people), a 5-inch cube vase would be nice. Turns out 5-inch cubes are a little difficult to come by locally (and not to mention EXPENSIVE), but I found some 8 inch bubble vases that had a 5 inch opening. I brought those along instead.

Here's a mock-up of the centerpiece using green hydrangea and the bubble vases:

That's MamaP's hand. It was right at that point that she asked Darines if it was possible to add some greenery to the centerpieces. She went and retrieved these wide green leaf things and stuck a couple in there ( so we could get the look). Here is Centerpiece 2.0:

Not the best pic, but you can see the wide ribbon looking leaf I was talking about. She's going to add about five of them to each centerpiece and we're going to sit the centerpieces on a dark teal satin table runner. I just love them. They're exactly what I requested, but better.

Then we moved on to altar arrangements. I know I got on my bridal soapbox and declared that I wanted an arbor at the ceremony. Well, I've stepped down off said box, and have opted to have Darines design some arrangements to put at the front, rather than the arbor. I didn't have anything specific in mind, but we decided to use some silvery looking urns, filled with hydrangea arrangements. Initially we were thinking something like this:

That's Darines trying to hide - lol. We really liked the look of the white against the modern but still neutral containers. And we definitely could see using these arrangements somewhere else in the event space after the ceremony. But then Darines suggested throwing in a touch of color to these arrangements. Something like this:

She added some standard sized hydrangea stems that have a hints of green and blue on the leaves. From a distance they read green, but upon closer inspection you can see the touches of blue. I like AltarArrangement 2.0 better because the additional stems adds visual interest to the arrangements, and is a nice way to incorporate the wedding colors without beating everyone over the head with them.

Overall, I am so pleased with today's appointment. I went in not knowing what I wanted the ceremony decor to look like, and having all of the flowers turn out better than I imagined. Hydrangeas will be everywhere! I love that I'm able to use the bubble vases (that I can get at Michaels for the low), and that MamaP and Darines totally hit it off. I know everyone getting along is not necessary to work together, but it sure does make the process go a lot smoother.

Hiring a florist is definitely not the cheapest way to approach wedding flowers, but I definitely think its worth it. When its your turn, how are you planning to approach flowers? Do you already know what you want, or will you require an expert to help develop your vision?

♥