Holly and Karl came to me via the lovely planners at Thread Events, with whom I’d worked on previous weddings. They already had a very specific vision in mind for their wedding, including a detailed inspo deck; so my job was to thoroughly understand what the client wanted and work to achieve it, rather than reinvent the wheel with a brand new proposed design of my own. They wanted organic and lush texture and movement, with a hidden-garden-meets-Mediterranean-villa romantic vibe. I was pumped, because I don’t often get asked to do wilder, looser, more natural garden-like designs! Yay!! And I knew the gorgeous Casa Cody venue would be a perfect backdrop.
The color palette was earthy creams and crisp white against airy greens and the lightest of citrusy orange and butter yellow. Holly had very specific blooms on her wishlist—tulips, Veronica, delphinium—with a single “star bloom” wanted for her bouquet—white Icelandic poppies. Aside from being extremely fickle for florists (half the bunch never opens, while the other half opens and dies within 48 hours, fantastic!), Icelandic poppies are one of those unique and sought-after blooms that shows up unannounced and leaves just as abruptly. Its season is short and unpredictable. As I tell all my clients, even if a bloom is technically “in season” for your wedding, there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to get it. There’s so much about the floral supply chain that is outside of our control…ultimately we’re talking about Mother Nature here, and she will NOT be bossed around! So although I would absolutely request white Icelandic poppies on my wholesale order, we needed to have some backups in mind in case they didn’t come through. Since I was booked far in advance of the big day, we waited until about 8 weeks prior to the wedding to have a mockup, with the hope that the majority of the blooms used in the mockup would still be available on the day-of. However, I also included some reliable and widely available blooms from her color palette, so there would be some sure-bets included and they could get as close to envisioning their actual wedding flowers as possible.
Holly joined me at my home in Palm Springs for the mockup, and the planner joined by video. I had her taper and tealight candles there, as well as a few assorted clear glass and custom ceramic bud vases, and a sample centerpiece. Holly’s feedback was fantastic and very detailed, and we were able to fine-tune the designs as well as the bloom selections (with the understanding that remaining flexible and open to substitutions if/when needed is key, of course!). She wanted fewer blooms and more wild, textured greens in the arrangements, which I was totally down for! (We florists love any opportunity to just have fun and be free with our designs! Yes, please and thank you!) She also said she wanted to make a trip to the downtown LA flower market a month or so before the wedding, to see if there were any unique blooms that caught her eye—I loved the idea of collaborating this closely with my client! She texted me from the market and sent some pictures, but ultimately there was nothing earth-shatteringly different from the list of blooms we’d already settled on. So I placed my “pre-book” order with my wholesaler about 3 weeks before the wedding date, as usual, and waited, hoping that those Icelandic poppies would come through. I also decided that I would plan my own trip to the DTLA market 3 days prior to the wedding, just in case my wholesaler couldn’t get the poppies, or something new was blooming that Holly would like.
At the market that morning, I grabbed handfuls of extra this-and-that, just in case. (I always allow myself a little overage in my budget, even knowing that it might not get used…because it’s always better to have a little too much than not enough, amiright?!) And my wholesale rep told me those Icelandic poppies had come in for Holly’s bouquet—there was just one catch: they were assorted colors instead of all-white, as promised. As I was hunting frantically for extra poppies, I spied something that literally made me stop in my tracks and gasp audibly and dramatically (picture hand over open mouth and eyes wide, haha): a small bucket of white “Ocean Pearls” Agrostemma. These were brand new on the flower scene and I’d admired them recently in a few florists’ posts, but I hadn’t seen them at the market yet and was dying to use them. More importantly, I knew from learning about Holly’s style and floral preferences that she would absolutely LOVE them. So I quickly grabbed the three best and freshest bunches.
As I suspected, the Icelandic poppies did what they often do…many of them refused to open over the course of the next 48 hours, even though I tried all the florist tricks and opened some by hand (which I don’t love doing because they never look as good that way, imho, but I digress!). And because they had delivered them in the wrong color, only a few of the ones that opened were white—definitely not enough to make an entire bridal bouquet. I had to break the news to Holly. So I texted her the pictures of her remaining bouquet options—white tulips, white Veronica, cream butterfly Ranunculus, and the Agrostemma. She was on board with the Agrostemma, yayyyy, and I assured her they were even more amazing in person (absolute truth!). Because Agrostemma is one of those continuously blooming varieties, with multiple blooms per stem that open anew as older blooms fade, I ended up having plenty for the bouquet and enough leftovers to pop into the ceremony pieces, too!
Below are a couple of gorgeous shots of Holly’s bouquet (courtesy of the amazing Matthew David Studio). She absolutely LOVED it, and didn’t let go of it for most of the night. If you ever have the chance to get your hands on some Agrostemma, treat yoself! Its unique honeysuckle-like bloom, long stems, graceful movement, longevity, and ability to stand up to warm and dry conditions (even out of water!) make it an absolute winner! P.S. It also comes in a soft blush and a light fuchsia!
Vendor team Instas: Venue @casacody; Planner @threadevents; Photography @matthewdavidstudio; Rentals @sigpartyrentals @planksandpatina; Catering + Bar @whoanellycaters; DJ + Horns @dartcollective
