Peony

Brides especially love to have peonies in their bridal bouquets. If you have your heart set on peonies in your bouquet, you’ll want to get married in late spring or early summer. That’s when this gorgeous flower is in season. During the rest of the year, peonies are prohibitively expensive. During Mother’s Day, we always get a lot of requests for peonies. Fortunately Mother’s Day falls right at the beginning of peony season so we are able to honor most requests without blowing the budget.

Dahlia

If Mother Nature used a spirograph to create a flower, she would come up with the dahlia. Their concentric circles of petals fascinate me. There is a dahlia for every color palate imaginable. There are delicate looking white or light pink dahlias. For something more bright and bold you can choose from yellows and oranges. If you need a darker palate there are deep burgundies and dark purples. I found these fun dahlias to plant in my yard this year. Each bloom has the same two-toned combination of yellow and pinky/purple, but the mix of the two colors is different in each bloom. I love them!

Zinnia

When I first started working at the shop, I had a hard time telling the difference between a dahlia and a zinnia. Both are from the sunflower family so the construction of each of these flowers is similar. There are not as many varieties of zinnias as there are dahlias, but zinnias also come in a  fun array of colors. Easily grown from seed, zinnias are a great flower to plant in your garden. You’ll have loads of colorful flowers to cut throughout the summer for your own arrangements.

Gladiola

I love gladiolas in arrangements because they add wonderful height and texture. I planted gladiola tubers for the first time in my yard this year, and they are just starting to emerge. I am hoping they’ll come back next summer. Stay tuned! In addition to arrangements, gladiolas also make great corsages and boutonnieres. We had a customer that wanted a corsage made out of an unusual flower, not the typical rose or carnation. We had just gotten some gladiolas in so our designer used them. The corsage was beautiful and elegant!

Iris

There is a house that I walk by in my neighborhood that has the most beautiful bearded irises planted around their mailbox. They display their stunning purple for a couple of weeks. This morning when I walked by, the blooms were finally spent. With such a unique shape, irises are a favorite flower right now in arrangements. Their vibrant purple color is unmistakable. It pairs beautifully with hot pink roses or happy yellow tulips. Our “Colleen” arrangement is very popular, but because of the seasonality of irises, it’s only available during the spring and summer.

While these are our favorite flowers right now, in a couple of months we’ll be stocking our coolers with fall colors. As the days get shorter, and the nights get cooler, Mother Nature provides us with another batch of flowers and foliage that will be inspiring us. Check back with us then!

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Courtesy of The Manor Restuarant

I was talking to a friend last night, and she said, “You must be pretty busy right now! This is your busy season, right?” I realized, she was talking about June weddings. While we do quite a few spring weddings, more and more our busy wedding season is the fall, which got me to pondering, “Why?”

For so many great reasons!

Beautiful Weather

It’s not too hot, and it’s not too cold if you have a fall wedding. As we’ve seen this year, spring often brings a healthy dose of rain as Mother Nature prepares the earth for the growing season. This can put a kink in your dream of an outdoor wedding or beautiful outdoor photos. Summer, at least in our area, often involves 90 degree weather with high humidity. No bride wants to worry about perspiration on her special day, not to mention most cut flowers don’t like the heat either! Fall brings balmy temperatures and not as much rain. There is also a peaceful, reflective, quality about Fall after the frenzy and activity of spring and summer. Who wouldn’t want to spend a beautiful fall day enjoying a local winery? Even the beach in the fall is one of my favorite places to be!

Courtesy of The Knot

Interesting Flower Choices

While spring and summer weddings bring to mind soft pastels or bright colors, a fall wedding has gorgeous jewel tones and end-of-season flowers such as thistle and celosia that add interesting textures. The warmer tones of fall also allow some fun pairings with natural materials for accents such as wood or vines and warm metallics. Hues can take on misty or iced looks for an added element of whimsy. Rich wine colors are perfect as we transition from glasses summer rosé to Côte du Rhône. The warmth of candlelight always seems to be the perfect partner to these rich fall jewel tones!

Better Time to Honeymoon

Let’s face it, after paying for the wedding, there is often not a lot of money left over for the honeymoon. Spring and summer are some of the most expensive times to travel with higher air fare and hotel prices. It’s also the busiest time to travel with popular destinations being flooded with tourists. Fall is considered the shoulder season–the period between the high and low seasons of a given destination. According to Insider, fall is a great time to travel: “Both flights and hotels are often discounted during the fall because fewer people are traveling during that time (kids are back in school, and many take their vacation days during the summer or holidays). So in addition to saving money, if you honeymoon after a fall wedding, you’re also likely going to avoid crowds and long lines in typically tourist-filled cities if you travel in the fall.”

Courtesy of Jenny Losee Wedding Photography

Textured Textiles

Early fall brings a crispness to the air, and late fall can be downright chilly, but this is perfect weather for adding fun elements to your wedding ensemble! Wedding dresses can include long, lacy or faux fur sleeves. Soft cashmere can add beauty and elegance to your wedding dress. According to The Knot, two-piece separates and layers are trending, and the cooler temperatures of a fall wedding make these trends more comfortable and natural. The Groom and groomsmen, in their tux or suit coats, will definitely appreciate the cooler temperatures, and I’ve seen some beautiful photos of the Bride with her bridesmaids all wrapped in luxurious faux fur stoles for their photos–unique and eye-catching!

Any day you get married is the perfect day, but as more couples are breaking with tradition and thinking outside of the box, a fall wedding is definitely worth considering!

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