Floral Inspiration

Eddie and I have a meeting with City of Commerce Flowers today.  I've heard great things about them from other brides, wedding blogs, Yelp, etc. etc. so I doubt we're really going to shop around.  When I made the appointment over the phone, I was asked to bring in some inspiration photos so that they could get an idea of what we were looking for.  I am really making most of the decisions for the flowers though because Eddie is not too opinionated about flowers (except for boutonnieres)!  As with many of the wedding-related choices, I have found it difficult to really describe specifically what I want.  Instead, I have more of a "look" in my head.  This much I know: I don't want the flowers to look too "done."  I don't want the words "over-the-top" or "lavish" to be used.  I want an organic look to the flowers--exposed stems on the bouquets, centerpieces in ball jars: fluffy, sweet, and romantic.

These are a few photos that caught my eye while looking for floral inspiration:

I just love the soft, pink loveliness of these flowers.  I love this whole wedding actually.  Check it out. (Featured on OnceWed, shot by Our Labor of Love.)  These photos did two things: introduce me to anemones, which fit into our color scheme so well and are unique to boot (but I think not available in the summer, sadly), and made me completely enamored with putting flowers in ball jars.  Blue mason jars would really create "the look" so perfectly, but they are vintage, so they're quite difficult to find.  Eddie and I agree that it would be great to get them though!

 Mrs. Mouse from Weddingbee's flower girl bouquets comprised of spray roses (shot by The Nichols).  I think a big-girl version of this would be really cute for bridesmaid bouquets.  I don't really like the sculptural qualities of regular roses, but spray, garden, and English roses would all be nice, I think.

 I really liked all of the florals in this shoot featured on Grey Likes Weddings (anemones with soft pink again!).  The design is by Floral Elements and shot by Connie M. Chung.

The following were images that I collected from the gallery on Project Wedding.  I just love the freshly plucked from the garden looks to these.

When meeting with a florist, it is important to bring in your budget, and pictures of any inspiration that you may have.  However, I read in Bridal Bargains that it is also good to bring in photos of the wedding dress, suit/tux, venues, bridesmaid dresses, and anything else that would need to coordinate with the flowers.  I will report back after our appointment!