September 30, 2009

Well, here we go with another "what were they thinking" wedding party attire photo. It was definitely the trend for many years for different colors for different brides maids. Here, too, the flowers are different. Bouquets of different shapes and sizes that are of one single flower to match the color of the dress. Goodness, light blue, pink, lavender, yellow, all set off by the white of the bride. Strangely enough, the bridal bouquet is the smallest one here.

Not Royal wedding flowers, definitely. But the somewhat broken theme of the the flowers here remind me that in one royal wedding in particular, the attendants flowers differed at bit. For the wedding of then Lady Diana, the younger attendants carried basket arrangements, however, the oldest and maid of honor, then Lady Sarah Snowdon, daughter of Princess Margaret, carried a nosegay of similar type and color flowers. So, the trend isn't so weird after all, and is part of at least one royal wedding that I know of.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day...When Queen Elizabeth married Prince Phillip in 1947 there were 8 Brides maids... the two young gentlemen pages were Prince William of Gloucester and Prince Michael of Kent.

September 29, 2009

Oh my Lord! What were they thinking?????

Sorry to have missed so many days of my blog. I was feeling a bit uninspired, then had a busy weekend, then a little down in the back for a couple of days, so I got lazy and didn't do my blogg'n.

Decided to come back with a laugh. Found some truly dreadful but hilarious wedding pics on the web of some really bad brides maids dress choices. The pic here is one of my favorites. Not to mention the truly horrendous gingham aprons on the ladies, but what about that poor little dude in the brown polyester knickers! Certainly the florist working on this wedding had an easy go of the color selection, yellow and white was a given. And, most certainly, that bride looks back at her wedding album and thinks... what was I thinking??? Oh well, it was a trend of the times back in the '70's, a time when light blue or Burgundy tuxedos weren't all that uncommon. Happy to say that wedding fashions like these are gone, hopefully for good, but they do set us up for a good laugh.

On the subject of "what was I thinking", one of the things that has kept me busy the past week, and away from my blogging, is that I am taking another stab at doing wedding flowers myself. Yes, even though I know the schedule is rough and the work is physically demanding, I am so very much wanting to get back into something creative and fun. I had my first consultation this weekend and it was a huge success, just like riding a bike, I didn't forget how it's done. My first bride for back into the swing of it, is the daughter of a good friend. She is a truly beautiful girl, sweet and smart to boot. She has chosen turquoise for her color palate, so we are going to brighten it up some more with hot pinks and fuchias. Not giving away any secrets here, the wedding isn't until May of 2010, so you will have to wait patiently for the pictures.

A special thanks to Colleen for following my blog, and for being concerned about my absence from the Blogsphere. I am back! thanks Colleen!

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day... When Mette-Marit married Crown Prince Haakon of Norway in Oslo, here dress maker used 360 feet of silk.

September 22, 2009

So, I have ranted earlier about children in weddings. Here is a pic from one of my San Francisco weddings. This wedding had four children. But, you will see that they are all of what I would call a reasonable age. I would estimate then that their ages were between 8 and 10, just old enough to do what they are told when they are told.

This picture reminds me a lot of the children that are included in royal wedding parties. All the correct age, and appropriately dressed for their ages. Also, their attire coordinates with the adult members of the wedding party, but doesn't exactly match, which is all refreshing to see.

The flowers for this wedding included Oceana or light peach roses, white freesia, white caspia for filler and Italian Ruscus for the greenery. I always like to make fixed arrangements in baskets for the flower girls in my weddings. I think that nosegays for them are good in some circumstances, depending on the style and feel, whether formal or casual. However, flower girls, to me, traditionally should carry baskets. But, I do not like the loose petals in the baskets. It's an old idea to drop rose petals for the bride to walk on. Oh, what a mess that can make. Especially since younger members of the wedding party tend to get a little fidgety, and often end up spilling the petals all in one place. Plus, they will have something pretty that will last a few days after the wedding instead of an empty basket. Pomanders have been used a lot lately for flower girls, but I don't prefer them after a bad experience I had with a pomander and an extremely disagreeable flower girl. Pomanders are extremely labor intensive. So, when this one flower girl decided to swing her pomander and then let it fly only to hit the ground at high speed, needless to say I was quite upset to see the hard work and the pomander explode on the ground. Sometimes, the most sound of mechanics can be no match for a misbehaved flower girl!

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... On the day of their wedding, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert both wore their insignias as members of the Garter Knights. Prince Albert was invested in the Order of the Garter shortly before he left Germany, traveling to England for his wedding.

September 21, 2009

Well, I have decided that since this is my blog, I can stray off the path of royal wedding flowers whenever I see fit. I am feeling a bit exhausted on the royal info. that is until I do some more research.

The pic here is of a bride that was one of my nicest clients, and no, I don't remember her name, it was so long ago (10 years) when I had my own wedding flower business in San Francisco. I love the white and green combination here in traditional bridal style is seen so much in royal weddings. The wedding took place at The Presidio Chapel, San Francisco on a bright spring morning in April. It was a lovely affair. The bouquet consisted of white roses, white fressia, white lisianthus, Lily of the Valley, white calcynia, stephanotis, and variegated ivy.

Royal Wedding Tidbit of the day... It caused quite a stir when Queen Victoria wore a white wedding gown... at the time, royal brides typically wore gowns of gold or silver, commoners typically wore darker gowns that could be worn on other special occasions. The young queen had set a trend that is still the norm for brides all over the world, wearing white on their wedding day.

Hi Everyone, I have to admit that I haven't been able to come up with much today in the way of royal wedding flowers. But, a great weekend in Savannah and Hilton Head, any weekend with time spent at the beach is a fulfilled weekend. I have chosen a pic for the day at least. The bride here is Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. Alice was married to Prince Henry Duke of Gloucester, brother of King George VI and aunt of Queen Elizabeth II. She was married in 1935. The other picture here shows the wedding party with then Princess Elizabeth as one of the young bridesmaids. The florist obviously went with an all white floral scheme. Her bouquet is a luscious crescent shaped bouquet of what looks to be white roses and possibly carnations, but, it's really hard to tell what exactly the flowers are in this picture. I am wondering what the significance of the bundle of red roses tied with blue ribbon can be.. lying at her feet. What a beautiful gown too. So '30's! Of course, as royal tradition seems to dictate, the wedding party picture is staged in the throne room at Buckingham Palace.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day... Royal wedding rings are all struck from the same large piece of gold by the Crown Jeweler who also has charge of the crown jewels kept in The Tower of London.

Up until this point, I haven't mentioned Princess Anne. Here is a pic from her wedding day, on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. The Royal Family makes it's obligatory appearance for the crowds following the wedding breakfast.

The flowers in this wedding are not exactly striking. I have seen or can find only a couple of pictures of the event. The Princess's bouquet is a simple and somewhat small bouquet in the classic cascade or teardrop shape. It looks to be made of mostly white flowers, the standards such as freesia, Lily of the Valley, small roses, etc. The one bridesmaid for this wedding, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, carried a pomander (orb of flowers) of all white flowers. The gown was of a Tudor styling, quite retro for the early '70's. (this wedding took place in 1973) The groom, Lt. Mark Phillips, of course was attired in his military uniform, of the Queen's Dragoon Guards. The groom's one page was Prince Edward, youngest child of Queen Elizabeth.

Royal Wedding Tidbit for the day... Princess Anne and Mark Phillips eventually divorced. Princess Anne and was married again in 1997 to Timothy Laurence. For her second wedding she carried a bouquet made entirely of heather.

September 18. 2009

O.K., I needed a little Fergie today. Here are a couple of great pictures, one of Fergie entering Westminster Abbey (right) and one of her turning to return to the inside of the palace from the balcony. The photos are somewhat old, scanned from a royal periodical from 1986, running a special picture-rama of Fergie and Andy's wedding. I was given a collection of vintage (80's-09's) royal magazines for my birthday. It was a wonderful gift and terrific source for my blog material...thanks Stan!

Both pictures here are great, as you can see the density of white flowers, especially the Lily of the valley in the pic on the left. The pic on the right shows a shot of the left side of the bouquet from the rear. The bouquet appeared to be so solidly constructed and very light-weight to carry. Mr. David Longman and his designers did a superb job on this bouquet. I think the pic on the right is great as it shows Sarah's father, Major Ferguson stooping to help her daughter on her special day, and also shows the beautiful dress in good detail. All that Lily of the Valley and the gardenias from the bouquet and head piece must have smelled heavenly.

Royal Wedding Flower Tidbit of the day... though Sarah, Duchess of York had requested all white flowers for her bouquet, somewhere in there was the traditional sprig of myrtle from Osborne House. The Duchess also returned her bouquet to the Abbey the day after the wedding to be placed on the tomb of the Unknown Warrior.

Thanks for checking in today. Terry.