Winter Wedding Flowers

My best friend got married today. It was a perfect Alaska wedding -- crisp, clear night, moon shining high in the starlit sky. Friends and family huddled closely as the couple exchanged their vows beneath a lit up arch draped with fresh evergreen garlands. The ceremony ended with the couple rubbing noses in the traditional Inupiaq way.

I got to make the flower arrangements for the reception. I made boutonnieres and corsages, but since the wedding party was all bundled up in sealskin parkas, most of them weren't used. That's fine by me because I love any chance I have to make boutonnieres.

The bride said her colors were white and red, but mostly white, so I bought two types of mums, some stock, white and red spray roses, some kind of white bushy filler (I don't dig baby's breath), and some sort of exotic budding flower that looked appealing to me. I also got 25 red roses and picked some spruce and birch branches from my yard.

Making corsages really isn't tough. Simple materials:
Floral wire
Floral tape
Scissors
Pearl pins

I try to keep my designs simple. I don't like big honking roses that end up sagging by the end of the night, so I used one or two mums and a spray rose with a background of spruce and whatever the bushy filler I got.

When wiring a flower, cut the bloom leaving about 1-2 inches of stem. Poke about 6 inches of wire through the base of the bloom and wrap the wire around the stem, leaving about 3 inches of bare wire. Then tightly wrap the base of the bloom all the way to the tip of the wire.

When wiring a twig or non-bloom piece, just look for crux in the branch and fold the wire around it, and follow the instructions above.

Above is an example of some corsage pieces. After this, I just arrange the pieces and then wrap all the sticky stems together, like so:

Then using floral tape I wrap the entire thing from top to bottom. I curl the end of the corsage around a pen so it looks pretty.

Usually I make a bow and wire it up the same way and include it in the corsage, but the bride didn't want bows.

I made her a bouquet, which I think turned out lovely.

I also made a couple of arrangements. I put fresh cranberries in the vases and some glass marbles. I loved the effect, although after arranging I got a couple of cranberry floaters.

And then I decorated the base of the cake:

All in all, this was a great wedding and I'm so happy I had a part in it.