17 things I've learned...

... about being a wedding florist...

1. The bride will have some theme or color scheme in mind before the process starts. Learn what this is. If possible, get a fabric swatch (or photo, or internet link) of the dresses and/or suits.
2. Set seasonal guidelines. Peonies don't bloom in the fall, and Dahlias do not bloom in spring.
3. Help the bride remember details. Will there be flowers at the venue? Where? Do the parents need flowers? Does the officiant? Is there a flower girl or ring bearer? How old are they? Will the bride or her attendants use a flower/flowers in her hair? What about the reception?
4. Discuss budget ahead of time, and stick to it. Even if this is a labor of love, nobody likes expensive surprises.
5. Make detailed lists. How many bouquets? boutonnieres? How many pieces to each?
6. Take the bride to the flower market a couple of weeks before the wedding. It helps if she brings a friend or her mom, to keep her grounded a little - the flower market can be a bit overwhelming!
7. Use this excursion to really learn about the bride. What flowers does she love? Or hate? Is there a must-have quirky detail that she likes? A color that she absolutely does not want? Pro or con on baby's breath?
   
8. Order any must-have, important flowers 2 weeks ahead of time. Use a reliable vendor, and strike a good deal.
9. Do the non-floral work ahead of time: buy ribbon, gather supplies, clean and disinfect buckets, set up a work station.
10. Make sure your clippers and scissors are sharp.
    
11. Get some help. Even if help is mostly there for moral support, that's going to be priceless to you. Plus: it's really hard to wrap a bouquet by yourself. Also, delivery is easier with some help!
12. Learn in advance the couple's wishes for delivery. Where will they be, and at what time? Pin them down on this detail.
13. Get some good rest during the week before the wedding. (You may be working very long hours on the wedding day and the day before!) Eat right, and drink lots of water.
14. Use a silverware caddy to transport the bouquets in small glasses of water.
15. Be early.
16. Bring supplies to the venue: extra ribbon, clippers, towels, flowers, floral wire and glue... be ready for anything to break or fall apart.
17. Relax! They asked you to do the flowers because they like your work. Plus: this is really fun.
    

I've only done two weddings; I am far (very, very far) from an expert, and I have a lot to learn! Still, some lessons are more hard-won than others. No point in squandering these, so it's good to make notes!

the bleak midwinter

snowflake stars are cut from silvery origami paper

Today is the third day of Christmas. I seem to have spent the first two days (and, possibly, the day before that) dining exclusively on cookies. This behavior must stop ~ my body is craving vegetables, meat and milk at this point. Back to work now, that shouldn't be a problem.
This song is one of my very favorites to sing in Advent and Christmas. It is also one of the very favorites of the Bethany Quartet ~ and I sure missed singing this, and any Christmas music with them this year! The first time I ever heard In the Bleak Midwinter was in Julie Andrew's holiday special in 1987, hence the video link above. (Click on it, click on it! It's so good. Not only was Ms. Andrews the star, but her guests were Placido Domingo, the King's Singers and John Denver ~ certainly all-stars in my music library.)

There is nothing I do not love about this song:

In the bleak midwinter frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
snow on snow.
In the bleak midwinter long, long ago.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there.
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air.
But his mother only, in her her maiden bliss,
worshiped the beloved with a kiss.

What then shall I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man I would do my part.
Yet what I can, I give him: I will give my heart.

It's that last verse. As a person of little means (as far as this society is concerned), it gives me pause - and hope. Whenever I have a meager offering to bring, this verse runs through my head and I feel comfort. It is no small thing to give from the heart - in fact, it is the only gift that matters.

this flake, and those above, were "cut" with an iPhone app, "the Flake Factory"!

the Summer of twenty-ten (part V)

I ask you: could there be a more lovely setting?

After church on Easter, my dear friend's daughter Piper approached me. Her mama had alerted me that the question was coming: would I be the florist for her wedding? A whole range of emotions swept through me at the thought. Holy cow. What a huge responsibility! and honor! and challenge! I'm not really a florist! I love flowers! (I need the money!) I said yes. When I agreed to take the job, I had no idea what was in store for the summer. When Dad got sick(er) I'd think, "can I bear this and do Piper's flowers?" Somehow, the answer was always yes.

sunflowers: the bride's favorite, and such a cheerful flower!

Piper and I corresponded over the summer, and I learned that she was definitely not going to be a bridezilla (thank heaven!) Like her mama, she is an easy-going spirit. The wedding site was found and Sunday, September 12 was chosen. She wanted happy, bright colors with sunflowers, lavender and poppies; an overall wildflower look. (The poppies were nixed - it was an evening wedding, and they close at night!) She was going to have six (SIX!) bridesmaids, each dressed in a different color, and her betrothed would have six groomsmen.

(Frankly, I thought this was a bit excessive when I heard about it, but at the wedding I realized: there was so much love in this wedding that there had to be 12 attendents, just to help carry it all!)

I planned out what I'd need for 7 bouquets, 10 boutonnieres, 2 corsages and 2 flower girl baskets. One fun Saturday morning, I met Piper, her sister and mama and best friend at the flower market. We wandered around, and I showed them a few things, they showed me what they liked: sunflowers (gold), bachelor's buttons (blue), hydrangea (green), sweet william (her betrothed's name) (hot pink), an ornamental grass, and gold and red "brains" (cock's comb) were some of the favorites.

I had my own mini-flower market going in the garage...

I added some veronica, red gerberas and purple sweet peas to fill out the (extensive) color palatte.

Oh, how I LOVE sweetpeas! These had pretty short stems -
couldn't make it into the bride's bouquet - but they sure were purty in the others!

Some feathers caught my eye... perfect for the men's boutonnieres! Piper was not at all sure about that, but when I explained it to her, she was on board. It was all coming together, and I was alternately nerve-wracked and excited.

pheasant feathers, dried lavender and satin ribbon. classy, no?

The weekend before the wedding, I assembled all of my hardware: preservative, wire, foam, pins, ribbons, glue - everything I could find that might help. I scrubbed down and disinfected with bleach an army of plastic buckets. I pre-ordered the sunflowers and bachelor's buttons. Unable to secure fresh lavender stems, I not only bought 3 live plants, but I also moved on a hot tip and (ditching church) high-tailed it to a farmer's market 25 miles away where I could buy nice bundles of the dried herb.

yeah, I'm a mite bit proud of these...
even the father of the bride complimented me on them,
and he (to quote a breakfast cereal commercial) hates everything!

That week, I was fully ready with my checklists and time tables. I made all the bouts, since all but three would not have any fresh flowers in them - and those I could easily add to later. Thursday, my day off, was September 9. I went to the markets and gathered up the flowers. Armloads of them - my entire back seat was brimming with blooms! They all went to my parents' garage - where it stays relatively cool even on a hot day - to get fresh cuts and plunged into preservative-laden water. I set up a couple tables and some chairs...

the workshop. flower baskets and bouts
in the foreground, oodles of blooms, everywhere!

And then, it was 6:11 p.m. and San Bruno exploded.

Again, I said to myself, "can I bear this and do Piper's flowers"? The answer: "you must, so of course you can". That's fine and dandy, but now I was not only grieving, but the power was out and I was instantly about a half-day behind schedule. Saturday dawned warm and bright. I worked in the morning, then went to the wedding rehearsal - oh yeah, the Quartet was singing, too! My dear friend B. came back with me (thanks, B!) to help, and gallantly made herself useful while I spinned out of control for a bit. Then we got to work and banged out six beautiful bridesmaids bouquets. I finished the bride's bouquet, made the "centerpiece" and cleaned up for the night, placing the bouquets in ice chests.

bridesmaids bouquets

Sunday morning - wedding day! According to my master schedule, I was going to skip church, but with the events of 9/9 I could not do that. I had to be with my people. I also could not afford the 2 hours it would require to attend - there were bouquets to wrap, bouts to finish, corsages to make... I did what I had to do, and when I got to church, I looked for volunteers to help with the finishing touches afterward. I found three lovely friends to agree, Jenny jumped in - doing a yeoman's job - as my assistant for the day, and Mom helped too!

bridesmaids bouquets and centerpiece

Oh, what a flurry of flowers, friends and activity there was in the garage that afternoon! Six of us, plus T., who came to look at the structural requirements of the centerpiece (I was so worried about hanging that thing!) With barely enough time, Mom and J. offered to take pictures of the finished product while I dashed home to change... and we were off!

I couldn't figure out how we were going to transport the bouquets,
except in drinking glasses. But those fall down!
I sent J. to the church to pick up a couple of dish pans.
She found these wonderful silverware holders and saved the day!

Delivered the flowers and bouts - to wild acclaim. Realized that the corsages had been forgotten back at the house - but because of a terrible traffic accident, we couldn't get back. A quick call to B. and her hub K., and they graciously agreed to pick them up on their way. Went to the site, got to work on hanging the centerpiece. It worked! (Okay, so it had to be hung a couple of different times, and J. did the ladder work, and then K. helped to make it hang higher, and all right some of the flowers fell out, but I had this great glue that works on wet foam... so it all worked out!)

all's well in the end, right?

So: the project of the flowers was a blessing in that it was an urgent distraction from our grief - a place to look away for a short time, to catch our breath before moving further into mourning. The women who helped me were each grateful for the distraction too - working with our hands to make something beautiful, in the company of loving sisters, can only be good. And I am oh, so grateful to them for their help. It takes a village, indeed. The wedding was a joyful island in a sea of sorrow, and it was buoyant enough to carry us all along for a few days; blessed relief.

The following photos were taken by Piper's wedding photographer, Jeremy Young

flower girl basket, filled with lavender

the groom, sporting his feather-and-"brains" bout

of course, the bride

I was SO happy to see that the colors in the
bouquets matched the girls' dresses perfectly!

the Summer of twenty-ten (part II)

the only one missing is brother DQ - too ill to drive down from Davis that day

The season began innocently enough. We had a very, very cool spring, with only 3-4 warm (over 65º) days in the course of months; and everyone was looking forward to longer, warmer days - even me. This has been the Year of Milestone Birthdays in the Q family: my brother PQ and sister in-law CEQ turned 60. Brother CQ turned 50, and his son KMQ turned 18. Niece GB turned 21. And Mom turned 80 on Memorial Day. So the next weekend we had a party at my sister's house.

just part of the great room. what lines the wall to the left, not in this shot,
and the wall behind the photographer, are floor-to-ceiling windows. spectacular!

NJQB and my brother in-law GB have the house where the parties should be. It is on the coast, on the top of a mountain, and (before the trees grew up so tall) overlooking the ocean. It is a humble home, built into the crook of the mountain, but with a wonderful kitchen and a great room that fits all of us. All 20 (or more) of us!

despite my sister's protests, there is a LOT of room in her tiny kitchen for many hands!


a good family philosophy has served them well - for over 30 years

We usually pot luck these things, and I was asked, as usual, if I'd like to make the cake. Of course! With so many people, though, and for such an auspicious occasion, a simple cake would not do. And, being my older sister, NJQB had to be certain to tell me what to do. ;o) "Make a sheet cake", she said. "Do you have a sheet cake pan? Borrow mine", she insisted. I told her I could handle it. Her response: "be sure there's enough cake!" It was Mom's 80th birthday, of course it had to be special, and I had an idea in the back of my head.

so innocent, so trusting... and, by the way, on the inside? it was lemon cake,
with a layer of lemon curd, and frosted with an unbelievable amount of cream cheese frosting

Could I pull it off? Yes. (There are battle stories, but that is perhaps for another time.) No one knew... the cake appeared to be an elegant (but boring) white-frosted cake, decorated with (real) gold flakes. When asked what flavor it was, I answered truthfully: lemon. Although as the baker of the cakes, I am usually the person who also carves them up, I asked that Mom cut her own cake this time. "Just the first slice", I said. Oh, no...she was having none of it. I insisted, and persisted. The surprise was worth it!

PQ and NJQB got creative, cutting it up. I'm glad - it looks so pretty like this!

an extra, gratuitous photo.
my folks are so darned cute together!

Next up: not so fast, my dear.

updating

I suppose I'm just going to be one of those sporadic bloggers - the type that kind of bugs me, because when I find someone interesting to read (and of course, that is in the eye of the beholder) I want to read something new all the time, but they only post once a fortnight or so. Not that there are many (any?) reading this, but if you are: sorry to be such a flake.

Lent has come and gone, and we are already in the 5th week of Easter. So just to close the door on my "productive" (or lack thereof) Lent, here's the final tally:

upload the last 4 weeks' worth of photos from my camera... tend my very neglected garden... embroider Max's onsies... wrap Emilie's gift and give it to her parents ... write the minutes from last month's Worship Committee meeting... read and highlight and/or redline the recently completed Mission study... clean the bathroom... fix the (collapsed, egads) interior of my craft cabinet... laundry... find out why the engine light went on in my car ... tie and hem my picnic blanket... figure out how to use my new iHome machine so I don't have to wear the earbuds to bed... make a new holiday-related craft. (note on 2/28 - the holiday has passed. Do I still make these, or wait until next year?) ... change the sheets... make a new bedspread... go outside and take photos... make and market and sell my photo cards (ahem)... take a walk... bake off the rest of the gingerbread dough... take out the garbage... vacuum... put the dates (birthdays and such) in my 2010 calendar... learn how to crochet a ball (maybe a few for Max and one for Emilie)... bake something for tonight's OMN@B... make a craigslist ad for the Calie Celae Calaei that Irish celebration at the church... learn how to spell it Ceili! ... pay the February bills... do my taxes... plant stuff into the now-cleared out garden... edit those 4 weeks of photos... watch as much of the Olympics as I can (which is good for the onesies project, too). ... get the Advent/Christmas banners back from wherever they are right now...

Enough of the old news. Here, as promised, are Max's onsies:

robot with hightops

go Giants!

dragon (kinda proud of this design)

stroke of genius (imho)