I will be working with some new varieties of roses for one of my upcoming weddings. Because I am pairing lots of different varieties together I needed to see all of the roses on one page.  The bride is giving me tons of creative freedom, so much freedom that I feel like a wild woman!! When we first met she was tempted to have me recreate my peach bouquet in the picture below. That bouquet is a gem and it has been featured in many different magazines and blogs, I love that bouquet. However that is Sarah’s bouquet and I want to create a bouquet for Victoria. I try so hard to make each bouquet unique and special and I have to do it for this bride, I just have to… so I asked if we could possibly move away from the peach and try another similar color pallet. At that time she showed me the picture of a fabulous blush and golden bouquet. The bouquet is from Martha Stewart Weddings and its in the top left corner of the inspiration page. I had also seen this very bouquet just a few days before and it seriously inspired and enthralled me. I remember looking at the picture and trying to dissect what made up the color of the bouquet. Many of the flowers in the bouquet will not be in season or available in a few weeks so I am looking for substitutes. We also want to give the bouquet a new look and style because again I want to create something new and just for this bride. Because of this I studied the colors of the bouquet and found roses or other blooms to match all of the shades and then I am going to increase and tweak the colors as I begin to design.  Seeing everything on one page made it easier for me to visualize my new creation and for me to write my recipes.  For instance those little blush ranunculus are a serious maybe. I can get white, I can get true pink, but to find ones so very blush may not happen, so I am going to use the chablis rose for that color. I also slipped the photo of the bridesmaids  J.Crew dresses onto the inspiration page.

Because this bouquet was my brides initial inspiration I will carry many of the elements and the overall feel of the bouquet into this new masterpiece I am working on. So many of the flowers I work with I know by heart, I know how they will behave, and I know intuitively how to pair them. I have four new varieties of roses coming and they better all get here and they better all behave. This is going to be amazing!!!!

Above photography by photographer Kristen Gardner.