Love

Flower love, that is.  Before getting engaged, I didn't give much thought to flowers.  I can honestly say that at all the weddings we've been to over the years, I don't really remember anything about the flowers at most of them.  Except for my sister's.  Otherwise, I couldn't possibly tell you what flowers anyone has used in their weddings.  And yes, we have a garden at our house that has lots of flowers in it.  All of those flowers were donated by my parents from the oh-so-prolific garden.  I didn't actually choose any of them; it just happens to be whatever they could spare.  It's beautiful, but...I didn't choose it.  So when it came time to choosing flowers for the wedding, I was clueless.  I knew I wanted green and ivory/white and peacock feathers (some, not overkill).  Otherwise, uhh...yeah.  As Matt would say, "I was as confused as a baby raccoon."

So like any good little planning bride would do, I took to the internet.  Google, Weddingbee, Style Me Pretty, The Knot, Martha...all kinds of searching.  I finally noticed a trend in my searches: peacock feathers, ranunculas, non-floral, spider mums, asymmetrical.  I liked bouquets that looked a little messy.  So here are some of the first ones that I saved as inspiration:

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See?  A little messy, with things kind of jutting out here and there.  I love how funky and fun they are.  I love that bottom one with all the spider mums for my bridesmaids.  But I still hadn't found quite what I was looking for.  I kept digging.  This one has mint in it!

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I saw these and thought, "Ooooh...blue thistle is really cool!"

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Then I saw this, and felt like we were getting closer.  Green, pops of that turquoise blue, with peacock feathers...

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And then.  I found this.  And it's perfect.  I'm in love.  

(this source link is no longer working, but it was from jguessphotography.blog)

I printed several of these pictures out and brought them to our second meeting with our caterer/coordinator/florist/decorator/all-around-awesomesauce-guy, David at JDK.  He is going to almost perfectly replicate that last bouquet for me (freesia, roses (there's a type of rose that looks just like a ranunculus but it's way cheaper), blue thistle, spider mums, amaranthus, delphinium, and hypericum berries.  For the bridesmaids, he's going to use roses, spider mums, button mums, and hypericum berries.  And for my sister/MOH, she'll have a bouquet like the bridesmaids', but hers will include peacock feathers. 

I cannot wait to see these bouquets come to life.  I think they're going to look fantastic, and the green and white will look great against the girls' navy blue dresses.