Destination: Santa Barbara

A few weeks ago, I traveled to Santa Barbara to attend my niece's wedding, where I also was asked to design the bouquets for her big day.

Traveling and working on flowers in an unfamiliar place is not ideal, but Santa Barbara proved to be a perfect location. Many of the growers who supply the east coast are based in the Santa Barbara area, as it has ideal growing conditions (70 degrees year round, sunny days, cool nights, low to no humidity). It was so much fun to visit a grower and see the flowers cut and boxed on-site. The flowers were amazing  - waves of sweet pea, lavish dahlias (some as large as my hand), masses of garden roses. 

My niece's colors were hot pink, bright green, and navy blue and I carried this theme through not just the bouquets, but the luncheon I hosted earlier in the week as well. She got married on the beach, and I wanted the flowers to evoke the relaxed, beachy, beautiful feel of Santa Barbara. 

For her bouquet in particular, I was especially pleased to have the most stunning astilbe and scabiosa  - they both looked sort of coral- or sea urchin-esque and I loved how the finished bouquet looked against the lace bodice of her dress.

What a lovely wedding, what a wonderful week, and what a beautiful bride! 

Materials pictured include: blue, pink, and green hydrangea, trick dianthus, hot lady roses, sweet pea, bupleurum, garden roses, tibet roses, scabiosa, astilbe, ranunculus, and ivy.

Replicating my workroom in our rental property

Garden roses

Scabiosa

Luncheon table

Bridesmaid's bouquet

Old, borrowed, and blue - Mother of the Bride's bracelet

The wedding party

My beautiful niece

Summer Garden Blooms

I used to have a rather extensive cutting garden where I grew the flowers one would find at the farmer's market or a roadside stand - zinnias (always), sunflowers, salvia, tithonia, euphorbia, just to name a few. I experimented a lot over the years and I loved being able to go outside and just cut a bunch of flowers for the kitchen table.

This wedding was reminiscent of one of those bunches I would gather on a hot summer day. With the main colors of red, yellow, and orange, I mixed in some greens, purples, and white to soften.

The bride, who hails from Germany, especially loved gladiolus, as she grew up next to a flower grower and acres and acres of gladiolus fields.  The simple and bright lines of the flowers were in perfect contrast to the plain light wood of the altar.

Materials pictured include: sunflowers, zinnias, stock, buplorum, gladiolus, larkspur, white hydrangea, gerbera daisies, freesia, orange roses, solidaster, yellow roses, ivy, salal.