Category: DIY Wedding Blog

The technique I think I struggle with the most when putting together arrangments is color placement. Working with so many shades and colors tends to drive me a little nuts because I always seem to struggle with pulling together a cohesive look at the end. Chelsea, of course makes it look incredibly easy and I’m so happy she breaks everything down by color and amount of stems. I always finding myself buying a lot more than I ultimately need too.

Instructions

For the Bridal Bouquet:
You need:
10 red/white anemone stems
3 full pink roses
10 Ranunculus stems in eggplant
2 bunches of buttercup greens
2 bunches of vinca vine
2 stems of green hellebores
clippers or scissors
twine
ribbon (1.5 yards)
pins

Step # 1: Remove all most of the leaves from the stems.


Step # 2: Start with a selection of flowers in your hand. Add roses at the bottom and let the ranunculus buds peek out at the top. Turn the bouquet each time you add a new grouping of flowers. Keep turning and adding until you are happy with it. Add greens around the bottom.

Step # 3: Secure with twine.

Step #4: Clip the stems so they are all the same length.

Step #5: Wrap ribbon around stem and secure with two pins.

Chelsea, thank you again! So excited to have you on board!!

One of the biggest movements I’ve seen over the last year in blogging
about weddings is how many of you are designing the flowers for your
own wedding and events. Maybe its because your budget doesn’t allow
hiring a florist or planning a wedding has a sparked a new found
interest in flowers and you like the idea of having creative control
over the design aspect. Since my strengths aren’t neccesarily in the creative
department, I’ve been brainstorming ways to bring more talented
contributors on the site to meet needs in the wedding world I feel
aren’t currently being met. After a few months of planning and
budgeting, I am so happy to introduce our newest contributor to Once
Wed, Chelsea Fuss.

Chelsea, the editor behind Frolic, is not only a fabulous blogger, but
also an extremely talented stylist and floral designer. Frolic is one
of my favorite daily reads and I’m so excited about having her as a contributor on Once Wed.  I adore Chelsea’s simple but stunning approach to flowers
and think her tutorials will complement the site perfectly. We haven’t worked out an
exact schedule yet, but Chelsea will be joining the site frequently
lending ideas on all types of floral arrangments from centerpieces to
bouquets to actual full tables. She will try to cover a range of
designs and flowers, so hopefully everyone can draw a bit of
inspiration for their own wedding or event. Her column today consists
of two pieces, but up first is a lovely, daisy boutonniere…

For the Boutonniere
You’ll need:
1-2 English daisy plants
scissors or clippers
floral tape
glue
pins

Step #1: Clip off 3-5 flowers down at the bottom of the stem

Step
# 2: Gather flowers in your hand. Place the smallest flower so it peeks
out of the top of the group. Secure with floral tape. Place on leaf at
the back where it will lay against the lapel.

Step # 3: Cover floral tape with linen tape or ribbon. Secure with a drop of hot glue. Use a pin to secure to jacket.

Stay tuned for a lovely, bouquet tutorial by Chelsea coming up next…

A brand new column and contributor…

**I also wanted to thank Margaret over at Project Wedding for inviting me to judge their recent DIY Wedding contest. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, click here.**

Isn’t Annemie a lovely bride? Wait till you see the beautiful details from her reception below…

Guest were encouraged to write
messages and tips for the bridal couple on postcards designed and printed
by Elsje Designs.  Elsje also designed and printed a table seating
banner, which was displayed on the veranda when the guests enjoyed pre-dinner
drinks.

As the couple loves all things
arty, they wanted to inspire guests to be creative too, and put together
sets of brushes, modern perspex rulers engraved with a special message,
and minituare artist’s canvas panels – all tied together with a stripy
stitched ribbon and a linen napkin for dinner, hand-made especially
to match the look of the, wedding by the mother of the bride.

In the months leading up to
the wedding, Annemie and her mom sourced and collected old books and
pretty objects, and arranged these under glass bell jars, with tiny
lush potted plants supplied by Okasie in Stellenbosch.  Each table
had a completely different look, with Alwyn also picking a variety of
very interesting botanicals, which were informally styled in tall art
deco-style vases.  Table number words were lazer-cut from white
vinyl, and guests loved the minituare artist’s mannequins placed all
around the venue in fun poses!

A festive feeling was created
with printed flags, strung onto colourful ribbons.

For dessert, alongside the
traditional favourites like decadent chocolate brownies and strawberry
pavlova, a sweets counter was set up with all kinds of traditional South
African favourites displayed in large glass jars.  Guests enjoyed
candy floss, old-fashioned lollipop swirls, and various other treats,
and could also take candies home in little white sandwich bags with
wooden clothes pegs to close.

Thank you again, Annemie and Lizelle, for sharing these amazing images with us!

Credits: 

Photographer: Lizelle Lotter

Flowers: Okasie

Stationery: Elsje Designs

Wedding Gown: Lunar Clothing

Bridal make-up: Marni Make-up

Bridal hair: Le Hair Lounge 

Layered order of service booklet,
from R40 each, Elsje Designs

Table number words, from R10
each, Elsje Designs

Guestbook postcards, R8 each,
Elsje Designs

Menu card, R8 each, Elsje Designs

Printed paper banner, R300
per meter, Elsje Designs

Wooden artist’s mannequins
(20cm tall), R80 each, Gifts4Guests

Artist’s brushes, from R4
each, Gifts4Guests

15cm black perspex ruler with
engraving, R18 each, Gifts4Guests

Colourful lollipop swirls,
from R10 each, Gifts4Guests

Ornate printed paper tags with
ribbon, R12 each, Elsje Designs

Printed paper flags, from R10
each, Elsje Designs

I am so excited about today’s wedding which comes to us all the way from Cape Town, South Africa. Annemie works for the incredible event design firm, Elsje Design, so when they mentioned on their blog about her upcoming wedding – I knew it would turn out to be a beautiful event. If you haven’t had a chance to stop by Elsje Designs website or blog – I would highly recommend it. The details that go into their weddings and events are sensational and I always feel myself gravitating back to their site for inspiration.

More from Annemie, the lovely bride….

Annemie and Mitch de Jager
got married on the 17th of January 2009 in Stellenbosch.  The couple
met while still at primary school, and were also childhood sweethearts
- they still cherish the hand-written love notes that they exchanged
all those years ago! 

For the last eight years, the
pair have been inseparable and when Mitch finally popped the question
in April 2008, Annemie literally jumped for joy!

Our save the date was foiled in silver, gold and bronze and hand stiched down the spine…

Annemie’s wedding gown was
created by Karen ter Morshuizen from Lunar Clothing. This floor-length
dress was made from white washed linen, with a pale silver lining and
matching belt made from frayed fabric strips and  finished with
folded flowers made from tulle, linen and lace. The dress had a secret
feature – side pockets in which to keep her “something blue” vintage
handkerchief! The bride also wore a soft tulle veil from Lunar, and a pair of grey pearl drop
earrings borrowed from her mom.

The bridal party prepared for
the big day at the Beauclair Guest House in Stellenbosch.  One
of the funniest moments getting ready was when the photographer asked
the three bridesmaids to pose for a picture perching on the edge of
the ball-and-claw bathtub – just as the girls got comfortable, the bath
started tipping over, causing shouts of panic and lots of giggles!

The marriage ceremony was held
in the Stellenbosch University Art Gallery, which started as a Lutherian
church in the 1920’s, and is now a lovely open white space used mainly
for student exhibitions.  Guests were seated on white ottomans,
and Alwyn from Okasie styled two white trees with white linen strips,
creating an ethereal and wispy effect.

Order of service booklets were
designed and printed by Elsje from Elsje Designs, combining different
elements and information, from the history of the gallery to interesting
facts about Afrikaans wedding traditions, to make for one very interesting
read!

Stay tuned for Part II of their lovely reception coming up next…

[Images c/o Lizelle Lotter]