Bright January Wedding at Bruny Island

Spring Cocktail Wedding at MONA

November - spring flowers!  Such a great time for a wedding.  For this couples cocktail style wedding at MONA the bride asked for colour.  Music to my ears!  And there is so much colour to play with in November.  

The bride's bouquet was a combination of waratahs, banksias, proteas and pincusions.  

NSW Waratahs (Telopea Speciosissima) are readily available in Tasmania in November.  They are such a goregous showy flower in a range of rich reds.  I also used red Banksia Coccinea.  The first Pincushions (Leucospermum) of the season were just starting.  They are called Mardi Gras and have yellow styles with red ribbons, and silvery furry little tops.  I also used some Berzelia, a gorgeous spring texture plant with creamy white/green balls.

I also used a Pink Protea with black fringing called Satin Mink, which flowers in spring and autumn.  Blue Sea Holly took us to the cooler end of the colour spectrum.  Purple Isopogon or Cone Flower are a gorgeous spring flowering Australian native that I also added.  

The foliage used is a Tasmanian native rainforest plant - Myrtle Beech.  

For the groom, there were spring Leucadendrons - a female Discolour Leuco, creamy white with pinkish tips, and the yellow cones of Golden Fireworks.  

A purple Isopogon, blue Sea Holly, and a golden, shiny Dryandra/Banksia Formosa which as well as its distinctive flower has gorgeous zig zag leaves that sprout out at fun angles.

Its a joy to play with fresh spring flowers in such happy colours!  For the simple table decorations the bride decided on wooden box arrangements with candles to light for extra atmosphere.

For the boxes, the main flowers used were Banksia Coccinea, Protea Satin Mink, Mardi Gras Pincushions, and Tasmanian Waratahs (Telopea Truncata).

  Leucadendrons used were female Discolour, Safari Sunset and Golden Fireworks.  

Other flowers were blue Sea Holly,  Dryandra/Banksia Formosa, and Isopogon Formosus, with Myrtle Beech foliage.

There are some who think that "native flowers" mean "brown" .... but I think you'd agree this is far from colourless and drab.

Lastly, we did a great big bunch, using the same flowers as the bouquet to use for a vase at the reception room.  

It was such a fun wedding to work on, and a treat to be involved!

Eclectic Summer Natives for a New Years Wedding

Photography by Rosie Hastie

The first wedding of the New Year called for seasonal natives, with a colour scheme of navy blue for the bridesmaids and grey suits with navy ties for the men.  I love navy!  Its a stunning, flattering colour that provides a great backdrop for a great variety of colours in the floral design.

And there are plenty of seasonal summer natives to use around the New Year.  It made designing the bouquets for this lovely wedding a real pleasure.  The focal flowers used were some mini Red King Proteas.  Other proteas used were Protea Compacta in Red and Protea Pink Mink.  I also used Pincushions called Leucospermum Fountain, in apricot/orange.

Pink Kangaroo Paw called Bush Pearl was sprinkled through adding a unifying splash of rich pink.  I also used the first pick of Brunia Albiflora for the season.  There are some fresh poppy pods in the mix too.  I really love them!

Plenty of textural foliage added to the eclectic feel of the bouquets.  There's some Tasmanian Myrtle Beech, with its new seasons growth looking fresh and lush, some Grevillea foliage, and some flowering Agonis Flexuosa.  There's also a sprinkling of Risdon Peppermint Gum foliage giving silvery blue highlights.  

Photography by Rosie Hastie

I just love navy!  It really makes those colours sing.  Thanks so much to the bride for allowing me to use some of the stunning photographs by Photographer, Rosie Hastie.  It is such a thrill to see the flowers on the big day!

You can also see some Corymbia Ficifolia buds.  Corymbia Ficifolia is commonly known as Red Gum or Flowering Gum and flowers in a range of intense colours in big showy gum blossoms.  It also produces brilliant Gum Nuts which I love to use in floral design as well.  But the buds are equally lovely.  They colour up quite a bit and the texture they provide is beautiful.  The cream Leucadendrons are some L. Discolour which in late spring and early summer changes from green to this lovely clear cream with pink tinges.  

With such bright and breezy bouquets, the men needed something to match.  

I used Myrtle Beech and Grevillea foliages teamed with more Pink Kangaroo Paw and a Leucadendron Discolour.

  

The grooms boutonniere had Agonis flowers for extra highlights, and the addition of some Corymbia Ficifolia buds for added interest.  

Photography by Rosie Hastie

Again, I was just blown away by these stunning photos by Rosie Hastie which really show the boutonnieres in a great light.   Thrilled!

Photography by Rosie Hasite

Photography by Rosie Hastie

Photography by Rosie Hastie

It was a pleasure to be able to work on the flowers for this wedding!

Fresh Summer Natives for a December Wedding

A December wedding, held at Steeles Island Retreat in Southern Tasmania called for fresh summery natives.  The brides dress was a deep blue and the rough colour scheme of the wedding was blue and yellow.  In terms of colours for the flowers, the bride loved vibrant reds, yellows and deep greens, pincushions and gum nuts.     

Perfect colours for summer natives!  

The larger flowers I used for the bouquets were pincusions in red and orange teamed with orange Banksia Ericifolia.  The dark rich burgundy of summer Safari Sunset Leucadendrons provided contrasting tone.  The lime yellow leucadendrons with the silvery central cones are Leucadendron Pisa and I used gum nuts from Corymbia Ficifolia.

Bright sunshine yellow Kangaroo Paw really brightened up the bouquets.  I also used the last of the Berzelia Button Bush, in its fluffy white flowering stage and, just seen peeping out are some orangey-green cones of Leucadendron Goldstrike with the outer bracts removed.   For the foliage, I used Tasmanian myrtle beech - a gorgeous rich green.  Some flowering Agonis Flexuosa provided beautifully draping foliage as well as little white highlights.  And a lovely last minute find of some acacia in bud really added something special in the way of texture.  

All together, the bouquets made real statement of colour.  I love this fresh summery look.  

The profusion of foliage had a draping effect I really loved, but its difficult to capture in the pictures.  I think these colours would have really popped with the navy blue dress! 

For the boutonnieres I used more gum nuts, teamed with the yellow Kangaroo Paw, L. Safari Sunset and L. Pisa, all backed by some of the myrtle and acacia foliages.  The grooms boutonniere stood out with the addition of some Berzelia.

I love that little touch of texture that the acacia buds provide!  It's the little details that really make wedding flowers special.  

The fresh, vibrant, summery colours of seasonal natives really make an impact.  I hope the bride and groom had a wonderful, memorable day.