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!

Waratah Wedding Bouquets

Waratah season is short and sweet.  They are very much a spring flower.

Swallows Nest Farm Waratah Bouquet

  This year has been unusually warm and the waratah season seemed to fly by more quickly than usual.  Here at Swallows Nest Farm, you can see the first pickable blooms in mid to late September, with October being the high season. Some late flowering varieties keep going until mid December, but due to the warmth, it been a shorter season.  It's made me a bit sad, and so to console myself, I've compiled a little collection of waratah wedding bouquets. 

Flowergirl's bouquet Swallows Nest Farm

Some are my own, and some are ones I've found on my internet travels.  All of them feature the wonderful waratah in different ways and different styles. 

These first two bouquets are from an early October wedding.  The waratah's are just coming into their peak season and are vibrant and fresh.  The colour in these "Shady Lady" variety is really rich.  Teamed with the lipstick boronia it makes for a really colourful statement.

This one is an early spring bouquet from mid September.  The waratah in this bouquet is not fully open and the colour is not as vibrant, but the pink makes for a more subtle look and I love the petals still arching up around the flower.  Pretty and fresh.  

Good Grace and Humour

What a great image!  I love the red and white!  In this wedding the white waratah makes an appearance.  I think it really works!

Good Grace and Humour

Red waratah for the bride and white for the bridesmaids.  Fabulous!

October Waratah Wedding Swallows Nest Farm

From mid October, this bouquet celebrates the waratah in its peak season here in Tasmania.  The first early Tasmanian waratah makes an appearance towards the back left.  The Tasmanian waratah starts in October and peaks in November, usually, with some lingering into December. 

October Waratah Wedding Swallows Nest Farm

 I love this combination of fresh colours celebrating spring.  Simple style to highlight the flowers at their best. 

Spring Native Wedding Swallows Nest Farm

This trio of bouquets is from early October.  Lots of cream and white, with touches of gold from the Dryandra/Banksia Formosa make a great background for the waratahs.

November Native Wedding Swallows Nest Farm

Novermber and the first of the Pincushion proteas have emerged but the waratahs are still going.  I have found that our white waratahs flower a little later than the red, and this means that they can be available for weddings as the weather warms up.  The texture the waratah gives is an important ingredient of the success of this bouquet.  I love playing with colour blends using the white waratahs too.   

White Waratah Spring bouquet, Swallows Nest Farm

This bride's bouquet features a white waratah too, but with a different style and colour scheme.  The theme was "rustic vintage style" in classic pink and soft tones.

White Waratah Spring Wedding Swallows Nest Farm

I love the texture in the bouquet.  A more subtle colour scheme lets you really play with texture.

Tasmanian Waratah bouquet Swallows Nest Farm

November is Tasmanian Waratah month here at Swallows Nest Farm, and a gorgeous bride who loves her Tassie Waratahs chose November for her wedding so she could have one of her favourite flowers as the centrepiece of her bouquet.  Simple, beautiful fresh flowers.

Swallows Nest Farm 

A wedding featuring the Tasmanian waratah couldn't have been held in a more perfect setting.  This classic Tasmanian beach scene with the gorgeous blue of the sea and the characteristic orange lichen on the rocks.  Beautiful!

Waratah and Kangaroo Paw by Good Grace and Humour

I love this dramatic combination of Kargaroo Paw and Waratah.  What a great bouquet!  A truly Australian native wedding bouquet with the waratah as the star.

Field and Coppice Floral Design

I love this joyful bouquet by Field and Coppice Floral Design in the Canberra area.  The rich red waratahs in the centre of the bouquet are just beautiful.  

Field and Coppice Floral Design

This bouquet of waratahs is also by Field and Coppice, but it has a completely different feel.  Its simple, understated and old-world, and just gorgeous!

Waratahs are a stunning spring favourite for weddings. Keep an eye out for them!