Petals & Posies

During our trip back to Iowa, we had the chance to meet with our florist. My family has been using Carmen's for everything for years and years, to the point where I'm pretty sure if my dad forgets to order for my mom's anniversary, they call him and remind him.

The best part of working with them is that they already know me. Our particular florist, Debbie, is someone I've known for years. Her daughter and I graduated high school together, and were involved in church youth group a long time ago. It is one of those nice, comfortable, easy relationships with someone you've known forever.

Debbie and I chatted via email for a few weeks prior to our visit. I'd pinned some ideas of flowers that I'd liked and sent her a list, and she let me know what their supplier would be able to provide during our wedding. Unfortunately, the downside of an August wedding is that a couple of my favorites, peonies and tulips, are going to be too hard to get. But, Debbie is going to bring some awesome flowers. Here are some of the photos I sent her for inspiration:

via Style Me Pretty

via Wedding Obesssion - Could basically duplicate the one on the left and I'd be happy

via Brides

We walked through a whole list of who will get what. My bouquet will be mostly blush colored with some ivory, and the girls will have mostly ivory with some blush, and both will have the brunia berries and lambs ear or dusty miller. Our mom's are getting wrist corsages, as is my brother's girlfriend, who will hopefully also be our ceremony musician.

She also had some fantastic ideas for our centerpieces. Awhile back, I saw this picture and fell in love:

via Buzzfeed

Seriously, how adorable is that? My parents have been assigned the task of gathering books. I had planned on buying gold plate stands to prop the books up, but when I showed Debbie this, she had a better idea. A few days after we got back home from our trip, she sent me this:

I love how she incorporated the book into the arrangement. These were just the flowers she had available, not necessarily what she'll be using for real. We talked with her about adding more flower, less greenery. We're also going to hopefully do half of the tables like this, half with a large manzanita branch as the focal point. When I go back in April, I'll meet with her again and see what we can do. 

A Tentative Color Palette, or He Likes Blue

To be honest, I should have known better. I should have known not to get my heart set on colors without running them by my lovely fiance. And yet, I did it. We had talked a few times before our engagement about what the feel of our wedding might be. Elegent, soft, romantic, lots of candles. So, I came up with this: 

Tree backdrop, bouquets, bridesmaids, groom, cake, table number, table setting

Blush, grey, with little punches of cream and green thrown in. Wine corks, watercolor, soft fabrics, and dusty miller. All excited about it, I showed it to Mr. C. 

His response? I like blue.

So, back to the drawing board, at least in part. Because my groom loves blue, and to be honest, so do I. It is my favorite color. So I turned to The Perfect Palette, trying to find a way to work blue in. But, I began getting more and more frustrated. I loved the soft romance of the pink, and all of the royals, marines, navys, pools, and aquas looked too harsh. 

And then, I found it. I was browing the Perfect Palette's Pinterest page (try saying that five times fast) when I found The One. The Color. The one I'd been searching for: 

via The Perfect Palette

They even have an entire pinterest board devoted to Dusty Blue. It is soft, it is romantic, and it is already so close to what I was looking at. The bouquet on the right in my inspiration board up above? Switch the pink ribbon out for blue and we're set. Bridesmaids? Ditch the grey and put them in blue. It'll look better on everyone anyway. I'll probably still keep some of the pink around for pops of color, but man, it feels like this is moving in a direction I like. Granted, watch us book a recetion site with lime green or maroon floors or something like that. But for now, this is where its at!