Cotton and Lavender

After years of wedding work, often with multiple brides using the trendy colors of that particular season, it’s become a rare thing for me to vividly recall a particular wedding and accompanying floral decor. This was one of those beautifully unique weddings wherein the bride’s vision was so clear and outside the current trends. Some of the key words used in describing what she wanted were “natural cotton seed heads, fresh lavender blooms, silvery foliage, and wildflowery”. For a designer it’s such a treat to apply one’s craft to a project that is so uniquely beautiful! She had scrutinized every detail with such good taste and design logic. The bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids consisted of silver dollar eucalyptus, seeded eucalyptus, limonium, Spanish lavender, white veronica, and of course, cotton seed heads. The resulting look was casual and gardeny, and in lovely contrast with the formal historic manor home lawn where the ceremony took place. The same elements were used throughout the decor. Another clever and unique idea was her use of bourbon bottles in the reception centerpieces. The use of the bottles themselves was something I had seen before, but this bride used bottles from a different distiller on each table. The seating chart prompted guests to “follow the bourbon trail”, and rather than table numbers, they were assigned a distiller. Galvanized metals and natural wood elements were used as accents. The contrast of the casual elements with the formal space was lovely and unexpected!