I’m always learning something new with each wedding. With Ariel and Erik it was sending fresh flowers nearly 1,200 miles. This couple lives in Unalaska and for the first time I shipped my floral creations far, far away.
Continue reading Alaska Weddings: Ariel + Erik
Last winter I did flowers for a couple in Alyeska. When I delivered them to the bride’s suite she introduced me to her maid of honor and said she would be getting married next summer.
Fast forward to today when I delivered flowers to bride Lena’s suite and I was greeted by last winter’s bride. The tabled turned and she was now the maid of honor. I love how small this town is.
Lena and Ivan’s colors were navy, coral, cream and orange. A perfect palette for the amazing autumn weather we’re having.
This bouquet made me giddy! The most perfect little orange spray roses looked like miniature garden roses. Combined with peach carnations, cream roses, solidago, scabiosa pods, salmon hypericum berries, billy balls and seeded eucalyptus — this bouquet was just what the bride ordered.
Continue reading Alaska Weddings: Lena + Ivan
I love last-minute gigs. There’s a certain thrill about making people happy when they haven’t had a lot of time to plan. This was the case with Kate and Joe. Their good friend, Alyse had met me earlier this summer at a downtown Anchorage street fair where I was making flower crowns and she decided as a gift to the bride and groom she would purchase flowers for their Eklutna Lake wedding.
It was going to be a true Alaska wedding. The party wore XTRATUFs, the groomsmen donned Pendleton plaid with Patagonia puffy vests and the bride wore a yellow dress. Bride Kate wanted a wildflower, colorful bouquet and some corsages and boutonnieres.
It was a lot of fun working on this small wedding. For focal flowers I used small sunflowers and protea (also called pincushion). Surrounding these were purple mini asters, button mums and peach mini carnations. It was delightful.
My son was thrilled when I had some leftover flowers. He made his own arrangement to give to my friend Laura.
I’ve been waiting all summer to use Alaska-grown dahlias. When bride Roxanne contacted me and requested “designer’s choice” bouquets, I knew it was finally my chance.
Roxanne’s dress was unusual – traditional red Chinese brocade with a peacock embroidered in gold. It only made sense to include gold sprayed eucalyptus and peacock feathers.
This bouquet was over the top thanks to the enormous dinner plate dahlia from All Dahlia’d Up Flower Farm.
The bridesmaids’ bouquets were equally as luscious with smaller pink and purple dahlias, waxflower, myrtle, seeded eucalyptus and white spray roses.
I couldn’t resist putting a peacock feather in Michael the groom’s boutonniere.
One of my favorite bouts to boot!
The groomsmen’s bouts were all similar but slightly different. I love that!
The bride and groom were wed in misty, beautiful Girdwood this afternoon. Many congratulations to the happy couple!
It’s been a busy summer of weddings and I’ve still got more to go. This week’s was one of my favorites. Bride Carrie asked for cheerful blooms mixed with Alaska foliage — just my style!
Pink, pink and pink. I love it. Spray roses, Japanese aster and salmon hypericum berry were the central blooms.
Continue reading Alaska Weddings: Carrie + Christopher
Every wedding I make flowers for has a different style and Dianne and Matthew’s Wasilla wedding is one of the most unique this year.
Dianne wanted jewel tones of amethyst and peridot. She adores orchids, which I learned can be limited in color and style in Alaska. I packed her bouquet with fuchsia orchid, purple lisianthus, white roses, baby’s breath, trailing amaranthus, traipsing plumosa fern, sword fern and Italian ruscus.
Continue reading Alaska Weddings: Dianne + Matthew
A few months ago I received an e-mail from a bride in Kentucky who was planning a destination wedding in Alaska. She had found me in Alaska Bride & Groom Magazine and thought my style would be appropriate for her and her fiancé, Cam’s, wedding in Cooper Landing.
Sarah and Cam wanted a rustic, wild wedding to reflect their Kentucky roots. They gave me free reign to select wild flowers and greens to incorporate with garden roses and lavender button mums.
I harvested spruce, alder, alder cones, yarrow, clover, grass, and even a four-leaf clover for their special arrangements. Gathering wildflowers is one of my favorite activities. I headed out to my secret wild garden south of Anchorage to find everything I needed, including a special ingredient, which I’ll mention later. This is my happy place and it brought me so much joy to return there for the first time this summer.
This week I was graced with a new challenge: corner arrangements for an archway. I’ve made garlands before but not structured corner pieces. I decided to structure them with alder branches, Italian ruscus and seeded eucalyptus then layered in white wax flower, button mums, salal, white hypericum and finally, gorgeous, aromatic garden roses the color of butter.
Continue reading Alaska Weddings: Sarah + Cam
I really believe Alaska is a big state with a small-town feel. When I first met bride Ali at our consultation I realized I had taught her French when she was in middle school.
After a few descriptions of her floral vision and some Pinterest photos I was pretty excited to work on her and her fiancé’s wedding.
Blush, cream, pink, pale blue — a soft palate with exquisite blooms from garden roses to peonies.
Continue reading Alaska Weddings: Ali + Tommy
Last month I got to create wedding flowers in Arctic Valley. Today I was at the top of Alyeska. What a fun experience! My assistant and I got to cram all the flowers into the tram and ride to the top of the mountain. Audra and Chris are tying the knot at Seven Glaciers Restaurant, a dining experience with unparalleled views of Alaska.
The bride selected white hydrangeas, ivory garden roses, white tulips, football mums and blush vadella roses. What a perfect palette for a mountain top soirée — especially since it started snowing as we were setting up!
Most Anchorage residents would tell you that autumn is here. It arrived last Tuesday, to be precise. There was a nip in the air this morning as I made my way up the windy dirt road to Arctic Valley for my last gig of the wedding season.
Cara and Tyler chose a rustic theme for their wedding, which was fitting against the wilderness surrounding the Arctic Valley chalet. Burlap table runners dressed with vintage lace and slabs of raw birch logs surrounded by moss were just the right touch.
Cara chose pink, blush, white and sage green for the floral arrangements. The shabby-chic color palette complimented the rest of the decor perfectly.
I had the pleasure of working with feather-light garden roses, the color of rosy cheeks on a crisp autumn day.
The mother of the bride requested a garland over the birch tree wedding arch, which I was looking forward to creating. It was my first try at a garland and I constructed it sort of like a giant flower crown. I put the garden roses in water tubes and wired them in just before hanging to ensure the blooms lasted as long as possible.
What a truly wonderful close to my wedding season. This was a challenging, fun summer. I learned a lot through my experience of being a new florist on my own and I’m grateful to the brides who put their trust in me. I can’t wait for next summer!
Alaska Knit Nat 