ALI & JOSH
When I first spoke to Ali she said “Our wedding is very colorful. I love color. I love rainbows. All. The. Color.” She was not kidding. Oh boy; hold onto your hats, kids.
Ali & Josh immediately went on their honeymoon after the wedding as Ali was soon starting her doctoral residency. Her mom was tasked with sending Flora-Ly her flowers.
Ali’s bouquet arrived, then her mom called to say – there are so many flowers in the apartment, I’m Then two more boxes full of flowers arrived. So much to work with! Good thing, too. Because this final design is so chock full of colorful goodness we can’t stop smiling.
Once flowers were out of the presses….if I remember correctly we had about a dozen presses going for Ali’s flowers. We had our design chat. Ali’s desire was for a very large statement piece. Something big and bold that reflected their wedding. After seeing the reception pictures I knew exactly where I wanted to take this collage. I decided on a circular design to reflect the disco balls. (Then months later I saw a picture of their ketubah, a circle! I’m glad I listened to my instinct.)
I've said it before and I’ll say it again and again, flowers dictate design. You can want a stem to be a certain way, but unless it grew and pressed that particular way, you are not getting what you want. If the design is not served by the flower, if the flowers don’t serve the design, then the design has to change.
So I began. Putting all the flowers back together. (I press a petal at a time….every peony, every rose, every daisy…petal at a time.) It’s like creating my palette as if I were painting.
I began a little on the shy side..
And Ali said, “More!”
So I did more…
And Ali said, ‘More!
Then there was more and all was good in the world. This final piece is 32” x 32” with the circle of flowers at 20” across. It sits in a custom constructed shadow box, framed in white.
Planner: Nicky Reinhardt Events
Floral designer: Stone Kelly Events
Final artwork photo credit: Sandra Costello Photography
