Another Pink Wedding but Romance was the Theme

It was a beautiful weekend for a beautiful couple's special day. Never been to Hastings Lake Garden but it is a definitely a place to visit every summer. Hastings Lake Garden is also a bedding centre so there is an excuse to make a trip out in the spring.


Here is a shot of the the flowers before the transformation happens. The white/cream rose with pinkish red tip is called "sweetness". It really is a sweet looking rose. The freesias' scent were so intoxicating. It was hard not to stop the car and smell the freesias on the way back from the flower shop.




Had to wire ever single orchid. Big and small. But so worth it in the end. I noticed at the reception that one of the bridemaids' bouquet, which were all orchids, looked like it took a beating. I guess the story was a bee had flown onto one of the bridemaid's bouquet and she freaked and instinctively threw the bouquet. I guess that would explain the condition of the flowers. Orchids are tough but not that tough.



Notice the 2 calla lily boutonnieres. That is because the groom could not decide if he wanted the same orchid used in the bride's bouquet (bottom) or the same one used for the groomsmen's boutonnieres. He ended up choosing the one that looked like his groomsmen's. The wedding party had the stem wrapped with a matte colored ribbon so it would blend in with their suit jackets. This gave it a different look cause the focus was completely on the flowers. The boutonnieres for the dads' and brother were wrapped with a bright green satin ribbon so the stem would be noticed. I think this worked out better since the latter used smaller dendrobium orchids and it was a nice balance.


This is one of the pair of wrist corsages for the mommies. They were the only corsage that had the pink freesias.


This was the throw away bouquet but is very similar to the bride's bouquet. The bride's just didn't have as many dahlia flower buds.


The flowers on route to their destination.

Hand Made Card

I admit, I was too cheap to buy another mass manufactured card for a special couple this weekend. So I made a card for them. Expressing your creativity=fun!!!

Exciting News

Summer Saturdays are one of my favorite days. Only because it is another excuse for a shopping trip. What I am trying to say is, I LOVE FARMER'S MARKETS!!! The exciting news is that there are plans for another farmer's market to be open in the south side of Edmonton. It will be known as Southwest Edmonton Farmers' Market. It won't be much of a wait cause they are hoping to have it open by spring of 2011.

I wonder where it will be located. I wonder if it will be at this big plot of land by my place. For this last year, it has been under construction then off construction then on again. There seems to be more progress since last fall but it still is very early to tell.

If you follow the link to the website, there is a little contest on the site. They want someone to come up with a catch phrase for the market. The site doesn't say what the price is but I am sure there will be perks and a little royalty with coming up with something catchy.

40th Wedding Anniversary

There was a request for an arrangement for a 40th wedding anniversary this coming weekend. I had no limits to what I could come up with. So I did a Google search of what 40th anniversary and it is a ruby anniversary. I went with red colors and tried a "tree" arrangement. I've always wanted to incorporate a tree like structure in an arrangement. This is what I came up with.


Not the greatest lighting and the water on the flowers probably didn't help with the reflection.
Here's 2 close-up pictures of the flowers at the bottom. I used dahlia's which are currently in season, some large and small cymbidiums and gladiolus. If I were to open my own shop, Ming fern would be a staple cause they are so versatile and they fill up space nicely. The tree structure was made from curly willow tips and hanging amaranthus. Amaranthus might also be a staple in my dream shop cause they give an arrangement such a different texture and shape. I was going to add roses but I kind of went over budget so I omitted it.

Trial baking for an up coming party

Can't tell you what type of party or who it's for but super excited. Tried 2 recipes; one sweet and one savory, both from Farmgirl Fare.

First was the savoury feta cheese and scallions scones. These came out really good. I was worried they would be tough cause I was working them like bread before I scrolled down to her hint. "Handle the dough with a light touch and as little as possible". Oops. But they still worked out. Not sure if I really like the feta cheese. I like feta but it's quite salty and every now and then, I get a bite of super salty taste. I didn't add egg wash glaze cause I like it when you eat bread and your hands don't look like you've been in the chip bag. There is already enough fat in the recipe that I am sure it won't make that much of a difference.


The second recipe was the chocolate chip and toffee shortbread cookies. I like toffee, shortbread and chocolate and thought what a great combo, especially for this type of party. But the recipe calls for 350 degrees (F) and 12-15 minutes. Followed everything as per recipe but when I peeked in at 12 minutes, the edges weren't brown. Just following the recipe. Another few minutes and still the same. I gave up after all the toffee has bubbled out and finally was somewhat tan colored. I guess shortbread is also not usually as "golden brown" looking like other cookies so I probably could have brought it out after 15 minutes. Doesn't matter anyways. I got my helper to make cookies for the party.


And no I did not finish all the baking. I brought them to a friend's workplace so I can get some feedback and clean the counter of bad temptations.

Identical Twins

I was pleasantly surprised of how beautiful the flowers came together for these 2 arrangements. All the flowers were from my parent's backyard. They have a huge lot but it is not a gardener's paradise by any means. I just found some flowers in bloom and I went crazy with the shears. These beauties where for 2 special people. One was a hostess that offered her lovely home for an afternoon bbq. And the other was for the guest of honour at the bbq.







I had cut some foliage from a plant called gout weed but they didn't last. I think I have to dunk them in some cold water next time I cut them down. Thanks goodness the peonies aren't as fussy and still display a spectacular show.

Wedding #2

I was watching the weather closely yesterday as the sky couldn't seem to make up it's mind. Should there be sun or rain, but there was definitely wind. There were lots of flowers but thank goodness majority of them were shorter arrangements and bouquets so they all fit in my car.

Simple, clean and elegant were to used to describe this wedding. So we went with orchids and calla lillies for the bride's bouquet. The colors were hot pink, lime green, black and white. The grooms only request was not to make the wedding look like Easter colors. It's funny how I didn't immediately think the colors were Easter colors but those are common colors of spring.

I was panicking when I went to get the flowers on Thursday. The large cymbidium orchids were much lighter pink then what I had asked for when I ordered them. Thankfully the bride was so easy going; she didn't mind it and actually liked it better then what we decided earlier. *Phew*. I honestly didn't know what I would do. I hate spraying them with a flower safe paint and it was going to be so much more expensive if I had to run around the city looking for a brighter pink orchids. SO thank you, thank you, thank you to the wonderful bride.

No Need To Knead Bread

Start


Hour: 1


Hour: 12


Hour: 14


Hour: 14 and 35 mins


Hour: 14 and 37 minutes


Yes, somebody could not wait. He assures me that he didn't burn his mouth but I have my doubts. My significant other also doesn't like jam or peanut butter on his toast. He like sweetened condensed milk. It's not bad but I can never open the jar. It's always stuck.

Singing the Blues

As promised, the blue wedding of the season. Colors of the the peacock feathers are popping up occasionally this season. I would have loved to add other blue flowers but they are all out of season. Muscari would have added a touch of delicateness but I am still happy with how the bouquets turned out. The bride wanted simplicity and not too much "frills" so I hope I created what she had envisioned.

Lets start with the 4 bridesmaid's bouquets. They were round bouquets so I had lots of left over delphiniums. I saved them all at first but then I ended up throwing them all way. *sigh, sniff*. They don't like sitting in water for too long.


These were the 2 of the 4 flowergirl bouquets. I hope the little ladies like the ribbon tassels. I always wonder how the flowers for the little people look like after the wedding. Did mom and dad remove or "confiscated" them before they turned into a toy? I remember making a gerber daisy flower ball and it looked like a battered pinata at the end of the night.


Close-up of the stem wrap. The lace/tulle ruffles was inspired by her dress. She had similar type of ruffled on her dress.


The guys boutonnieres. Of course the one with the white ribbon was for the groom. I wish I could get the actual picture of the boutonniere on the groom as we found the pheasant feathers really pop when it was placed against black fabric.


This was actually the trial bouquet for the bride but I didn't have a better picture of the actual one. They look exactly the same except there were blue crisscross ribbons on the stem wrap. I convinced this bride to have a hand held bouquet to differentiate from her maids. She had the height and her a-line dress compliments the style.


Lastly, the corsages for the mommies. Delicate and simple.

I Heart Delphinium

Blue weddings are challenging but how can you get frustrated when the flowers gives back in 10 folds of happiness?! They aren't the best to make a round bouquet just cause you have to strip majority of the flowers on the stalk. Not a whole lot to do with them as the stems are much more delicate and break half the time you stick it in foam. But I still love you delphinium. Do you love me too?




Oh yeah, I am also favoring flowers in the hat box. You will probably see different variations of the hat box arrangement for awhile.