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Building the Bouquet - Part 2

You ever get to a point when you're arranging the bouquet where you decide you look in the mirror and you say I don't like it and you just start from scratch yeah something that you fix on the fly or do you start all over? I start all over okay when I start putting it together and I and I think gosh, I just don't like this I get very frustrated on then I think that think the whole thing apart and uh you know, do it again that hasn't happened very often but it has happened I love the color of this pen oculus and it's just so perfect with the rest of these so I'm definitely gonna use it somewhere that I'm sure is going to get some, um exposure does anybody have any questions for me any I think that we can talk about while we're working we just had another question coming from chocolate buckeyes and they say I was always taught in designed to avoid even numbers I'ii groups of four six do you pay attention to even versus odds and your design absolutely you know, I believe that three is muc...

h better than two and five is a lot better than six so yes that's why you know if I decide that I'm going to put um you know how many pennies I'm going to put in here it's either going to be three or just one because um they take away from each other is beauty when they're only in groups of uneven groups. So groups of two or groups of four yeah that's a great point for example I just put this dusty miller and I don't like it it's too bulky and here want to take it out, it's just too much I'm going to have to replace it with maybe some explosion grass instead because it's a more delicate look and maybe a smaller bunches of dusty miller. Now this is a lot this is better it's a little bit less in your face so I'm kind of keeping this this area for my p a nina and I'm going to look and see if it's ready yet it looks pretty good right here gonna put my and that's your focus flower local flower now you all of you have focal flowers kind of lined up now sometimes it may be difficult when you have a couple of flowers that you really love and how do you really decide on a local flower? Well in the the way I work is no matter what flowers I like a penny will always be a focal point because it's just a bigger flower it's just beautiful so I will always make that a focal point and everybody loves peonies there's no one I've met who does not like fannies and is there a reason why you put it on the bottom as opposed to putting it on the side or the top or the others? Well, it is sort of on the side because the top of my bouquet right now is here on this is like the side of my bouquet, I'm going to add more things in the bottom now, so this is what I get a top I don't like to put it here, maurine the center, because then if whatever I put underneath it will squish this beauty and this this way it's just kind of stays on its own, and I like to use some of the ones that haven't been quite opened yet either, because I feel like that this gives a nice texture to the to the bouquet, the buds give a nice texture and then I'm going to look and see where I can add some more like, for example, this rose is getting a little squish, I'm going to pull it up a little to make sure it doesn't get lost, and then I'm going to put this over here, my plum branch and I'm thinking that this is getting a little bit in my way, so I'm gonna cut it a little bit just so I can work easier with it sometimes the stems can really get in the way. We're gonna look at it some more and see what I could possibly put in there and I think I could put some more silent and here and when you trim that did you leave it a little bit longer than yes and you think you need yes ok, I did leave it longer just I cut it just enough so that I could get it out of my way a little I'm cutting all the taking all the extra leaves off of the stem morse eileen think becca's and her zone she's not ready teo teo, get rid of the the xs on the bottom yet she's got her building? No, if you're building your building still right? Yeah, I mean, definitely building yeah, when you're looking in the mirror there we had a question about when you know when you're done and this comes from flower girl and when you're looking at it like that and you placed that last flower like when do you feel like it's complete? Is there something that you look for? Um well, if I liked the way it looks, I mean there's nothing there's no special and destruction to it like I really love the placement of this because I think it kind of sticks out and I'm going to cut some of these leaves because they don't look so great and then um let me just I'll examine it and see what else I could add but I'm quite happy with it so far group and how happy our students are you loving your designs loving it a technical question sure so if you're sort of like you bill tears coming down on you wanted something you know yeah great this way yeah, but you can't really put it in this way so how do you sort of just, um shorten it you have to shorten it exactly and it will have to stick out in that sense and that's why? I mean that's a good branch to choose because you don't really have to stick it out that far off if you can see and if it gives you that flowing sense after all so that's a good branch okay, you kind of have to listen to the to the flower itself you know what does it look like what it's shapes and spend um where is it going and use that to your advantage? It just occurred to me but everyone's hands are different sizes. Yeah so do you take that into consideration when you're making a big bouquet? If you actually the bride's really prettied I mean for sure again I'll go based upon what the bride wants some brides really want something big and others don't want it to be overwhelming, so I'll just you don't go with the flow on that whoever wants what I guess I just need to use both hands that they want something big and then yeah I mean I had a bride who told me she wanted something really big just kind of you know she wanted it to just pop out when she walked down the aisle and she was very petite person and she most of the time people hold it with both hands anyway so that worked out well for her that's actually great that you mentioned that because a lot of people are trying t visualize all of the bouquets here maybe you could just sort of look back into the camera holding your bouquet so viewers can see that and the students as well kind of yeah hold your bouquets as if you were the the person getting married and kind of show that off world wants to see your beautiful that's so beautiful amazing you guys have done a great job so lovely very nice so beautiful now we should all get married again a you can renew your vows that I think that that is a great excuse for all women to get to have lots of flowers around them oliver and do what they couldn't do or what they regret throughout their day getting lee like in my case I didn't have a good photographer and so you know we had this we did this beautiful dance and um there was a tango and we had loved we would've got married on a boat and we just didn't have somebody good to capture all of that. Now we will never be twenty five again, but maybe we could do the tango again. We'll have to go to creative live photo school yeah, a lot of photographers out there watching it's amazing how much photography has taken off in the past decade really? And how different it is for weddings these days means so much beautiful photography out there and I would say flowers too there's beautiful things to take photos of actually is there's a lot more design around the experience of getting married even more so that when I was married which makes you feel really old now yeah it's great how much personality you know yaar bouquets having and how that is becoming there's more standard? Yeah, angry not that there's a standardized kind of bouquet, but that year free tio express yourself into, you know, like, oh, I'd like a little exactly more organic look exactly. No, I agree for sure you know it's true. I mean, I know it really is artistic expression and that's we were just saying how there is no right or wrong way everyone bouquet is gonna look different that's what makes us so enjoyable that's exactly and for the designer it's so much more fun because you're not trying tow replicate sort of standard you're getting tio listen to your materials and pay attention to the season and be influenced by that instead of just sort of the one stock bouquet exactly now for this last touch I want to put something really beautiful right in front of my bride so I'm going to put this right over here where she can look at it from every angle and um maybe a little bit more greenery and now I'm barely able to hold my bouquet is getting very thick then I want to put a little bit more of my plum on the side of next to my um penny because it looks it would look so pretty with uh right next to the penny and I want to pick one that's going to help me with with its own bend that just like we spoke about it earlier um I want one that's going to cooperate with me now you have a name for the shape of that bouquet is a question that came up from rene um an asymmetry tricked okay okay which is what on all about and another question came in from rest robeson I know that we're going to get into making a smaller bouquet but let's say that that you have a bunch of greenery and flowers left are leftover yeah what do you do with it well, I will use these for our bridesmaids bouquets minus a few like if I'm using these beautiful peonies for the bride I'm not going to use them for the bridesmaids um because you want to make the bride's more special than the bridesmaids and maybe I'll use you know, sometimes I'll use the panties that are left over within inside arrangements for head tables you know, for if they have their own special table than you know, he can do that with, uh, leftover flowers I usually don't have that many leftovers, so I haven't had to do that. I think you were reading the mind of poppy hill in the chat room because they were just asking about the differences between the bridesmaids bouquets and the bouquets for the bride is there a different thought process when you're creating the right? So I never forget I had a bride who told me so what is my bridesmaid bouquet that I look like? I don't really want it to overshadow mine, so of course you know it's her day and she wants it she wants to be the star, so I think that the bridesmaids bouquets will be a an extension of what your bright bride's bouquet is they will still be beautiful but not as quite as special as the bride's bouquet and just to follow up on that you know how the boxes come with the arrow that says side up how do you ensure that the bride this's from mandy winter how do you ensure the bride is losing the great question right fine you know what I make sure to meet my bride right before I give her her bouquet because I have I will always show her what how she should be holding her bouquet so I will always say you know this is your bouquet this is the side that needs to go in the front and um that's how I do it and how do you keep track of that you just know in your mind how things air are going to go because it's gone through transport at this point and maybe you have multiple weddings that you're right well I mark I usually put thes in right away after I'm done I'll put him inside eh vase and usually the bases are very plain glass vases cylinder vases just so that I know that nothing down here we'll get crushed and then I'll put a little sign on it you know make sure but usually I meet my brides before I give them their bouquet not even if I have two weddings I make the time to go and hand them their bouquet or if they have a bry I mean an event planner then I'll say make sure this is how it needs to be shown and all of that so wonderful and I'm almost done with this how are you guys doing? Are you are you all done with your bouquets do you have any more flowers left? No one was left maybe you can put some greenery in the back of your ball case to give it more support and that's actually another good question what happens if you run out of flowers? Um well you can come and borrow something for me here. I love it and then all of a sudden you realize I've done that I didn't get enough flowers what you mean from the store, right? Oh, no, I would never do that that would never happen because I always buy more than less okay always okay to have more left overs than not enough flowers the way I see it so um I always have more than I need to need to get just just buy a bunch or two maybe for each variety, so yeah um don't buy less for sure try to buy more and that's for you don't get it. What do you think about when my sister in law got married and I did all of her centrepiece arrangements how that I didn't know that I was going to be doing that hee showed up and learned on like the day before but she ran out of flowers and so it was a mad dash too many grocery stores teo to get the rest of the materials but it was also really fun it was you know, the one where you're like I'm doing a lot of work here but this is this is a once in a lifetime sort of experience if I'd been in that's a good point, the grocery store can be your life saver in situations like that and there's always your garden if you have one or your neighbor's garden actually that's a really good question to ask our students where do you forage for your flowers if it's not in the grocery store the mart or what's the craziest place you flower well, berkeley has a plant molestation cornice and not really I don't know I mean it's car berkeley plant okay let's station don't forget berkeley we don't encourage that not all the craziest place I'm trying to think because I know that sometimes when I'm in the park I will see beautiful flowers that catch my eye and you are sometimes hesitant you don't want to disrupt it you don't want to pick it if it's not you know, ready for it, I guess and bloom but you know, sometimes you see some really good looking flowers out there and they may work in your bouquets yeah, what what's your craziest place? Well, I I love to make little wild hand tied bouquets from wildflowers on dh, but you do need to be really conscientious and one thing that I've done is you take, like, just a little bit from here a little bit from you, but if you're on a residential street like a traffic island, you know that's a fun place to go because you're not actually in someone's yard it is very likely something that's actually hidden from view that if you if you take it and make it your own no one's losing anything you know, because no one could see it in the first place. So that's what? I always try to keep in mind that I'm not having an impact that matters to someone else but I will find little treasures, but I'll always be looking you never know when you're gonna be anyone else um uh kid over in kensington there's a farmer's market every sunday so it's not crazy, but it's another great place to get some fresh local flowers. Yeah, I love the farmer's market for flowers. One time I went to the floor, my local farmer's market and they had these a little uh peppers on the you know, just on the branch they hadn't picked them and I got them all and then they had some oregano and so I made I came home and I mix it with some of my roses in my garden and it looks so beautiful I've uses an arrangement so pretty I look, I love farmers markets and we're lucky to have them here in the bay area sure, a lot of them right now we have a question here about the structure of your bouquets and this comes from my bouquet in the chat room and they say, how do you still have structure without it getting too messy or too tight? I find that some brides want the loose look, but you don't want it to fall apart, right? So for example, like if you look at this bouquet, you're right it's got structure, but it's also got that wild look to it because I used it it's so important to use different variation ofthe flowers and foliage because and that's what gives it that sort of the non struck richard? Look, even though you have structured it, so I think one if you have a lot to work with, then it's really easier to make that wild loose flower arrangement okay? I'm just curious and follow to that. Have you ever had a bride asked for a certain type of bouquet and you had to just say sorry that's not gonna work or kind of steer them in a different direction? Yes, yes, I don't want to get teo detailed, but yes, and a lot of times they are they're cool enough that they'd listen to you andi they say okay, cool I didn't know that I understand what you mean our but yeah, sometimes people want some stuff that you just you know I don't want to use and like I would never use for example um what are those called, um birds paradise in a um bride's bouquet because it's just not soft it's not I guess it's not lush not for me anyway to use and it's hard to you to maneuver with it it's hard to make it your own because it's such a beautiful for maybe maybe if you do an ikebana arrangement or something mohr sparse but I haven't had any brides really asking me to aa change my way too much and just to get your take on it chocolate buckeyes wants to know what do you think about baby's breath? I know that's like the favorite were baby take on no. So my baby's breath are these um I have never used baby's breath and I'm not saying that baby's breath is not pretty but I just it's kind of like carnations I love carnations carnations are such beautiful flowers and now they're coming with such different variety um but they have a bad day sedation and so I would never use them although I have seen some really original work with with baby's breath like just using them in volume to make a scene setting at a wedding not necessarily in bouquets but just like a lots and lots to make it garland with or um things like that but again that would not be my this is my my baby's birth right here or these but it's not it's not the cheaper option that's the problem uh it's the morris I always go with the more expensive options well, that goes back to the lushness that goes back you design quality and write you have to start with the kinds of materials that are going tio admit yeah, the vibe that your bride wants or the right yeah, I don't necessarily use the things that are you can find them everywhere I look for things that are unusual and so that's why I'm always driving with these in my car because it could really easily be just a quick stop on the road to grab a couple of this and that here without anybody catching me yeah, I think that's a good point maybe baby's breath is good for your kind of everyday arrangements but for once in a lifetime wedding situation you want to have something that stands out that's going to be unique and memorable and again because traditionally used so much it's no longer unique so I look for things that that will set me aside from that I want to be set apart from your everyday um florist you've ever used um, let's. See, I don't know if it's that mean that unusual, but I've seen I like lok watts. I think low quads are cool and there's a a tree down my street. That's a lot of them now that I've had my eye on, but I've been too busy to go clip it. Um, I like cloak watts. What did you do? I feel so many diff. Oh, you know what cotton would have you guys ever use? Cottonwood? So cottonwood is, um I wish I had my blawg here, but I found at the flower mart from actually of victoria of ah, florist at large. She brings them was amazing things sometimes so that they are like, um, they're like berries hanging off of branches and then these things after a couple of days, if it's war, they have a mind of their own and they they're beautiful while they're berries, but they turn into cotton. So you wind up having fuzz balls everywhere in your studio and it's. Beautiful. I have a photo of the final product that I would have shown if I had my ipod here, but yeah, cottonwood is quite interesting to use.