Bay Blossoms: Christopher & Rachel's Romantic Evening

On a warm, sunny evening, under an arch adorned with curly willow branches, roses, and tulle Rachel Avila became Rachel Edwards. Christopher and Rachel were married at Poppy Ridge Golf Course, surrounded by Livermore wine country. The weather couldn't have been better and the guests couldn't have been more lively.

In my pre-wedding consultations with Rachel we discussed what she and Chris envisioned for their big day and it soon became clear that they wanted their guest to be able to speak to each other across the table with ease, but also wanted the flowers to be a main focus within the reception space. They wanted their alter to captivate onlookers with delicate touches framing them as they exchanged vows. We also discussed the details of the wedding, such as bridesmaid dresses, what the mothers of the couple would be wearing, Rachel's jewelry, etc. with the intention of pulling all of these elements together with the floral design to make the overall decor of the wedding perfect. And this is what we came up with:

Here's the alter before:

And the alter after:

Because Rachel's bridesmaids were wearing deep pink colored dresses we decided to have them carry all white bouquets adorned with a small vintage looking broach.

After choosing her bridesmaids bouquets Rachel decided that she wanted to compliment their dresses by incorporating the color into her bouquet. She told me right off the bat that she wanted her bouquet to include peonies, so we distinguished her bouquet in this way and tied them all together by incorporating dahlias into all of them.

I was also asked to make the boutonnieres for the men in the bridal party, as well as corsages for the mothers and grandmothers. The groomsmen, fathers and grandfathers wore a soft and simple boutonniere made out of queen Ann's lace and lisianthus, wrapped in a rustic twine. The groom wore a single peony (to compliment his brides bouquet) with queen Ann's lace, wrapped in the same rustic twine that adorned his groomsmen boutonnieres.

In order to make a dramatic statement in the reception space we decided on a mixture of tall and short centerpieces that would allow guests to comfortably speak to each other. By incorporating empty, tall glass vases into the more dramatic of the centerpieces we were able to accomplish this.

The short centerpieces were done in such a way that there was a collective uniformity as well as slight differences in each one that added to the romantic atmosphere that the bride and groom wanted to capture.