When college sweethearts Katie Brown and Spencer Cooperman--a Denver native--exchanged wedding vows on June 1, 2013, sumptuous yet simple wedding flowers adorned their big day and gave sentimental nods to their pasts.
Don't miss the slide show at left to see the dreamy effect flowers added to the ambiance at this romantic wedding.
In keeping with the wedding destination--Rosemary Beach, Florida--sprigs of the fragrant herb figured into corsages and boutonniers. At the wedding reception, aqua blue Mason jars held generous bouquets and mimicked the colorful Gulf of Mexico waters. And in loving memory of deceased grandparents, clear glass cornets with serene white bouquets dangled behind the couple as they exchanged rings. The wedding cake was decorated with fresh flowers, too.
Based on the bride’s keywords “simple” and “elegant,” the wedding flowers were designed by Grove Fisher of Fishers Flowers and Events. Jessica Miller of Serene Occasions coordinated the Cooperman wedding.
Photography by Dear Wesleyann captured the wedding's extraordinary loveliness. Enjoy this romantic slide show for the beauty and for inspiration when considering your own important rites of passage.
And if you're picking flowers to celebrate a wedding or other special occasion, consider these tips from Katie Cooperman, an attorney in Chicago, where her husband is a medical student. She offered her tips for picking perfect wedding flowers that are not only beautiful, but also meaningful.
• Start with a general vision.
“We talked about wanting the flowers to be ‘undone’ so that they would look hand-picked. We wanted our wedding to have a rustic feel to it, while maintaining formal elements to pay respect to the formality of the event,” Katie Cooperman said.
“We tried to accomplish this by mixing some rustic elements--Mason jars and a beer wall--with traditional and formal vases, candles, and flowers,” said Cooperman. “Grove drew up the entire event design plan, including layout of tables and chairs, placement of the bars, so her talents were responsible for the entire ambiance and decor.”
• Decide colors, concept, but trust professionals. And Pinterest.
“I think it is important to decide the colors and look that you like, but to trust the professionals to choose the blooms that are in season and allow them to make the flowers unique,” she said.
“I spent hours on Pinterest finding examples and colors I liked. Grove, my mom and I looked through the pictures; and the florist guided our selections. It is important to recognize that you're never going to get the exact picture that you show your florist, but that's part of what makes your flowers unique and special. In my case, I liked the way the flowers turned out better than any picture I had shown Grove."
• Introduce sentimental value. And improvise.
As a tribute to her beloved late grandmother, the bride also wore a custom-made jasmine perfume.
“Jasmine reminds me of my late grandmother, who we used to visit in Florida every spring, right when the jasmine was blooming,” Cooperman said. “I can smell Jasmine anywhere, and it immediately transports me back to her condo in Longboat Key, Florida.”
The bride-to-be investigated jasmine for her wedding flowers, but learned that jasmine is difficult to use in bouquets. Plus, she found out that jasmine on the landscapes of Florida’s Emerald Coast is past its prime by the June 1 wedding date.
“We were able to do our ‘first look’ under a jasmine arbor, but the blooms were past-peak,” she said. “The perfume was my way of incorporating my grandmother into our special day. The brooch that was pinned to the wrap on my bouquet was one of hers, too.”
• Don't be afraid to mix styles: formal flirts with rustic.
At the wedding reception, formality flirted with quaint, country elements. Outside, bouquets with a hand-picked look similar to the bridal bouquet were contained in aqua blue glass Mason jars.
“That was one of the elements that Spencer and I had chosen that we liked, but we were worried about over- doing the Mason jars because they are very popular right now,” Cooperman said.
The florist opted to use the teal Mason jar for pops of translucent color on the white tablecloths outside the reception hall. Inside, however, the florist incorporated lots of more formal vases of different sizes with pristine white flowers glowing in candlelight. The effect was dreamy.
“The farm tables inside were so beautiful that we wanted them to be a focus, so we kept the decor inside to all white flowers and soft candlelight,” Cooperman said. “We were very pleased with how everything looked and particularly loved the visually interesting juxtaposition of the indoor formal and outdoor casual decor.”
Cooperman’s mother, Mary Jo Brown, is an avid gardener. The mother-of-the-bride dug in to the task of planning the wedding flowers in collaboration with the florist.
“I love flowers, but I don't know too much about them, so it was very helpful to have my mom very involved in the process,” Cooperman said. “I really only contributed ideas and pictures, and Grove and my mom took it from there.”
• Consider mixing herbs into wedding flowers.
For any bride, picking wedding flowers is an important part of planning the ceremony and reception.
“Flowers make people happy. There is nothing better than a beautiful garden or a freshly cut bouquet,” Cooperman said. “Their place at such a joyous event is natural one, and flowers are very personal and allow a couple to work in blooms that have special meaning. In our case, jasmine for my grandmother, peonies--which have always been a personal favorite.”
The wedding flowers also included lots of hydrangeas, a special flower for both the bride and groom. “Spencer has always liked them. They remind me of my days in the South, and are my mom's favorites because they remind her of her grandmother,” said Cooperman. “Many weddings look similar, but in almost every case, the flowers are different and there is meaning or a story behind the flowers that were chosen.”
The couple also chose to incorporate an herb: rosemary. The destination wedding took place in Rosemary Beach, Florida. Corsages and boutonnières included fragrant sprigs of rosemary—and ancient tradition for weddings. For more about rosemary, take a peek at this article.
“Grove designed the boutonnières with rosemary and without a bloom to give them a very simple and masculine look,” Cooperman said. “I wasn't sure about them at first. I wanted a bloom, initially, but I really liked how they turned out--which is why I again say, trust the professionals.”
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