RSS
Home
Flowers: Good for Your Wedding, Good for Your Home
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
clustered red carnations in a pave design with berries
I contacted Susan Fogwell of Blue Thistle Floral because I want to do an article about her wonderful floral design services. She's been very generous in responding to my request for information about Philadelphia wedding possibilities and I was intrigued by a mention in her e-mail footer about working on the Rose Bowl parade. I LOVE the Rose Bowl Parade, watched it every year with my family as a child. (Of course we started with the Mummer's Parade, my parents are Philly locals!!!!)
Anyway, I e-mailed Susan getting ready to write an article and said "maybe we can talk about affordable winter flowers." Well, what a jackpot she sent me! This deserves its own article and we'll do an article about her business very shortly.
Part of making a marriage is really making a home. Too many of us today decorate our houses and then proceed to live in them as if they were containers for our stuff rather than our lives. Houses are not meant to be closets! They are meant to be lived in. They are meant to have couches where you snuggle down together, a bedroom with nothing in it but a bed for sleeping and love-making, tables where you eat your meals and talk about your life and little corners where you sneak off to be completely and blessedly alone. Each and every one of those little lifesaving and marriage-building spaces should be beautiful. Here are some great ideas from Susan:
"If you're on a budget, carnations are the most inexpensive flowers on the market as well as being one of the most long lasting flowers (they last an average of ten days). Although, carnations are common, when arranged in a creative, artistic manner, they can be just as eye-catching as a more expensive flower. Start with carnation stems (larger flower heads) and floral foam. Many natural elements are available at the grocery store which can be incorporated in a functional floral centerpiece. For instance, edible displays using apples appeared on Victorian and Colonial tables. So start perusing the fruit aisle at the grocery store for apples, pears and plums. All can be combined with carnations. For greenery and texture, take a walk in your yard and clip sprigs of pine, huckleberry or holly and add to the arrangement. Spear the fruit with a wooden stick and insert into foam along with the carnations. Cut the carnation stems to about 2 inches in length and cluster the carnations closely together in a pave design, by doing this the carnations appear lush and not singled out. Buy a bag of cranberries, spear them with toothpicks and add them to the centerpiece as well. A box of small artichokes can be bought for an average of $4.00 and they to can be added to a centerpiece too.
"It's not necessary to go out and by a container or vessel for your centerpiece, most people have containers in their kitchen cupboards that can be used. A large bowl or crockpot is perfect for a dining room centerpiece table. A bread loaf pan is ideal for a rectangle centerpiece. If you need a longer centerpiece, use two bread loaf pans side-by-side. A centerpiece like this will be a conversational piece too.
"Branches from your yard can be sprayed white or silver and placed in a tall floor vase such as an umbrella container. Add mini lights for a festive look and place in an entry hall or front steps."
Thanks, Susan! This fabulous relationship makes your life more beautiful. Reflect that in creating beautiful space and live in it. And if one of you eats the pear out of the centerpiece then get another one and replace it. You live there, remember?
One more way to move from "I do" to happily and healthily ever after.
(And remember, I need your help to keep this column current, sassy and useful. Write to me with Philadelphia wedding venues, products and services to explore. Put The Wedding Priestess in the subject line.)
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
