My friend’s daughter dreamed of an affordable, elegant, hand-crafted, beach-themed, evening wedding in a vineyard. She asked her father to handle the flowers. To make them affordable he and I decided to use native plants and flowers that we found on the dunes, along road sides and in our beach-side gardens. With a team of family volunteers we went from masses of material in buckets to the elegant, candle-lit setting of the wedding and reception. It was magical and beautiful.
We found and gathered Bayberry branches, Cedar with blue and green berries, Pine branches, Cattails, Button Bush seed heads, Salt Bush, Asters, Sea Oats, Goldenrod, and dune grasses. All of which we stored in buckets under the house. To add some diversity and beauty we also stocked up on some white hydrangea and light yellow roses from a local flower wholesaler.
The day before the wedding family and friends gathered and looked at the masses of plant material that we had gathered and made faces of disbelief – what could we make from that mess – was a question that many asked. To make the task a bit easier we had created kits for each design element of the wedding that contained all the things needed to make and set-up that element.
We started simple with assembling the cocktail table candles – that kit contained sand, votive candles, shells and mason jars.
When we moved on to the Chuppah Garland we found that not one of the family volunteers had ever created a garland before. That kit contained a clothes line, clothesline wire, and floral wire – and all of the greens in the buckets. What we created was a huge, beautiful garland using Cedar, apple branches, Eleangus, Salt Bush, Pine, Bittersweet, and Bayberry. Once installed we added Sunflowers to each corner.
With that experience under our belts, the team tackled the Head Table Garland. That kit contained a clothes line, floral wire, large seashells, and decorative pearls. Using Bayberry, Eleangus, and Salt Bush we created a 20’ long, 6” wide garland to stretch along the center of the table.
For some the achievement of successfully making garlands for the first time meant a reward of coffee. For some, wine. For others, lunch. For all, a break. Next came bouquets for the ceremony aisle, the ceremony tables, and the table centerpieces. Those kits contained jars, vases, cups, lots and lots of satin blue ribbon, and the mess of buckets filled with greens and flowers.
Aisle Flowers
Ceremony Bouquets
Table Centerpieces
Bar Decorations
Having tackled all of these elements, the team was all set to create the bridal party bouquets, boutonnières, and corsages. These kits contained floral tape, floral wire, corsage and boutonnière pins, satin ribbon, shells, and twine. We created: a Father of the Bride boutonnière using New England Aster, Goldenrod, Sage and Lavender all tied up with satin ribbon and a Pawleys Island shell hung from twine; 8 groomsmen boutonnières from Goldenrod, Sedum, Rosemary and Button Bush seed heads all wrapped up with satin ribbon; and Mother of the Bride and Mother of the Groom corsages from Roses, Ferns and Baby’s Breath tied with a ribbon.
The Bridesmaids bouquets were created with Hydrangea, Roses, Nandina and Ferns tied with satin ribbon and finished with a shell tied with twine. The Brides bouquet was fashioned with a large white Hydrangea in the center with Roses all around in rows with Ferns beneath. At the last moment the bow changed from the blue satin to one that included lace from her grandmother’s dress and the bow from her mother’s dress. The finishing touch were Pawleys Island shells tied with twine.
Everything waited overnight until the big day. With all 20 kits ready, set-up only took two hours and went easily AND everything looked beautiful. The decorators were finished then it was all up to the bride and groom. They were great. What a party. Just wonderful.
After the clean-up we recycled the plant material by cutting it up to use as mulch in our gardens, unwound the floral wire to reuse at the next event, put away all the containers we had found in our closets and used the left over plants to create beautiful arrangements for everyone’s houses. An elegant, affordable, no waste wedding. Hooray for #TheNewMcCloskeys
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