Hydrangea Mania

If you are planning a mid to late summer wedding you cannot go wrong with hydrangea.  This is the height of their season and because their blooms are so full you get much more bang for the buck.

The Bride was very clear that she wanted blue hydrangea.  And I have found that the color shades between blues and purples can be very close.  So I waited until I picked up the blue hydrangea that I ordered to get the blue accent flowers that would complement the Anastasia Roses that would be used for the boutonnieres. I wanted to make sure the flowers were definitely blue!

And a corsage for the Mother of the Groom

As usual I will pick up the flowers two days in advance to let them swim and get plenty of water before I start working with them.

In this case I put the hydrangea in water and left them overnight....to my horror the next morning about 20 of the stems wilted...

Now these flowers had been delayed in shipping, so they were already a little weak.

I tried a trick my supplier told me about to save them...and it actually worked.

So here it is, if you have wilted hydrangea put them in warm water up to their heads and wait....can you believe that all but one of the stems made a full recovery.  

And here they are in the centerpieces.

This was a very cool idea...the bride asked the maker of her cake to create a hydrangea bunch for the top of the cake.  They look so real, but taking the picture I was overwhelmed by the butter cream frosting smell....mmmm I wanted a piece!

The bridesmaids bouquets were kept simple with only blue hydrangea.

So the near hydrangea emergency wasn't the only trouble I ran into....try rediculous traffic on the NJ turnpike....it was supposed to take 1 1/2 hours to get there....it took us 2 1/2.  We arrived 45 minutes late, but got there just as the bridal party was getting ready to take their pictures outside.  Sorry Jenn for the extra stress!

The brides visably let out a sigh of relief when she saw me coming around the corner with the bouquets.  Hers combined the roses in the boutonnieres with hydrangea and stems of cream lysianthus.  It was so big and full!

And a slightly blurry picture of the relieved bride with her bouquet....As soon as I get my new fancy camera I won't have to deal with blur anymore!