Macaluso's Hawthorne, NJ

I am obsessed with succulents after doing this wedding.  I use 45 of them to complete all these looks and one of the best things about them is that all you need to do is give them a bed of soil afterwards and they will grow...sometimes they'll even be around for years.  So you'll see in the base of the vase I provided a rock covering, with soil and bark so the guests could simply take out the little vase of flowers and let their succulents continue to grow.  

The bride also had one large succulent and 6 small succulents in her bouquet, along with garden roses, spray roses, brunia, cafe latte dahlia's, seeded eucalyptus and dusty miller.  

The bridesmaids had a smaller succulent with sedum, dahlias, and spray roses.  

This wedding had the whole family involved....I made 21 boutonnieres and 14 corsages!  That's a record for me!

Pew bows for the church...

When first discussing ideas with the bride I came across an image online, that I maybe looked at for 2 seconds....then I couldn't find it again, but that was enough...I was inspired.  I love how the driftwood looks across the top with the succulent and cymbidium orchid.  For half I put the driftwood across the top, for the other half I had a dish with a floating candle and the driftwood was placed on the table next to the vase.  

I created my test run for this idea for a wedding show a few weeks earlier and I was able to get little trios of potted succulents to use inside the vase.  I ordered 22 more for this wedding only to have the supplier call me the day before the wedding to tell me he couldn't get them...really!  Ugh, this is why I pick up all my flowers myself.  In the flower district there are always alternatives.  I was able to get more large succulents when I picked up the rest of my order.  

These cylinder vases drove me crazy.....when I first unpacked them at home they were filthly...so I had to wash them with soap and water....and they smelled like fish inside!?   So weird....then when I took them out for the wedding they still didn't look clean so I cleaned them again with windex...so much work.  I won't be buying vases from there anymore!  

My next event is October 13th....and it's going to be a beauty!  I'm going to get the flower order together today and place it at the end of next week.  It's going to be so beautiful and I am using the chuppah again...but this time it's not a chuppah....just an arbor for the ceremony.