DIY Flower Headband

How work really gets done in our house:










I'm thinking for the beach brunch? Or just to wear around in the days ahead? Headbands are fun, and are even better with giant flowers on them! And who knew that they there are great fake flowers at Ikea? I sure didn't. I like them much better than the ones from Michaels, although there aren't as many different colors.

I plan to give the orange one to my sister, since it's her favorite color, and Penga-Mom can have one too if she wants.

Headband fan? Where's the strangest place you've found craft supplies?

Floral Forum III

Me: "Dude, wait. Why are the the calla lilies so expensive? Can't we just go with anthuriums?"
Penga-Mom: "I don't really like anthuriums. "
Sak-Aunt: "Me either"
Me: "But we can get them in white. How much different can the be from a calla lily?!"
*Consultant lays some out on the table*

Me: "Oh. I guess they are different. But I still want the anthuriums."
*Collective sigh*

Well, we met with our florist. Between Sak, his aunt, and my mom, there were quite a few opinions to be had by all.

First, the bouquet -

Consultant: "What did you have in mind?"
Me: "I don't know. Tropical. Nothing that looks too much like a ball. Nothing round."
*Blank stares*

Wisely, she had me go through a ton of idea books until we settled on something I liked.

Hmmm....

The answer?
White roses

(source)

+
Cymbidium orchids

(source)

+
White Anthuriums

(source)

+
Stephanotis

(source)

=

One Penga-bouquet. For Penga-Sis, we'll take out the expensive orchids and replace the white roses with red ones.

Then Sak decided to throw me off my planning-ball.

Sak: "We'll need some boutonnieres too."

Say what?!

Me: "I thought you wanted a pocket square instead. You said flowers were girly."
Sak: "I changed my mind."

I think maybe someone was having flower envy, after seeing us put together my expensive bouquet? Whatever. His aunt decided to appease the future groom by ordering some white roses and babies breath to make him his own little flower arrangement. He's happy now, don't worry.

Finally, we got around to centerpieces. Remember how much I wanted ferns?. Well, I didn't let up, even through the rolling eyes. Here's a prototype:

I'm naming it my "tropics-in-a-box".
I don't remember everything that's in it, but it involved lots of small orchids and a ton of tropical leaves like Ti and Monstera.

An assortment of these, please!

Very rain-foresty. Almost prehistoric (just missing some tree-stars). And of course I persuaded our little party to replace some of the Ti leaves with ferns. Score!

Once that was all settled, and we had all balked at the estimate for a while, Sak handed over the deposit.

Flowers? CHECK!

What's in your bouquet? And how does your FI feel about boutonnieres?

Floral Forum II

Entering into another conversation about florists and flowers with my mother, she wisely asked what my vision was, knowing full-well I don't know two things about flowers. That's why I called her. After all, she used to work at a nursery.

On the topic of centerpieces -

Me: "Something short and sprawly and lush! Lots of green, with red flowers interspersed!"

Mom:"Are we still after that tropical feel?"

Me: "Yes, but not beach tropical. More like, rain forest tropical. Prehistoric. FERNS! Oh, let's have some ferns!"

Mom: "What kind of ferns? There's many kinds. What kind do they have in Hawaii?"

Me: "Oh, I don't know, we'll just go to home depot once we're there and find out. And then afterwards we cans eat them!"

(Click images for sources, as always)

Consider the conversation effectively over.

In any case, I think I really do want some ferns.

A big leafy fern (there's only a million bajillion different species!) in a short pot
(A Maidenhair fern..so cute and delicate!)

(The E.T. Fern...so prehistoric!)

(The Lemon Button Fern...Also pretty cute!)


Maybe a few fiddle-head ferns thrown in



Then interspersed with some red flowers

(Some adorable baby red wax ginger)

Simple and effective? It's hard to say without putting something together first. And I still don't want to make my own, but maybe this is something easy (and cheap?) for a florist to do?

Oh, and the best part about using potted plants - The Hawaii guests can take the ferns home afterwards, and eat them with their cats! (No joke - you CAN eat ferns.)

(I wonder what they taste like?)

Are you using a floral centerpiece? What kind of flowers/plants are you using?

Floral Forum I

So Sak and I got an email from his aunt last night asking us about our flower ideas. Well, truthfully, we didn't have any flower ideas! But after sitting down and talking/researching, etc. We can now say we have some ideas:

What we'll need:
-1 bouquet for penga
-1 bouquet for all-in-one bridesmaid-sister Danni
-6 corsages for Saka-mom, Penga-mom, and our four grandmothers (and possibly more for other helpers!)
-Centerpieces/Ceremony decorations

Here's some inspiration boards slides we put together for bouquets:

Click to make them larger!

My favorites are the hibiscus bouquets and the top right bouquet of red and white orchids. Saka's favorites are the hibiscus and the roses/ferns on the bottom right. The problem with the hibiscus though, is that it is fake. Real hibiscus apparently don't make for good bouquets. Tragic!

From this exercise, I think I want something both red and white, and with somewhat of a tropical feel to it. Ferns are a nice touch, I think.

Did anyone else encounter a flower they loved, but for one reason or another, couldn't use (in real form, at least)?

Image sources from left to right, starting from the top:
http://www.allseasonsflowers.ie/gallery.php
http://www.flowercreations.ca/flower_gallery/40
http://greeneryproductions.blogspot.com/2009/07/red-white-and-fun.html
http://www.arenaflowers.com/flowers/white_lily_bouquet
http://eleganceflowerbyelizabeth.com/bridal_bouquets
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nyengagements/3401989774/
http://www.romanticweddingflowers.com/bouquets.html
http://www.budgetmindedbrides.com/tropicalbouquets.html
http://theweddingdecorator.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html
http://www.sweetblossomshawaii.com/?cat=17