All photos captured by the talented McCall Burau at Lucky Malone Photography. Wedding planning by the team at Root and Gather Events. Floral design by Dandelion Floral.
Today I am going to talk about wedding color palettes, flowers, and trust. I want to share a “behind-the-scenes” story of Kathryn and Jake’s beautiful Lander, Wyoming ranch wedding to show you how my design process results in unique designs that are inspired by place and my client’s vision.
First, it is ok if you are unsure about your wedding color palette, or what flowers should fill your bridal bouquet. That is what I am here for! To guide you through this wonderful journey of flowers for your wedding day. You see, I have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest. I love it as a platform to easily share ideas. However, it can also be limiting. This where the trust comes in.
As your designer, I want to know all the details about your love story, the most important things about your wedding, how you want your guests to feel, and the overall setting. The palette for most clients is set early in the planning process and I plant the garden accordingly. In this case, the vibrant colors of the bridal party's attire and the early fall season colors inspired one of my favorite bridal bouquets.
When Kathryn and I met to visit the bucolic location of her and Jake’s ranch wedding, she was still on the fence about having an all-white and greenery bouquet or a very colorful one. Her bridesmaids and groomslady were wearing red, blue, green, and yellow, and she wanted to pull it all together in an elegant way. I was hesitant to steer her away from the original design that embraced a neutral palette. On one hand, a white bouquet would go with everything, and would no doubt be elegant. On the other hand, it wouldn't stand out as much in the outdoor ranch setting as one with more vibrant colors.
As a floral designer, it is my job to guide couples through this process and make sure the flowers reflect their inspiration. When a color palette challenge arises, I look to the garden and the season for my own inspiration. My mind immediately went to the bold and tonal hues of the dahlias that bloom in late summer. You see, dahlias have a way of dressing ANYTHING up, and their tonal colors ranging from red, yellow, and orange would no doubt complement and pull together all the attendant’s attire. (By the way, dahlias come in just about every color, so if you love dahlias and you want a later summer or fall wedding, we can create designs for just about any color palette!).
As we discussed the options, we came to a lovely conclusion. The bridesmaids would have neutral, textural greenery bouquets and for Kathryn, well, her bridal bouquet would show case all the vibrant hues that a September garden has to offer. I was giddy. You see, I love to create designs with lots of color.
Kathryn’s bridal bouquet was filled with 100% locally-grown and foraged material: dahlias, madame butterfly snapdragons, pincushion flowers, sedum, joe pye weed, yarrow, coneflower, bupleurum, and locally foraged aspen and Russian olive. The bridesmaid’s textural greenery bouquets were made with sagebrush, bupleurum, willow, aspen, and Russian olive. Boutonnières were created with culinary sage, greek oregano flowers, and pincushion flower buds.
The setting for the ceremony was in a pasture facing Table Mountain, with the Wind River Mountain Range in the background. The bride and groom spend a lot of time in the outdoors and wanted the florals to highlight the natural beauty of the location. To do this I created a ground floral installation, or ceremony “fairy ring”, using the lush greenery of aspen with just a touch of autumn colors. The line of the aspen installation continued into the ceremony aisle. Aspen is a wonderful locally-foraged greenery to use instead of eucalyptus - it does well out of water and nothing compares to the way the leaves move in the breeze. It is called “quaking aspen” for a reason!
The tables inside the reception tent were decorated with lush greenery and aspen garland that looked both elegant and natural on the wood tables. Each place setting had a sprig of Wyoming sagebrush paired with the name of each guest. Clear glass votive candles brought sparkle and warmth to the tables, creating luminous ambiance once the sun went down. By the way, this sweet umbrella shot of the couple is a reminder to plan for a tent if you are planning an outdoor event in the mountain west! An afternoon storm quickly passed through the area between the ceremony and reception - gracefully weathered by guests and the wedding couple in the tent.
If you are getting married or planning an event in Wyoming and beyond, and you like our approach to floral design, let’s schedule your consultation today!