Have you considered felt flowers for your wedding bouquet? Here is a story of a couple who did…. and how they sourced these amazing flowers for a wedding bouquet that reflected their exact choice of blooms.
Congratulations to Cherie and Josh on their stunning wedding on the Mooloolaba Spit Parklands.
Would it rain, would it not??? A teensy drop of drizzle chased all the beach-goers away, and left the whole beach and parklands to Cherie and Josh for their wedding. Thank you sky. Thanks for the cooling blessing of a drop of water, AND for a rain free wedding ceremony.
Rain and Retro
However today’s story is not of rain blessings, nor of beach and delightful parks for a wedding.
Nor is it even about their choice of retro styling their wedding, nor arrival in the heritage red kombi van from Deluxe Kombis. Although I must admit I did appreciate the beautiful restored ruby kombi parked next to my own retro car, a pt cruiser… However I divert myself.
Felt Flowers
Cherie and Josh inspired me with their choice of flowers. Flowers in the glass bulbs hanging in trees, flowers at the belt of the flower girls, in lapels of groomsmen and in the hands of bridesmaids and bride. But all made from felt.
Cherie found them on Etsy, from a gorgeous maker in Albania called Livija Kandele, who showcases her felted creations on her daughter’s Etsy shop. By the time wedding flower styles and colours had been negotiated, they were firm friends. Cherie tells me she will miss her weekly online chat with her new friend, the felter. Livija, a craftswoman from Albania, wove her creativity into new realms with the design of new flowers especially for this Australian wedding by the beach.
Cherie said: “She had never made wedding flowers before, but sells hand and needle felted brooches, toys and various homeware items, on her daughter’s Etsy store- Liga Kandele. I actually began talking with Liga initially who coordinated with her mother, and took professional photos of the work to send me as her mother progressed. Livija agreed that she would be happy to give wedding flowers a try, and I ended up speaking back and forth with both mother and daughter about the detail of the flowers quite regularly. They were both amazing, and so extremely helpful and accommodating to my very specific requests!”
Cherie and Josh had clear ideas on the colour scheme for their wedding. In line with their retro theming, and using a classic autumn colour palette, they chose browns and oranges and yellows and cream. The flowers were quite symbolic too.
They selected Australian yellow wattle for their home country,
English roses for the long time they spent living in England,
North American russet red spotted tiger lily flowers for their time in Canada, and creamy citrus blossoms, traditional for weddings in times gone by.
The combinations were just stunning.
Cherie told me,” The dark orange flower is an orange spotted tiger lily. This flower was actually the main reason why I started looking into getting flowers made in the first place! I had a Sesame Street “Little Golden Book” when I was little, where big bird walked around the neighbourhood with flowers giving them to different people – describing the different types of flowers as he went. I always had a fascination and love for the orange spotted tiger lily in the book – it had stuck in my brain all this time! I noticed over the years that I’d never seen a tiger lily quite like that in Australia – they look different here. So I started researching it for the wedding and found that these type of flowers mostly come from North America. We had just moved back from living in North America (Canada), so I thought why not include that, plus a flower from England, and one from Australia – the three places Josh and I had lived together 🙂
To set off the flowers and their colours, the boys dressed in browns and carried brown umbrellas. Very classy!
And the girls dressed in individual retro dresses in mustard yellows, and carried brown polka dot umbrellas. The overall effect was simply gorgeous, set under the she oak trees in the park.
Photos by Kari – the celebrant!
