One June morning, I joined the wedding committee to build fabulous bouquets for an afternoon wedding. Upon entering the workroom, I saw several dozen buckets of cut flowers and greens. Peonies, dogwood, yarrow! Daisies, bellflowers, baptisia in yellow and blue! There were flowers of all sorts, in blues, pinks, reds and yellows.

We were to fill two urns, 2 holders to hang (which would then lay on a table), a standing basket, some mason jars, plus one small basket for the washroom. Where to begin? As the novice in the group, I got the washroom basket! Such a small thing, but it took dozens of flowers and stems of greenery to fill it to everyone’s satisfaction. Meanwhile, two ladies worked side by side to fill the urns, each different, but similar enough that who could tell they were each fashioned by two different people. The buckets of flowers and greens slowly emptied, and the finished products sat on display.

For the afternoon wedding, three cars caravanned to Live Well Farm, where the ceremony and reception would take place. Inside each car were our floral creations, cradled in boxes to prevent their tipping over during the drive. The flowers were unloaded, and placed carefully in their assigned location, or set aside in a sheltered area, waiting to be put in place closer to the beginning of the ceremony.

Our work complete, we took photos to remember our day’s work, and left, knowing that a bride would find festive flowers adorning her special day.

Buckets of flowers

And more!

Works in progress

An urn, only partly finished

Concentration is required

Making arrangements for a June wedding

Work in progress in the “florist shop”

Two bouquets on the gazebo

Urns in the shade, waiting to go out

The washroom basket, in situ

Mason jar bouquet