Expert tips for wedding flowers
Jul 4, 2014 | by Becky Oeltjenbruns
Coby Neal | Vintage Wedding Market Expo
Planning vintage weddings take a lot of preparation, but perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the process is figuring out the floral arrangements. Flowers are critical component to your big day: they convey the decorative theme, give your guests a stunning focal point while they wait for you to walk down the aisle, and add a beautiful pop of color and aroma. To help you figure out your signature floral look we turned to the amazing Coby Neal at The Flower Studio in Austin, Texas. Check out his expert tips for wedding flowers and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Coby Neal with The Flower Studio
Coby Neal | The Flower Studio
1406 West Sixth Street
Austin, TX 78703
512.236.0916
“I personally have been creating flower arrangements for almost 50 years and I opened The Flower Studio 20 years ago. The Flower Studio is small group of talented floral designers, fabricators, and coordinators. We pride ourselves in sending out the very best product with the freshest of flowers and creative design. Our team has many years of experience and can tackle any design concept or theme that a bride might throw at us.”
Learn more about The Flower Studio on their blog and Facebook page.
What do you love most about working with brides who are planning a retro celebration?
The beauty of a retro celebration is that it can go in a variety of directions. There’s so many different looks and styles, and it’s not always necessary to re-create only one. You can borrow and tweak from other styles to create something that’s all your own. We once had a bride come in with a Marie Antoinette theme and boy did we have fun with it!
Image from Coby Neal
Where do you find inspiration when putting together a look?
You have to study the period and allow yourself to be nostalgic. Research the time period you’re looking to replicate and let it guide you into that creative realm. (Review the Cause A Frockus wedding page to get helpful information regarding the era you want to channel.)
Please describe the process with your clients: do you try to follow the eras more specifically, do colors drive the concept, or is it a combination?
In my experience, vintage has been going into three directions, ranging from an Art Deco look to more country-inspired motifs. Firstly, there’s “The Gatsby Era” which we refer to as high glam with lots of candelabras, nostalgic flowers like gardenias, calla lilies, casa blanca lilies, and lush white garden roses. Lots of bling and ostrich plumes identify this period and you’ll find it often pulls heavily from the Art Deco movement.
Image by Bloom Photography
The next theme would be “French Country”, which can lend itself to small vases with spray roses, mint, geranium foliage, rosemary, peonies, garden roses, and violets. Lots of laces and ribbons define this period. The last concept, which is extremely popular with outdoor vineyard and ranch-style weddings, is a simplistic vintage look with a Country Flair (we call that “Texas Country” around these parts). These usually feature smaller, homey arrangements like mason jar vases filled with flowers such as larkspur, David Austin garden roses, baby’s breath, dusty miller, cosmo, and zinnias.
Baby’s breath is once more finding a prominent place in wedding concepts. Do you find other vintage flowers are having a re-birth in popularity?
Yes, I’ve noticed a recent surge of brides requesting baby’s breath in relation to the revival of the “vintage” looks. Other, traditionally vintage flowers (buttercups, daisies, pansies) also have become more popular as of late, especially in the “Texas Country” vintage looks.
Starlight Weddings shoot, Coby Neal
When it comes to bouquet styles, the most popular vintage styles we’ve noticed are the arm bouquet, nosegay, shower bouquet, and spray bouquet. Do you find brides want to stay with those more traditional forms or crave a different floral silhouette?
We find that the ever-so-popular clutch style bouquet remains the most in demand and can come with many variations of flowers. However, that’s not to say we don’t see an array of the above-mentioned styles as well.
Image from Andrew Sterling
What’s trending with the vintage brides you’ve been working with?
In our part of the world (meaning Texas) it seems as though most brides are choosing a vintage look because of minimal flowers to meet their budgets. That’s not to say you can’t have a vintage-themed wedding and have LOADS of flowers (I encourage it!) but the majority of brides nowadays are choosing a vintage look because the look can lend itself to requiring less florals. It really depends on the type of vintage look you’re going for and the importance you place on flowers during your wedding day.
Coby Neal’s number one piece of advice
A true vintage look, whether it be retro, Victorian, Marie Antoinette, or the Great Gatsby, are all going to require a decent amount of research and the right budget in order to recreate a moment of the past.
Cause A Frockus would like to thank the amazing Coby Neal and team at The Flower Studio.
For our readers: What is inspiring your vintage floral look?