When preparing to post my How to make silk flower pomanders tutorial the other day, I was disappointed to find out that we had apparently lost photos of my more recent Twin Cities Pride Festival floral designs. Between a move, a tornado, and the folders on one of our servers getting jumbled… somehow the photos got misplaced. My husband noticed how bummed I was about it – I really loved the more recent florals. As many of them had been stolen from the site that year, the photos being gone just seemed even more tragic. He scoured the various computers and flash drives here, and finally found them! So, even though it’s a bit belated, I want to share the photos with you, as another example of what can be done with silk floral pomanders as outdoor wedding decor. This set of floral designs was done as a rush job. It’s kind of a funny story, even if that was NOT the case when it happened.

I arrived at the festival to set up, and we found out that the previous commitment ceremonies coordinator had accidentally THROWN OUT the florals I’d donated a couple years before, after the previous year’s festival!

So, with only a day to not only set up, but now also redo the entire floral design scheme for the ceremonies area, the festival armed me with a credit card, and I raced to a local silk floral wholesalers. With NO idea what would be available when I arrived, I had to cobble together a color scheme on the spot! I found several varieties of silk flowers in colors that worked well together – mostly hydrangeas, roses, and ivy – picked out my whole order, and rushed home for a LONG day of floral arranging.

With the help of my friend Susi, we managed to turn out the entire thing in record time, and were able to set up at the ceremonies site that very afternoon. Whew – what an adventure! Given what all was involved with the creation of this floral set, I’m doubly happy that the photos were eventually found! I love how they’re very pretty, almost serene looking… but *I* know the panic that went behind them. It makes for an interesting contrast of emotion for me!

These florals were all done using the same techniques as described in my earlier tutorial, with minor variations in technique:

- The pomander hung across the aisle had a very long ribbon run all the way through it.

- The domed arrangement with the draping behind it was done on one half of a larger styrofoam ball. I had cut it in half and poked two holes in it, from the center of the dome, through to the center of the flat side. I folded a long ribbon in half, feeding one end through each of the two holes and out the back. I then decorated the domed half of the ball, and used the ribbon ends to affix it to the pipes in the tent.

There are just so many things that you can do with these techniques, and I can’t recommend it highly enough… especially for outdoor weddings. It’s great to be able to get the design work done well ahead of your event. Trust me, I know this from experience! LOL

2.5 years ago, I posted my first wedding floral design tutorial, planning to make it a regular thing. With floral design being one of my earlier ADD career incarnations, I’ve got about 15 years experience (off and on for a decade of that) – a lot of floral knowledge! – kicking around in the back of my head, ready to share. Procrastination took over, though… so here’s my second floral tutorial. Better late than never, right?

For the past few years, June really makes me think of weddings. Not because June is the stereotypical “Wedding Month” (August was always FAR busier, for me!), but because it’s Pride month. While weddings happen all year, and can / do happen every day of the year… the sea of rainbow really had a way of making me stop to think about weddings, marriage, and happiness. When you’ve been in the wedding industry for 15 years, it’s easy to lose sight of some things.

For instance, it’s easy to take weddings – and marriage – for granted, when you’re one of the many for whom it’s available. I’ve never had to consider the idea that I wouldn’t legally be able to marry my husband, that there’s any chance of being denied any of the legal benefits to being married, etc. Hell, even before that… we didn’t need to worry that our falling in love, dating, or getting engaged could result in any sort of fallout with family, or provoke hatred and violence from strangers. No one sees our marriage as a “threat” to their own, no one campaigned against our rights to marry, etc. We didn’t have to fight for it.

As a Canadian immigrant living in the USA, I still haven’t wrapped my head around why gay marriage is even an issue. If anyone’s marriage is threatened by someone else’s ability to marry – regardless of anyone’s plumbing – perhaps it’s *their* marriage that needs to be examined. You know, NOT the marriage of the happy couple who wants nothing more than the right to be together. UGH. I’ve ranted about it before, so I’ll cut the tangent short, here. As you may know, I was a sponsor of the Twin Cities Pride Festival for a few years, providing all of the floral design for their commitment ceremonies area. The year I moved to MN, we went to the Pride Festival, and were shocked to see that the ceremonies area consisted of a single, unadorned garden trellis – no flowers to speak of! I signed up for the following year, and created many floral arrangements for the site. To this day, I still receive compliments about the designs – especially the pomanders pictured to the right and below. Yes, the silk flowers were very cheap and not the most realistic… but the color and visual impact that they brought to the site completely transformed the entire look and feel of the ceremonies site!

(Don’t judge! We needed durability, first and foremost, as these flowers would be outside – through various weather conditions- for several days. Then they would be packed away for a year, and brought out to decorate the following year.. lather, rinse, repeat. Nicer flowers would NOT hold up!)

Anyway.

In honor of Pride weekend, I’d like to show you how to make them. Pomanders are a great way to decorate wedding ceremonies and receptions: Put them in trees, suspend them from garden hooks, or hang them off the corner of chairs or church pews. As a DIY thing, they’re a great way to save money on decor, and can be made WAY ahead of time – so they’re great for pre-wedding time management.

Happy Pride Week / Month, everyone!

DIY Wedding Pomanders

Materials:

Styrofoam balls – I used 3″, you can use larger if needed.
Chopstick or BBQ skewer
Ribbon (Preferably satin type, 1/2″ – 1 1/2″ wide)
Silk flowers – MANY*
Silk greenery or accent flowers (such as baby’s breath), if desired
Pins (I like beading pins. Perfect length + bit larger head)
Decorative accents, optional**

* Flowers: I like to buy stems with many small flowers attached – ideally the kinds where the flower heads are easily pulled off. It’ll require a LOT – the small pomander pictured took about 50 smallish flower heads! (1.5″ – 2″ in diameter, when pressed flat)

** Decorative accents: Depending on the look you’re going through, there are SO many options for what you can do to really customize these. Metallic airbrush accents, spray glitter, stick-on rhinestones, sprays of wired beads, etc. I’ve seen steampunk bouquets with gears glued on, and I’ve seen pieces of Lego successfully use in a wedding bouquet. Have fun with it!

Alternatively, you can use larger flowers (such as the silk roses pictured above). Cut the stems to 1.5″ – 2″ long instead of pulling the flower heads off the stems.

Using a chopstick (preferred) or metal grilling skewer, puncture a hole right through the middle of a styrofoam ball.

Cut a length of ribbon. You’ll want it big enough not only for the loop, but for the ribbon through/under the styrofoam ball as well. As an example, if I want a 12″ drop (IE: the ball sits 12″ below whatever it’s being hung from), I’d allow 24″ for the loop, 6″ for the two ends to pass through the 3″ ball, and then another 6″ or so for knotting, etc… meaning a 36″ length.

Fold the ribbon in half, “good” side out.

If using a chopstick, fold the two edges of ribbon over the end of the chopstick by 2″, and push through the styrofoam ball, before knotting them together on the other side.

If using a (sharper, pointier) skewer, knot the two ends of the ribbon together (small, tight knot). Use the skewer to GENTLY push the knot through the styrofoam ball.

Carefully pull the knot out of the other side and knot another time or two – you’ll want the knot to hold the ball on securely, and pushing the knot through – rather than un-knotted ribbon – has a tendency to leave a fairly wide hole.

Start affixing flowers to the styrofoam ball. I like to push the ~1/4″ rubber/plastic nub on the back of the flower into the styrofoam, then secure with a pin. I push the pin through the flower somewhere near(ish) to the center of the flower, but not through the hole in the very center of it.

If you’re using larger flowers with the small pieces of stem attached, just push the stems into the styrofoam.

If your flower type has several layers of petals, try to push it through a spot where most of the layers overlap – it’ll be more secure that way. On this type of flower, I made sure to catch the pin through part of the plastic center, so that it’ll remain on the ball. If I had pinned it just through the petals, there’s a good chance that the center would eventually fall out.

Continue attaching flowers over the entire surface of the ball. Be sure to lift petals of an already-affixed flower to be able to place the next flower fairly close to it – you don’t want any styrofoam showing between the individual flowers.

Once your ball is completely covered with flowers, attach your decorative accents, if using.

If you would like to attach a decorative bow, tie one in a length of ribbon, then push a pin through it.

Pin the bow to either the very bottom of the pomander (hold it up by the loop to see where the very bottom actually is!), or to the top, near the loop.

Your pomander is complete, and ready to bring some color and visual interest to your celebration! Now… make a bunch more.

To do a pomander set like the one on the right, feed one end of a ribbon through the ball, rather than two ends. Knot and proceed as described. Once you have two pomanders ready, tie the ribbon length from each together in a pretty bow. This style is especially great for hanging from trees, as pictured.

Last summer, Celebration Generation teamed up with local floral designer Jean Cowles, of Violet’s Flowers to create a series of high end fondant wedding cakes that incorporated fresh florals in the design. The following article and photos were developed into an 8 page article for a floral industry magazine, Flowers &. The article, while written for the benefit of floral designers specifically, could easily be of benefit to brides, floral designers, and cake designers alike. I realized that I haven’t blogged about wedding stuff in awhile, seemed like a good time to dig this out of the ol’ archives to post

High End Wedding Cakes and Fresh Floral Design CAN go Hand in Hand!

Pale cocoa fondant is hand painted with orange-tinted cocoa Cymbidium Orchids design. The cake was then encased in a “cage” of curly willow and lily grass, accented with corsages of chocolate cymbidiums, as well as loose cymbidiums.

In the grand scheme of floral wedding cakes, a clear divide in styles is obvious. Traditionally, you have simply frosted cakes that make some use of fresh flowers, usually with little to no coordination between baker and florist. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the “cakes as art” trend. With many TV shows, high end boutique cake designers, and celebrity cake artists, there has been a trend away from the “white cake with fresh flowers between the layers” wedding cake of yesteryear. With the new trends for high design, experimentation, and even new technology available, many brides are ordering cakes that are stand-alone works of sugary art, not requiring any sort of additional ornamentation or fresh florals. Of course, this cake evolution has annoyed its share of floral designers! The current cake trends don’t need to shut you, the floral designer out – with a little creative collaboration, high end fondant cake design can be successfully combined with fresh floral design to yield spectacular results.

As a former floral designer, I have a unique perspective. Not only am I aware of the floral techniques, trends, and cool products available to florists, I know the cake end of things, too! As a result, I can think of many ways to marry the two. Here are a few tips to do so:

1. Start as early as possible. Discuss cake with your bride. If she hasn’t booked a cake designer yet, and is interested in the idea of a high design, fresh floral cake, encourage her to make a decision early on. Have the contact information of a few bakers you like to work with / would like to work with on hand! 2. Keep in mind that many of the options you have available to you are things that many cake designers have never heard of, and as such, don’t enter their mind when it comes to design. Offer up your floral designer mojo! Things like LED lights, fibre optics, colored Oasis, colored wire, rhinestone pics, etc – all things that are out of the ordinary to us cakers, but can be utilized to make a cake extraordinary! Educate your cake partner- you’ll find that many designers would LOVE to work with this stuff, as the design possibilities are endless! Knowledge is key to bridging the florist – cake designer divide. I love walking through our local floral wholesaler, where I maintain an account. I marvel at all of the cool accessories available for floral design.

Offset tiers of hot pink cake feature a base of split-lead philadendron, and kumquats. Small lengths of floral wire are bent into “U” shaped picks, and used to secure fresh tulips to the cake, both under the flower head and near the base of the stem.

Conversely, I love seeing the look on a floral designer’s face when we talk possibilities. “You can DO that!?” is a common sentiment. Between use of structural elements – my husband custom builds mine – and creative use of fondant, cake design can go far beyond the basics that immediately come to mind at the mention of “wedding cake”.

3. Discuss ground rules, and/or limitations. In working with Jean, “No silk flowers, no how, no way!” was her sole ground rule. This, of course, impacted my options, and was a crucial piece of information to have. It’s impossible to design a functional & coherent cake without knowing what you’ll need to work with. Other crucial information could include seasonality , durability, and toxicity of flowers. Some cakes need to be refrigerated, some CANNOT be refrigerated after decorating. Will this have an impact on the flowers chosen, or any of the design elements?

Closeup of Fresh Vanda Orchids wedding cake – See below for details!

4. Discuss construction logistics. Discuss the height you’ll require between layers – if applicable – the size and height of each tier, what you’ll require for your set up (Oasis holder? Power supply?), how and when the cake will be assembled, and who is responsible for doing what. Offer up any help you can provide, especially as it relates to foam & fresh florals. 5. Know that many of today’s cake designers hate cake toppers, and would prefer a “topper” that blends in with the entire cake design, coherently. 6. Lastly, for the love of all things holy, please do not stick stems directly into our cakes! Not only do we put a lot of effort into making our cakes look great on display, but we also insure that the insides are pretty when cut. Stems ruin that effect, and can make for very messy slices. Also, would you lick the inside of floral buckets containing even organic flowers? Neither would I! Please – always remember that this is food!

Working together as a cake designer and a florist can not only be artistically rewarding, it can be fun – You should see the out-takes from the collaboration between Jean and I! – as well as a great networking experience. Enjoy yourself!

Marie Porter is the owner of Celebration Generation Cakes in Plymouth, Minnesota.

The combination of real flowers with stems and leaves made of fondant provides an imaginative example of how cake design and florals can be coordinated for striking effect. Here purple Vanda orchids make a vivid color complement to the emerald green tinted royal icing. Marie has used a drop of icing to “glue” each fresh flower to the cake, holding them on securely. Using royal icing to affix flowers to a fondanted cake has the advantage of allowing the designer to avoid inserting stems into the cake itself. The Vanda stems are clipped quite short; then, when the orchids are removed, the body of the cake is still intact.

On this lavish and lovely wedding cake, Marie has created pockets with the fondant icing. Larger, heart-shaped pockets hold LED lights for a dramatic effect when the ambient lighting is low. Smaller pockets hold tiny fresh floral blooms. Overall, the pockets create a more 3-dimensional cake, adding to the drama of lush blooms exploding forth from between the oval tiers.