Playing Favorites | Top 9 Bridal Bouquets in 2015

I was originally going to do a quick post about my top 3 or top 5 favorite bridal bouquets for this year... but that quickly got out of control. They were all so different and fun in their own ways! I chose bridal bouquets from all 4 seasons that I think represent my style as a designer pretty well.
I've been designing floral arrangements and bouquets for 6 years, and that has added up to having over 100 weddings under my belt. Some that I have LOVED, and some that weren't my style, but I'll be darned if I can't make a bouquet out of flowers that I don't particularly like for a beautiful bride that loves them. It's all part of learning and growing as a floral designer.
I sometimes look back to the bouquets that I made my first year doing flowers and I can't believe how far I've come. It's crazy to think that just a few years ago my sister and I had this crazy idea to starting designing for weddings. Professionally. Even looking back to the first bouquet I made this year, way back in January, I can see how my style has evolved. And I like where it's going! I'm getting a lot more freedom from my brides to just "do me" and I'm able to create beautiful bouquets that have an overall garden feel that's a little bit organic , but not too fussy or untamed.
Ok, enough about my evolution as a "floral artist," let's get to the good stuff, starting in chronological order (because I really can't pick a favorite)!

You've already seen this beauty, and I'm sure you're not surprised... Erin's full garden bouquet of peonies, hydrangea, ranunculus, stock, roses, and greens had by heart from the get-go. It's no secret that peonies are one of my all-time my favorite flowers, but what really clutched this as a top-9 was the hanging peiris. A selfish move by me to check off a bloom from my bucket list that had long held my heart. Still not sorry, and neither was Erin!

Next on our walk down memory lane is Megan's peachy pink dream. This babe was filled with texture and featured peonies, roses, lisianthus, carnations, and stock, along with some limonium filler and dusty miller for a soft touch of gray within Megan's bouquet. This was romantic, rustic, and timeless all rolled into one!

After creating Megan's bouquet, the following weekend was the wedding of my close high school pal, Mary. She had a similar color pallet, but wanted a little more of a garden feel and let me do whatever my little heart desired. I think we can pin down my obsession with silver dollar eucalyptus to this very moment. Peonies, garden roses, stock, lisianthus, and more were all surrounded with a crazy halo of silver dollar euc for a romantic and playful bunch of bouquets!

Aly's bouquet you may see more of in a future "Real Wedding" post, so I won't spoil the surprise of how we got here, but the soft cream cafe au lait dahlias and peach garden roses surely stole the show for this mid-July celebration!

With fall, came this gorgeous vintage bouquet for Ali. Starting with a color palette of whites and champagne, I applied a heavy does of vintage mauve/purple and of course my obsession with silver dollar eucalyptus continued. Ali's bouquet featured some gorgeous succulents, garden roses, champagne and amnesia roses, white hydrangea, mixed eucalyptus, and was fully wrapped and finished off with a full base of pearl and gem pins! Talk about vintage glam!

Oh, Randa. Be still my heart! I finally felt comfortable enough to set my wild side free with this fully organic bouquet of queen anne's lace, mixed eucalyptus, orange crocosmia, blue vibernum berries, scabiosa pods, blue thistle, and white anemones. This bouquet was finished with trailing ribbons, and is one of my all-time favorite bouquets (not just top 9 of this year)!

It was a good thing we chose cool tones of silver, navy, and white for this late fall fette for Kellie and Derek! Winter came on with a vengeance just for the occasion, covering Michigan with a blanket of fresh white snow! Falling in love with the loose-organic nature my bouquets were taking, I embraced the new trend and styled this pretty bridal bouquet with white anemones, hydrangea, dusty miller, silver brunia, white hydrangea, stock, and lisianthus.

Dear sweet Erin. Another oh-so-trusting bride that let me choose my own colors, flowers, everything! With it feeling like fall again, this Black Friday bride had me in the Thanksgiving spirit as I created her bridal bouquet using burgundy peonies, fuschia stock, peach roses, and bits of dusty miller, silver brunia, scabiosa pods, bright red mini carnations, and off white spray roses. I loved the colors and shape of this autumnal beauty!

Winter weddings have always been a fave of mine. The glittering lights everywhere, the sense happiness and warmth and romance... ugh. They're just so completely different from the hustle and bustle of summer wedding season. I had this post started with the intent of posting it before Jim and Emily's week-before-christmas wedding. Can you believe that?! I knew the mixed winter greens would be perfection, but this bouquet had me feeling like everything that was ever missing in my life was suddenly complete (insert some serious heart eyes here). I made Emily's lumberjack-chic bridal bouquet with a mix of winter greens, eucalyptus, some red ilex winterberries, and show-stopping burgundy amaryllis. I finished all the bouquets off with a trailing wrap of blanket-inspired plaid ribbon. I just can't EVEN with this one. My heart grew three sizes that day.

So there you have it, my top 9 favorite bridal bouquets from 2015! I'm so excited and ready for what 2016 has in store for floral and event designing, but until then answer me this: Which one is your favorite?!?