Posts from the ‘Flowers’ Category

Feb 27

Wedding Flowers: Blushing Brides

Move over, kings and pincushions – there’s a new protea in town! Okay, not new exactly, but this season blushing bride proteas (maybe the most perfectly named wedding flower ever) have really come into their own. This recent SBB wedding featured a ton of them, and I had quite a few queries about what the pretty blush blooms with the lacey edges were, so I thought it was time for a dedicated roundup. One of the things I love best about these flowers is that they’re native to SA and, while you can find them all over the world now, they are one of our very own. The story has it that they’re nicknamed blushing brides because men on their way to propose to their beloveds would wear one in their buttonhole, and everyone in town would know (hence the bride’s blushes) – true or not, it’s such a sweet story! I absolutely love them on their own, but combined with other flowers, fillers and even berries, they add a special something in terms of texture to any arrangement. With a combination of romantic folklore, South African pride and sheer gorgeousness, they are perfect for your wedding day. Here are some of my favourites from around the web. Read more

Nov 7

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Wedding Flowers: Hydrangeas

Image: J. Crew

It’s been a while since I did a focus on just one flower type, but I think that a shout out for hydrangeas is long overdue. Along with the trends for lush but affordable flowers as well as watercolour/ombre, hydrangeas have become way more popular in the last couple of years, and I couldn’t be happier about it. There’s something about them that just epitomises summer for me. They also come in a beautiful range of colours (even within the same bloom – hence the watercolour effect). There’s just one caveat: these are seasonal flowers, and they’re usually at their peak for 2-3 weeks, changing colour as they go. So if you’re buying them yourself (or even sometimes if you’re using a florist), you may need to be a little bit flexible on the exact shade you’re using. That said, they’re worth it for their price point and ability to fill up a bouquet with a small number of blooms. Use them on their own, or together with other flowers – both ways are truly lovely. Here are some of my absolute favourite hydrangea bouquets and arrangements. Read more

Sep 5

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Bouquet P♥rn

Does what it says on the tin. That’s the principle we follow in naming educational textbooks in my other life, and that’s what I’m doing today. No crazy preamble, just 20 gorgeous bouquets that have been making my little heart skip a beat lately. Lush!!

Aug 29

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Wedding Wreaths

Sources: Meg Perotti /The Stylish Soiree via Style Me Pretty (left); Paula O’Hara Photography/Laurens Norton via Southern Weddings (right)

It’s the ciiiiiiircle of liiiiife…. Okay okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic (and also? the last time you’ll hear me singing a song a) by Elton John and b) from a musical), but there’s no denying that a circle is an appropriate symbol at a wedding. It represents connectedness, eternity, the wedding rings. And when it’s made out of flowers – well, it’s just so gosh darn purdy. I’ve been noticing wreaths all over weddings for a while now, and every time I do they catch my attention, so today I thought we’d just bask a little in the eye candy. Read more

Aug 10

olive-leaves-wedding-decor-feature-image

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Olive Leaf Accents

Sources: left – Kelly Oshiro /Jose Villa via Once Wed; right – Merci New York/Elizabeth Messina via Green Wedding Shoes

Now here’s a little trend I’ve been wanting to bring you for ages, but I can’t think of a more perfect time to do so than during the Olympics! (Back in Ancient Greece, an olive wreath was given to the winner of each event.) Olive leaves make an amazing accent for your wedding decor, especially if you’d like to introduce a Mediterranean accent. There’s something rustic but also quite clean about them, and the silvery green colour works brilliantly against most decor, but especially a clean white. This really could work for a number of different wedding styles – an outdoor afternoon lunch, a beach wedding, a rustic farm wedding, an elegant wine farm affair. Beautiful. Here are some of the ways to use olive leaves in your decor. Read more

Jul 18

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Mismatched Bridesmaid Accessories Part 1 {Bouquets}

Source: Stephanie Williams Photography via Before the Big Day

One of the biggest trends of the last couple of years has to be the move away from uniform bridesmaid dresses, to putting your girls in a variety of styles or colours that complement each other. I still get a little thrill whenever I see this done well, and I know that it’s made many bridesmaids themselves happy, including me. But what if you really want your girls to wear the same dresses, and still want to distinguish them? To let them each express their personality a little? Then this series of posts is for you. In Part 1 we’ll be looking at the mini-trend of individual bouquets. This has to be one of my all-time favourite bridesmaid trends! Probably because of how much I love flowers – the idea of having several beautiful bouquets instead of just one with variations really excites me. Read more

Jun 14

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Watercolour Wedding Details

Good morning wedding belles! We’ll have another fabulous South African wedding on the blog this afternoon, but in the meantime, I wanted to share some fresh inspiration. First there was the pastel trend, then ombre, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise that watercolour-style design has been one of the biggest trends to emerge in 2012. It’s everywhere, from gasp-inducingly beautiful invitations and other paper elements, to cakes, decor and even to bridesmaids dresses. It’s soft and romantic, and heart-stoppingly pretty. I know you’re going to love it.

Here’s a roundup of all my favourite watercolour details – look out in the credits for the DIYs and printables (in bold), as this is a look you can pull off on any budget!

WATERCOLOUR STATIONERY
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Jun 6

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Wedding Trends Reloaded

Here at SouthBound Bride, I love bringing you all the latest trends. As you know, I believe that each wedding should be an expression of a couple’s unique style and personality, but it doesn’t hurt to get a sense of the ideas that are floating around out there. Eventually, those ideas can get a little repetitive. And while in some ways that doesn’t matter (remember that most of your guests don’t sit on wedding blogs all day and won’t have seen it before), it can be fun to consider fresh twists and new options. So here are eight of my top alternatives for creating your favourite effects.
Here’s my disclaimer: I’ve loved and promoted all of the ‘old’ ideas here, and I’m nobody’s fashion police. So if you love something, you DO IT. This is just about being creative and exploring other avenues along the way!

Nov 23

6 Comments

Single Bloom Bouquets

I don’t care what De La Soul think. Sometimes, one is the magic number. The number of children in my family. The number of hits Chesney Hawkes will ever have. The number of times I hope I will ever break down near Mooi River. And also, the perfect number of blooms for a chic but cost conscious bride (or just one who is in love with this trend as much as I am). Ladies and gents, the single bloom bouquet. Isn’t it PURDY?

I know, I know. You’re thinking it looks sad and sparse. You’re picturing a sad little rose clutched in your hands as you walk down the aisle, or a lone lily on your arm. No no no. Sparseness (sparsity? what will I do without my OED) is not the point here. This trend is all about allowing one lush bloom to provide focus and structure as a bouquet – to be centre stage and steal the show. Exhibit One: The Magnolia.

Oct 5

10 Comments

Wedding Flowers: Tulips

Ah, tulips. Hearty heart heart heart heart them. I mean, what’s not to love? They’re beautiful and elegant, they come in every colour imaginable, most are unscented, and they’re affordable. And for me, they really mark the start to spring, when I see them appearing on flower shop pavement displays all over London. Unlucky for me, those days are gone here on Mud Island, but with spring very definitely in the air in South Africa, I thought it was a good time to cheer myself up with a focus on one of my all-time favourite flowers.

Tulips come in three varieties (from least to most expensive): Dutch (the ones with the shorter stems); French (the ones with the longer stems); and parrot (the striped ones with the ruffled edges). When I started this wedding business, I used to get a little thrill whenever I saw them in a wedding because it was so rare, but tulips have really been picking up speed since then, and now I get to squeal over them almost on a daily basis. (It’s true, I still squeal.) Bouquets, centrepieces, you name it. It’s their versatility that really makes them work – they can work just as well for a formal ballroom wedding or a casual backyard affair, and the sheer range of colours they come in means that there’s something for every bride. They look gorgeous on their own, or as part of the current trend for lots of different flowers all grouped by variety, or happily mixed in to a multi-flower bouquet or arrangement. The only thing that you can’t really do with tulips is to DIY them, unless you have a friend or family member to do it for you on the day, since tulips can be temperature sensitive and need to be kept cold for as long as possible. Don’t let that put you off – in the hands of a good florist, these make the perfect (and meaningful – they represent consuming love and happy years) wedding flower.

Here are some of my favourite recent tulip inspirations!

BOUQUETS