Backyard Summer Wedding in Pembroke, ON

Photography: Courtney Dawn Photography Makeup: Valley Makeup Artistry Flowers: re.Planted Farm & Florals

It was a beautiful August morning when Hope and her small bridal party arrived to pick up their wedding flowers at our farm.

Hope reached out to us a couple of months prior, wanting us to create a lush and colorful bridal bouquet, that she could look back on years later and still love, along with buckets of bulk flowers for D.I.Y wedding centerpieces. This eclectic bride also chose our U-Pick Wedding Package, where she comes to our urban farm to select and cut the flowers she desires for her Do-It-Yourself Wedding pieces.

Bride, Hope, and her Sister

Unbeknownst to us, Hope and her soon-to-be-husband had had an emotionally challenging week. Walking through our flower beds cutting flowers with her sister and friend gave her a sense of ease and helped her forget the week’s problems. More importantly, her time in our gardens helped restore the natural excitement that comes from being one day away from one of the biggest days in your life.

The intimate wedding was to take place in her sister’s large backyard, located in Pembroke, Ontario; the heart of the Ottawa Valley. Once we gathered all of her DIY wedding flowers, her boutonnieres, and her bridal bouquet, Hope’s wedding vision began to vividly come to life. We were all ecstatic.

Image of Hope’s Bridal Bouquet taken by me (Akos) the day before the bride came to pick it up.

Hope’s bridal bouquet proved to be quite the creative challenge. The difficulty lay in figuring out how to create a design that was both aesthetically pleasing and wildly colorful, as per the bride’s inspiration images. I decided to anchor the orange, white, peach, and pink dahlia-laden bouquet with a Cafe Au Lait Bloom, taking center stage. I realized that as long as I chose complimentary pastel shades for the focal flowers, I could use smaller filler flowers to add more wild color, in order to keep the overall design easy on the eyes.

Some notable mentions are Lemon Mint Monarda that I used to create the initial structure, demure but poignant Boy Blue Bachelor Buttons, and Red Spike Amaranth which accentuated the overall shape and added rouge whimsy. If I could do this over, I would omit the outlying red zinnia, otherwise, this floral piece brings me a great sense of joy to look back on.

The bride attaching her groom’s boutonniere

Wedding Boutonniere featuring Lisianthus, Strawflower, Celosia, Billy Button, Frosted Explosion, and Love in a Puff Foilage

A DIY Wedding Aisle arrangement using flowers from our farm and Hope’s garden

After Hope’s Wedding, we decided to make You-Pick Wedding Flowers a permanent option for our wedding customers. We realized that the few hours one spends in our gardens can give anxious brides the ease they need before their big day.