One of the many things I LOVE about weddings today is the opportunity that I have to combine flowers and colours in ways that would have not be even considered just a few short years ago.

Recently, I had the wonderful pleasure of creating Stephanie and Rocco’s wedding flowers.  Their desire was to have reflected in the visuals a tribute their Asian and Italian backgrounds while expressing their modern sensibilities.

Liberty Grand was the elegant backdrop for this deep ruby red colour scheme brought to life with burgundy carnations and tulips combined with roses and gerberas in deep reds clustered together and accenting with ruby crystals for a modern yet striking effect.

As a fellow carnation lover (a confession I made a little while back), it was a thrilling opportunity to show carnations designed in high style and to make obvious that carnations are no longer the flower of old fashioned arrangements.

Crystal Accented Branched Ceremony Arrangements at Liberty Grand

Modern Wedding Centerpiece of Burgundy Carnations, Roses and Gerberas

What has always been popular and will only become more so with all that is going on “out there” is considering and attempting to DIY the whole wedding or at least parts where the cost in the savings seems to outweigh the time and the effort of doing it yourself.

Out of the all the floral items that a bride-to-be might consider doing herself is the Centerpiece.

Its significance revolves around the fact that its multiples, whether it’s an intimate wedding of 5 tables or a large event of 50 tables affects the budget the most significantly.

Depending on a couple’s expectations for the wedding in general, DIY is not always a practical consideration. For instance, large tree-like centerpieces with branching and candles is probably best left to a professional.

However, I think for those who “budget” is the operative word before the word wedding, at least attempting DIY would make sense.

The simple equation is that the savings needs to be greater than the time in effort, thought and legwork. And the reality is that it’ll probably take more time that you think.

Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind when considering any type of DIY:

• Choose a simple idea. Making flower arrangements without experience or taking Martha’s word for it that you can make that rose tiered wedding cake is a stress you won’t want the week of the wedding.
• Buy a sample of everything before purchasing your set quantity. You may find that your first idea may not work out the way you originally thought.
• Practice before you make the real ones. A couple of trial runs so that making them is not one more stress on a long list of items before the wedding day
• Plan for adequate transportation. The logistics are always the last thing to be considered when perhaps they should be the first.

When a client tells me that they will attempt to DIY the centerpieces, I understand the reasons why. I also know they there have also be equally as many instances, when I end up making it for them,  because depending on the situation, it doesn’t end up being the great savings that it appeared to be.

The “WOW” factor of a wedding is that sometimes element that seems illusive.

It appears possible only for the weddings with the unlimited budgets that allow for flower arrangements that attempt to reach the tops of the ceilings in a banquet hall and are so full that they seem unattainable by most planning a wedding.

Yet if you look at all of flowers in these weddings they all contain a crucial ingredient that without it would take away that wonderful element of intimacy and warmth.

It is the simple candle and it comes in many forms.

• Votives
• Floating
• Pillared
• Novetly

They are made in an endless array of colours, sizes and shapes.

When combined thoughtfully into clusters or scattered naturally throughout an open space.  Candlelight makes the simplest spaces come to life with shimmering glow.

One thing weddings are definitely not anymore is predictable.

And this was most wonderfully the case with Meagan and Michael’s wedding that took place this past weekend at the Steam Whistle Brewery in Downtown Toronto.

For their lovely Valentine’s Day wedding, they decided to dispense with the traditional notions of great formality and red roses.

Instead, they opted to be wed in a theme of white tropical flowers with a clean and modern twist to complement their choice of a lounge theme.

White callas and dendrobiums were water immersed in modern glass cylinders complete with floating candles and matches votives.

In the ceremony the bride and groom were flanked by tall glass vases in a similar themed encircled with candles.

Modern Candle-lit Ceremony Arrangements

Once  vows were said and done, the guests were treated to a room full of candlelight to complete the chosen furnishings of white leather lounge chairs, steel rimmed coffee tables and a blue back lit bar.

Candle-lit Centerpieces Fill The Steam Whistle Brewery

Being a wedding florist and decorator for as long as I have, I have always found it interesting to observe the trends that come and go with weddings.

The end of a year always seems to be full of predictions of what the styles and trends of the following year will be.

While I have never been one for trying to gaze into a crystal ball, what I have seen from my own clients who are getting married next year is that one trend that will remain popular from 2008 is the choice of chocolate brown as a main colour.

While the wedding flowers that come naturally in brown are far and few between, here are a few ways that this beautiful folour can be brought to the forefront:

• beautiful ribbon in satin or chiffon
• natural stones and branching
• changing tablecloths and adding chair covers

What I find exciting about this chocolate brown the large range of colours that it complements. From robins egg blue and romantic baby pink to bold choices such as kimono red and gorgeous aubergines, it is a choice of colours that exudes a modern elegance.

Of course, perhaps one of the most elegant choices of colour combinations would be to pair chocolate brown with elegant and soft ivory undertones.

Elegant Chocolate Brown Themed Wedding Centerpieces And Linens