Summer Weddings for Two Sisters

What a busy summer for the Dannels family! Catie and Calli both got married, one in July and one in August. I was lucky enough to be the florist for both and enjoyed seeing their different visions come to life.

Catie and her bridesmaids- Photos by Steele House Photography

Calli and her bridesmaids- Photos by Grassroots Studio

Can you see the difference in styles? Catie wanted lilies and roses in white and burgundy with blue accents, and a beautiful cascading bouquet. Calli’s colors were rust and orange with dried elements and her bouquet had a free-flowing, organic feel.

Some of the flowers I used in Catie’s bouquet were white lily, burgundy spray rose, alstromeria, Polar Star rose, astrantia and blue thistle. Calli’s bouquet had Coffee Break rose, Sahara spray rose, white scabiosa, chocolate cosmos, pampas and bunnytail grass.

And finally, I love the tiny details a photographer captures. These are the moments of your wedding you want to remember.

When should you book a wedding florist?

I am finally finished with weddings for 2021! I had a happy, busy fall wedding season and towards the end I had a sneaky feeling that I may be closing in on a career milestone of 100 weddings for Clover and Honey. When I finally sat down to add things up over the last nine years, I realized I had already done it. Somewhere in 2021, someone’s wedding was my 100th! To be honest, I was just too lazy to figure out exactly which wedding it was, so here are my favorite bouquets from this year and I’ll just celebrate all of them as my milestone. Thank you to everyone who trusted me with their dreams, and for all my future couples, just know that I have a lot of wisdom and experience to share with you from the weddings that came before yours. 

Is there a best time to book your wedding florist?  There isn’t a specific timeline though I suggest 6-12 months. With the reschedules from 2020, things were kind of crazy this year, and even in to 2022, so it’s best to ask early.

Do you need to have all the details figured out before you contact me? No! It’s helpful to know your color preferences, the overall style or vibe you’re going for, in addition to the number in your wedding party and a rough estimate of the number of guests invited. 

Do you need to have an exact floral budget? It’s helpful to have a general idea of your overall wedding budget as well as the main goals or focus of your wedding.  Just know that your wedding day team makes your dream come true! Make sure you bring professional people on board who you trust to execute your vision with care and excellence. 

It’s easy to get started:

• First fill out the wedding questionnaire here and share some details about your wedding with me. I will get back to you asap.

• Then we will set up a phone consultation. (Ideally we hit it off and decide we’re a good match.)

• Next, I put together a preliminary proposal for you to make sure we’re on the same page in terms of style and budget before signing a contract.

• Finally, if you decide you’d like to move forward, a signed contract and deposit will secure your date and you can officially cross “find florist” off of your to-do list!

Absolutely amazing! Jennifer was an absolute delight to work with. She helped put my wedding floral dreams to life. Our wedding was postponed due to COVID and she was so flexible and understanding which we so much appreciated. She also traveled to our venue and set everything up in the most gorgeous way. Our wedding day was so perfect and it wouldn’t have been possible without Clover and Honey flowers. Thank you so much Jennifer, you are an angel and I l loved working with you!

~Makenzie, review from WeddingWire

Our Process…

I bring your vision to life so that your flowers are not only beautiful, but perfect for you! I want to take your floral designs to the next level.

• I listen and interpret your style so I can pull together the best parts of your ideas to create a cohesive look.

• I hand-select your flowers, inspecting for quality so they are the freshest available.

• I advise you on details that fall outside the realm of flowers to ensure design consistency.

• You’ll find it easy to reach me when you have questions or need advice.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

How It's Made- Wedding Flowers Edition

I wonder if you’ve wondered what goes on in my floral studio the week before a wedding? I thought I would share some photos that explain my job as a wedding florist and give you some insight into what happens behind the scenes. Never a dull moment!

It starts out pretty calm. My studio is relatively clean and organized. The trash is empty and the flower buckets are all clean. I love this feeling. This is Monday. 

On Tuesday I pre-fill all the buckets with water and flower food so I am ready for flower delivery on Wednesday. I also check all my supplies- tape, wire, floral glue, ribbon, vases. I will not have time to run to town and purchase these things anytime later this week!

Wednesday is the big day! My wholesaler delivers all the flowers I spent so much time choosing for your wedding, and puts them in my cooler. The next step for me is to make sure I got everything I ordered, in the right colors and quantities. Seems like that should not be a problem, but I work with Mother Nature. Sometimes flowers are smaller than I expected due to extreme weather where they were grown. Sometimes the wholesaler will substitute for something else that may be way too pink when I needed blush. Sometimes the flowers looked fine in their protective wrap but are in bad condition when I open them up. Luckily I work with some great growers and wholesalers that help me get everything I need even if they have to come back on Thursday!

Designing with flowers

Red roses

Eucalyptus greenery

Thursday and Friday are my work days. I need to prioritize from your order what can be made two days before the wedding and what will need to be made the day before. In general, bouquets are made Thursday because I want them to have the very best flowers from each bunch, and because they are stored in vases with water so they will last longer. Boutonnieres and corsages need to be made on Friday because they do not have a water source. 

As you can see by these photos, it’s at this point my whole studio looks like a flower explosion. I’m not neat or careful about where the stems and leaves end up. I have little piles of greenery and flowers everywhere, and I’m constantly moving buckets of flowers in and out of the cooler. Controlled chaos.

When I have the bride’s bouquet done, I “try it on”.  If you look you can see my arm in this photo. I stand in front of the mirror with it and look at it the way a photographer would, looking for holes or things that just don’t sit right.  

When the corsages and boutonnieres are done, they all get bagged and labeled. I have learned over the years to triple check everything I do. I get the names of everyone receiving flowers from the bride, make the labels, and check the list against the actual order, just to make sure nothing gets overlooked. 

And then it’s wedding day! For an average wedding, it takes about 45 minutes to load my vehicle. The bouquets are in vases loaded in special crates. Everything else is packed strategically so nothing gets crushed. (It should be noted here that strategically packing a car is not my forte’ but I’m getting better!) In the summer, I have the AC on full blast. In the winter, I have to make sure everything is covered in plastic. And then I drive like my grandma the whole way to the wedding! I am always so happy and relieved to empty my vehicle and get positive feedback on my work. The anxiety that has built up over the last week is all gone when the bride tells me how much she loves her bouquet.

Here are the top five things that motivate me during wedding week:

1.) Country Music on Alexa while I work. (Weirdly this is the only time in my life that I listen to country music).

2.) LaCroix

3.) Dot’s Pretzels

4.) Friends that help me on big weddings. (It’s lonely working alone).

5.) The music I’ve been listening to as I deliver the flowers: Jason Mraz, Classic Rock, and Hamilton the musical!

I really love wedding flowers! Please refer me to all your friends- wedding weekends are filling up for 2022!

Sisters in St. Louis

My sister’s sister-in-law got married in St. Louis on September 5, 2020 and I got to be the wedding florist! I was happy and honored to be a part of Mary Beth and James’ big day, but I was equally thrilled and excited to work , play and hang out with my sister Melissa who I hadn’t seen in months thanks to the pandemic.

When I said yes to this wedding, I knew I would have to find a place to purchase flowers and design in St. Louis since it is six hours from my studio. A huge thank you to the Baisch and Skinner home office for renting Melissa and me space to work, and allowing me to order and pick up all my flowers from them. They are my wholesaler at home as well, with a branch in Topeka. Always the very best customer service!

The wedding was held at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church and the reception was at The Cedars Event Center. It was a joy to work with Mary Beth on all the details. After a year that created many challenges for everyone, especially the Abkemeier family, it was so nice to be able to help with this event that brought joy to such a nice family.

Mary Beth’s colors were shades of plum and lavender with pale yellow accents. We used lavender roses, plum callas, lisianthus, scabiosa, and ranunculus, along with yellow stock. Beautiful for a late summer/early fall wedding!

I just had to include this picture to prove we were in St. Louis! It was such a fun weekend spending time with my sister. Even though she’s not a florist, she has worked in the business and has the same love of flowers I do. It was hectic not working in my own studio and not knowing my way around the area, but Melissa and I even managed to find time for some takeout food and a glass of wine. Congratulations to Mary Beth and James and thank you so much for choosing me to be your florist!

Photos by Sarah Klump with White-Klump Photography

Larkin and Martha's Wedding

Larkin Bennett and Martha Johnston were married on August 15, 2020. It was sunny. It was warm. It was beautiful! To be fair, I’m biased because Larkin is my son, but it really was a wonderful day.

My sweet new daughter in law Martha was the perfect bride when it came to designing wedding flowers. She told me she loves purple and was fine with whatever flowers I chose to use. What could be more fun for a florist?

Martha’s bouquet was a mix of all shades of purple, and had lots of texture. Ocean Song roses, plum ranunculus, anemone, larkspur, stock, veronica and scabiosa.

This wedding was such a family affair- top to bottom! The photographer for the amazing photos was Hannah Kraus Photography and her husband, Connor, my stepson and daughter in law. My grand daughters were the flower girls, Nora and Eleanor. And Larkin and Martha’s day was complete when they got to take photos with their chocolate labs, Rebel and Hazel.

Our Family- these kind of pictures always make me so happy and thankful.

Larkin and Martha's families

Larkin's Family

One of the best parts of their wedding ceremony was the tree planting. Sort of a unity ceremony that blended their two families together. Larkin is from Kansas, Martha is from Minnesota, and they have made their home, and bought a farm, in Iowa. For the ceremony they each added dirt from their home state to an oak tree that they later planted on their Iowa farm. How cool is that?

Each one of my weddings is special to me. I wouldn’t be in the business of wedding flowers if I didn’t care about each and every wedding I do. But of course this one is extra special. Larkin is my last child to be married, so there is also a sigh of relief!

I saved the best picture for last. The look of pure joy on Larkin and Martha’s faces is exactly how it should be on your wedding day!

Katie and Adam at Magnolia Venue and Urban Garden, August 17, 2019 →

This story starts in the year 2001 for Katie and me. She was my daughter’s best friend in 5th grade and that was the year they talked their parents into letting them join a traveling summer softball league. So many long weekends and so much fun. And here we are in 2019 with Maryann standing up with Katie in her wedding to Adam. Good friends last a lifetime.

Photos by Brittyn Elizabeth Photography

The wedding colors were classic with dusty blue dresses, charcoal suits, creamy white flowers, and mixed greenery including several types of eucalyptus as well as magnolia leaves.

Katie’s bouquet included white Mondial roses, white garden roses, brunia, waxflower, stock and lisianthus.

It was a perfectly perfect day with lots of sunshine and lots of laughs. I was honored to be a part of this wedding and wish Katie and Adam all the love and happiness they deserve!

Photo by Brittyn Elizabeth Photography

My Wedding- August 10, 2019- Eskridge, KS

This is my wedding- my story. On August 10, 2019, I married a man I love very much and it was a wonderful day filled with all the people I love most. Many of you know that my last ten years have been a journey I didn’t plan. But that’s life and we all have stories. The smiles in these pictures represent everything good about unexpected journeys, and being able to accept, adjust and move forward. And a special thank you to our daughter-in-law, Hannah Kraus, for capturing everything perfect about this day in photos. @hannahkrausphotography

I know I’m a florist and you would think flowers would be an important part of my day but….. I was just too lazy and honestly more interested in the food and wedding cake! I did make myself a bouquet of my favorite flower-Stock, in three colors. And I decorated our historic park bandstand with Smilax which was super fun to work with!

Martha, Larkin, Nora, Hannah, Connor, Warren, Jennifer, Maryann, Ellie, Zeb, Erica, and Ryan

Two of my favorite quotes and ones that I think about often. ““What lies behind us, and what lies before us are but tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson. and “Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be.”- Robert Browning.

The food was amazing. Amy and Lucas Moody. @forkluvsspoon

It was a really hot day in August and we had fun anyway! With all of our friends, amazing food, and yes, yard games including volleyball, we celebrated everything great about finding the person you love.

Wedding Flowers at The Brownstone, Topeka, Kansas →

June began with a beautiful summer Sunday wedding at The Brownstone in Topeka, Kansas. The bride and groom had a long distance relationship- from Mississippi to South Africa! and chose Topeka as the destination since it was close to her hometown. There was so much joy in the air as we set up, so many family members and friends excited to see Rachel and Reece get married.

Ceremony Arch with all white flowers and mixed greenery

The pictures above from Megan Hein Photography capture the simple elegance of this wedding. White, ivory and cream roses with blue thistle, waxflower and large mums. Also mixed eucalyptus with silver dollar, baby blue and gunni.

Brides’ Bouquet

Dusty Blues and Greens

The picture above is one I took before the ceremony. Flowers featured are roses, stock, thistle, caspia, willow eucalyptus, gunni eucalyptus, and waxflower.

You don’t have to obsess over every detail to have a beautiful wedding!…with a few inspiration photos, an understanding of the overall wedding style and some freedom to create, I’m happy to run with an idea and bring it to life!

How do you want your wedding day to feel? Start with the feeling and build your plans from there.

What happened in Waco.... →

I just got back from the Team Flower conference in Waco Texas. I signed up in November for what I thought would be a warm spring vacation where I could learn more about wedding floral design. I was wrong twice! Waco had record-breaking cold temperatures last week with lows in the 20s, and I learned much more than floral design!

Ceremony Back Drop

This was a three-day conference and I arrived late. My plan was to drive the eight hours on Sunday, but Kansas had to have one last winter blizzard so I left Monday instead. The first session I attended that afternoon was Large Scale Installations by @bowsandarrows. I watched them install this entire ceremony back drop in 30 minutes!

Poppies and Ranunculus

I also attended sessions on Creativity, Flower Farming, Client Communication, Embracing Change, Hiring and Managing a Team, and Art and Creativity. There were 250 retail florists, studio florists and flower farmers in attendance. 

The last day of the conference we walked in to this amazing flower bar. Buckets and buckets of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen all in one place! This session was about a non-profit organization called Full Bloom @thefull_bloom. They come in after your wedding or event and repurpose all the leftover flowers into vase arrangements for hospitals and care facilities. We made over 300 arrangements to be delivered in Waco and it felt so good to be a part of something like this.

Poppies and Ranunculus

Anemone

Arrangements ready to be delivered

The final event was a design competition by 17 participants who volunteered to share their talents. The shapes, textures, use of colors and design principles were inspiring to say the least.

So what did I learn besides floral design? I learned that I do things differently than a typical retail florist shop and so do the other 249 people who attended the conference. I learned that I am part of a movement among florists to be more intentional about our love of flowers and more attentive to our customers. I like being different and following my heart when it comes to designing. I love following all the old-school design principles and mechanics, but I can do that with tons of energy and creativity in a sustainable way. I love what I do and now I embrace being different!

My Values:

I will always make your wedding flowers customized to you. I will double-check every detail, your likes and dislikes, things that are important to you, to make sure what I deliver is perfect.

I will stay true to my style- natural, garden, organic, original. 

I will recycle, re-use, and reduce waste when possible, and use all resources wisely.

I will use local flowers when possible, and always include something from my garden in your bouquet- a blessing from me to you.

I won’t do any weddings that aren’t a fit for me personally.

I love teaching about flowers- design classes, plant names, color choices, blogs.

I will obsess about flower choices for your beautiful wedding.

And of course I shopped all things Magnolia while I was in Waco!

Corsages and Boutonnieres- Do we need them?

Do we need corsages and boutonnieres for anyone in our wedding party? Remind me again what they are? And why is boutonniere so hard to spell?

What are boutonnieres and corsages?

A corsage is a small bundle of flowers that is pinned to the lapel of a woman's clothing or tied around her wrist. Taken from the French word for buttonhole, the boutonniere is a small, single flower or the grouping of two or three flowers worn on the lapel of the groom or the other men in the ceremony.

Who wears them?

Traditionally everyone in your wedding party wears or carries flowers, but you are free to make your choices on this one. In most weddings I’ve done, groom and groomsmen wear boutonnieres that match what the bride and bridesmaids are carrying. Beyond that, there are lots of options. Most couples either don’t know the full count yet of what they will need or haven’t even thought about this question.

Here are some things to think about. Corsages and boutonnieres are a way to honor important people in your life. If your families and friends don’t really know each other, and they see someone at the reception wearing a corsage or boutonniere, then they know immediately that person is someone special to you.

Personal flowers, like corsages and boutonnieres, are a way to identify the people guiding the service, i.e. ushers. At large weddings, it’s nice to know who to ask for information. Other personal flowers could be flower crowns for flower girls or tiny boutonnieres for the ring bearers.

So groom, groomsmen, ushers. Who else? Most importantly- moms! They do so much work to help plan your wedding and their only reward is a beautiful corsage! Also grandmothers, fathers, grandfathers, readers, musicians, candle lighters, hostesses, personal attendants, officiants……. you get the idea. Anyone you want to honor and recognize.

With so many important people, where do you draw the line? Totally your choice. There is no right or wrong. While I enjoy making corsages and boutonnieres, they are a lot of work. Kind of like tiny little flower arrangements that take a lot of abuse through the day, and need to be sturdy enough to last. I love the creativity of them and definitely try to put some character into each one, thinking specifically about who I am making it for.

Please let me know if I can help you plan your beautiful wedding flowers. My favorite part of the process is meeting you and discussing all the little details!

How to spell boutonniere- one t, two n’s, one r, lots of vowels.

Jenn’s Portrait Photography

Kristen Golden Photography

Where the magic begins.... →

Have you ever considered the idea that wedding flowers are a crop? They are grown in huge fields all over the world just for your bouquet. Holland, Ecuador, California, Japan, Alaska, Colombia and Kansas. Even in my backyard! As I have mentioned here before I love the idea of adding something I’ve grown to every bouquet, just a little blessing from me to you for a happy life. 

This year adding my own flowers has become a big challenge. I moved last fall from my house with very established cut flower gardens and a beautiful variety of shrubs for unique greenery. My new house sadly has no flowers! (I know right?) So this spring on days when it was warm enough, I started planting all the things I love and miss. Hopefully at this time next year my yard will be filled with blooms. 

Here are a few of my favorites things and a couple of surprises:

Eucalyptus- favorite wedding varieties are seeded, silver dollar or Gunni

Citronella- Not only does it smell like lemons, I love the cut-leaf foliage

Scabiosa or pincushion flower- it comes in so many great sizes and colors

Astilbe- there are two tiny little buds showing. This is a fluffy filler that comes in white, pale pink and red

Zebra Mallow- just another sweet little purple flower

Dusty Miller- who doesn't love pale gray fuzzy foliage?

Heuchera- a foliage plant in many beautiful colors with dark veins

A skink- not what I wanted to see but I've been told they eat bugs. So I guess we'll be friends.

Tree Frog- my other friend

Nora's first day as a freelance gardener/florist. Not a bad start- she only ate one leaf!

So wish me luck, sunny skies and weekly rain! I can't wait to have blooming flowers at my fingertips when it's time to work on your beautiful wedding.