March 30, 2019- another snow day in Eskridge Kansas after a very long winter. But a little snow did not cancel the fun we had that day at Clover and Honey!

In December I hosted a Christmas wreath class for 8 people. I love teaching about flowers and floral techniques and we had a blast designing wreaths with evergreens and wire frames. I always hope my class participants have as much fun attending as I do teaching!

Not long after the class, one of my attendees contacted me about doing a spring class for her mother’s 50th birthday. Braydi had so much fun learning to make a wreath, she wanted to share the experience with her mother and friends. I had never made a spring wreath but I’m always up for a challenge and for learning new things so I started researching what we could use that would last or dry well, since evergreens would not be available. We used salal, Oregonia, craspedia, olive, statice, caspia, eucalyptus, eryngium, and kermit mums.

In the pictures below, you will see how much fun we had! We had nine wreath-makers and everyone’s wreath turned out great!

I would love to host you and your friends for a flower party! Arrangements, wreaths, flower crowns, container gardens, whatever else you can think of! If you have a birthday, bachelorette party, or any special event and want to host a party at Clover and Honey please contact me for date availability!

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.

floral crown with red roses and tiny sunflowers

Clover and Honey floral blog with tips and flower stories.