A NOTE FROM THE DESIGNER:
"Now, this may sound silly, but I always design better when I have a "Bride" in mind. I love getting to spend months planning with couples, getting to know them personally, and selecting the tiniest of details so that when I present them with their wedding flowers the morning of the wedding I know they will feel the love and intent I have put into creating their wedding flowers. It's those tiny details and infusing each couples loving little quirks that make what I do so special. Things get slightly more tricky for me when planning for an open house event like the Pella Wedding Extravaganza, because I don't have one particular Bride or couple in mind. I haven't heard their love story and we haven't swapped silly stories about their crazy Uncle Joe who is known for trying to catch the toss bouquet at all of their older cousins weddings. It's these little details that leave a void in the personal flare I LOVE getting to create with each arrangement. So when I go to plan for Wedding Expos, I often dream up a theme to give inspiration to what I'm doing. As a child I spent my early years growing up in a tiny rural town in the Northfolk Valley in Central Colorado. Our community wasn't famous for much, but it did boast the largest organic fruit orchards, with the owner of said orchards having to be childhood friends of my parents. The orchard owners daughter, Annavah, and I spent hours crushing grapes between our fingers to make grape juice, plucking fresh peaches from low hanging branches, gathering spinach and celery from the vegetable garden, and eating strawberries and cherries like they were candy. These sweet memories gave inspiration to my color pallet and design styles. We created a huge suspended floral hoop dripping with peach, fuchsia, blue, lavender, and burgundy flowers and full of mixed greens. This wow piece could be suspended first at a ceremony and then moved to a reception to hang over a sweetheart table, hang centered in a reception space, or clipped away from the hoop and used as head table garland. The bouquet was styled with a natural, loose, and handpicked feel, and the floral headpiece could be worn or carried like a hoop by bridesmaids' and flower girls." - Maggie Milby IMF (Thistles Wedding Coordinator)