Green Thumb.

Last night me, mom and Jesse (my sister-in-law) met with Phillis of Rainbow's End Floral in Downtown Kingsport. Matthew had to work late and couldn't make it. He actually said the flowers were all up to me, anyway, so I don't think he cared!

Phillis will be in charge of all of the flowers for the wedding. I have known her for a couple of years now. When I had my shop on Broad Street, I was also the Merchant Chair for Downtown Kingsport, so I kept in touch with most of the Downtown businesses on a daily basis. Phillis was one of the first fellow business owners I talked to :)

Before the meeting, I spent most of the day yesterday looking at all of the flowers I had pinned on Pinterest for our wedding and gathering my thoughts. Since we started planning the wedding, I knew that I wanted our main flower to be lavender. Lavender is not only my favorite color, but it's my favorite flower too. I love how delicate and pretty it looks. Not to mention it smells amazing! Plus I have said that our wedding theme is "lavender and lace," which I think is very fitting. So with that in mind, I wanted the rest of the flowers that we chose to compliment the lavender. I was thinking a soft, rustic but romantic color palette for the bridesmaid bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, etc.

This is exactly what I love. All of the colors that I want, but not too bright or overbearing. Simple. Romantic. Vintage. Rustic. Yes, please!

When we got to the meeting, we sat down with Phillis and I showed her this picture and a ton of others, too so she would get exactly what I was looking for. And of course she understood completely! She is, after all a flower expert. She knew that I still wanted the "rustic" look without going too far, since we are getting married at the Carnegie now, instead of a barn :) So this picture is pretty similar to what my bridesmaids will be carrying, and my centerpieces will have the same look as well.

After deciding "the look" that I was going for, we then discussed what type of centerpiece container we would be using. I am not a fan of plain glass vases. I'm not sure why. That's just never been my taste. So when I spotted these beautiful garden urns that Phillis had, I knew those were what I wanted to use! Not only do they look vintage, but the are unique and not your typical wedding centerpiece. LOVE!

We also decided on having two tall columns with flower arrangements on top displayed during the ceremony, one on each side of the beautiful mantel in the ballroom where Matthew and I will say our vows.

After all of the major decisions were out of the way, we then talked about my bouquet. Since the fad of the "brooch bouquet" started, I have wanted to have one for my wedding so bad! So, for the past 9 months I have been diligently collecting brooches and jewelry pieces.

I have over 70 total. Some of them are Matthew's mom's, some of them are my mom's, some of them were given to me, and the rest I've collected at different antique and thrift stores. When we first got engaged, I was going to take on the project of doing the brooch bouquet myself, but since Phillis is experienced in this department, I decided to let her have at it! I know she will do a much more professional job than I ever could. She is also going to add fabric from my mom's wedding dress around the stems of my brooch bouquet, instead of using ribbon. I can't wait to have that "hand-me-down" touch added :)

This is my favorite brooch of them all. It's purple of course, and it belonged to Matthew's mom. Phillis is also adding another (less feminine) brooch of Matthew's mom's to his boutonniere. I think he will be excited to have something of his mom's with him on our wedding day, too.

I can't wait to see what my bouquet looks like when it's finished! I am so so anxious! This is Miranda Lambert's brooch bouquet that she carried on her wedding day. I love the way it looks with all of the different pieces.

Phillis was such a huge help throughout our meeting. She knew exactly what I was looking for and helped me make decisions based on what I wanted. She also gave me different ideas and opinions about what other brides have done, and about what she thought looked best. My advice on flowers? Make sure your florist knows their flowers!

Phillis and her husband have been in business for 20 years, so I know they are experienced. I couldn't have picked anyone better to help me with this crucial part of the wedding planning process! I can't wait to walk into the Carnegie on September 14th and see all of the beautiful arrangements :)

xoxo
Dream Wedding Bride