The vast majority of bridal and bridesmaid bouquets we make these days are hand tied bouquets.  We make real hand-tied bouquets, not flowers in a holder dressed up to look hand tied, so when we wrap the stems, we're adding decoration and personalization, we're not hiding something.  We've shown you hundreds of pictures of the fronts and tops of our bouquets, now we're going to show you a few of the bottoms.

On a simple wrap, we sometimes add an adornment, such as a brooch, a charm, or an heirloom rosary which has been in the family for generations.  Below is an example of an initial brooch from a recent wedding.  This is more common on bouquets made from roses or mixed flowers having a very round top, where the adornment can be worked into and supported by the flowers.  This brooch was attached to a mixed bouquet of hydrangea and roses.

The rosary and memorial photographs below are from the bridal bouquets of two sisters, married four months apart last year.  We were honored to be part of both of their weddings.

Sometimes the simple wrap ends with just a soft bow and flowing tails, for a very soft look when the bridesmaids come down the aisle.

One of the most classic wraps we have is a simple ribbon wrap, finished its entire length with pearl headed pins.  This is a very clean look, and is beautiful on bouquets where you see a lot of the wrap, such as this bouquet of mini calla lilies.

One favorite is our tuxedo twist, where the ends of the ribbon are formed into a little bow-tie, and finished with a cluster of pearl headed pins.  Again, this is most common where the bow tie is part of the finishing for a more rounded bouquet.  This bouquet was all roses and stephanotis.

For an elegant look, many brides choose a ballet braid.  A simple acetate wrap, finished with pearls, is overlain with a chiffon ribbon wrap braided like a ballet dancer ties her shoes.  The chiffon overlay matches or complements the colors of the bouquet.

We've even done some "twists" on the braid, using a thin ribbon, or finishing with a soft bow and trailing streamers.

Not every wrap is ribbon, either.  We've used natural elements such as raffia, pieces of the dresses, or pieces from the mother's wedding dress.  If you're interested in some very personal touches to your bridal and bridesmaid bouquets, please ask us for ideas (or bring some of your own) when you meet with us.  The stem wraps are easy to overlook when planning, but can be so personal on your wedding day that they are unforgettable.

For many years, the groom's boutonniere was a plain afterthought to the bride's bouquet.  Recent wedding trends show that the groom's flowers are becoming more elaborate and dressy.  One way which boutonnieres are becoming more elaborate is by making them in a filigree boutonniere holder.  We've featured filigree boutonniere holders in a previous post, and for the Butler Days Inn Winter 2007 Bridal Extravaganza, we decided to bling ourselves out a bit.

The boutonniere below features green hypericum berries, a purple Florigene Moonshadow mini-carnation and loops of beargrass accented with a swatch of lavender ribbon.  The boutonniere holder is attached to the coat magnetically.  Approximate price is $25-$35.

This distinctive hand-tied bridal bouquet (or bridesmaid bouquet) features rich shades of lavender and purple.  This bouquet features 10 Florigene Moonvista carnations, 8 Florigene Moonshadow spray mini-carnations, 8 Florigene Moondust spray mini-carnations, 5 blue curiosa roses and Itallian ruscus.  The stems are completely wrapped with lavender ribbon, and an amethyst beaded garland is then wrapped around the stems.  Eight fuschia pins tie off the ribbon and garland.  The approximate price is $80-$100.  This is one of the sample bouquets we made for the Butler Days Inn Winter 2007 Bridal Extravaganza.

Here's a recent cookie table we made for a wedding at the Butler Country Club.  The cookie table was placed right in the middle of the room, so it's the first thing guests saw as they entered the room.  There were vases of monte casino lilies, calla lilies, orchids, snapdragons, and mixed arrangements of hydrangea, peach roses and white orchids to match the centerpieces.  Smaller carnation balls and vases of flowers were mingled in between the cookies and large vases.  The piece in the very middle is actually sitting on top of a very large vase, which contained calla lilies and clear glass beads.  It was breathtaking, and the cookies were good, too (we were also invited guests).  There is too much on the table to capture with a photo, but we tried.

(click on the image for a larger view)

We’re featuring two locations in one this time (yes, this was a Thursday night wedding—Thursday is the new Friday).  The ceremony was held at Heinz Memorial Chapel, and featured a hand-tied bridal bouquet of white oriental lilies.

The bridesmaids carried arm bouquets made of white roses, white cymbidium orchids and white freesia.

The flowergirl carried a tiny bouquet of white cymbidium orchids.

The reception was held in the majestic Mozart Room at Heinz Hall, where we met Tony Lee from Truffles & Flourishes Catering.

Centerpieces were simple vases of two dozen Black Magic roses, surrounded by the petals of an additional 6 roses. (note: when we compress these images, the dark red gets lightened a bit--we apologize, but if we didn't compress the images, they'd take forever to load)

The sweetheart table was a romantic setting covered with red rose petals and votive candles, set in the middle of the dining area.

For our first Featured Location, we want to share a beautiful rustic barn just north of Pittsburgh.  Betsy's Barn is part of Cheeseman Farm (warning: site plays music), located just off I-79 and Rt. 19 in Portersville, PA.  Betsy’s Barn is an authentic post barn, located amongst green fields and rolling hills.  In the photo below, a bar/buffet tent has been set up outside the barn.

The other side of Betsy’s Barn features a gazebo for relaxing, or in the case of our recent wedding, a place for a small ceremony.

Inside the barn, our bride wanted an elegant yet rustic look.  She attained the elegant part with floor linens, chair covers and sashes and fan-folded linen napkins. 

Her centerpieces were placed on squares of green gingham fabric and featured white hydrangea loosely arranged in mason jars (decorated with a handmade apple cutout), accented with small baskets of apples.  To help keep our bride’s costs down, we simply provided buckets of loose hydrangea, and she and her helpers assembled the centerpieces when they set up other parts of her reception.

For this wedding, Betsy’s antique buggy held a chapel-shaped card box.  In a previous wedding, this same buggy was the candy buggy.

The head table was arranged in a U-shape, and featured the same green gingham runners as the guest table centerpieces. 

In the middle of the U was a stunning cake fondant cake decorated with gum-paste flowers from Carol’s Cakes in Ambridge, PA (warning: site plays music).  We could smell this cake when we were taking the close-up photos of the head table, and it smelled wonderful!

Head table arrangements were made in small crates, and featured white hydrangea, pink roses, green hypericum and red and green apples.  In front of the couple was a larger arrangement, while two smaller ones were in front of the bridal party.

The bridesmaid bouquets wwere hand-tied arrangements made of white hydrangea and green hypericum berries.

The bridal bouquet was a hand-tied arrangement made from the same white hydrangea, green hypericum and pink roses as in the head table arrangements.

This month's featured bouquet is a tale of beautiful flowers in a beautiful setting.  The wedding was held at Laube Hall in Freeport, PA.  The guests sat with a gorgeous view of the Allegheny River and Freeport Bridge.

The bride's bouquet was a hand-tied bouquet and featured light blue hydrangea, white agapanthus, Bells of Ireland, white roses and white lisianthus.

Guests were seated on the lower patio, and columns were decorated with arrangements of light blue hydrangea, blue delphinium, white roses, white carnations, Bells of Ireland, and greenery.

To complete their outdoor altar, the couple rented our colonnade, pedestals and ferns, and added beautiful urns featuring the same flowers as the column pieces.

In case anyone is looking for Laube Hall in Freeport, PA, we can tell you that Internet maps don't know what they're taling about.  Laube Hall is located in the Freeport Community Park, which is only a couple minutes out of town on High St.  If your directions don't involve Community Park Rd., don't follow them.  Buffalo Valley Country Club is adjacent to the Freeport Community Park.  Even Google Maps has the location slightly north of reality (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=freeport+community+park+freeport,+pa&ie=UTF8&ll=40.709337,-79.67165&spn=0.021373,0.039568&om=1).  If you follow the link, you'll have to scroll the map up slightly to see the park.

Tags: blue hydrangea | white agapanthus | white roses | hand tied | bridal bouquet | Bells of Ireland | white lisianthus | The Bloomery | Bloomery Weddings | Butler Florist | Pittsburgh wedding florist

At The Bloomery, we have made literally thousands and thousands of bridal and bridesmaid bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres, etc.  In the Flowers section of our site, we have hundreds of our favorites available for you to review.  We will continue to update our portfolio, and let you know here when we do.  Additionally, we have special permission to present hundreds more ideas from one of Teleflora's contemporary wedding giudes.

You can access photos, details and estimated prices for all of these at http://www.bloomeryweddings.com/wedding_flowers.asp.  Fell free to e-mail these ideas to your friends, or link to your favorites on your blog or wedding site.  If you do post any of these images, we ask you link back to us so your readers might use our gallery as well.  Please remember, all of these designs are copyrighted by either The Bloomery or Teleflora, and all rights are reserved to the copyright holders.