Floral Design Trends 2011 from Platinum Floral Designs

A wonderful guest blog by Tina Barbanoff of Platinum Floral Designs...

I’m seeing a wonderful shift from modern, precisely fitted hand tied bouquets to more ornate, organic, flowing, rustic and personalized bouquets. Using either a bright and bold palette (I’m thinking 1950’s unqiue colour combinations), or a soft and vintage/french palette will be next years must haves.

Thinking Outside the Box

The economy has effected all us in different ways, tightening our budgets where ever possible including the floral world. I’m glad to see more bride’s asking for locally grown and seasonal flowers to use for their wedding day and incorporating items they have found right in their backyards such as pinecones, shells, twigs or anything they can find on their walk-abouts. Anything and everything can be used, thinking outside the box is really the key.

Personal Touches
How to add personal touches is also a common question I am receiving as I book into next years wedding season. Here are some great ideas to inspire you:

1. Incorporate heirloom items: ex. Vintage brooches, buttons and pins can be wired into your bouquet or attached to the stem wrap

2. Fabric swatches: use your mothers wedding dress, quilt patches, hanker-chiefs, lace and even burlap sacks to cut fabric pieces to wrap your bouquet or tie “love knots” with long strips of fabric into your flowers, keep these special elements in your scrapbook

3. Have your bridesmaids write wishes on small pieces of vintage paper, fold them up and wire them into your bouquet to be read later and again kept for your scrapbooking later on

Bold Colour Palette – think unique, think history (1950’s)

As seen in the 1950’s, crazy combinations were used to create bold colour patterns creating interest and depth. Use colours such as bright blues, aqua, turquoise and pare this with mustard yellow’s, cherry reds or try emerald, lime green with red’s, purple’s and pink’s.
Try tying in all elements: ei. Wear brightly coloured shoes, socks, knee high’s, ties, suspenders and hat’s which mimic the colour palette in your bouquets and boutonnieres. This is a great pop of colour and shows wonderfully in your wedding photography.

Vintage Colour Palette

Vintage leans toward the soft, more pastel hues and ruffled petals to create texture such as tulips, poppies, peony, garden roses, scabiosa, delphinium, amemone, daisies and any bloom with a textural feel. Use creamy tones, pale pinks, whites, greens, silver, and brown. A cascading bouquet really will add drama to your vintage feel, but beware, cascading bouquets are often costly as more blooms are wired to create a cascading effect.


French Floral Design

I am seeing more and more French inspired floral design which uses a large amount of greenery to create a garden and natural feel to your bouquet. Try using greenery as your bouquet wrap instead of ribbon to really create a natural, earthy feel or burlap sacks with a brown string. Your florist will have many great ideas for consideration. Laura Dowling, a French floral designer based in Washington is a great reference point to discover French floral design. Her usage of greenery is outstanding. French design is great for the bride looking to have an outdoor garden wedding.

Backyard Design

Gather unconventional items found in your everyday life. Depending on the month you will be married, consider using herbs in floral design to add texture and scent. Ex. Lavender, dill, rosemary, sage, thyme, parsley, garlic, basil, any herb will do! Think about using fruits and vegetables growing in your garden as well : apples, kiwi, plums, strawberries, go totally over the edge using carrots, beets, beans or peppers, let the sky be your limit!

Growing Your Own Flowers
If you are growing your flowers, ask your florist to “condition” them properly in their cooler to ensure your flowers will last the entire event. There are a lot of behind the scenes care flowers need to make them wedding ready.

Use pinecones fallen from trees, sticks and twigs will create architectural details, use love rocks (rocks shaped like hearts you and your fiancé found laying at the beach), and shells. Gather items you are naturally attracted too, you’d be amazed at the different textures, scents, and colours that surround our daily lives. Each month in the year will bring in new items to be used, just keep in mind that many of the items will have to be wired in, which takes your florist valuable time, and can become costly.

Masses of Colour

Another ongoing trend is using only 1 or 2 types of flowers in your bouquet and centerpieces, this makes for a large impact with simplicity.

Centerpiece Trends

It’s hard to say, as there really is such a wide variety of things being used for centerpieces. The choices are endless. Here are some ideas to start you off:

1. Masses of Colour - using numerous and varying heights of vases per table incorporating 1 type of flower will ensure a large impact and create visual interest even if you are using a minimal amount of flowers.

2. Branch centerpieces make for outstanding displays – incorporate flowers on the branches and at the bottom of the display for visual interest

3. Let’s back away from flowers for a minute and discuss centerpieces using masses of vegetables or other natural materials, try using a vase filled with garlic or tomatoes, lemons and limes, apples, peppers, shells, or rocks. Using a combination of items on one table will create a striking effect and a conversation piece. Now let’s combine these items with flowers, if using large, tall vases, why not try to fill the vase with your choice or fruit or natural material and create a masterpiece of flowers above, this will make a great visual for your special day especially at a venue with high ceilings.

4. Let’s create height: why not place a square vase upside down and another unique vase on top of it to create interest and height, try incorporating flowers in both vases, or flowers in the bottom one and a candle in the top.

Final Thoughts
Floral Trends are coming back in a strong way and the best advice I could give to any bride is: instead of using numerous smaller arrangements scattered about, focus on one or two main focal points. Does your venue have fire place mantles, or are you getting married under a stone wall? Really discover your venue, ask the coordinator which focal points are best to adorn with floral spreads? Decide which area is the most important to you and spend the most money there. Ask your florist if she has previously worked at this venue, if not ask her if she could meet you at the venue to discuss options.

Also remember trends come and go. Remember to keep true to your heart. Use flowers in colours you are absolutely in love with. You will want to love your images 10 years from now! Your florist is here to guide you whether you do not know anything about flowers, or even if you’re a flower wonder and know exactly what types of blooms you will want to use, she will help you to achieve balance, create harmony, colour and depth.

A professional florist passionate about her work will help you to narrow down the look are you trying to achieve and she’ll express ideas to fit your budget! Good luck and I hope this article will inspire you to get messy, explore and ask questions!

About Platinum Floral Designs

Tina Barabonoff is a young and vibrant floral designer with a keen eye for creating colour harmony, balance and architectural details.

Tina’s formal training in interior design allows her to be uniquely creative, bringing in new structural aspects to floral design. Completing her courses in 2007, Tina dedicated her time to working in and learning about the design world.

After a short hiatus to start a family, with her husband and two young children by her side she opened Platinum Floral Designs out of true passion to integrate design and flowers to create a harmonious world. Her designs are simply breathtaking and are at the forefront in the flower world! Check them out at http://www.platinumfloraldesigns.com/.