Mackenzie & Nate at The Wildflower Center.

Today I am sharing a few shots of Nate & Mackenzie's wedding captured by Day 7 Photography.  This was one of the first weddings of the year, and while the winter months tend to be a bit less busy around here, it is actually when a few of my most favorite floral items are in season.  Case in point: blooming acacia.  The tiny little puff ball goodness is just the cutest thing in my book.  It is different, a little quirky, and unexpected.  It is also highly seasonal, at most available three months out of the year.  Luckily, it fit in perfectly with the wild, eclectic vibe Mackenzie and Nate were aiming for.  They had a gorgeous day out at The Widflower Center surrounded by family and friends.  Take a peek:

 

Kana & Daniel at the Zilker Botanical Gardens. May 26, 2012.

Kana and Daniel had a sweet, garden ceremony in the heart of Austin at the Zilker Botanical Gardens.  The bride's family travelled all the way from Japan, and Kana wore her mother's lovely wedding gown.  The morning ceremony took place under the live oaks in the rose garden, and afterwards friends and family gathered in the clubhouse to share a meal and visit.  It was a very relaxed gathering full of friends and good food.  Kana was interested in a natural, organic feel to her flowers with lots of texture to create the same wildflowery feel present on the grounds of the gardens.  Gorgeous images below capturing the event courtesy of the talented Elissa R. Photography 

For her bouquet, we used green eyed anemones, craspedia, rose, dusty miller and silver dollar eucalyptus.

A ranunculus hair flower for her, and a craspedia & rosemary boutineer for him.

We used a variety of greenery, tulips, blue thistle, hypericum berries and roses for the centerpieces.

How sweet is this last one??!!  

Amy & Mike at The Salt Lick. March 30, 2012.

It's nice when a friend refers a friend.  You know you're going to hit it off and it just makes it a little extra special. Amy did improv with a friend of mine---funny people are always quick to smile and quick to laugh--and a joy to work with! I met with Amy and her mom to talk flowers, and they were both open & excited and ready to let me run with it. The wedding was at the end of March (peak wildflower season!!) and it was out at the Salt Lick Pavillion---a creekside, rustic, gorgeous Texas venue.  We decided to play off the wildflowers and use lots of color. The result was a riot of texture and color that really captured the season of the surrounding hillsides. Congratulations Amy & Mike!!  Professional photos courtesy of Mathew Sturvevant.

For the bouquets we used Finger Acacia, a variety of gerber daisies, rice flower, maidenhair fern, delphinium, anemones and spray roses. (photo by Petals, ink.)

Amy with her bouquet.

bridesmaids

Junior bridemaid posey (Photo by Petals, ink.)

corsage with raffia bow accent (photo by Petals, ink.)

Gorgeous arch piece for the ceremony!

2nd Annual Wildflower Report

First and foremost, this report has no scientific basis.  I am, afterall, a heavily right-brand floral designer.  In fact, I'm not so certian even the local news stations' wildflower reports are based on any kind of scientific data other than a newbie report cruising through the Hill Country with their neck craned out the open window to determine if, in fact, the paint brush or blanket flower is the reigning king of the roadsides this year.  So it is in this spirit of reporting, I give you my humble findings:  Bluebonnets are it!  At least the weekend I was wildflower peeping. Here's the thing:  the wildflowers come in a progression.  Bluebonnets are first, low to the ground in the shiny new Spring grass.  Paint brush comes next, followed by the primrose, and lastly the Blanket flower--which is tall enough to reach above the tops of the weeds which, by late Spring, have shot up in earnest.

I nearly missed the flowers this year.  As luck would have it, a wedding out in Horseshoe bay pulled me out West. It took me nearly two hours to get home after I delivered the wedding since I kept stopping to snap pics.  I also learned a little something new:  An older fellow, also pulled curbside with camera in hand, asked if I was from Texas.  When I answered "No." he then asked if I'd ever seen a Cat's claw?  And since I hadn't he knelt down in the grass, and grabbed a bloom on the stem of the bluebonnet.  For a minute there I thought he was going to squeeze the throat and make its mouth open (like a snapdragon--ya know?)  But instead, he pulled back what I can only describe accurately as the flower's "foreskin", to reveal this pretty viscous looking "claw."  It wasn't sharp, and I can't for the life of me think of any Darwinian reason why it should exist, but there you have it. Also, bluebonnets have SCENT.  Who knew?  It was a particularly humid, hot day, and the perfume was just wafting off the roadsides.  Incredible!  Take a look:

 

Boom.

I particularly like the juxtaposition of fireworks & firetrucks in this one.

I miss the Fall in New England.  But, when we get rain in Texas, nothing beats the Spring.

Texas: Raw and Lovely

I took a drive out to Lago Vista this morning to scope out a bride & groom's wedding venue.  I headed North out of Austin and quickly found myself in Everyman's Land---ugly stretches of strip malls and box stores, hardly a tree for as far as the eye could see.  Luckily, once I hit FM 1431, I was winding the car through impossibly green vistas and hills blanketed in coreopsis and mexican hat flowers.  I continued on, driving through the quaint village of Jonestown where I passed a Pest Control's headquarters whose "pest" on the sign was a lobster-sized scorpion.  Clearly, not in Kansas any more....  Another surprise was being spit off the main road and out onto a dusty, podunk dirt road for the last mile or so of the drive to the venue, Nature's Point.  I suddenly felt like I should have packed a canteen, or at the very least, worn sturdier footwear.  Coming round the bend I caught sight of these ponies grazing in the daisies:  

I pulled over and got out of the car, stepping lively through the tall grass feeling a bit worried about erupting a red ant pile or tempting scorpions to scurry over my flip flops.  Thankfully I made it the short distance to the fence line without encountering any poisonous critters, and the curious ponies made their way over to say hello.  They were quite friendly and had the most mysterious cloudy blue eyes.

On my way out I stopped to photograph the Mexican Hat, dusty and disheveled on the side of the dirt road.  When I turned back to the car I was struck by the rawness of my surroundings--at 9am the sun seemed to already be swollen in the sky, the heat soaring steadily into the 80's. It felt like I was in the middle of nowhere, completely alone (except for the nearby grazing ponies of course.)  The wildflowers were growing out of cracks and crevices in the chalky rock, their roots like talons gripping the ground against the wind.  Texas never ceases to be a pleasant surprise these days.

This is just a tiny slice of my surroundings.  Everywhere I looked was scrub brush, rocks and tiny yellow flowers.
I also found a few patches of blanket flower on 1431 with tons of spent Lupine pods mixed in......

And in Cedar Park, I pulled into the town Cemetery which was literally overrun with coreopsis. You can't see them, but in the bottom photo there are low lying graves throughout the field.

According to the historical marker, the cemetery was established in the late 1870's by a couple of cattle drivers, George W. and Harriett Cluck who had settled in the area to farm.  They set this lovely plot of land aside as a family burial ground when their infant grandson, Emmett, passed away.  In 1912 they chose to open the resting grounds to the community.  George, Harriett, and many of their neighbors are buried there.