The Fairy Godmother of Travel: Real Wedding: How Much Does it Cost? Cascading Bouquet

Flowers by Brenda Abbott Floral Design, Professional pictures by Sleeping Owl Photography

This gorgeous bouquet is courtesy of Brenda Abbott Floral Design in Bastrop, Texas. We have had the opportunity to work with her on several fun and creative projects over the past several months!

Here is what she had to say,
"To achieve the cascading effect for this textural bridal bouquet (and have an available water source for all the blooms without any visible stems), we used a bouquet holder for the armature. As opposed to our European hand tied style where the stems extend below the ribbon wrap (and thus have a way to drink water), the bouquet holder is a more time-consuming method for creating a bouquet; however, the tidy and formal appearance of a completely wrapped handle is sometimes just the ticket! The result: a dramatic bouquet full of graceful movement and texture that retains its polished and sophisticated side – much like our bride.

From our consultation with bride, we determined her favorite color and bloom choices and sourced just the right blooms that would hold up well to being inserted into floral foam. The most challenging stem insertion in this instance was the Picasso calla lilies because of the soft nature of their stems – but this was our bride’s absolute must have – so with patience and a skilled hand (and only one spoiled stem), the calla lilies earned their place of distinction. The bottom side of the bouquet holder was covered in fresh green sheet moss and the handle treated to a build-up technique to give it the thickness of a hand tied bouquet handle. All the mechanics are carefully covered with padding and satin ribbon. Pearl head pin details are added, and then blooms are inserted, one by one, starting with the longest cascading point and working our way upward. An airy grapevine encircles the back of the bouquet to give that bit of rustic texture bride enjoys. When completed, this bridal bouquet measured approximately 22” from top to tip – drama anyone?

Here’s the breakdown of time:
Portion of Consultation Time devoted to bouquet and bloom choices, follow-ups and changes: 1 hour
Design and Sourcing Time: 1 hour
Prep Time (receiving, unpackaging, hydrating flowers): 1 hour
Stem Prep Time (removing leaves, thorns, and separating branches for useable blooms): 1 hour
Build time (individual insertions into bouquet holder and secure gluing of each stem, handle treatment): 3 hours
Careful packaging for delivery: 20 minutes
Total time investment in this bouquet (not including delivery):
7 hours 20 minutes

Materials: 10 Picasso calla lilies @ $90
12 fragrant white ‘Patience’ garden roses @ $91
5 ‘Free Spirit’ ruffled roses $19
10 stems purple lisianthus $30
10 stems purple veronica $32
10 stems white lysimachia $30
10 stems green berzilia berries $20
Touches of naked seeded eucalyptus $7
Grapevine collar $3
Fresh green moss $6
Supplies: satin ribbon, pins, pan melt glue, stem lock spray glue, anti-transpirant sealant $10
1 bouquet holder $10
Custom handle $15
Transport Vase $5
Materials Total $368
30% labor $120
Total: $488"

The closest guess on our Facebook post was Brandon with $489!!! That's incredibly close! (We hope it prepares you for the real numbers of your upcoming wedding to Katelyn.)