farmers market

We often meet brides who have a general love for flowers but are stuck when it comes to the daunting task of picking just a few out of the vast variety of flowers to choose from.

One of the best comparisons that may help you if you are one of those brides, is thinking of flowers like produce.
Close your eyes, and go to the farmer's market with me for a second (or open them and look at the picture). All the rows are neatly aligned with brightly colored produce.

Some vegetables are full of texture, poky and sharp, while others are smooth and round. Some have dull, muted colors while others you can spot from across the sidewalk. It can be sensory overload. That's why I usually come home with a few things that I have no clue how to use. Turnip? How am I going to make something edible out of a turnip?

Now that you have the full mental picture, let's compare our farmers market trip to flowers. It's the same basic concept.

Do you go to the grocery store in November and ask for fresh strawberries? No! They're in season in the Spring, silly! Just like you wouldn't go to a florist and ask for Anemones in July. It's simply impossible to find or so far out of your price range, they may not be worth it. So you shop based on what is in season.

That's what we do at Petal.

We look around and see what is the best looking flower right now.

Maybe one type of flower is having a bad crop season, so we need to find something that is like the row of Eggplants at the farmer's market. All shiny, lined up perfectly, without blemishes. No settling! Just a beautiful product.

So when you meet with your florist, if you have a few types of flowers you truly love, tell her about it! It's your wedding for goodness sakes! Plus, she may be able to incorporate a few of your favorites.

But, keep in mind, that if you are open to the "in season" flowers, you may get the best looking flowers for your buck.
It's all about trusting your florist's abilities, style, and understanding of your wedding vision to provide you with the best quality flowers.

One thing we love to do at Petal is use more than just beautiful flowers. Fruit, feathers, beads and yes, you guessed it, vegetables, are all unconventional means we use to create beautiful arrangements. Check out our blue painted artichokes.

Vegetables truly are a great comparison to flowers and in this case, a great addition!

Hungry yet?
Well, this post wouldn't be complete without a shout out to one of our new favorite stops at the local Lynchburg farmers market. Sausser Farms has an amazing co-op where you get 5lbs of fresh produce a week from May until October for a one time membership fee of $35. INCREDIBLE, I know!
Plus, they throw in lots of extras like a pumpkin, hayride at their farm, canning sessions, etc. So if you haven't signed up yet, go to http://www.sausserfarms.com/ and sign up. Tell them we sent ya!

For our beginning blog entry, we would like to share a bit about us; our style, our identity, and why in the world we do wedding flowers.

First, we are obsessed with flowers!! Not just wedding flowers....all flowers. Elisha and I both agree we haven't met an ugly flower to date. I know, I know we meet a lot of brides who dislike carnations, sunflowers and baby's breath, and I might agree they are a bit overdone, but the flower by itself is certainly not ugly.

Flowers are so gorgeous that it is quite presumptuous to believe that we can make them lovlier with our abilities. Some of the loveliest arrangemtents are the rows of five gallon buckets at the wholesale market. Unedited, untouched, un-fussed with; these flowers are the medium for art.

Tulips in every color at the wholesale market.

So what does our flower obsession mean to you? Well, dear bride, it should give you the assurance and peace that only a flower-obsessed florist should bring you: your flowers will look gorgeous on your wedding day. Why? Because we are perfectionists down to our core. We are nit-picky and persistent, and above all: we let the flowers do the talking. We aren't finished with a bouquet until every flower is happy in its place, and, as one flower blogger pointed out, "the aesthetic gods are pleased."

What else do we care about? Price and value. Fresh flowers are seen as luxury item (though in Europe, flowers are purchased at the market like produce...every time you shop! I swoon...), and yes, they are expensive. Don't believe me? Try sending flowers to someone online....$150 for what!?! However, beautiful flowers should never be out of the price range of any bride. We are committed to working with any budget to give you flowers that you'll love. And because we only do weddings and special events and don't have a store front, we can pass all that savings along to you!

We would love to meet you and discuss your flowers....c'est notre joie de vivre!!
Lara

first post

It's our first post! Check out our bouquet on the cover of Lynchburg's newest wedding magazine, Soirees & Style.