Natives for a Beach Wedding in March

Natives for a Beach Wedding in March

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thanks to the lovely bride for sharing this image

Tasmania's beaches are some of the most beautiful in the world.  We are surrounded by sea so our coastline is vast.  There are so many beautiful beaches we are spoilt for choice and when we do visit, we often find that we have the beach to ourselves.  So it's no surprise that beach weddings are popular during the warmer months.

thanks to the lovely bride for sharing this image

  March is early autumn here in Tassie, and can be a brilliant time for weddings.

  This March was warmer than usual and there was plenty of variety to play with to create some native bouquets.  

thanks to the lovely bride for sharing this image

The lovely bride wanted green, orange and cream with gum nuts.  Her attendant was her mum, wearing a salmon coloured dress.  

For the bride I used a late flowering Pincushion variety called "Fountain",   Protea Pink Ice, and Protea Repens in a rich salmony pink.  

Beautiful Birdsnest Banksia or Banksia Baxterii in creamy yellow, and Brunia Albiflora which had started flowering were the other large flowers used.  You can also see some smaller creamy Banksia Marginata, a locally occurring Banksia.  

Flowering Eucalyptus Cordata, a gorgeous Tasmanian blue leafed gum which is usually used as a foliage plant, was budding and blossoming at just the right time to be used as a detail flower.  You can also see Grevillea foliage, Leucadendron Silver Tree foliage, Inca Gold Leucadendrons at their rich bronzy green stage, sprigs of lemon-scented Leptospermum or Tea Tree, and of course the gum nuts that the bride requested.  They are Corymbia Ficifolia nuts, beautiful urn shaped woody fruits that really make a statement in an Australian Native bouquet.

Mum's bouquet was slightly smaller, leaving out the salmon pink Protea Repens.  

thanks to the lovely bride for sharing this image

I love the orange tones against that blue suit!  Great colours for the beach-scape.

thanks to the lovely bride for sharing this image

Beautiful!  They look so happy, and thats what it's all about isn't it!  Such a treat to be involved!

Thinking About Weddings - The Bouquet

Thinking About Weddings - The Bouquet

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In Tasmania, its not often you get someone wanting to plan a wedding during the winter months.  The weather is a major factor in planning a big day here in the southern-most state of Australia.  Spring and summer are the busy times for weddings, and at Swallows Nest we are excited to be providing flowers for a some weddings over the next few months.  

Proteas and Natives are not the traditional wedding flower, but they are becoming much more popular, and with good reason.  I know I am biased, but really, they do have so much more to offer than many people realise.  Natives offer an incredible range of colour and texture that can lend themselves to both modern and traditional type weddings.   They can be rustic, and simple or sophisticated and sharp.  They can be feminine and soft, or bold and expressive.  Its all in the way you combine the colours, textures and forms.  And then of course, theres the fact that most Natives are hardy and long lasting and  remove the worry of a wilting bouquet!

I've been doing some research into the uses of Natives for weddings so I thought I'd share a few of the ideas I've found.  The internet is awash with ideas and I've recently discovered Pinterest - a serious risk for time-wasting, but full of wonderful ideas for just about everything.  There are some lovely images of weddings that have used natives in creative and beautiful ways, and I've been really inspired.  

The Bouquet, really the central floral point of any wedding, is the focus of these finds.

This beautiful bouquet uses Pink Ice proteas with a variety of Leucadendrons (two variegated forms called Jester and Corringle Gold) and a mix of other beautiful folidages.  There are also some Banksias - what look like Speciosa and Occidentalis.  It has an informal, softly coloured beauty. 

(www.blushingblooms.com.au)

The use of proteas in this bouquet is a different take on a more traditional wedding bouquet shape.  I love the use of eucalyptus foliage too, for the colour and form it adds.  

(the brides diary)

This is another combination bouquet, using Banksia Baxterii as the main flower and combining it with more traditional flowers.  I love the vibrancy of this one!

More Banksia Baxterii in this one, but adding some Hakea nuts and paper daisies.  I love the leaves of the Banksia Baxterii and I think they've been used well in this cute posy-style bouquet.

There is a great range of whites in the protea family, perfect for weddings!  This is a combination of mini King Protea and white Protea Nerifolia, with the lovely soft black fringing. A few magnolia leaves complete this simple, informal bouquet.

For a spring wedding, Waratahs are a spectacular wedding flower.  I love this bouquet which in addition to the gorgeous red waratahs, also has flannel flower, gum nuts, everlasting daisies, leucadendron, serruria or blushing bride,  and a form of brunia.  

(i-do.com.au)

Waratah's are also available in white and, as this bouquet shows, are really well suited for a wedding too.  This bouquets combines them with leucadendron, wax flower, blushing bride or serruria, and some blue flowers that look like cornflowers.  Gorgeous!

(thebloomroom.net.au)

I recently did a wedding with an orange and black theme.  The colours and textures of spring were perfect - yellow green Phyllica, Leucadendron Maui Sunset and Red Gem, the bright yellow pom poms of Leucadendron Tall Red, soft Silver Tree foliage and Berzelia or Button Bush all together to form this fresh bright bouquet.  

This fabulous native bouquet uses Banksia Coccinea and Protea as the main flowers, with Safari Sunset Leucadendrons, and what look like a yellow Salignum Leuco.  Very memorable!

(www.gingerdesigns.com.au)

Another Swallows Nest Farm bouquet, with simple spring flowers includes an early Waratah, and some Protea Pink Ice, surrounded by soft yellows and greens.  There are Leucadendron Gandogeri, Phyllica Pubescens, Leucadendron Silver Tree, and Berzelia or Button Bush,  a wedding favourite.  Adding white highlights is Thryptomene.  

I'm looking forward to the pincushions coming out here at Swallows Nest.  They are later here than on the mainland of Australia, and go right up until just after Christmas.  Faboulous for weddings in shades of yellow, orange and red, with some beautiful soft colours available too.
(koruwedding.blogspot.com.au)

More Pink Ice Protea with Leucadendrons, Flannel flower, Thryptomene and beautiful Eucalyptus pods.  Wow!

Last one - I promise!  Although there's so many beautiful native bouquets!!  I love this freestyle bouquet with my favourite Brunia Albiflora, Eucalyptus pods, foliage, and Leucadendrons.  Gorgeous!!

(Flowers By Megga Bloom)

I hope you're inspired!  I hope you've seen the versatility, variety and beauty that natives can bring to a special occasion like a wedding.  I'm looking forward to the rest of the "wedding season" here is Tasmania, hoping to get lots more opportunities to explore what can be done with these fabulous flowers.

Take a Closer Look

Take a Closer Look

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As you may have noticed I'm a bit of a fan of iphone photography, most likely because of convenience.   I always have my phone in my pocket, and the quality of the images you can make with it constantly surprises me.  I recently splurged on a bit of a toy - a special lense called an Olloclip that slips over the phones lense and gives you a fisheye, a wide angle and a macro lense capability.  The macro lense has been the one that has been the most fun so far.  I've been busy checking out the flowers from a completely different perspective.  The structure of the plants is quite amazing.

The first picture is a close up of the styles emerging from the base of a Banksia Baxterii.  

This picture is a closeup of the "pins" of a Pincushion flower - Leucospermum Cordifolium.  So shiny!

Banksia Occidentalis looks like a rib cage, and some tiny droplets of water have been caught.

The hairy tip of a Protea Pink Ice, just as it's ready to pick.  The white "ice" effect is created by tiny white hairs.

 

The base of the Banksia Occidentalis flower.

A closeup of the Brunia Albiflora - they look fierce!

Its been a fun exploration of the flowers as I haven't seen them before.  

What's in the Basket

What's in the Basket

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I picked the first Banksia Baxterii for the summer last week.  In the basket was a selection for some birthday bunches.  There are some late Leucaspermum Cordifolium, bright orange and cheery.  There are also some fresh Protea Pink Ice.  Over Christmas is the only time of year that its hard to get these pink beauties - there are about 3 weeks where they are few and far between.  But they are now returning to bloom.  There is some lovely Tasmanian Myrtle foliage there too - Nothofagus Cuninghamii.  You can also see some Brunia Albiflora in the basket - at its peak of production at the moment, and one of my personal favourites.