botanical brouhaha: August 2012

The Question:

"What's everyone else's process/timeline for making, bagging, and delivering corsages and bouts? I was trained in an old-school flower shop where each one was made two days prior to an event, individually bagged (and misted) and labeled. However, I have seen so many amazing images with displays of boutonnieres laid out and labeled so beautifully at weddings, that it makes me wonder how everyone does it!?! I don't understand how they would hold up in the cooler without being bagged for moisture, or how they are transported in that manner, etc.!" (submitted by a designer in Kansas)

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The Answers:

“I'd say it really depends on the flower and the temperatures. Here in the Pacific Northwest I make all my bouts the day before a wedding. If it's an evening wedding, I would make them that morning.

I keep them in a plastic container (more than one bout per container, separated if need be by tissue paper) in the cooler and one way or another they are kept in a cool place (a cool room, a portable cooler, etc.) until about an hour before the ceremony. Typically that's when the bouts are laid out in a nice way with the labels and photographs are taken, and then the bouts are handed out or picked up by the grooms party.

Even delicate flowers will last this way right through a ceremony and into a reception, without being misted - so long as they are kept cool until the time of the ceremony (again, that's in my climate). When I was first starting out, I made boutonnieres with different flowers and tested them to see how long they would last. Also, if I'm going to be at the ceremony venue anyway, I always bring some extra flowers in case something goes wrong and I need to make a fresh bout on the fly.

My only other advice around bouts is to use the magnetic "bout buddy" vs. pins. I have found these to be invaluable - saving me time, making the process easier, and my clients love them. You just need to make sure none of the clients have pacemakers (magnets interfere with them).

-Clare Day (Clare Day Flowers)

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“I sometimes actually make my buttonholes and corsages on site! I bring a small bucket of flowers with me as well as all my equipment and I make them after I install the ceremony and reception pieces. My designs are often of a very relaxed style and don’t require much wiring so they don’t take as long to create and I don’t need as much equipment. I really only need some twine, some tape and some ribbon for the buttonholes and away I go. If I know the photographer, when I deliver the buttonholes and bouquets together, I will sometimes arrange them all nicely on a board or plate with their little labels so they can take photos of them that way. If I am just delivering then these are the last things I make and they are put in a box with a plastic lid, misted and popped in the fridge for an hour till the very last moment before they leave.”

-Kristy Marek (Imbue Weddings)

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“In our studio boutonnieres and corsages are made 1 day in advance if the flowers are hardy enough, morning-of if they are a more delicate variety. We put them on a Lomey dish lined with tissue paper, spritz them with water, store them in the cooler and they hold up just fine. If the boutonniere is more delicate we sometimes make the boutonniere but leave the stems long and unwrapped so they can be placed in small vases and kept in the cooler and they are finished and wrapped in the morning of the event. Any delicate flower that we question it's durability we make a sample bout 2 days prior and wear it while designing to see how it holds up!”

-Elisabeth Zemetis (Blush Floral Design)

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“The boutonnieres and corsages are the very last thing I make for a wedding. I make them right before I load up the van. I like to use flowers that won’t last forever so, it is important that they are in water as long as they can be before they are pinned on. I often transport them in tiny vases of water and then tag them and lay them out to look nice when I get to the venue.”

-Sarah Winward (Honey of a Thousand Flowers)

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“It's all about the climate at the time of the event and what flowers/foliage you use. Corsages are always the last thing I do, the night before or the same morning. If I make them the night before, I keep them bagged and misted in the cooler. When I deliver I make a nice box or display it in some other nice way. But most important is to know your flowers/foliage. How much can they resist? Is it too hot today? Are they sensitive? Are they better without mist? etc..”

-Emelie Ekborg (Svenska Blomsterbloggar)

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“Well... this really depends on the type of vegetation chosen. Anyway, just to clarify, corsages are not so current here, so I do not make many of them. As for boutonnieres, for an average wedding in France, I need to make only 2 or 3 of them (not so many best men here). This said, I usually create the boutonniere on the morning of the event. Usually the very last thing I do in fact... Then for a traditional boutonniere, with a large flower (such as a rose...) I will put a tiny piece of wet cotton wool at the tip under the floral tape. This is usually enough to keep the flower up for the day. Or you can also choose flowers that will stay nice without water such as orchids, craspedias, ornithogalums...”

-Laetitia Mayor (Floresie)

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“When you see pretty bouts and corsages all lined up with sexy labeling, you can bet it was for a detail shot or a photo shoot. We typically store and deliver our bouts and corsages in small plastic corsages boxes or we also buy big long rose boxes and line up 10-15 bouts in one box. We make the bouts and corsages on Fridays or just one day before the wedding. We rarely use crowning glory or preservatives and we have had no real trouble that I can remember. Of course every successful wedding order begins with fresh and amazing product. It’s crucial that you don’t work with product that is suspect .

We try to make only the groom’s bout different and we label the groom’s bout only. The bride or wedding planner should have a list of names of all of the people getting a bout. In some circumstances we make the dads special or the best man’s special and those are marked accordingly. We use simple plain white stickers from Target or Walmart, I think the stickers we use are for pricing items. Same goes for corsages. Hope this helps!!!”

-Holly Chapple (Holly Heider Chapple Flowers)

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Thanks so much Holly, Laetitia, Emelie, Sarah, Elisabeth, Kristy and Clare! You inspire me with your generosity…and I know you inspire many many of your fellow designers.

BB readers: If you have a question for the panel, please email it to me at botanicalbrouhaha@gmail.com.

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And because we really can’t afford to let a day go by without flowers (because I have so many to share with you)….let’s think towards fall with some Tricia Fountaine designs…