A bride's mom told me her bouquet looked 'like a salad' and I couldn't stop laughing

Last spring, I made a wedding bouquet with lots of green hydrangea, seeded eucalyptus, and white ranunculus. The mother of the bride took one look and said, 'Honey, it's lovely, but it looks like a fancy salad I'd get at that new place on Main Street.' I was a little hurt at first, but she was totally right! Now, I always add at least one pop of bright color, like hot pink roses or purple lisianthus, to break up all that green. Anyone else get a funny comment that actually helped their work?

3 comments

3 Comments

paul_taylor2118d ago

Sometimes the most interesting bouquets are the ones that make you look twice. That all-green palette with seeded eucalyptus sounds fresh and modern, not like a salad to me. I've done similar things with artichokes and herbs, and the texture is the whole point. A client once called a piece "wild and woody," and that's exactly what we were going for.

tessa_murray18d ago

Expensive weeds" is such a perfect backhanded compliment. I get what you're both saying, though. @paul_taylor21, that wild and woody look is great up close, but parker has a point about distance. It's like the difference between a cool, textured wall and one that just needs a paint job. Adding one clear flower shape is a solid fix. It stops people from squinting and trying to figure out if they're looking at art or the leftovers from trimming the hedge.

parker_palmer4418d ago

Last year a client said my centerpieces looked like "expensive weeds." I used a lot of olive branch and dusty miller. She was joking, but it made me see how muted textures can read as messy from far away. Now I mix in something with a clear shape, like a few big cafe au lait dahlias, to give the eye a clean spot to land. It fixed the whole look.