nancyj11•3mo agoTop Commenter

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?

4 comments

4 Comments

paul_taylor213mo 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_murray3mo 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.

cora51818d ago

My third wedding ever I made a bouquet so green the photographer's assistant asked if it was garnishing the bride or the steak dinner. Ive learned the hard way that people dont want to eat your flowers even if they look like arugula.

parker_palmer443mo 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.