Love in Bloom: All About Florals + Greenery with A Garden Party

Spring is here, and we have one thing on our minds: bouquets and blooms! We’re talking vibrant florals, fresh foliage and gorgeous greenery, just in time for the 2019 wedding season. Florals and greenery are perfect for any kind of wedding theme - from blissful boho celebrations and garden weddings, to oceanfront love and modern vows, there’s a perfect flower for every couple’s vision.

For many couples, flowers are the perfect piece of romance and elegance for their big day - and that includes the invitation suite. Some couples are including some of their favorite florals into their wedding invitations with watercolor or illustrated design elements.

We’re chatting with Mary Coombs, co-owner of A Garden Party, to learn more about selecting the perfect wedding florals and greenery, trends for this year’s wedding season, and how you can incorporate your favorite blooms into your wedding invitation design.

Throughout the blog, check out some of these beautiful photos of A Garden Party’s florals and our paper goods, captured by Cassi Claire at Marissa and Howard’s big day - and see some of our own invitation inspiration featuring flowers and foliage for your dream wedding stationery!

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Art Paper Scissors: What should every couple know prior to meeting their floral designer for the first time?

A Garden Party: We require that the date is set in stone and the venue is booked prior to meeting since that can really affect the style and selection of florals available to you on your wedding day. Other than that, we are happy to be involved in the overall look and feel of the entire day at the start of your planning. Most clients come with a Pinterest board started (extra bonus points for a board that is sorted into bouquets, ceremony florals, cakes and more!), and we are able to view the Pinterest board during our first consultation on a big screen to review recurring themes and brainstorm ideas together.

An idea of colors is great, but we love when clients are open to our suggestions for a color palette. During our meeting, we quote elements of the design in a line item fashion, so clients can see the budget total up. We discuss budgets and can scale the order to suit needs, but we recommend at least 10% of your overall budget should be allocated for floral designs.

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Art Paper Scissors: How does your team at A Garden Party help couples bring their floral or greenery dreams to life for their big day?

A Garden Party: We really pride ourselves in attention to detail and our level of customer service; since we execute about 100 events a year, it is key to be organized and transparent in our pricing and policies. We communicate with our clients with images, emails, texts and social media to make sure we are all on the same page.

On event day, we have a dedicated trained team that knows the ins and outs of your details, and they are available to assist with any day-of task, as we believe in creating a team atmosphere with all the other vendors involved. One of our signature design elements is to go around at the end of the set up with a “doctor bucket,” where we stage greens/florals/candles/lanterns around the venue to bring all of the elements together. All of our events get this treatment; we just can’t stop flowering!

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Art Paper Scissors: What greenery and floral trends do you foresee for the 2019 wedding season?

A Garden Party: I am seeing blues really come into play (dusty blue, slate grays, navy, french blue) along with blush and burgundy colors. The greenery obsession is still going strong and we love it! Rose gold and copper is still growing in popularity, but gold is the reigning queen. Dried, painted and bleached elements (grasses, ferns, pods, etc.) are popular as well.

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Art Paper Scissors: How can a couple work greenery, florals and foliage into their overall wedding vision and their wedding invitations?

A Garden Party: We always ask to see the invitations so we can get another look into the style of the event, and if they have floral/greens on them, we incorporate that into the florals. For instance, we had a client use a floral print to line an envelope, and the dark and moody jewel tones created the foundation for our floral designs.

Also, we love to give florals to the photographer to style and stage invitation suite photos; they are some of my favorites to look back and admire!

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Art Paper Scissors: What are some unique types of greenery and/or florals couples can use for their wedding?

A Garden Party: You know we love our roses and ranunculus, but don’t forget about the seasonal stars such as hellebore, viburnum, berries, clematis etc. Our expansive cutting gardens always show up at the right time, giving us that soft seasonal touch to our floral designs.

Art Paper Scissors: And of course we must ask your team this - what are your favorite flowers/types of greenery?!

A Garden Party: Well, it is almost easier to list what flowers I struggle designing with: callas, sunflowers, gerbers, lilies, iris, babies breath and white hydrangea. My (not so) secret favorites include sweet pea, flowering branches, peonies, honeysuckle, ranunculus, garden roses, mimosa, freesia, tulips…can you tell I am in a spring fever over here?

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Huge thank you to the amazing team vendor team for sharing Marissa and Howard’s big day with us!

Photo | Cassi Claire / Venue | Fernbrook Farms / Planner | SociaLife Events / Florist | A Garden Party LLC / Hair | Industry Salon


Check out A Garden Party - visit their website and check out their Instagram!

Ready to incorporate your flower-filled vision into your wedding invitations? Connect with the Art Paper Scissors team and we'll bring your vision to life!