Saving Wedding Flowers One Petal at a Time - Working with KC & Mary, Part II

KC & Mary had brought me two coolers full of flowers from their wedding.

I pressed just about everything they'd given me and when the flowers came out of the presses, I'd joked that I might need a bigger table. Then, of course, I was quick to point out that if bigger tables were required to hold more flowers and more love then (metaphorically speaking) we should ALL have BIGGER tables!

I stood back to take in the scope of the botanicals I'd taken from the presses. There had to have been a thousand petals in front of me. I bit my lip, intimidated by the sheer volume of the possibilities.

I took a deep breath. Just as every journey begins with a single step. Every botanical collage begins with one petal.

Shhh, here's a secret...when I get a bouquet, I pick apart all of the flowers and press the individual petals. Weeks later, when they come out of the presses, I re-build the flowers petal by petal.

​Watch the process here...

I had reconstructed about 20 flowers when it became clear that the 11"x14" collage KC & Mary had ordered wasn't going to be big enough to hold this botanical abundance. I sent them an email to explain. I asked them to consider a bigger piece. "Think about where you're going to hang this in your home. Do you want one large piece, or maybe a series of smaller ones?" They said they'd talk about it and get back to me. 

I expected KC & Mary to deliberate awhile to consider the possibilities. I was suprised when I heard back from them the very next day. They wanted a 20"x20".

"We want to capture that feeling of abundance we had throughout the day. Not only the abundance of flowers, but love and laughing and so much fun!"

For KC & Mary their flowers represented the total joy of their wedding day and they wanted their collage to capture that feeling so they could hold on to it forever.

As much as it thrilled me to hear how excited KC & Mary were about their collage, I was a little bit terrified. No lie.  20” x 20” is a large piece of artwork when your medium is pressed flower petals.

​I needed to get busy building more flowers.

​After I've reconstructed the flowers, it's time to design the collage.

But, before I begin to the design process, I set an intention.

I take a few moments and sit with the flowers. I think about the people I am creating for and what they want. 

I think about love; deep love that makes one person say to another, you're the one for me.

I listen to the flowers. They witnessed the moment. They soaked up the joy. The flowers were there and now they're with me, imbued with the emotions of the day.

As I was designing KC & Mary's collage, I started to giggle. There ARE joy in the flowers and it's CONTAGIOUS!

​I'm following the lead of the flowers and we're having a grand ol' time here at Flora-Ly Studios.

Here's a little glimpse of the piece in process...

Stay tuned to see the final collage. Gah! I'm so excited to share it with KC & Mary!

​And with YOU!

P.S. Follow the whole process from fresh wedding flowers to finished botantical collage. Did you see Part 1? Are you ready to head straight to Part 3?