Living Coral Bridal Bouquet

Welcome to the Flower School .com video library. I'm Leanne Kessler, director of The Floral Design Institute, and today I'm here to share with you an on-trend bridal bouquet using the Pantone color of the year, Living Coral. 

I sourced all of the materials from FiftyFlowers.com. Made it so easy because I went onto their site, and then shopped by color. They actually have coral listed, so I could just click on there and then look at the beautiful flowers. The big, fun roses are grand because they pick up both that reddish coral, and the peachy coral, so that you can transition back and forth. The ranunculus, I would say these are ridiculous. They're so sturdy. They're so large. They're amazing. Hypericum. And then to blend it all together looking at the blueish hued foliage. They have a fabulous assortment pack of eucalyptus, includes seeded, spiral and silver dollar, all in the same box. 

When the flowers came in, I opened the box, re-cut them, dipped them in quick dip and then placed them in flower food. After they were fully hydrated, I went back and removed the foliage. I don't want those leaves on there, they'll be in the way. Made sure that all the extra leaves were off the hypericum. Then cleaned up the eucalyptus stems so that the lower portion is bare, ready for designing. 

Once everything is prepared, making the bouquet is easy. Start by gathering a little bit of each item in your hand, clustering it together. A little spiral eucalyptus, seeded eucalyptus, silver dollar eucalyptus. Then holding it with just a finger and a thumb, loosely, letting things drape, start adding in the actual beautiful flowers. The peaches and cream hypericum, the big fun rose, and cluster it in your hand. 

Once you get that started, the trick is that everything you add in your hand, you put in at a slight angle. So taking it slightly to the side, stem coming across, then turn it. Bring in one of those gorgeous ranunculus, stem to the side, then turn it. And keep repeating. Angle, turn, angle, turn. You can mix and match. As long as you always put it in that same angle it will be beautiful and perfect. The biggest error is that you hold it too tight. So as you add it, it's just that finger and thumb holding, and then turning. 

I want to remember that I have the beautiful eucalyptus, and not focus on just the flowers. Come back, and adding in a little more eucalyptus, turning it, then adding in more flowers as well. You can see, as you build, as long as you spiral, constantly turning, constantly angling, you get a gorgeous bouquet. 

As you get close to the finish, you want to stand and look at it in a mirror so that you're looking right at it. Look for balance. Look for the placement of each of the blooms so that it really fits nicely, doesn't look like there's any gaps or holes. Double check if you want, another ranunculus. Maybe a little more of the seeded eucalyptus, giving me that nice drape. See how that softens, and flows. More of the hypericum. Turning. Maybe a little bit more of the silver dollar. Then, again, looking in the mirror to make sure you're keeping your balance. 

One last check. Look closely. Double check to see if, maybe you need one more stem of something just to finish it off perfectly. Then, using bind wire, pull off a stretch, give it a cut, then wrapping above your hand, go around 3 times, getting it nice and snug. Then twisting the two ends together to secure. Then once everything's locked, go back with your cutter and cut it down so that you've got nice, short stems. 

The beauty of a hand tie like this, is you can do it ahead of time. Set it in a vase of water, and keep it cool. Then when it comes time for the wedding, take it out, dry it, cut the stems shorter if you'd like, and add your ribbons. I'm going to leave it in the water right now cause it works as a hand for me. Pull this together, wrap it around all the way back to the front, tie it in a knot. It's ready for delivery. You could even deliver it in the vase of water so it stays super fresh. And then, when you get onsite, take it out, dry it off, and cut the stems. 

Living Coral, the Pantone color of the year, is such a flower-friendly color. It's going to be a favorite from florists, and customers alike. With FiftyFlowers.com, it's so easy because when you log into their site all you have to do is search by color, and it shows you all the beautiful coral flowers. The big fun, the ranunculus, the hypericum, so grand with eucalyptus. Thanks so much 50flowers for making this easy. 

For more creative inspiration, check out the website Flower School .com. If you have questions, you can reach us there. Or pick up the telephone and give me a call at 503-223-8089. Now it's your turn. As you create using Living Coral, the Pantone color of the year, take a picture, post it on social media, and tag Floral Design Institute. That way we all can see what you do, as you do something you love.