February 24, 2013




Mermaid Bouquet

Often, the starting point for a bridal bouquet, or any arrangement really, is an amazing flower stem, or interesting piece of foliage. It could be something about the shape, the bend of a stem, an incredible colour, or the patterning on the underside of a leaf.  Nature as muse.  The transience of nature means that no two stems will ever be alike; the changing seasons introduce colour changes in leaves, transform petals into pods, bend stems under wind and sun.  In flowers, as in faces, true beauty lies in the imperfections.  Perfect hothouse flowers can somehow miss the whole point, but that’s a rant for another day…


In this case, the muse was a delicately winding tendril of a passionfruit vine.  And a waterlily flower.  The two combined conjured these Julia Margaret Cameron portraits, Victorian beauties wandering in overgrown gardens, vines trailing down.  The fact that the beautiful bride that clutched this bouquet to her dress  actually looked like these girls made it all complete.