Wedding Bouquet Practice with Australian Native Flowers

Wedding Bouquet Practice with Australian Native Flowers from Flemington Flower Markets

With eleven months to go until the wedding, Hai and I have hit a slight lull. We've done alot of the hard work -  booked our Reception hall, our Ceremony location, celebrant, photographers, videographer, make-up & hair. I've also ordered my bridal shoes and once I have them I can order my dress with my final height in mind.

With my flowers, I wanted to make my own bouquets, knowing that just one can cost into the hundreds of dollars. I visited the flower markets in Flemington with Betty and once in there, most of the flowers reminded me of what I saw while on my monthly hikes with Hai and friends.

I drew inspiration from that and put together wattles, banksia, cotton, small white wax flowers that grew from thick dry branches, red willow leaves and eucalyptus leaves into a fancy bouquet and white ribbon.
I then added some purple flowers to bring it all together. and it cost me at least a third of my budget - only $32.

I'm extremely happy with the result and I keep imagining me walk down the aisle with these in my hands. I also kept these flowers for a few days to see how long it took to wilt. It took at least until the 5th day to see some discolouring and drying up, which is great news since I have to make these bouquets two days in advance.

For the next months I'll continue to practice making these bouquets - for my bridemaids and maid of honours, with the Australian native flowers theme in mind. Future ideas may include bunches of baby breath, in dusty blues (they have them coloured), silver dollar eucalyptus, and coloured banksia. So much inspiration coming from my own backyard. Watch this space over the next few months.

My Valentine's Day Gift Guide 2014

My Valentine's Day Gift Guide 2014: #1 Royal Aquamarine's Kelly Sunglasses in Fairy Floss; #2 Fresh Flower's Gifts, Flowers and Bouquets; #3 Emu Australia; #4 Katerina Nis Lingerie and Sleepwear;  #5 Code Love Jewellery; #6 Moi Self's Helpful Hankies; #7 Style Tread Shoes special Valentine's Day Promotion

Here is my Valentine's Day Gift Guide for 2014. All you lucky gals out there who have boyfriends right now can definitely look forward to some wonderful gifts. I on the other hand will gracefully gym that day (leg day) and wear my red dress from Persun into work as I work that night and most likely eat pork roll with all my friends after shift.

As always, I am a sucker for the colour pink so I have, of course, searched far and wide to collect as many pink items for Valentine's Day. Firstly, I am super excited to announce that Royal Aquamarine will be releasing their second season of Sunglasses to the world. And of course, these fairyfloss pink Kelly sunglasses caught my eye. Perfect amount of chic, pick and elegance and these would be released soon in March but can pre-order now.
The second item is of course, a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Fresh Flowers. Fresh Flowers are an Australian online florist that can deliver straight to your door. A girl's heart will instantly melt once they see these roses show up at their doorstep.
Third, even though I am displaying the children's warm boots (they are tooo cute!) Emu Australia have some snuggly shoes and apparel for the upcoming winter this year. Absolutely beautifully crafted, coming in classic boot styles and cute animals designs like zebras, lions and ladybugs.
Forth, Katerina Nis is a Sydney based Lingerie and Sleepwear designer with some really cute pieces for the bedroom. The items are soft to the touch and comes in pinks and reds, perfect to enhance the femininity of a woman.
Coming in at fifth, Code Love is a jewellery line based on the design of Morse Code, incorporating original codes into the design, mixing it in with leather and gold plated pieces. My favorite is the bracelet pictured in the guide as it spells the word LOVE.
Sixth, Moi Self has created a really quirky way to celebrate Valentine's, or an 'anti-Valentine's' (aka me myself and I this year) and this gift is perfect your your gal best friend or that single friend this year. Each hanky displays a cute message on each which sends a positive message on Valentine's.
And last but not least, Style Tread has come up with a wonderful promotion this year for this day. From the 13th to the 15th February, there are special discounts for items that display a little heart in the corner. When you place these ticket items into cart, you get to find out what special discount you get off the item. It's a nice little surprise for us gals on Valentine's.

Well there's my gift guide for 2014. I myself don't expect a present this year, but I know hundreds of girls out there will, and I'll definitely try my best not to envy them at all (!!).

Happy Valentine's!