Over the years as bouquet styles have come and gone, new tools and tricks of the trade have been developed to help aid a designer in achieving the look their bride is looking for. As trends come back into our lives it’s often like riding a bike, you fall back into the same routine and all these memories come flooding back to you about things you learned previously. With all the cascades I’ve been doing lately I have just been reminded of little tricks I forgot about, which then inspired me to share my past experiences to hopefully help out someone else out there who is struggling with this trend coming back around.
- Bouquet Holders: There is a such a wide variety of cascade bouquet styles out there that range in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but they all have one fundamental building block in common, a bouquet holder. Recently I have been turned onto a new style of bouquet holder that has revolutionized my cascade design construction, the gala bouquet holder (S5964). These bouquet holders do cost more than a basic holder but the density of the foam mixed with the ease of design makes this well worth the splurge. The gala bouquet holder is designed to have virtually 360 degrees of design capability, and after the first time I used it I was hooked I can never go back to the flat one dimensional bouquet holder I was accustomed to. I was able to finish off the back of the bouquet like never before; it really allowed for a polished completely rounded look in the back with a dramatic cascade in the front, the gala bouquet holder has quickly become my go to bouquet holder for wedding work. Tip: I found the easiest way to get the holder to stand up while designing was to take a vase and fill the bottom with rocks and then wedge a block for dry foam into the top of the vase. You can then insert the handle of the holder into the foam so it stands straight up and won’t topple over.
- Wooden Picks: My biggest tip is to use 2” wired wooden picks (S10874) to secure blooms into the foam. When I design a cascade bouquet I always start with my longer cascading blooms first, when I go to insert these stems into the foam I always like to use a wooden pick fastened to the end of the stem to act as an anchor. The wooden pick tends not to slip out as easily and I can also use them as an extension to the stem, that way the tip of the stem is still in the foam so it won’t dry out but the wooden pick is secured deep in the foam. I also like to use picks to anchor flowers like hydrangea and calla lilies into the foam, they have short soft stems that don’t take being inserted into foam too well and the pick acts as a backbone to help them stay in the foam.
- Floralock: Cascade bouquets can be tricky business, I have never had a bouquet fall apart but it has always been a fear of mine. About 8 years ago I was using a decorative holder that I didn’t feel was able to hold the amount of product I was going to have to place in it so when I was done constructing the bouquet I used Floralock plus stem adhesive (S2079). You spray the glue directly on to the foam and it hardens around the stem holding it in place, ever since my successful application of this adhesive on that bouquet 8 years ago, I have used it on every bouquet holder ever since. There are 2 things to remember with this glue, the first is once it dries you cannot change the design, I usually wait to spray it just before it leaves the shop just in case I decide I want to make any adjustments. The second is don’t over spray this glue, once you have good even coverage on the surface of the foam it’s better to stop than to over apply, if you over apply you run the risk of the glue running down the handle making it a sticky mess for the bride.
- Finishing Spray: Water is limited in a bouquet holder, there is no reservoir to hold excess water so whatever is absorbed into the foam at the time of construction is basically all that the bouquet will receive. This is why utilizing a finishing spray like Crowning Glory (S2584) or Finishing Touch (S6715) is a must. These sprays seal the flowers and foliage to reduce respiration and help retain moisture within the specimen resulting in a longer lasting bouquet. I usually will make the bouquet and put it into the cooler but once I take it out to be delivered I spray them all down with a finishing spray to ensure they have a nice fresh coating before they are delivered to the bride.
