Elegant, glamorous and modern are the words that come to mind when describing Sydney & HR's Hotel Colonnade wedding in Coral Gables. These two were such an incredible couple to work with and we are so excited to write about our experience with this wedding. Our floral journey began during our initial meeting, where Sydney, her sister, mom and wedding planner were all present. We had so much fun chatting about all the elements they wanted to incorporate on their special day. Sydney knew she wanted her color palette to be black, white and gold which was a beautiful combination for such an elegant space. We spoke about including a variety of centerpiece styles as well as the possibility of even incorporating some black flowers! After our meeting, we were all in on this incredibly lux style and eager to get started on their proposal.
Immediately after our meeting we worked diligently to put together a proposal and style board and after some minor revisions we were officially booked as their floral designers! Fast forward to a few months before the wedding, Sydney expressed to us that she had changed her mind on the overall design of the day. We quickly jumped on a meeting with her and the whole team again. We went over some major design changes. Originally, Sydney had wanted to incorporate a few different centerpiece designs such as a mixture of cylinders with white floral bouquets spilling out the tops and other elevated centerpieces. We now tweaked our design to reflect four different centerpiece designs! Immediately we were thrilled because this was going to be one of the most unique and elaborate weddings we had created to date. Here's a breakdown of all the designs we were now going to create:
1. Four guest tables would feature a single elevated centerpiece with the incorporation of calla lilies.
2. Two tables would feature a slightly different single elevated centerpiece with phalaenopsis orchids instead of calla lilies.
3. Two guest tables would feature TWO elevated arrangements with THREE low arrangements dispersed in between.
4. Four guest tables would feature a full runner of florals running across the table with phalaenopsis orchids inserted into tall candelabras.
5. Nine tables would feature a low centerpiece with an abundance of white florals and candles surrounding.
6. The sweetheart table would now have flowers at the top and cascading down both sides.
7. The main rotunda fountain would now be surrounded by flowers and feature an arrangement at the top tier.
Here are some of the original design renderings from the planning process that were created by Sydney's wedding planner Lynn from D'Asigner Events, and the after photos of our final design.
With all the new revisions, this was now a completely different proposal to their original one. We quickly made all the adjustments requested and had her sign off on the new design plan. This is such an important component of what we do! We know and understand that couples may change their minds on the design style throughout the wedding planning process, especially our couples who book far in advance such as Sydney & HR did. It's important when selecting your floral designer that they're able to be flexible and can make changes to your design as your planning process evolves. This is one of the many aspects of Fleur De Marsca that we pride ourselves in; being flexible and helping you adjust your designs as your wedding vision evolves.
Once our new design plan was finalized we were now about a month out from wedding day! Once we reach the one-month mark we like to finalize all our designs and this is also the time when we conduct our venue walkthrough. We will visit your venue and make sure we have all the correct measurements and get a good feel of the space, especially if it's our first time working at the venue. Many times our couples will ask us if we've worked at certain venues prior to their wedding. Often we have, but there are instances when your event will be our first time working there. That's why our venue walkthroughs are crucial. We make it a priority to know and understand the space and layout with ample time prior to your special day. If there's one thing we will always be- it's prepared!
Once wedding week arrived, it was time to get to the most labor-intensive part of our work. Midweek we traveled to various vendors to pick up countless boxes of flowers. We then took everything into our studio space for the week and began to process everything. It took us an entire day with a team of 5 to process all the florals required. Overall, we had over 2,600 stems of flowers that we used for this wedding! We then spent the next few days creating our designs and making sure everything was organized and our inventory was set for wedding day.
The much anticipated day was finally here and we were ready to go! We had two separate box trucks that we used for transporting our florals for this wedding and they were filled to the brim! Loading up the trucks is a very meticulous and time-sensitive process where we very carefully and diligently need to load all our florals to make sure they arrive perfectly. We then cautiously drive to the venue and begin the unloading process. Once everything is unloaded and safely in the venue the setup process begins.
The first thing we do after everything is unloaded is deliver personal florals. Sydney's bouquet was an extra special delivery since her bouquet consisted of some absolutely stunning white phalaenopsis orchids. This bouquet was definitely a show-stopping piece! After delivering personal florals, we spent the next six hours with our team of 10, setting all our florals throughout the venue! All the phalaenopsis orchids were placed into the arrangements on site to ensure that these
extremely delicate flowers were at their absolute prime in the centerpieces. We also installed and finished designing the sweetheart table and fountain on site to ensure that everything fit perfectly in its final spot. We were so in love with the final outcome and it's always our favorite part when we get to see the months of hard work finally come to fruition. Even more than that is seeing our couples' reaction to their dreams becoming a reality.
