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Local jewelers ready to help you find the perfect ring Plenty of options to consider for wedding flower arrangements
Sunday, July 17, 2016
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Finding that perfect ring
Local jewelers are ready to offer their help and advice By BRIAN M. JOHNSON STAFF WRITER
attributed to people adjusting to the price of gold and the economy. Blair said customers don’t have to make an appointment to stop in. Staff will help explain the cut and clarity of diamonds and allow customers to try on ring-mounts. Customers can then pick a stone of whatever size or shape they want and DBK’s goldsmith will set it for them. DBK also offers repair services. “My best advice when picking out a ring is to get whatever you think will make her happy,” said Blair. “We have a huge selection of mounts and stones and our prices and customer service are unbeatable. We strive to make our customers happy.”
BRISTOL — For many, searching for wedding or engagement rings can be a stressful prospect. However, local jewelers can help, offering experienced advice and skilled service to help people select the perfect rings for their partners. In Bristol, Shannon’s Diamonds and Fine Jewelry at 74 Farmington Ave., has been helping couples find the diamonds and bands that best suit their tastes and budgets for 42 years. “I’m always amazed when people buy expensive jewelry on the internet without being able to first see it and person and hold it in their hands,” said Scott Fournier, owner of Shannon’s. “Here, not Brian M. Johnson can be reached only can you see your ring in at 860-973-1806 or bjohnson@ Rings on display at Shannon’s Diamonds and Fine Jewelry. person and hold it, but our friend- bristolpress.com. ly, approachable and professional staff can also answer any questions you may have. In addition, we have gold smith in-store to fit rings to your finger and we have services to create custom rings.” Fournier said he helps customers to understand the “four Cs” of diamonds: clarity, color, cut and carat weight. Fournier said that the most popular style of wedding ring has, for the past several years, been the halo style: several tiny diamonds surrounding a larger diamond in the center. However, the more traditional, solitary diamond rings still make up about 30 percent of purchases. “As for the center diamond, the round, brilliant cut is the most popular,” he said. “The second-most-popular is a tie between the princess cut and the cushion cut. In the past few months, I’ve seen an awakening of interest in oval cuts.” In Plainville, Karen Blair, manager of DBK Jeweler at 165 East Now Booking for 2018 St., said the brilliant cut diamonds Limited Availability in 2017 and Halo style rings have also been the top-sellers at her store. 87 Town Farm Road/Farmington, CT / (860) 678-9523 She said she has also noticed people investing in larger-carat center TunxisBanquets.com stones in recent years. This, she
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Sunday, July 17, 2016 | B3
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Fresh or faux? There are a lot of options for wedding flowers By EVE BRITTON STAFF WRITER
BRISTOL — The internet, specifically, the Pinterest site, has changed how both artificial and real wedding flowers are purchased owners of Hubbard’s Florist and the Artificial Flower Shop said.
“The business has changed drastically. More people are doing the arrangements on their own though they still purchase the flowers from us,” said Dave Allaire, who owns 100-year-old Hubbard’s Florist with his wife, Patricia. “The internet and big box stores have definitely changed the business,” See A LOT, Page B6
Eve Britton | Staff
Bridal bouquets and table displays vary in prices at Artificial Flower Shop.
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A lot of variety for wedding flowers
Continued from Page B4
Brides will find a large selection of floral arrangements at Hubbard’s Florist.
down the aisle. I have sold any of those in many years.” Both Allaire and Pinkowish said that artificial flowers are popular for weddings. “The quality of silk has really been coming up. When my
mother started the business, she was making the flowers out of crepe paper, now we have these nice, quality silk flowers,” Pinkerish said. Keeping up with the times, Pinkerish and Allaire said they
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both offer floral arrangement demonstrations. Allaire said that while the artificial flowers he sells are popular, the real flowers that are most popular are hydrangeas, roses (white, red, pastel), Gerber
daisies, Freesias, and hybrid lilies. “Brides are into the more natural and wild flowers look now,” Allaire added. “I love fresh, don’t get me wrong, but the petals drop off,” said Carol Atwood, one of the owners of Artificial Flower Shop said, as she caressed the soft petals of a silk bouquet. “With these, the day of the wedding, you know what you’re getting.” Allaire said though he doesn’t notice the incredibly strong perfume of the cut flowers, he is keenly aware of the beauty. “I like being creative, satisfying customers,” he said, smiling. “It’s wonderful fulfilling wishes through personalized flowers.” Artificial Flower Shop, at 246 Lake Ave., can be reached at 860-582-0516. The website is www.theartificalflowershop.com. Hubbard’s Florist, 133 North St., can be reached at 860583-4184. The website is www. hubbardflorist.com.
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said Dawn Pinkowish, bridal consultant for the 71-year-old Artificial Flower Shop. “People are more cost conscious, but we offer personal service, while they offer packages. We do a really good job and people get to keep mementoes of their wedding forever.” Allaire, who has owned Hubbard’s since 1979, said these days the most popular wedding item is the handheld bouquet, as opposed to the cascading arrangements of flowers brides carried in decades past. “Canning jars for table settings are also very popular. They still buy the flowers from us, but lots of brides are doing the arrangements themselves,” he said. “To save money, they go online and learn how to do it.” It’s interesting, Allaire said that more natural arrangements are popular now, and “there used to be a big call for aisle runners, you know those white runners
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Sunday, July 17, 2016 | B7
Brides rocking new trends By LEANNE ITALIE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Andie Potamkin Blackmore’s approach to life is creative and non-traditional, so why should her wedding “gown” have been any different? The 27-year-old gallery space co-owner, art dealer and fashion lover married hair stylist Jordan Blackmore last November in an outdoor ceremony at the Utah desert resort Amangiri. The Williamsburg, Brooklyn, couple loved the location, and the bride wanted her outfit to reflect the sandy, arid landscape as well as her personality. She wore a tiny bra top with a skirt she had a designer make using loose tubes of chiffon in gradient colors, from creamy white to peach and blush, with touches of gold and a train. Underneath, she wore cowboy boots. “It seamlessly transitioned
into the desert. I wanted it to look like I was growing out of the desert,” Potamkin Blackmore laughed. “I wanted to look like a really cool, weird, desert, alien princess.” Her desires played right into a
There’s no danger that two-piece looks will topple more traditional gowns in popularity any time soon. trend that has been building for several years: the anything-goes bride who chooses to bare a little midriff in two pieces or rock her wedding in a jumpsuit or menswear-inspired tuxedo look done in bridal white, ivory, Champagne or equally soft wed-
ding tones. “It’s definitely something in the air,” said Jane Keltner de Valle, Glamour’s fashion news director. “In general, when you’re getting married, you’re typically in the best shape of your life. You’re working out like crazy. A lot of brides feel like they want to show off those hardearned abs.” There’s no danger that twopiece looks will topple more traditional gowns in popularity any time soon. According to a 2015 survey of brides who used the wedding resource site TheKnot.com, fit-and-flare dresses, also known as mermaid or trumpet styles, were most popular, with 40 percent, while just 1 percent said they picked two-piece outfits. When it comes to baring midriff, bridal trendsetter Vera Wang is on board for brides who know they’ll feel good wearing them.
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Showing off your more fun side Continued from Page B7
“I think anyone can wear it if she feels confident, but I do say that it’s very important to have it cut properly,” she said in a February interview during New York Fashion Week. The same goes for jumpsuits, the flipside of showing off the abs but also a trendy alternative to traditional bridal dressing. Sara Cody Lanard, 28, in Boston wore a flowy white jumpsuit last October from Anthropologie’s wedding collection, BHLDN, for her vow-renewal ceremony and party a year after getting hitched in a short dress during a civil ceremony. She and her groom, Jeff Lanard, chose as their venue the building where they met, the campus center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. “I wanted to feel like a bride, but not so bridal,” she said. “We wanted it to be fun and lighthearted. A gown felt too over the top.” With brides celebrating in more than one outfit — one for the ceremony, one for the reception, for example — those who might feel uneasy about trousers, jumpsuits or bare midriffs walking down the aisle have plenty of other opportunities to wear
those looks. “The two-piece trend is definitely something that is catching on, and it doesn’t have to be scandalous,” said Shelley Brown, associate fashion and beauty editor at The Knot. “Brides more and more want to feel that their weddings are personalized and reflect their style.” More bridal designers are offering two-piece options,
More bridal designers are offering two-piece options, along with jumpsuits along with jumpsuits, she said. Keltner de Valle urged brides to be sure before committing to either style. “If you aren’t confident about your stomach, you’re going to be shifting around or self-conscious about it all night. Another important thing to keep in mind is setting. If you’re getting married in a traditional church ceremony, perhaps wearing a crop top might not be the most
appropriate thing,” she said. Showing just a sliver of skin instead of a lot is a safe choice, Keltner de Valle said. “Another thing to keep in mind is that you’re going to be photographed all night from every angle, so you want to make sure that it’s flattering in different situations — when you sit down, when you’re dancing, when you’re leaning over to cut the cake.” Getting more use for the dollar is another consideration. “A white ball gown is pretty much a one-use-only type of thing, whereas a white jumpsuit is something you could totally wear again and again,” Keltner de Valle said. She suggested staying close to traditional tones. “You don’t want to push the envelope on everything all at once,” she said. Potamkin Blackmore has no plans to stash her sexy wedding outfit in a box, choosing instead to have it incorporated into a The Ines de Santo Bridal Spring 2017 collection is modeled. piece of furniture — made by the designer who created her outfit, Maurizio Galante. “He’s a master screen printer and does great embroidery on chairs, and does tables made of rubber tubes,” she said. “I wanted it to live on.”
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Sign the surfboard? Guest books take many forms
become elaborate and creative, often taking the shape of something that reflects the couple’s personalities or wedding theme. “What it’s morphed into is more of a way of delivering messages and notes and keepsakes for the bride and groom, while at the same time it’s become more interactive and creative in its display,” says Darcy Miller, editor at large of Martha Stewart Weddings. Guests might sign a giant wine bottle, a piece of sporting equipment, seashells or stones, maps, artwork, or fabric squares that get stitched together to form a quilt. Miller has seen a vintage typewriter displayed for guests to peck out messages, a dictionary in which
By LISA A. FLAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
AP
A guest writes a note on a propeller used as a wedding guest book.
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Alexis and John Roulette don’t have to look far to remember the love that friends and relatives showered upon them on their wedding day. The 7-foot-long surfboard mounted above their living room couch says it all. In silver Sharpie, guests wrote messages of love, congratulations and advice on the board that the couple used as a guest book at their wedding in Huntington Beach, California, last summer. “It’s a constant reminder of our special day and the love we had around us,” says Alexis Roulette, 30. As weddings have become highly personalized, the guest book, too, has come a long way. What was once a traditional white bound book has
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Individualizing your guest book Metro Creative Connection
How to organize wedding plans
Weddings require a lot of planning. Couples hosting large weddings or even intimate gatherings can easily be overwhelmed by the amount of planning they must do to make their weddings into events they will remember and cherish forever. n Create separate filing systems for each aspect of the wedding. Rather than maintaining one massive file with information about various elements of the wedding, maintain separate files for each aspect of the wedding. For example, when receiving quotes from prospective florists, keep all florist quotes in a single folder that remains separate from information about other parts of the wedding. Separate filing systems make it easier to find quotes and contracts when you need to, saving you the trouble of digging through pages upon pages of quotes, notes and other information you store. n Maintain a spending spreadsheet. Many couples plan weddings on carefully constructed budgets. But couples can easily exceed those budgets if they are not routinely monitoring and recording their spending or the spending they are committing to upon signing contracts with vendors. Create a spending spreadsheet that allows you to track how much you have already spent, how much you are committed to spending and when wedding bills are due. Update the spreadsheet whenever you write a check or sign a new contract, and periodically examine the sheet so you can make sure you are still on track to remain at or under budget.
n Hire a planner. If wedding planning is proving especially overwhelming or if you simply donÕt have time to do all the legwork necessary to plan on your own, hire a wedding planner. Wedding planners are invaluable resources who can help couples quickly connect with vendors who can meet their needs while staying within their budgets. Planners also can advise couples on ways to save money and which areas of the wedding should not be bargain basement. Couples planning destination weddings should inquire about resort-affiliated wedding planners before choosing a venue to host their ceremonies and/or guests.
guests circled words relevant to the couple, and a globe on which guests signed near places they felt the couple should visit. “If you love to ski, it’s signing vintage skis,” she says. “If you’re into boating and the nautical theme, then it’s a buoy.” Guests might snap an instant photo and leave it behind with a message, to be compiled in a scrapbook. Or a couple might offer a published book for guests to sign, Miller says, such as a book on birds for a nature-inspired event. Because guest books are so individualized, they often become part of the couple’s home. “It becomes personalized decor you live with,” Miller says. “These are no longer things getting stuck in a box and never looked at ever again.” The Roulettes’ surfboard guest book fit the laidback feeling of their beach-themed wedding at Don The Beachcomber. “It’s a really nice piece that I appreciate that we have and can
admire,” Roulette says. “I like that we can see it every day rather than a book. Any guest book, you normally put it away and won’t see it.” Jane Kernen, a wedding planner with Austin Busy Brides in
The nontraditional sign-ins also help guests get to know the couple better. Texas, specializes in events held in nontraditional venues. Most of her couples shy away from the traditional guest book, she says. And while traditional guest books were often set out in church, her couples tend to display their alternative guest books
during cocktails. “Couples want something for people to talk about and an activity during the cocktail hour,” she says. The nontraditional sign-ins also help guests get to know the couple better. Kernan once worked with a pair of pilots who were married in an airplane hangar; they asked guests to sign a propeller . A couple who married at a botanical garden put out self-addressed, stamped postcards featuring botanical prints, on which guests could write well wishes and marital advice. Such alternatives to guest books can become “a keepsake of something that’s personal to you, but made that much more personal because it’s been touched and signed by people you love,” Miller says.
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Tips on choosing a great photographer By JONATHAN ELDERFIELD ASSOCIATED PRESS
Your wedding is fast approaching and you have an un-blissfully long to-do list, from finalizing your flower selection to choosing your menu to deciding on your dress. Near the top of that list you might want to put “select photographer.” That way, one of the most important parts of your wedding — the memories — will be preserved. Think about booking your photographer soon after you have selected your venue, and make sure he or she is a good fit with your personality. As a photographer with over 25 years of experience, including more than 50 weddings, I know the importance of selecting the right person. Not only will you be spending your entire day together, but the resulting photos will influence how you remember your wedding. Look at potential photogra-
Bicia Milioto and Nick Trivigno celebrate their marriage just moments after the wedding ceremony.
Look for depth
AP
want to see only a few “best” photos. “It’s easy to show a bunch of terrific single images taken at many weddings,” says Radhika Chalasani, “but a great wedding photographer has to capture an entire wedding beautifully from start to finish.” The New York-based Chalasani has been photographing weddings since 2004. Looking at portfolios will ensure that the photographer wasn’t just an assistant or a guest with a camera. You can see how the photographer handles all parts of the wedding, including the preparations, ceremony, cocktails, portraits, speeches, dancing and cake-cutting. Get a contract
phers’ electronic portfolios, pricing Below are five tips on choosing A wedding photographer and availability, and plan to meet and working with a wedding phoAsk to see a complete portfolio without a contract (and without several candidates to gauge their tographer: from beginning to end for at least liability insurance) is likely not a See GETTING, Page B12 sensibility. one or two weddings. You don’t
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Getting your photos perfect, now and forever
appearance — should be a good fit with both of you. Craig Warga, a New Yorkbased wedding photographer, says “good photography happens when you can get close to your subjects, and they feel completely comfortable being natural and themselves in front of your lens. If you don’t like someone, you’re not going to have that level of comfort in front of them, and it will affect the pictures.” If you like a sassy personality who will add some color to your day, then by all means hire a vibrant, outgoing photographer who exudes energy. On the other hand, if you want a subtle documentary photographer who will capture important moments without being intrusive, go for someone who won’t talk loudly over you when you first meet, and who seems cool and composed. The right photographer, says Don’t be shy Warga, is someone who leaves you about what you want thinking, “it’d be nice to have that “There’s no harm in being person as a guest at my wedding.” specific,” says Chicago wedding photographer Candice C. Cusic, Sweat some details a photojournalist for 15 years and a teacher at Northwestern Ask if the photographer has University. a full set of equipment: multiple Tell the photographer what the bodies and lenses with back-ups. most important aspects of the day Will he or she be working with are to you, whether it’s exchang- an assistant or second photograing rings or walking down the pher? If so, what is the additional aisle. cost and does that person need to “Brides should be realistic about be there all day? their day and make every possible If your venue will be dark, can effort to help their photographer the photographer handle it? capture great imagery,” Cusic says. A bride or groom getting ready inside a messy hotel room, for instance, will not make for strong pictures, she notes.
Continued from Page B11
professional. The contract should spell out what the photographer will provide, and whether the pictures will be on DVDs, an online gallery, a finished album, etc. It will include the hours worked, and what happens if you ask the photographer to work longer. In addition, you want to know how things will be handled if the photographer becomes unable to work on the wedding day due to illness or injury. He or she should have a back-up. The contract also should spell out the cost, the amount of any deposit and when the balance must be paid. Small, casual weddings might not seem to require a contact, but having one will protect both you and the photographer.
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Other than your significant other, the person with whom you’ll spend the most time on your wedding day might well be your photographer. He or she will be with you as you get ready and as you go through the emotional highs of the day. The photographer might guide you and your family through a portrait session, walk backward as you process up the aisle, and hang close by during your first dance. So this person’s personality — sense of humor, demeanor, even
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Here comes the bride, down go the phones Staying off social media during big moments of a wedding By MARLEY JAY ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — In a phone-toting, social media-mad age, you might think trying to keep your wedding offline would be crazy. Yet we did just that. We asked our guests to stay off their phones during our ceremony and other key moments. In doing so, we were hoping to make the celebration more enjoyable for everyone. As fun as smartphones, Facebook and Instagram are, they’ve turned us into part-time documentarians. We think about how to photograph something as soon as we see it. And we distance ourselves from the feelings that go along with these moments. “Everyone is kind of watching your entire big moment in life through a little 5-inch screen,” says Lizzie Post, a great-great-granddaughter of etiquette expert Emily Post and president of the Emily Post Institute. “We’re not really in the moment. We’re recording the moment.”
Smartphones have become an all-or-nothing phenomenon. ing advice and tech support. The next thing you know, everyone is checking texts and social media. Not to mention those horrible photos we regret the next morning. It’s incredibly easy to take photos with your phone, which means it’s incredibly easy to shoot AP subjects looking terrible, utterly Groom Marley Jay gets hoisted by some of his friends after the wedding, in Stone Ridge, N.Y. intoxicated or twice their actual age. That’s why my then-fiancée tionship with technology — ‘til When one person at the table And because of Amber’s profesAmber Marlow knew what she death or logging out do us part. pulls out a phone, everyone else sional experience, we both knew wanted: an unplugged wedding, Smartphones have become takes it as permission to do the what we didn’t want to see in our See KEEPING, Page B14 in which you ask guests to put an all-or-nothing phenomenon: same. Sometimes people start givaway their phones for all or part of the festivities. She’s a wedding photographer, and she’s been recommending that clients go unplugged for years. The fact that “put your phones away” is a style of wedding instead of an obvious point shows how much mobile phones have altered even the most emotional moments of our lives. And as we worked to spread the word and plan our wedding, we learned even more about our rela-
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Keeping the wedding unplugged
Continued from Page B13
wedding photos: guests glued to their screens as we walked down the aisle or holding up iPads to record the first dance. Phones can take good photos, but with their distracting glow, they don’t make for good photos. Not that we’re pining for a simpler, low-tech way of life. Amber and I met on a dating website, and we used our smartphones to navigate to our venue. Because we didn’t want to annoy or inconvenience guests, we nixed phones only for our 15-minute ceremony, first dance and cake-cutting. We allowed phones during cocktail hour and the rest of the reception, and we told our guests they could take all the selfies they wanted. But we asked them not to post any photos of us online. We did hire a professional photographer to capture the evening for us, including the ceremony. We wanted to make sure her photos were full of smil-
ing faces, not screens. we never thought about asking We made our request gently, people to hand over their phones. but often. Maybe a little more A funny pattern emerged: Our often than we needed to. We 20- and 30-something friends, the supposedly tech-addicted millennials, thought ditching phones was a great idea. “I don’t like them controlling my life,” says our friend Katie Morse, a social media professional. It was a tougher sell for my mom and my aunt, both in their 60s and relatively new to technology. They just wanted to show us off on Facebook. It’s the same generational dynamic that can make social media exasperating to people who have older relatives as Facebook friends. People who’ve spent a lot of their lives online have internalized a certain kind of etiquette, mentioned the unplugged-ness of a sense of when it’s proper to our wedding in our invitations contact someone or share a photo. and explained it on our wedding An older relative without that website. But we were careful not sensibility might appear ... a little AP It’s a good idea to try to keep smartphone activity to a minimium at weddings. to make threats or demands, and overenthusiastic.
20- and 30-something friends, the supposedly tech-addicted millennials, thought ditching phones was a great idea.
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WEDDING GUIDE
The Herald Press
Sunday, July 17, 2016 | B15
Wild, natural and local Different trends in floral centerpieces
give a sense of movement and direction. Cylindrical vases are the least friendly to this because they are too vertical. Urns or bowls or anything that allows flowers to extend outward is much more wonderful to work with,” Chezar says. Besides flower growers and farmers markets, she said, “another great resource is nurseries. If you don’t want to deal with cut flowers, you can have a mass of pansies in a pot. Nice containers elevate even humble plants to something more elegant, and a plant is almost always cheaper than cut flowers, plus it lasts.” She warned, however, that those trying to make their own wedding centerpieces should think carefully. “Nobody realizes how much work it takes to do your own flowers,” she said. “Don’t think you can do it the last week. You need to plan way ahead, do some research to get a sense of what’s going to be available when you’ll be needing it, put together an idea board of varieties and colors, and practice doing it ahead of the event itself.” For those who do opt for creAP ative homemade arrangements, A floral centerpiece featured in the book “The Flower Workshop” by Ariella Chezar. there are infinite options.
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Whether designing with flowers for a huge formal event or a small casual affair, the trend is toward a more wild and natural look, according to floral designer Ariella Chezar of the FlowerSchool in New York. That can include blooms, branches, fruit and foraged materials, like rosemary and jasmine, she said. And the best place to start is with your local flower farmer or farmer’s market. “It’s important to consider the setting before deciding on the arrangement. Mason jars are great, but they wouldn’t work at the Waldorf,” said Chezar, who has designed floral arrangements for hundreds of weddings as well as for the White House. She is co-author with Julie Michaels of the new “The Flower Workshop” (Ten Speed Press, March 2016), which has tips on everything from textures and colors to foliage and containers. It includes step-bystep instructions for more than 45 floral projects. Another important factor in selecting flowers and arrangements is which colors suit the bride, Chezar said in an interview from her home in upstate New York. “It seems like 90 percent of the blonde brides choose pastels and 90 percent of brunettes opt for jewel tones, since people tend to be drawn to the colors they look best in,” Chezar said. But the most crucial element is finding out what flowers are in season in the vicinity of the wedding, said Chezar, who is also a flower grower. “About 80 percent of the flowers used in the U.S. come from abroad, and there’s a real interest now in using locally grown flowers,” she said. “Just as there is a ‘slow food’ movement, there is also a ‘slow flowers’ movement,” she explained, and local or foraged varieties are “very much the look du jour pretty much anywhere you go.” Slowflowers.com is a directory of over 700 flower growers in every state except North Dakota, she said.
Debra Prinzing of Seattle, who launched the site two years ago, said: “Farmers who sell to the public are an incredibly useful resource for brides, a real repository of knowledge. And the ethos of local, or at least U.S. sourcing is something brides really want these days.” Farmers know what’s in season, and having a story behind the flowers at your wedding — a sort of provenance — adds to the event, said Prinzing, who adds stationery tags to centerpieces for local weddings telling where the flowers were grown and what variety they are. “It’s a cultural pivot toward local sourcing for all things. And in terms of the aesthetic, it’s a mindset of looking for all things seasonal and natural,” she said. Chezar says that look can be attained through a generous use of foliage, branches and vines, as opposed to “just stuffing the flowers together tightly. People don’t necessarily think about the foliage, but it’s what breaks up and highlights the flowers and gives them a more natural look.” Containers are also important. “The idea is to let things extend beyond the edge of a vase, to
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By KATHERINE ROTH
B16 | Sunday, July 17, 2016
The Herald Press