Wedding Cake Topper: How to Combine Flowers With A Cake Topper For The Ultimate Topper

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sophia_Rodriguez]Sophia Rodriguez

Are you wondering how you can combine your original idea of decorating your wedding cake with flowers with that cute little topper you found? A combination of flowers with a theme cake topper can be the ultimate way to top a wedding cake when done right. Follow the instructions in this article so that you can have your cake and eat it too...literally!

The easiest way to bring your floral theme to your cake is to add a few choice flowers in water picks here and there on different levels of the cake and surrounding your cake topper.

What you will need

* Chosen cake topper
* Small water picks
* Chosen flowers
* Glossy leaves

Step One
Let's say you have chosen a golf themed topper and your flowers are yellow roses and baby's breath, plan to place the topper on the top section of your cake at the center, then add a yellow rose in front of it resting on a small piece of foliage such as leather or pittosporum. Add another little piece of foliage over top of the water pick to conceal it. Please note that all roses should definitely be inserted into picks since they are heavy drinkers and will need the moisture to look great throughout the night.

Step Two
Add more roses at different angles all around the cake, depending on which sides of the cake will be visible. To camouflage the water pick and to add style to your cake, use glossy leaves such as leather, camellia, ruscus or pittosporum and simply lay them on top of the water pickholder. Most foliage and fillers such as baby's breath will look just fine out of water for an evening. Baby's breath is great to fill in the gaps between flowers however it will look out of place unless you are using it elsewhere in your wedding flowers. Many tropical plants with short glossy leaves would also work wonderfully. The glossier they are, the longer they will look fresh. Other single flowers that look great on a cake are daisies, bits and pieces of hydrangea, lilies and sunflowers.

Petal Pointer:
Water picks are available at your local florist. When purchasing them for the purpose of cake accents, ask for orchid water tubes. They are the best since they are the shortest and easier to camouflage on the cake. If you can't get those, a regular pick, the shortest you can get it will be fine.

if you want to know more than just how to decorate the top of your cake with flowers and wish to know how to make floral centerpieces, bouquets and corsages, check out my book called: Unleash Your Inner Florist: How To Make Your Own Wedding and Special Event Flowers. Save hundreds of dollars by making your own wedding flowers here: [http://www.howtoweddingflowers.com]How To Make Wedding Flowers

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Wedding-Cake-Topper:-How-to-Combine-Flowers-With-A-Cake-Topper-For-The-Ultimate-Topper&id=6173342] Wedding Cake Topper: How to Combine Flowers With A Cake Topper For The Ultimate Topper

FAQ'S About Making Fresh Flowers Last Longer

By Sophia Rodriguez

Should I place my fresh cut flowers in the sunshine to help open them up?

No! Since temperature is the #1 factor in keeping flowers fresher longer, placing them in the sunshine will overheat them and promote early death. Set containers in a cool, dark area overnight before starting to work with them. The darkness helps to eliminate transpiration or water loss to keep the blooms at their freshest.

Where should I put my flowers while they are waiting to be arranged in bouquets?

The area used to recondition your flowers should have lots of air circulation but no drafts, heaters or fans. Ideally, this would be a fl oral cooler with a 38-50 degrees Fahrenheit (3-10 degrees Celsius) temperature and with a very high (80%) of humidity. Of course, in a home setting, this is rarely possible. Therefore, just do your best at finding the coolest area in the house (must be at least 3 degrees) to store your flowers. A cold cellar or basement would be great.

To increase humidity, just before leaving them for the night, use a mist sprayer to spray a fine mist of water into the air above and around the blooms. A simple procedure like putting the bloom in a cool spot overnight helps them recuperate from the journey and last longer. Even placing finished bouquets on the floor where it is naturally cooler can help with the freshness.

What about foliage, how do I keep it fresh until I am ready to use it in my bouquets and corsages?

The best way to preserve foliage until you are ready to use it is to first re-cut the stem underwater about 1" (2.5cm), then spray them with a fine mist of water. Place them in a plastic bag in the fridge or in a cool location. This helps preserve maximum moisture into the leaves.

I heard that I should never put flowers with fruit. Is this true?

Yes. Ripening fruit causes the most amount of ethylene in a home setting and can greatly damage fresh blooms and foliage. Ethylene is a hormone that is like an odorless and invisible gas that speeds up floral maturation and death. Ethylene is produced by two main sources. The first is outside factors such as the burning of fuels, by bacteria forming and by the ripening of fruits.

The second source of ethylene in a home setting is from the flower itself. Even when you cut stems, small amounts of ethylene escape. This is not a huge concern as long as you store your blooms in a fresh and cool atmosphere. Make sure not to bunch them all in one vase: spread them out and let your floral beauties breathe. Also, make sure to keep all your tools, buckets and water solutions clean. Finally, remember to always store your flowers away from any fruit.

Do you want to learn a lot more about handling and preparing fresh flowers? If so, my book may be perfect for you. It is called: Unleash Your Inner Florist: How to Make Wedding And Special Event Flowers. Click here to get more information about how to make pretty bouquets, corsages, centerpieces and lots more: Unleash Your Inner Florist http://www.howtoweddingflowers.com

How To Cut Costs When Planning Your Wedding Flowers

How to cut costs when planning your wedding flowers is easy when you follow some or all the suggestions in this article.

First of all you will save big if you make your own flowers for your wedding. if you can tolerate the thought of having fake flowers at your wedding, you will save if you make your own artificial flowers.
Of course there are artificial flowers that will cost you an arm and a leg and there are real flowers that are just as cheap as fake flowers.

However, if you love calla lilies, orchids, stephanotis and other exotics, the artificial variety will be cheaper. If you are getting a florist to make your flowers ask for a price for both fake and real flowers.

Making your own wedding flowers will greatly decrease your bottom line price. Even if you don't feel comfortable making all your wedding flowers you can focus on one aspect of your wedding flowers.

Centerpieces is the number one thing you can do to reduce your costs. Centerpieces, even ones made with real flowers can be made at least 4-5 days before the wedding; artificial ones can be made weeks ahead of the big day. You could get together with your bridesmaids a few days before the wedding and have a go at creating your centerpieces and bouquets.

To save the most on the actual bulk flowers, you can order a growers box online which could be a large bundle of roses or hydrangeas fresh from the farm at incredible prices and base your floral wedding theme around an abundance of that flower. Of course, you will need proper instructions and a complete plan of action to ensure your floral success.

Boutonnieres and corsages are another area where you can definitely cut costs when making your wedding flowers. Consider that it can cost you $1 for a rose and.50 for greens. Add floral tape and a corsage pin and you have yourself a recipe for a boutonniere for under $2 whereas if you order one all made up for you at the florist, it will cost you at least 3 times that amount.

Reusing bouquets is another way to cut costs on wedding flowers by making the most of each bouquet.If you have bouquets in flower holders, you can purchase or rent bouquet holders that can be clipped on the front of the head table to decorate the head table elegantly. Bridal bouquets can also double as bouquets to decorate the cake table, the sign in guest registry table or another focal table at your reception.

Not sure if you should use fresh or fake flowers at your wedding? Take the quiz here to make sure you do what`s best for your personality type Fake or Fresh Quiz
http://makeweddingflowers.com/should-you-use-real-or-fake-flowers-for-your-we...

If you want complete and inexpensive instructions on how to make your wedding flowers, get my book called Unleash Your Inner Florist. It will guide you every step of the way and make it look like a professional florist made your flowers. Read more about my book here: How To Wedding Flowers http://www.howtoweddingflowers.com

What Makes a Special Event Look Professional Vs Tacky?

By Sophia Rodriguez

Are you wondering what makes a special event look professional vs. tacky? If so, this article will shed some light on the subject and help you achieve a professional look for your special event.

We will discuss color choice, unity of decor and richness of materials.

Color choice is the number one element that can make or break an overall elegant look. Please refer to a color chart before picking your definite colors or go with a look of the year color combination to make sure you choose modern colors that coordinate well together.

A bad color choice can create tackiness. For example, we once decorated a wedding in a beautiful timber framed ballroom. The decor was sheer elegant draping on the ceiling with twinkling lights. The head table and the cake table had mini light accents as well.

It could have been quite elegant. However, the bride wouldn't budge on the colors...olive green and dull red! It totally ruined the look and left the decorator and florist cringing! Another element of decor that makes it professional looking is unity of decor.

For example if you choose to use ivy in your wedding bouquets, it would be great to use ivy in your decor at the reception as well. Touches of ivy on the front of the head table could be used as well on the cake table. If you use the colors red and white in the wedding flowers, use the same colors in the centerpieces as well.

If your theme is a beach theme, you will want to follow through with your theme all the way from shells in your bouquets to a cake topper in a beach theme and shells sprinkled along a sandy candlelight centerpiece. Don't overdo it though. If you exaggerate one element too much, it will become tacky.

Finally, the best way to create unity and save money is to reuse bouquets, bows and an arch that you will use at the church.

Get trusted family members to move these items. Make sure to tell them, better yet, make them a diagram of what and where you would like things moved. They will appreciate your instructions and allow them to perform their task as per your wishes.

Finally, materials used should be rich looking, vibrant, healthy and modern.

For example: lace and lattice are now rarely used at modern weddings. Same goes for plastic and cloth flowers, flower fans and paper bells. Of course, there could be exceptions, but usually, try to leave these materials out.

For more information on how to choose colors for this year`s special event of yours, check out my blog: How To Wedding Flowers Blog Http://www.makeweddingflowers.com

If you want complete and inexpensive instructions on how to make flowers for your special event, get my book called Unleash Your Inner Florist. It will guide you every step of the way and make it look like a professional florist made your flowers and unified your wedding decor. Read more about my book here: How To Wedding Flowers http://www.howtoweddingflowers.com

Wedding Flowers Cost Cutting - Top 5 Cheapest Flowers for Wedding Elegance

by Sophie Castonguay

Wedding flowers cost cutting is often a concern for brides-to-be who want floral elegance featured at their wedding but don't know how to save without cutting flowers out of their special day. As a retired wedding florist, I can suggest that the first rule of cost cutting on wedding flowers is to select your main flowers carefully.

You want to choose a flower that will look beautiful, will coordinate with your theme or color scheme, will not have an overpowering smell that will give you a headache on your special day and a flower that will look romantic and wedding appropriate. For this purpose, I have compiled a list of the top 5 flowers that may be perfect for your wedding while being cost conscious to save you money on your wedding flowers.

5. The Rose

Not the cheapest of the cheap flowers but definitely on the list due the rose's ultimate role as The quintessential flower of romance. This all-star in the world of weddings comes in most colors and even in bi-colored, stripped and tipped roses too. Though roses are commonly associated with strong fragrance, not every rose is scented and even those that are scented are not overpowering. All these reasons make roses the ideal choice as a wedding feature flower. Of course, in order for your roses to be as cost conscious as possible, choose popular long stem rose colors such as red, pink, white, yellow or orange (in that order) Also, choose simple hand tied rose bouquets for minimum labor and a modern look. If you want to save even more money, make your own wedding bouquets. It's not that complicated especially if you are following good step by step instructions written by a florist and if you are making hand held bouquets. If you decide to make your own boutonnieres and corsages, make sure to use sweetheart roses for a more elegant and long lasting look. On the same note, if ordering from your florist make sure she will use sweetheart roses for your body flowers.

4. The Gerbera

If gerbera daisies are your favorite flowers, you might want to choose this look for your wedding or for your special event. Inexpensive, cute, modern, easy and quick to work with, you will not have to worry about being able to achieve these simple bouquets in time if you decide to make them yourself. Gerberas come in a wide variety of colors and can therefore blend well with any color theme. Although you can easily choose hand-tied bouquets for the bride and the whole wedding party, you could also decide to have a more elaborate bouquet for the bride including a few gerberas or amongst other flowers while your bridesmaids could carry gerberas exclusively. You will have to provide a constant water source between the times when you or your girls will be holding the gerbera bouquets. This can be an advantage at your reception in the sense that if you provide elegant vases at the hall for them to place their bouquets in when they get there, these can also decorate and add style to your reception. For the boutonnieres and corsages, gerberas also come in the miniature versions although they are still approximately 4 inches in diameter; this is the ideal size for body flowers. Just one per lapel or wrist will suffice.

3. The Sunflower

Sunflowers are perfect for fall events and look beautiful with hypericum berries or other fall berries and foliage, Although sunflowers come in a few different colors besides yellow now, such as orange, brown and rust; going with yellow sunflowers ensures getting the healthiest and longest lasting budget flowers that will shine at your wedding. Sunflowers are perfectly suited for hand held bouquets. The bridesmaids could carry 3-5 sunflowers with fall foliage, berries and accents tied with a pretty bow, whereas the bride could carry a more elaborate bouquet featuring 5-7 sunflowers (any more would be too big) with 3-6 fall roses, berries and fall foliage, tied with a pretty bow. As for corsages and boutonnieres that will coordinate with a sunflower wedding...even the mini sunflowers are way too big for body flowers. Instead, I would suggest either mini yellow gerberas with the black center or novelty chrysanthemums, preferably with the black center as well.

2. The Carnation

Although carnations sometimes get a bad rap as being the cheapest undesirable flower, the truth is, carnations are long lasting, smell sweet without being overpowering and are easy to work with. For wedding elegance, I would suggest going with white or cream carnations if you want to use only carnations. If you prefer a mix of flowers, I would recommend combining carnations with daisies and poms for lovely mixed bouquets that won't cost much and will have that wildflower look but will last so much longer and won't wilt in the summer heat (as long as they have a source of water) Mini carnations are the perfect size for corsages and boutonnieres. One bloom with a bud is the ideal body flower when combined with a touch of foliage and perhaps a filler flower such as baby's breath.

1. Daisies and Poms

Often neglected out of weddings, I cannot imagine why. Poms are pretty, long lasting and come in many types and forms. Daisies and poms are available in white, cream, yellow, orange, pink, purple, lavender, orange and rust. They come in 3 varieties appropriate for weddings: button poms are like little flat balls atop a stem, flat poms look as the name implies and daisies which need no introduction. If you like the wildflower look, combine daisies with other types of forms in bouquet holders with greens and foliage. If you prefer a classier look, focus on flat and button mums. The bridesmaids could carry a round bouquet in a bouquet holder featuring poms, foliage and fillers while the bride could carry a cascading or round bouquet with poms, roses, foliage and fillers. The groom, groomsmen and parents could be wearing body flowers featuring similar types of mums, daisies, foliage and fillers. Be fore warned though that if some petals are pulled out of the main head of the flower, they will fall apart. Ultimately, daisies and poms will offer the best value and elegance for the lowest cost.

Want to Save Money on Your Wedding Flowers? Learn how to Do It Yourself with the right flowers and save on Your Wedding Flowers. Unleash Your Inner Florist: How to Make Wedding And Special Event Flowers - Click Here.

For more articles on budgeting for your wedding, read: Wedding Flowers Cost Cutting

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sophie_Castonguay

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