We hope you're not tired of dahlias, because August is their best month yet! Dahlias remain a very popular choice for wedding flowers in August, due to the wide variety of shapes, colors, and sizes available. There are no blue dahlias, but otherwise, the sky is the limit. They grow amazingly well in Seattle, so our local growers provide a dazzling array of options from July until the last frost. You can always find several dahlia varieties that work beautifully for every wedding color palette!

Sometimes early dahlias bloom more brightly, then fade later into the season. Throughout the season, you can watch the classic Cafe au Lait dahlia (the biggest dahlia, above) change colors. It goes from a brighter pink in July to a beautiful pinky-blush in August, and then more neutral in September and washed-out taupe in October. We love pairing dahlias with other flowers on this list, as you can tell from these photos!

Cosmos

We love cosmos for their delicate, bouncy, fun personalities! They can make any bouquet or arrangement seem a little bit more wild and delicate. They typically start blooming in June, but grow taller and more prolific in August. They are such a favorite wedding flower for August, particularly with dahlias. We love using their feathery blooms and foliage to contrast with more geometric and rigid flowers. We also love that they come in a large variety of colors, from white to blush, and even raspberry! The white cosmos below are the perfect accent to this pink dahlia palette. We love how sophisticated, airy, and light cosmos can look in August wedding arrangements.

Rudbeckia

I'll be honest - rudbeckia totally took me by surprise in 2020. If you've never heard of rudbeckia, you're not alone! Typically, they are associated with the black-eyed-susans that grow wild all over the country. But these beauties go far beyond that prairie look! Rudbeckia  come in a wide variety of colors, but are easy to group by color depending on the wedding palette. And I’m obsessed with those chocolate centers - it’s rare that we get to use a flower with a dark center. They also come in a ton of fun shapes, from frilly double-petaled flowers that almost look like mums, to sparse petals that stick straight out. I asbolutely love the way they look with more blushy, muted flowers on this list. For example, rudbeckia added so much boho attitude to this centerpiece! They are really at their prime in August and September, and I love using them for weddings with more earthy palettes.

Scabiosa

Don’t let the ugly name fool you! Scabiosa add perfect airy, light details to any wedding floral design. Inserted correctly, they float above other flowers and add bounce, movement, and lightness to designs. These are the perfect flower to add some air and play with negative space. In the photo above, you can see small white scabiosa flowers floating over the middle and left sides of the bouquet. In addition, scabiosa come in a huge variety of colors, from dark burgundy to pure white, and have surprisingly strong stems for how small they are. If left uncut, they also form amazing seed pods that can be used to add texture and whimsy. One variety, scabiosa stellata, makes these amazing grey pods after they flower. How cool is that?! I love using scabiosa to make a design feel more magical, no matter what form they are in.

Amaranth

August is the height of summer, when everything explodes into bloom, including these amazing heads of amaranth. Surprisingly, amaranth is actually a grain similar to quinoa, and edible! But we use it for its textural interest and beautiful drape, especially in more boho designs. It comes in two forms, the very drapey form, and the “upright form." Both forms add movement when placed correctly. They are a huge favorite because they come in a wide variety of colors, from bronze to green, and coral to burgundy. And August is when the seed heads are looking their best, without shedding any edible grains all over your wedding!

Lisianthius (aka "Lizzies")

Can we get lisianthius other times of the year? Sure. However, nothing comes close to the lisianthius that our local growers are harvesting in August. These incredible flowers really shine this month, and we try to include them in every wedding from August to September! The flowers shoot out multiple branches per stem, giving you a wealth of fluffy, romantic petals in every bunch. (See the fluffy blush flowers in the bottom right of the centerpiece, above.)

We love how effortlessly beautiful they appear, gracefully floating over more compact flowers with their copious ruffles. We also love that we can manipulate the petals for a more frilly or more open look, depending on what we are going for. And finally, we love the color choices we get with local lisianthius, because they play so well with wedding palettes! From pure white to champagne blush and a dusty mauve “brown” (pictured above), we often use lisianthius to soften and bridge other colors in our palettes.

Planning Your Summer Wedding Designs

Your florist should know what flowers are locally available and in season for your wedding month. Here at Bloom Poet, we are more dedicated to local flowers than ever, especially as we continue to witness COVID’s impacts on the global floral supply chain. Prioritizing local flowers means that we can always make sure our couples have the best of what is available that season, that month, or even that week! And we work closely with dozens of our farm friends to make sure we can execute your vision beautifully and ethically.

Getting Married in August?

We know wedding planning can be overwhelming, with so many flower choices and inspiration images. That’s why we love helping couples like you design a breathtaking wedding that you and your guests won't soon forget. You don't have to know what you need, or even know what flowers you like - we love taking ideas and running with them! And our books are now open for next summer! If you are ready to design the wedding of your dreams, let's chat! You can click below to inquire and check our availability. We can't wait to meet you!

Who doesn't love a dahlia? We know so many Seattleites love dahlias! They grow so well here that most home gardeners have dahlia plants in their yard. Commercially, some of the biggest tuber producers in the world can be found in our region. Dahlias are a very popular choice for wedding flowers in July, due to the wide variety of shapes, colors, and sizes available. There are no blue dahlias, but otherwise, the sky is the limit. You can always find several dahlia varieties that work beautifully for every wedding color palette!

One caveat: July can be a tricky month for dahlias, because sometimes they don't bloom "on time." This is especially true for the big "dinner plate" varieties, like the Cafe au Lait dahlia you see above. You may also notice that dahlias change hue somewhat depending on the time of year. As summer goes on, dahlias tend to get lighter - so the best blush dahlias don't show up until September. That said, we love how versatile they are for weddings all summer long!

Garden Roses

We will never stop our obsession with garden roses! Garden roses are the perfect wedding flowers for July, since they add stunning style, grace, and beauty to any wedding arrangement. We love the way they add softness and fullness to bouquets and centerpieces, and the swirly, kinetic petals in the center. They are the perfect flower for summer weddings, since they usually start blooming in May, and continue to bloom throughout the summer. This year, we are having an amazing season for roses! They really loved that cold, wet spring. Garden roses are some of the most expensive wedding flowers on the market, but they are totally worth the splurge. The photo below (by Between the Pine) shows how they can look in a July wedding bouquet next to dahlias, cosmos, and other locally grown July flowers. Swoon. 

Cosmos

We love cosmos for their delicate, bouncy, fun personalities! They can make any bouquet or arrangement seem a little bit more wild and delicate. They typically start blooming in June, but really take off in July with the heat. They are such a favorite wedding flower for July, and the pollinators love them. (Often, you can find bees asleep on the petals in the morning. Just another benefit of organically grown flowers!) We also love that they come in white as well as more nuanced blushy tones. These cosmos "apricot lemonade" are the perfect color to tie together blush, mauve, and sherbet yellow within the same palette. We love how sophisitcated, airy, and light cosmos can look in July wedding arrangements.

Astilbe

That pink, frilly flower on the right is one of our absolute favorites to work with, and it's called astilbe. This bouquet has almost all of our July favorites, including dahlias, garden roses, sweet peas, cosmos, and astible! In all honestly, we don't have many great photos of astilbe, because it's only available locally for literally two weeks. It has such a short season, which makes it all the more precious to floral designers. Of course, we use it as much as we can while it is here! Its frilly, delicate spray makes such a romantic addition to July wedding flowers. We love how astilbe softens other elements of an arrangement and makes everything look so delicate. In addition, we love how astilbe reminds us of something you'd find under the sea - if Iris van Herpen made a flower, it would be astilbe. 

Sweet Peas (& Their Vines)

Sweet peas might be considered more of a "house flower" than a wedding flower. Their stems can be short, they don't last very long, and they can be high maintenance to grow. But their fragrance is indescribably wonderful, and for that reason alone, we love to tuck them into July wedding flowers! We also love that sweet peas come in such a wide variety of colors, from blues to reds to everything in between. Some of them are streaked, or fade into other colors, like the ones you see here. Their ruffly delicate blooms add instant romance and softness to any floral arrangement. And we often also use the viny bits to add interesting foliage to arrangements, because each vine has these most delicate, perfect tendrils. We can't get enough of these beauties!

Textures

Bear with me here - I know this is sort of vague. But just LOOK at some of the cool botanicals you can find July! There are all sorts of wonderful textures available to us in floral design, including things like blueberries, pea pods, and artichokes. Ferns and scabiosa grow during July, and one variety of scabiosa creates these amazing geometric grey pods. We can also get poppy pods, grasses, and vines. July is the perfect month to find beautiful textural treasures that you have never seen before, and incorporate them into gorgeous wedding flowers! In fact, incorporating unexpected textures is one of our favorite ways to create something more artistic for our wedding clients. 

Planning Your July Wedding

Your florist should always know what flowers are locally available and in season for your wedding month. We've been flowering for a long time, and we are more dedicated to local flowers than ever. We continue to witness problems with imported flowers, including recent protests in Ecuador that not only shut down rose imports, but highlighted the need for indigenous management of natural resources. Florists relying on cheap imported flowers have routinely been forced to scramble, substitute, and use inferior products due to these issues. Prioritizing local flowers means that we can always make sure our clients have the best of what is available that season, that month, or even that week! And we work closely with dozens of our farm friends to make sure we can execute your vision beautifully and ethically.

Getting Married in July?

We know wedding planning can be overwhelming, with so many flower choices and inspo images. That’s why we love helping our couples craft a wedding day that will be unlike any other. We have a real knack for getting all those ideas out of your head and into a plan you feel confident about. And our books are now open for July weddings in 2023! If you are ready to experience ease and enjoyment in your wedding planning process, let's chat! You can click below to inquire and we'll get back to you as quickly as possible. We can't wait to meet you!

Peonies are such classic, feminine wedding flowers, with their frilly ruffles and delicate scent! Naturally, they are a very popular choice for May weddings, since they make such a statement. The early varieties typically start to bloom in May, and continue to be harvested and sold in June. These are some of the most expensive wedding flowers on the market, but we think they are worth it. As the season goes on, peonies become more and more expensive. The last American-grown peonies are typically available in August, from growers in Alaska.

Garden Roses

Garden roses add stunning style, grace, and beauty to any wedding arrangement. We love the way the interior petals swirl and move, and the way they add softness and fullness to bouquets and centerpieces. They are the perfect flower for May weddings, since garden roses in the Pacific Northwest usually start blooming in May, and can continue to bloom throughout the summer. These are also some of the most expensive wedding flowers on the market, but they are totally worth the splurge!

Ranunculus

Ranunculus offer even more ruffly, delicate spring beauty to May weddings in the Pacific Northwest. Many ranunculus varieties start blooming in April, but we actually prefer the blooms that are harvested and sold in May, since they have bigger heads, taller stems, and more feminine frilliness! They are such a reliable favorite in our studio for spring weddings, and we can’t live without them!

Poppies

Poppies come in many shapes and sizes, but we specifically have a crush on these Icelandic poppies from our local growers. We love their watercolor-like petals, curvy and eccentric stems, and the character they add to spring wedding arrangements. For May weddings, poppies are in their prime and available in a wide variety of pastel peaches, pinks, and whites, as well as bolder colors like oranges and reds. 

Pansies

Pansies begin blooming just in time for May weddings, and they are such a fun addition to the cut flower scene! Typically, pansies have short stems and grow close to the ground. More recently, breeders have developed varieties in muted, antique tones that are perfect for May wedding designs. And our local growers have mastered getting the maximum stem length out of these special pansy varieties. We can't get enough!

Foxglove

Foxglove can be such a lovely, artistic addition to May wedding flowers. We love the way the spires twist and bend in organic lines, and the fact that the bees love visiting them in the garden. Foxglove add height, interest, and structure to May wedding flowers and are a consistent favorite to work with for wedding design!

Lilac

Lilac is one of our favorite May flowers because it has such a strong scent – and as a result, such a strong connection to our memories. Many couples love using lilac because of its nostalgia; it reminds them of a fond memory, like their grandmother’s garden, or a house they grew up in. We love lilac because it’s not only beautiful, but rare. It is only available for a couple weeks in May, and then it’s done until the next year! It is the perfect local, seasonal flower for a May wedding bouquet or floral installation.

Planning Your Spring Wedding Designs

Your florist should know what flowers are locally available and in season for your wedding month. We are more dedicated to local flowers than ever, especially as we continue to witness impacts on the global supply chain and flower imports. Prioritizing local flowers means that we can always make sure our couples have the best of what is available that season, that month, or even that week! And we work closely with dozens of our farm friends to make sure we can execute your vision beautifully and ethically.

Getting Married in May?

We know wedding planning can be overwhelming, with so many flower choices and inspo images. That’s why we love helping our couples articulate their vision so they can have the wedding of their dreams, and give their guests an experience they won’t forget. And our books are now open for May weddings! If you are ready to chat about your wedding, just click the button below to check your date.

Block 41 Weddings

Block 41 is a stunning wedding venue in Seattle, right in the heart of Belltown. We love Block 41 for its vibrant city setting, modern interiors, and the fact that their team is delightful to work with! It has two huge indoor spaces, as well as a courtyard with one of our favorite murals in the city. We really enjoy the wealth of white space at Block 41, because it allows it to transform into whatever you want. With that in mind, we knew we wanted to use colorful spring wedding florals to turn this space into a chic, black-tie affair. We loved using Block 41's circle arch for this dramatic wedding ceremony floral installation!

Modern, Chic Wedding Ceremony Flowers

To begin, we started with the large circular arch at Block 41. We used a wide array of botanical materials for this wedding floral installation, from garden roses to dried ferns. Of course, we chose all of our favorite spring blooms, too, including daffodils, tulips, poppies, and ranunculus. We loved layering the flowers and ferns, and creating several different focal areas based on color and texture. For example, we chose to go brighter orange on the ends of the arch, with more pastel and neutral tones in the middle. We also loved the contrast with the black chairs, which you can see in the nighttime image (credit to Barbie Hull). 

We are absolutely obsessed with how this turned out! We were lucky to have sunshine that day, and the light streaming through the windows created such a dreamy setting for this ceremony. And we love the artistic images with the repeating flowers and hazy surroundings.

Black-Tie Wedding Reception

We also designed florals for the black-tie wedding reception at Block 41, including a gorgeous King's Table for the wedding party. We continued to go for a light and airy feeling, but chose to be a little more bold with our colors here. We used marble accents like chargers and candleholders to elevate the design, and also incorporated bright citrus touches on the tables themselves. Our florals for tables were almost entirely bud vases and small ceramic vessels, grouped together to create a multi-layered look. We considered color, height, dimension, and texture in our groupings, so we used a wide mix of botanicals and vessels to create one-of-a-kind look. We absolutely love the way this came together with rentals from CORT and menus from Blake Design Studio.

The couple's reception also included a glam champagne tower, a balloon arch, a neon sign, and of course, cake! We loved all of it, and were so thrilled with how it turned out. Of course, we enjoyed working with our other vendors to make sure there were florals for both the balloons and the cake table! We also loved the disco balls above their head table - such a fun touch! (Disco balls are definitely having a moment right now.) 

Block 41 Wedding Design Details

We loved working on these wedding designs with planner Carly at Emerald Engagements, and all of our fellow vendors! We originally considered an all black-and-white setting, but we wanted to try something a little different by adding some bold citrusy tones. Carly also suggested working with marble accents instead of strictly black or white, and I'm so glad we went in this direction! We also relished in the details of our couple's personal flowers and bouquet. We were really inspired by the citrus Carly and I talked about, but wanted to ensure the florals were not too bright or garish. As a result, we ended up with a sophsticated palette of neutrals, blushes, taupes, and peaches with little pops of orange.

We chose a truly stunning array of botanicals for this unique color palette, using all the best of spring. Delicate blooms like parrot tulips, ranunculus, specialty daffodils, butterfly ranunculus, and poppies made the cut. We also used a wide palette of roses, from buttery yellow garden roses to toffee-colored stunners. And in our floral installation work, we also added dried bracken fern for a wonderfully taupe base, as well as grapefruits, blood oranges, and clementines on the tables. These botanicals matched perfectly with the invitation suite as well. We love this chic, vibrant palette and how uniquely modern it felt at Block 41!

Sunset Wedding Reception at Block 41

We wanted to also share a few images of what the wedding and venue looked like after the sun set. We loved using more bud vases and citrus for these chic cocktail tables with black velvet linens! And of course, it is always fun to see floral installations in different lighting. Thanks to Barbie Hull for these three nighttime images! 

Getting married at Block 41? Or just love this floral palette as much as we do? We would love to hear about your wedding plans. You can click the button below to reach out and check your date. We can't wait to hear from you!

Vendor Team

Thank you to this phenomenal team of wedding vendors!

Floral Design: Bloom Poet | @bloompoet_

Planner: Emerald Engagements | @emeraldengagements

Venue: Block 41 | @block41_seattle
Photographer: Jessica Wood | @jessicawoodphotos
Hair & MUA: Michelle Wight | @michellewight.hmu

Rentals: CORT Party Rental | @cortpartyrental⁣⁣

Soft Seating: Vintage Ambiance | @vintageambiance⁣⁣

Lighting: Crimson Haze | @crimson_haze_lighting

Balloons: Smash Baby Smash | @smashbabysmash

Catering: Foodz Catering | @foodzcatering

Stationery: Blake Design Studio | @blakedesignstudio

Dress: La Belle Elaine's Bridal | @labelleelainesbridal

Tux: Generation Tux | @generationtux

Ready to talk about your wedding vision? You can check your date with us by clicking the button below.

Why Floral Couture?

There are so many great reasons to celebrate flowers with floral couture. For starters, dresses made out of flowers are STUNNING to look at! More importantly, they also elevate flowers as an artistic medium, and floral design as the art that it truly is. Projects like this allow us to really flex our creativity and show what can be done with flowers as an art form. These designs also allow us to highlight the various growing regions, seasons, and talented growers all across the country! It is truly amazing to see the botanical diversity and high quality of product in the cut flower industry here in the US. For many reasons, I prefer to use American-grown flowers. However, the biggest reason is that the quality and diversity are much better compared to imported blooms. I mean...just LOOK at these. 

Couture Fashion Inspiration

For our couture look, Debra Prinzing of Slow Flowers asked me about doing a full dress made of hellebores. Hellebores are a very favorite flower of mine, so OF COURSE I said yes! I love hellebores because they are winter-blooming, and basically are the first things to bloom in my garden every year. For example, some varieties can bloom as early as January, and they continue blooming and changing colors until May and June. By contrast, our local “spring” flowers – tulips and daffodils – don’t even really start until late March. Hellebores can also bloom in the snow! And as a cut flower, they are quite rare and expensive, which makes me love them more. It’s uncommon to be able to work with them en masse because it would be so costly, so I jumped at this opportunity.

Debra paired me with Pamela Youngsman of Poppy Starts, who provides plant plugs to growers all over the Pacific Northwest. Pamela has a fantastic collection of hellebore plants that she offered to cut from, as well as a large network of other growers in the Skagit valley. Together, we looked at photos of her garden, as well as new varieties, to develop a color palette. I also knew I wanted to highlight the hellebore in its most exquisite and unexpected form, which was blooming from the snow. You can see her beautiful blooms above, and her beautiful face with our model, Tasia, below!

After that, I looked at couture fashion, and especially fell in love with the haute couture work of Iris van Herpen. I love so many things about this designer, including her avant-garde silhouettes, her obvious inspirations from nature in the way her garments move and flow, and her commitment to sustainability. Inspired by her designs, I realized that using only one flower meant that the structure of the dress itself had to look interesting, avant-garde, and futuristic. Then, I put together a mood board incorporating all of these elements: the sophisticated color palette of the hellebores, the snow, avant-garde silhouettes, and the futuristic feeling I wanted to capture. In my head, a story developed of a fierce visitor from another time and planet, who was searching for a place to plant more hellebores.

Making the Couture Look

 I sketched a million couture ideas, but eventually settled on a silhouette with big shoulders, inspired by the blue and peach dress in the mood board. It had to be simple enough to execute but dramatic enough to make a statement! After rummaging through my closet, I found an old dress given to me by a friend that I hadn’t worn in ages. I used this dress as the base, took it in based on our model’s measurements, and added an encasement on the shoulders that I stuffed with poly-fill from the craft store (see below). I then glued moss over the dress fabric, and was ready to start gluing hellebores!

Incredibly, every single hellebore on this couture dress was hand-glued with cold glue. I estimate that I used about 500 flowers, or around 150 stems. I started at the top of the dress with that dramatic dark red hellebore, because it was so eye-catching in my studio. I definitely wanted to highlight the little cutout in the neckline with a bold color.

From there, I continued to work my way down the dress in an ombre color palette. I was so inspired by the way the hellebore tones blended into each other so seamlessly. Pamela had such beautiful flowers that it was really easy to make something gorgeous.

For the couture headpiece, I was really inspired by a look from Iris van Herpen, which you can see in the mood board (bottom right). In the videos of her fashion show, that head piece actually moves beautifully – almost exactly like a sea creature, which feels very alien. I wanted to replicate the feeling of this avant-garde, organically shaped crown, without it being a literal crown. I played a lot with scale on this couture headpiece, using hellebores from various stages of bloom to make bigger or smaller gradations. The base itself was made from rustic wire covered in silver bouillon wire, and the hellebores were simply glued on. I absolutely LOVE the way this came out!

Couture Photo Shoot in the Snow

At this point, we relied on our network of wedding and event professionals to round out the creative team. Somehow, I lucked out and found Tasia, our model, who no longer models professionally. But she still remembers exactly how to work a camera! I asked Missy Palacol to be our photographer, since she is one of our go-to photographers for product shoots. And I reached out to Luxe Artistry Seattle for help with hair and makeup, who assigned Deleana Guerrerro to us. We wanted Deleana to use her own creativity for this shoot, and she totally nailed it!! I love the petal-like effects she put in the makeup, and the fact that Tasia’s hair was perfectly done for the couture headpiece.

All of us headed out to Hyak Sno Park in Snoqualmie Pass, which still had plenty of snow in early March. I kid you not – it rained the ENTIRE time we were there, despite a week of bluebird days before and after. However, with lots of umbrellas, hand warmers, and a heated bathroom for Tasia to take breaks in, we made magic happen! We confused a lot of snowshoers and skiiers in the bathroom hallway, but we were so thrilled with the results of this couture collaboration.

This project is a pure celebration of Washington-grown hellebores, artistic collaboration, and haute couture fashion. I am so thrilled with how this couture look came together, and the incredible images we are able to share with you all. I want to thank our amazing team of collaborators for making my vision come to life, and trusting me to make something that no one has ever done before!

You can read more about this incredible hellebore dress on the American Flowers Website, in Flower Magazine, in Green Profit Magazine, or in the full, free flip book of all 12 designs from around the country. Happy American Flowers Week!

Our incredible team:

Debra Prinzing, Founder of Slow Flowers: @dkprinzing | American Flowers Week

Carolyn Kulb, Floral Designer: @bloompoet_ | Bloom Poet (formerly Folk Art Flowers)

Pamela Youngsman, Hellebore Grower: @poppystarts | Poppy Starts

Missy Palacol, Photographer: @missy.palacol | Missy Palacol Photography

Tasia Baldwin, Model: @_tasiajb

Deleana Guerrero, Hair & Makeup: @guerrerodelavida_artistry@luxeartistryseattle | Luxe Artistry Seattle