Liane & Patrick

Creating bouquets like the ones we create is more than just throwing together some flowers or brooches into an arrangement that looks good.  Its about telling a story about two people in love, about their family and their lives.  It’s about creating an heirloom that will become a treasured keepsake of not only their wedding day but their lives together.  Liane’s bouquet is a perfect example of one of the ways we do that through a bouquet.

I first met Liane a few months before her big day after I advertised about wanting to put together a new concept of bouquet.

My idea was to have a more traditionally styled lumpy bumpy mix of flowers with small amounts of crystals and detail to still give it that Nic’s Button Buds Twist.

Liane lives in Melbourne so came down to my chaotic home to meet with me in person. As we chatted I just had so many ideas going through my head it was crazy.

Chatting to Liane, she told me about how her and Patrick had been through some really tough times together. She told me how a few years back she was moving a patient into a wheelchair when an accident resulted in her having the whole patient’s body weight on her arms. She had a sudden feeling of whiplash style pain.

The result was that she had shattered vertebrae in her neck, and ended up with one arm paralysed and her spinal cord was being squished.  There was also a very high chance she may never walk again!

Liane had an incredible rare surgery – an Occiput to C5 fusion to rebuild a shattered neck. Now I am no doctor but she showed me the xrays and I am seriously in awe of what she has been through and the fact she is still here (although in pain) walking, talking, smiling and laughing and being so incredibly open. In fact there was several times Liane has referred to herself as having a “terminator neck” or being like the terminator.

It was right then and there I realised we HAD to make this story a part of her bouquet – it was a key part of what had happened in her life and something that bought her and Patrick even closer together.

We had already discussed about having an eclectic mix of hand coloured orchids, roses and wire spirals but we added the nuts and bolts featured in the bouquet as a link to the nuts and bolts Liane has in her neck. The flowers were dusted with silver to give them a metallic finish and tie in the nuts and bolts a little further. The bouquet also featured a little watch face that was turned on and stopped at the time they said their I Do’s A little picture of one of her xray’s is also tucked onto the bouquet handle.  Amongst the flowers you can see tine punches of crystals to give that bouquet an extra element of sparkle.

I also made a bouquet for Liane’s Bridesmaid a wand for her flowergirl and some super cool steampunk buttonholes for the groom, groomsmen and her son. However Liane’s brides bouquet was the only one that featured the nuts and bolts, as this was really something to reflect her.

Liane – I am so happy you came to me to have your wedding bouquets created as it was such an honour to work with someone’s that’s been through so much but is still smiling.  In addition to that thank-you for letting me share your story.

Xxx

Nic