Fresh from the Field Wedding Flowers
By Ann SensenbrennerHere is the excellent design primer the local flower movement has been waiting for: Fresh From the Field Wedding Flowers. With bouquet construction tips, flower care and bloom time information, and even 75 minutes of video tutorial, anyone from a DIY bride to an experienced flower farmer will appreciate learning from this lovely book. The authors, Lynn Byczynski and Erin Benzakein, smartly focus on wedding flowers, but the reader gains insight about floral design and the floral industry in general. The argument for using local flowers for weddings, as they note, is not just ethical or ecological -- it's also romantic and sentimental. Local wedding flowers will bloom every anniversary, and they have a meaningful sense of place. In 1840, for example, Queen Victoria planted the myrtle in her bouquet. Sprigs cut from that same myrtle were used in 2011 in Kate Middleton's bouquet and every other British royal wedding along the way.The inspiring photo essays draw not just from Benzakein's work as a designer and grower, but from designers and growers across the country, and the book lists them in its directory. The video, which can be viewed on the included DVD or online via link/password, includes four tutorials: boutonniere and corsage, bouquet, low centerpiece, and French flower bucket. Each segment is engaging, encouraging, and could serve as a budget friendly alternative for a bride or grower who might otherwise pay to attend a design workshop. I found the online viewing to be the easiest, because I could more quickly move forward and back within the segments.Florists marketing their use of locally grown flowers might fear this book will serve to pull back the wizard's curtain, exposing the methods and teaching anyone to "do" her own flowers. But the degree of detail the authors provide on every topic related to using locally grown flowers will ensure an ambitious bride will have much more realistic expectations of the time commitment, expense, and expertise needed for a successful floral presentation. After reading these pages filled with friendly warnings, many brides will be very comfortable with the choice to hire an experienced floral designer. Those who do decide to tackle the project will find themselves well prepared. At 112 pages it is the perfect length for a busy bride to read in an afternoon, giving her ample inspiration as well as practical advice.Although the reader is shown many examples of "trending designs" including wildflowers, edibles, succulents, mismatched silver containers, etc., the book as a whole seems timeless. When I finished this book and put it on my shelf of flower design reference books, I felt like I was placing a classic book in its rightful place. It is at home next to my old copy of Jane Embertson's Pods (1979), and my even older copy of Mary Cokely Wood's's Flower Arrangement Art of Japan (1951).Of course historically ALL wedding flowers were fresh from the field, and this book would have been useful to brides of eras long ago. But with the modern additions of the instructional DVD, the mentions of online directories like Slow Flowers, a list of on-trend blogs to follow, and over 100 luscious photos of fresh, current designs, any fan of floral design will feel the past and the present blooming at once. Cheers to a wonderful addition to our bookshelves, and another beautiful tool to help propel the discussion and interest in local, sustainable flowers.--April 2014 Cut Flower Quarterly, Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers