Here is the second installment in my floral design series.  This week’s flower is roses.  Last week I started with my most favorite flower (hydrangea).  This week, I continue on to a flower that tons of people love – ROSES.  They symbolize love , friendship and romance for so many people.   They are available year round and come in every single color (and two-tones) except blue (naturally)…and no – I won’t dye roses blue for my clients.  Sorry folks!

A rose is timeless for sure.  You can never go wrong with it as a rose bouquet will still look lovely 75 years from now in your photos!  For some practical advice – I never recommend using an all white rose bouquet.  An all-white rose bouquet sounds appealing at first – but white flowers with a white dress make for a very non-descript photo (and your bouquet will end up looking like a bundle of marshmallows floating in front of your dress – just my opinion).  I realize I may be stepping on some toes here.  I know there are all white weddings out there and we have made all white bridal bouquets (in fact – one is going out this weekend).  You can ask any seasoned photographer and they will tell you that they love color in their bridal bouquets!  All white flowers cost more (by the way).  Why? Because we have to buy extra in order to make up for the 15-20% of the flowers that come in with browning edges and we know that every single bloom needs to look pristine!

I am going to let you in on a big secret that every florist does not want you to know.  Roses don’t cost all that much more than other flowers.  Nope – you know what cost more – the stripping of the roses.  That’s right!  We have to strip every single rose so it does not tear you (or us) to shreds.  Those pesky thorns are the reason why I don’t love roses.  Yep – I hate stripping them…and we get sliced by those nasty pointy things every time we go to strip them.  They are evil I tell you (the thorns that is)!  There are varieties that come without thorns!  YAY – SCORE!  However – they are typically not available year round and they cost more.  So in the end – roses just really cost the same as most flowers – its the labor that kills us.  So when you are asking your florist to make you an all white rose bridal bouquet – they will most likely need to buy at least 50-75 roses – strip each one individually (unless they have a big rose stripping machine – which I don’t have) and then start on the design.  Remember – they will also most likely have to throw away (or hopefully compost) 10-15 of those roses as they will not be perfect.  You are not paying extra for the roses – you are paying extra for the time, perfection, and design.

There really is a never ending list of what I could write about roses – so I am going to stop here and post again at some point about roses in a second and possibly third installment over the next few months. Stay tuned!

(top photo – Jennifer Domenick/Love Life Images, middle photo – The Observatory)