Real Weddings: Nancy and Nori, Naturally (Part 1)

Nancy and Nori met while they were both Peace Corps volunteers in Malawi and were married in the fall at The Old Stone House in Brooklyn. When Nancy and I visited the flower market together, she fell in love with all the dried botanicals. Used in combination with fresh flowers, dried botanicals evoke a beautiful natural, rustic, and organic atmosphere.

For the centerpieces, dried lunaria, or money plant, was the key feature. These delicate and papery discs were mixed with large, showy dried lotus pods and okra pods. The dried lunaria were collected from the Nancy’s family farm in Indiana, where they grew in abundance. Dried curly ting ting in a natural finish was used to fill out the centerpiece and add texture and volume.

Fresh seasonal flowers in lovely fall shades accented the dried botanicals. We purchased from the flower market, vibrant flame colored crocosmia. From the local farmer’s market, we used seasonal zinnia in a variety of colors like yellow, orange, red, and pink.

Because the bride and groom spent some time in Thailand working at the Thai-Burmese border, we thought it would be nice to bring in some of their Thailand experiences in the form of tropical orchids in autumnal shades for the personal bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres.

We made a gorgeous, natural, trailing bouquet for the bride with amazing flowers from the flower market. These included orange cymbidium orchids, magenta phalaenopsis orchids with small stripes of yellow making the petals appear more burgundy, vintage orange ranunculus, hypericum berry, and for the real showstopper – fantastic mauve tree peonies. These individual stems were secured to a rustic wire frame work of fresh trailing vines

For something a little different, the ring bearer carried a small box covered with variegated Ti leaves and accented with orange cymbidium orchids, mokara orchids, and hypericum berries.

Bathroom window ledges were decorated with fresh flowers and dried botanicals: ranunculus, phalaenopsis, hypericum berry, and dried grasses and miniature grape vine wreaths.

All images courtesy of Jenica Miller Photography.