Fresh from the Field Wedding Flowers - Softcover

Lynn Byczynski; Erin Benzakein

4.6

10 ratings by Goodreads

9780977978137: Fresh from the Field Wedding Flowers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0977978133 ISBN 13: 9780977978137

Publisher: Fairplain Publications, 2014

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Fresh from the Field Wedding Flowers is a complete guide to using local flowers for weddings. It was created for the eco-conscious couple committed to having a greener wedding, the passionate gardener who wants to grow flowers for events, the floral designer who wishes to jump in on the locally grown trend, and the specialty cut flower farmer providing flowers for weddings. Beautifully illustrated with photographs from dozens of actual weddings, this book provides advice on where to find local flowers, what blooms are available in each season, how to stretch a floral budget, and what to expect when working with local flower farmers. Four detailed step-by-step photo essays walk you through the process of creating your own bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, and large arrangments using seasonal, local flowers. The accompanying CD has 75 minutes of video tutorials, in which designer Erin Benzakein teaches the basic mechanics and overall thought process that go into creating the flowers for an event. Learn how to construct an abundant bridal bouquet, a large altar arrangement, a low and lush centerpiece, a boutonniere, and a pin-on corsage.

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About the Author:

Lynn Byczynski is an experienced flower grower and the author of The Flower Farmer: An Organic Grower's Guide to Raising and Selling Cut Flowers. She has grown flowers for florists, supermarkets, a pick-your-own, and weddings. She is the editor and publisher of Growing for Market magazine, a well-regarded periodical for small-scale produce and flower farmers. She presents frequently at farming and gardening events throughout the U.S. and writes for numerous magazines. She lives with her husband and daughter on a small farm near Lawrence, Kansas.
Erin Benzakein is a flower grower, designer, and writer whose popular blog features original photography and chronicles the daily life of her family- and flower-centered business, Floret. Erin is a contributing editor to Growing for Market magazine. Cut flowers grown on Erin's farm appear in Whole Foods grocery stores throughout Washington, Oregon, and Canada. She teaches floral design and small-scale flower farming workshops nationwide. Her work has been featured in Sunset, Country Gardens, Victoria Magazine, and Design Sponge. Erin lives with her family in Washington's Skagit Valley.

Review:

By Ann Sensenbrenner
Here 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

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