2024 Wedding Floral Trends We Are Loving

Range Of Light Wed

2024 is already giving us plenty to be excited about in terms of wedding florals, and as an added bonus—they're also really pretty to look at. To get the scoop on the most popular wedding flower trends for 2024, we’ve collected what our 2024 brides are requesting and we are loving it!

Colorful Wildflowers

You may have heard that bright and vibrant florals are on trend this year. We are seeing our brides loving colorful seasonal wildflowers such as dahlias, zinnias, lavender, yarrows.  Many brides just view seasonal flowers as bright cheery celebrations for their special day. When you think of wildflowers, you probably imagine yourself running through endless fields and with your dress billowing in the breeze. This romantic feeling is why many couples add wildflower wedding bouquets to their big day.

We will consider your wedding venue, date and palette before choosing the perfect wildflowers to complement your day.

Romantic Florals

Romantic florals are making a huge comeback. I have heard so many brides envision a “Bridgerton” style wedding.  They love the mixed pastel colors of flowers.  They envision a romantic glowing atmosphere for dinner strewn with flowers.  

Floral arrangements that mirror the energy of popular songs or capture the colorful nuance of blockbuster films are a fun way to express your taste. Pop culture influences seem to be playing a significant role in shaping floral designs in 2024. They offer a fresh and dynamic approach to traditional arrangements.

Elements Of Modern Minimalism

We are seeing menu cards, signage and table numbers have elements of modern minimalism, and combine perfectly with textural florals.  We are seeing a lot of baby’s breath with pops of open round fluffy flowers such as garden roses and ranunculus. 

On the flip side, some request mostly textural greens, but the greens are a mixture of 5-7 different foliages that create that fluffy look.

Weddings still view the flowers as the equalizer that will combine tradition with modernism.  

Floral Installation Pieces

Going beyond the bouquets and centerpieces, one of the flower trends of 2024 is blooms showing up in dramatic, bold floral installations that really pack a punch! Whether you choose a halo of flowers enveloping the venue entryway or a flower strewn wedding cake table, we are always thinking of ways to use florals to create a focal point that really wows your guests.

If you are on a budget, statement pieces are the way to go.  Photographers are there to photograph the wedding couple, but we help them create a beautiful setting. A stunning arch or an open arch piece. Be sure to repurpose these pieces to the reception area. Perhaps a hanging installation above the dance floor with disco balls.  A backdrop for the sweetheart table. 

Candles & Creating A Romantic Atmosphere

Many 2024 couples are dreaming of romanticism.  More than ever, candles are requested the most where it is permitted. The warm glow of candles really creates a romantic atmosphere that most brides are looking for.

The Armory

Real Candles vs. Flameless Candles

Whenever possible we use real candles because, honestly, the flameless candles do not create the same atmosphere.  However, at some wedding venues real candles are a fire hazard and are not permitted.

We prefer fairy lights over flameless candles, as they create a similar glow and atmosphere.  We string them in the garlands, trees, in mason jars (they look like fireflies) and behind sheer curtains for backdrops.  Flameless candles offer a weak glow and the colors are either a bright fluorescent white or orange glow. 

Providing Experiences For Guests

We love the trend of providing a memorable experience for your guests. Our brides are getting married at the top of the mountains such as Bear Valley and Dodge Ridge.  Guests take the lifts up to the top of the mountain and can ride back down.  The 360 views are incredible, and the receptions are held down below at the rustically beautiful lodge.  

Packages

Range Of Light Wed

People are traveling and moving in 2024! That means that destination weddings are back in a very big way, and we are loving it.  Choosing a small wedding or elopement service that provides everything you need can make the planning process so much easier. We live close to the Sierra Nevadas (a huge destination for weddings), and many people ask for not only flowers, but for table runners, table numbers and sings. 

We are finding that many travel from the East Coast and dream about their wedding in the grander of the mountains.   We understand you travel quite a ways and do not know the local community, and we are here to help.

Check out Range Of Light Wed for more information on our Small Wedding/Elopement planning services right here in the Sierra Nevadas.

As couples gear up for their 2024 weddings, a trend is emerging: emerald green bridesmaids' dresses. This rich, jewel-toned hue promises to be a stunning backdrop for both the bridal party and your chosen floral arrangements.

From a photographer's perspective, emerald green offers a subtle blend from the traditional black suits worn by groomsmen, allowing for more dynamic portraits. And speaking of flowers, event florists are absolutely thrilled to have such beautiful background canvas to work with! Emerald green provides the perfect contrast to make those blooms truly pop.

But where does this deep green fit into the rest of the wedding décor? This is where things get interesting. While incorporating emerald green can be breathtaking, it's important to consider its impact on the overall color scheme.

Here are some questions to ponder:

• Do you go full emerald? Emerald tablecloths can create a dramatic, immersive atmosphere, but may feel overwhelming in certain settings.

• Play with contrasts? Black tablecloths with emerald green napkins offer a chic, modern vibe, while cream or white linens contrasting with emerald accents exude a garden style vibe.

Remember, green doesn't always have to be confined to fabric. Lush foliage can incorporate the emerald hue beautifully,  whether woven into hanging installations, adorning floral centerpieces, or simply gracing the surrounding scenery like in plants.

Ultimately, the key is to balance boldness with harmony. Embrace the beauty of emerald green while ensuring it complements the rest of your chosen palette. After all, your wedding day should be a reflection of your unique style and love story.

As a floral event designer, I'm constantly exploring the intricate world of floral wedding dreams. What colors, textures, and arrangements will paint the backdrop for your most cherished memories?  While many brides have Pinterest boards brimming with inspiration, translating those dreamy images into reality requires a clear understanding of vision and budget. 

This is where my expertise comes in. I don't just see flowers; I envision the entire scene – the colors dancing with the light, the blooms echoing the style of the venue, the fragrance weaving its magic through the air. It's about creating an impactful experience that resonates with you and your guests, and it all starts with a thoughtful conversation.

• I prioritize understanding your budget and wedding vision from the outset. It's my goal to tailor a proposal that reflects your dreams without exceeding your financial limitations.

• If there's a slight variance, I offer creative alternatives to achieve a similar look within budget. We can focus on statement pieces like the bouquet, boutonniere, ceremony florals, and sweetheart table that will shine in photos and enhance the atmosphere.

• When budgets are tight, we can get creative! Repurposing ceremony florals to the sweetheart table after photography is a popular option. It adds a touch of personalization and saves resources.\\

• To ensure a smooth transition, working with your wedding coordinator or helpers for this shift might be ideal. Our team excels in fast-paced setups, but for such a short window, coordinating with existing personnel can be more cost-effective.

• Remember, you're not just investing in flowers; you're investing in our expertise. We bring arches, candles, stands, lighting, and even disco balls to life, creating stunning visual displays onsite.

• Every week, we transform spaces into unforgettable experiences, and we're passionate about making your wedding day truly magical.

We are local experts in Yosemite, Sonora, Pinecrest, Murphys, Arnold and Bear Valley.  Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties hold no secrets for us. This is our backyard.  We've set up in countless open spaces, off the grid and on, and understand the unique restrictions and enhancements of each venue. But our deepest knowledge lies in the landscape itself.  We know how flowers and setups will thrive in our climate, ensuring your vision flourishes amidst our picturesque surroundings.

 This, truly, is the greatest advantage of living and working where we do.

Gratitude

In the mornings, I wake up with strong streams of thoughts and images. I understand they are physical energy and need somewhere to go.  I am determined to get my blog going.  This morning, I felt a wave of overwhelming gratitude for my incredible team.

I feel so lucky and grateful for their talent and skills.  It has been so cold and they dressed up in beanies, vests and gloves to help us organize for the year.  They tackled mountains of disorganized containers, a disarray of mixed up candles and dusty components of arches and props.

I also have a virtual assistant Vanessa who is the key at the front end.  This is where the initial contact is made.  She fields the questions with lightning speed and she is a magician with crafting all our social media.  All I can say is that Vanessa keeps me on track.

Sweet Lilacs is going into our 9th year of business.  I am estimating close to 1700 events.  That is a lot.  I am so grateful to be part of so many special events.  I consider the florals the jewelry of the events.  We excel in embellishment and finishing touches.  I still cannot forget a bride last year uncontrollably crying with tears of joy as she walked through her wedding ceremony and reception area.  We worked so hard to implement her vision and strived to do good work.  That reaction was so rewarding.

I thought about how ready we are for 2024.  I am so very grateful to my team this past year.  They are all coming back for the 2024 season.  We truly enjoy working together.  We are supportive of one another and we truly like one another.  Our early morning pow wows are so memorable.  Our creative bursts are goofy and laughable.  I am looking forward to our adventures this year.

After brewing my cup of coffee, I started scrolling through social media and I found this photo on the Banksy facebook page.  This is exactly how I felt this morning.  Just pure gratitude.

Amazing how messages are placed in front of you.

Balance.  I am always trying to find ways to balance my life.  We worked so hard this last year and believe it or not, I am just now settling into this slow time.   In the event floral industry, balance between work and play is created over the year.  Not on a daily or weekly basis.

The holidays are not a relaxing time for me.  So much hype goes into Christmas and the New Year.  Throw in family relationships, the uptick of Covid and the stress level is right back up.  

I try to spend much of my down time, January - March this year, traveling around visiting art museums, galleries, the ocean, mountains and lakes.  When home, I try to find another art medium to play around with.  I’ve watch the Great Pottery throw down series.  Now that’s a funny series!  I also love to get reacquainted with my art friends.  Do I produce anything in clay or other mediums?  No.  But I like to look and immerse myself in this world.  Maybe someday I will.

For the last couple years, our saving grace has been traveling in our sprinter van.  Joleen Willis introduced us to this whole concept.  I followed her posts for a month while she traveled in her little van and I was obsessed! This is our little sanctuary.  We bought the van in 2018, stripped down with very low mileage.  Jim built up the whole van, watching so many youtube videos.  It is fully loaded with all the bells and whistles, kitchen, shower, toilet and solar.  We are able to camp in remote places for about a week without replenishing our water supply.  

I never knew how much we needed this van.  This van is our home away from home.  We no longer check into hotels or grab fast food.  When we get tired, we find a place to park.  It was important that either of us can drive the van.  Also, to drive the van in any major city or remote area.  All we need is place to park.  

We designed and installed our first wedding in 2022.  January 8, 2022.  I was training and working with a freelance designer to see how we both like working with one another.  This is extremely important to me.  I watch for a number of things.  I watch to see if they like the work, if they enjoy weddings and special events, they can listen to instructions, execute instructions under pressure, take constructive criticism, if they complete the work, how well they work under pressure, confidence level, maturity, an artistic eye, no drama and most importantly, the speed of their work.  Admittedly, the expectation to be part of our team high.

After working a few days with someone, I am very good at accessing whether they will be a good fit in our work environment or not.  Expectations are high and our workload can be demanding.  

Our work environment can be a dream for some people and a nightmare for others.  

When I started Sweet Lilacs, I created my ideal work environment.  Working mats all over the floor of the workshop, large counters for design work, music blaring in the background, no answering customer calls, focus on design work, large assortment of flowers and foliage to create, TONS of creative freedom to produce a look and style, a supportive environment very similar to an art studio where ideas are constantly bounced around, very little egos, no prima dona designers, no drama, everyone helps out one another, flexible days and flexible hours, very few set rules, label everything with our color coding system, read the paperwork carefully, clean up after yourselves.

When we get to the work, this all falls into place.  Everyone jumps in to train one another, help out each other, load and unload the trucks, clean up, laugh, talk about our lives, talk about our problems and just have a good time. Kindness, consideration, honesty and lots of laughter.  Some thrive in this loosely organized chaos; some need a more structured, systematic workplace. 

I am the number one supporter of my team and my team has my support.  I know that everyone that works for any length of time at Sweet Lilacs, works hard and wants to do a good job.  We all have the same goal, to make this event, the best it can be through our talents and hard work.  I cannot do my work without a good strong team behind me.  This is what make Sweet Lilacs work.  

It has been a rough year.  In the last 7 months, we created florals for so many weddings.  This past year 2021, our season officially began May 1st and did not end until November 27.  For most of those weeks, we worked straight through without a single day off.  Often, we never knew who would show up for work.  The core was always here, but the extras, we just never knew.  Not being able to predict the every changing climate, we just dealt with weddings on a weekly basis.  

I understand that was not the best way to conduct business, but we dealt with weddings that downsized from 150 to 30 guests; some switching to just an elopement, but so many weddings went ahead and had outdoor events for 150.  Then of course there was the hot weather and the fires.  We just never knew if there was going to be another last minute change.  We were just happy to get through another week.

•  First and foremost, I have a great core staff.  They cared so much about our work, completing the order and giving whatever extra we can give.  We all wanted the wedding day to be so pretty and happy and beautiful.  

• Second I have the best wholesalers that just kept feeding me with supplies. We kept going every single week! My wholesalers, North Bay Farms, never missed a beat! Often, they were pushing me to get my order in, so they can fulfill my requests. On my part, it was usually last minute and I hate operating that way. I gotta hand it to those guys, the flowers and foliage arrived without a hitch. So many florists complained about flower shortages; but I never felt the sting.

As a result, we were able to deliver the florals to all our brides on a timely manner. I realize now, after this season has settled down, we were among the few vendors that survived this year pretty unscathed. So many of my fellow vendors are leaving or left our industry to move in another direction. Some are regrouping and reorganizing to better compete. Many are retiring and closing up shop. I will miss my friends.

I hope, next year is better.  I hope to be better organized.  I hope to provide the same quality of flowers, design work and service to all our customers.  I hope the same core staff comes back next year. 

I hope we all do better in health and well being.  

This photo was taken about a year ago, right before Covid hit our industry. I love working with Joleen Wiliis because she has such an artistic eye. These photos were taken at Lone Pine.

We started off so strong and bright and eager. We were looking forward to a new year of weddings and we were so booked. I was already looking for freelancers to help out on many weekends. But, Covid hit us with a vengeance. One day, I had nine postponements. Thankfully, only three cancellations total for the year. Sure, we are able to stay in business, but our sales have dropped.

So, here I am, a year later bracing myself for the upcoming year. Are we going to have wedding receptions this year? Should I start looking for freelancers? When will the wedding season begin? What is happening with this new strain? So many questions.

Kelsey from the Bridal Vault and I started a magazine called The Vow Gold Country in the summer of 2019. Our hope is this magazine will inspire more weddings and special events to occur in the Gold Country because of its picturesque natural beauty. I am amazed at our geographic range. From Yosemite to the foothills of wine country in Murphys, to the vast ranch acres of Jamestown up to the mountains in Pine Crest and Kennedy meadows.

Admittedly, there have been many challenges in starting and running a magazine. I have been a florist most of my life. What was I thinking trying to get into the magazine business? The learning curve for us has been pretty steep. But, we are both dedicated to this magazine because we believe it is good for our community and our local economy.

When flipping through the magazine and seeing all the photos compiled, we are so proud of all the work our community of vendors puts together. It is so humbling to be part of this group.

https://www.thevowgoldcountry.com/

When I read the Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, I got swept up by the romanticism of our floral industry for the second time in my life. When you’ve owned shops, been involved in over 1000 weddings and events, picked up rental items at midnight, wondered if you’ll ever have clean fingernails or questioned how much longer your legs will hold out by standing all day; a floral designer gets pretty burnt out. When I left the floral world in 2004, I said I was done.

Then…..I read a book that pulled my right back into this addictive world of flowers. The Language of Flowers is beautifully written by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. According to Vanessa, the main character Victoria exists entirely on the periphery of society. So much is out of the scope of her understanding--how to get a job, how to make a friend, even how to have a conversation. But in the world of flowers, with their predictable growing habits and "non-negotiable" meanings, Victoria feels safe, comfortable, even at home. All this changes when she learns that there is more than one definition for the yellow rose--and then, through research, realizes there is more than one definition for almost every flower. In an effort to "re-order" the universe, Victoria begins to photograph and create her own dictionary, determined to never have a flower-inspired miscommunication. She decides to share that information with others--a decision that brings with it the possibility of love, connection, career, and community.

The book takes place in San Francisco. I remember the SF Market. I remember those neighborhoods. I remember when I lived and breathed horticulture and floral design. I embraced every floral class and I was in awe with all the floral designers. All I ever wanted was a flower shop to call my own. Then, of course, reality hit. Our industry is hard work. No one sees all the work that goes into creating of a stunning bridal bouquet.

I got burnt out and this book sucked me right back into this world. In hindsight, I don’t believe I ever left. I was merely taking a much needed break. I opened Sweet Lilacs in the summer of 2014 in my terms. I want to do good floral design work, provide a good quality service and work at my pace. I am addicted to exuberance, excitement, romantic ideas and creativity. In this world, I feel relevant and I feel I can bring joy.