Customer Reviews

Bouquets: A Year of Flowers for the Bride

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Marsha Heckman pulls all the stops when she created this book and the beautiful,original,fanciful & imaginative bouquets. She left no one out in the wedding party including unique boutonieres (pgs.36 & 37) for the groom and groomsmen. As a floral designer and wedding planner, I am always looking for new, creative and show stopping bouquets and you will find them in this book. Each bouquet has great instructions even for the beginner but some are best left to the professional. There are bouquets that are suitable for the smallest (pgs 12,20,39,58,66,94,& 99) to the grandest of weddings (pgs 18 "drop dead gorgeous",24,31,42,56,60,78,80 "to die for",&103) and bouquets that are just as appropriate for the attendants (pgs 20, 26 "they don't come any more beautiful",49,63,66,84,93, 94 "fresh&classical"&104). The book will travel with me when I meet with new clients and be on the table at my next wedding show in October. Marsha will also tell you how to send a secret love message to your new groom and traditions from many different cultures. When you are finished with your wedding the photographs by Richard Jung help make the book a beautiful coffeetable decoration. []

Although I absolutely love the bouquet shown on the cover, I would have to say that the rest of the bouquets pictured are not worth the investment in the book. It seemed that most were outdated or simply lacked creativity. I was searching for contemporary or even classic looking designs and this was not the book for me. Sunflowers or wildflowers were shown quite often, so if you are searching for a book that hightlights these types of flowers, you might consider it. Skip it if you are looking for new ideas, red or deep colored flowers, or anything related to other wedding flower pieces (no arrangements, few corsages, limited bridesmaid flowers).

The bouquets were unique, beautiful and (seemingly) easy to create. I found it useful that the bouquets were catergorized by month so one can know when certain flowers are in season.

We used this book when planning my daughter's wedding. The beautiful photos in the book gave us some great ideas...none of which we tried to execute, but we shared them with our floral designer.

We especially liked the breakdown of what flowers would be available at the time of the wedding and the wonderfully original boutonniere ideas, some of which we incorporated.

I am not "good" with flowers or with arrangements, so I never would have attempted to make any of these...and for that reason, I barely read the directions on how the bouquets were made.

But I do know what I like, what is unique, and what looks wonderful...and this book was full of things like that.

These bouquets are so beautiful, and not the ordinary "florist-y" look. We made bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids AND bouttonniers for all the men. It made our do-it-yourself wedding with family and friends working together really meaningful. We found the "recipes" very complete, nothing left out like some books and magazines, and the hints for when to make and how to store the flowers really helpful, our wedding flowers were so unique and special. The book's organization month by month made it easy to plan what flowers we could have at the time.

If you can't tell a peony from a pansy, you may need a little help when selecting bouquets and floral arrangement for your wedding day. As the editor of a wedding web site..., I'm often asked to recommend books on this topic. Bouquets: A Year of Flowers for the Bride by Marsha Heckman is one that is always at the top of my list. This hardcover publication is only 111 pages but it's packed with stunning photographs of bouquets and boutonnieres. While the book explains how to create each design, most couples will probably just use the photos as a resource to show their florist. The unique boutonniere ideas alone make this book worth the purchase price. The author grouped her ideas into four sections: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Within each section are chapters devoted to the months of the year. Marsha explains what flowers are in season and shows how couples have creatively utilized these buds in the past. While this book will leave you longing for more pictures of elegant arrangements (there just aren't enough), it's a great tool to begin your flower research.

I bought this book together with "Creative Wedding Florals You Can Make" to get ideas for the flowers for my wedding in June. I am making my own bouquets and arrangements. As a gardener, I know a lot about flowers, but I have never tried anything like this before. The arrangements in this book are creative and absolutely beautiful, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for creative ideas to give to a florist, or to someone who has experience in putting together floral arrangements. However, if you have never done floral design before, I would suggest that you buy another book along with this one (such as "Creative Wedding Florals") to supplement the how-to information in this book.

The bouquets are arranged according to season, but many can be used throughout the spring and summer. They include mixtures of garden flowers, roses, lilies, herbs, and hydrangeas, and the pictures are absolutely gorgeous. There are also instructions and ideas on how to make corsages and boutonnieres that complement the bouquets, which I found very helpful.

All in all, this is an excellent resource book for ideas, but it is a bit weak on the instructions.

If you have the expectation to learn to make your own bouquets, you will be disappointed.

This book is good from 2 perspectives, both of which can help you get some ideas for bouquets.
1) Pretty pictures
2) Discussion of the flowers, which types to use, the meaning of each flower (nice to know but not practical knowledge)

Not a good instruction book for beginners
1) Concise and easy to understand step by step with pictures. While there are instructions to make the bouquets, the verbiage is long and hard to visualize and hence to follow. There are no step by step pictures.

2) Making a bouquet from this book is also hard because the picture shown is for photographic effects not for instruction. The bouquets are sometimes cut off, laying on a surface, semi-blurry. All of this makes it difficult to visualize how the bride would carry the bouquet, how it would match her gown and the tone of the wedding, and how one might construct it.

Overall, if you have the same objective I do, get another how-too book. If you want to show your florist ideas or are more advanced in floral arrangements, then give this book a shot.

When I looked at bouquets in wedding magazines, I always found them to be too gaudy or contemporary for my taste so by the time I walked into the florist to plan my wedding, I had no clue what to tell him. I found this book and it was so helpful! It clued me in on what flowers would be best for an off-season wedding. Each bouquet was clearly photographed and then the "recipes" indicated which flowers were being used. I highly recommend this book to people who, although have no intention on making their own bouquets, would still like to have sufficent knowledge to have a beautiful and unique bridal bouquet.

You'll find inspirational bridal floral arrangements in this book, broken down by seasons. Creative combinations of color palettes and flora. Each arrangement, also, comes with a list of "ingredients" to make the bouquet and even the meaning of each of the flowers used. Truly unique book and each floral arrangement is breath-takingly photographed! Hat's off to Ms. Heckman!