Elaborate, vibrant, and lavish are just 3 words to describe this gorgeous Crystal Bridges wedding reception. The whole event was exciting and exotic—from custom-ordered jewel tone votive holders to 3’ tall gold vases filled with phalaenopsis orchids—it was a florist’s dream.

The bride sent me the inspiration photo for the peacock statement piece and I was eager to figure out the plan for achieving her vision. The peacock was going to sit at the entrance of the reception hall as an eye catching statement to help set the tone for the event. The design was tricky, but I figured it out with the help of my team and it is one of my very favorite pieces I’ve designed—EVER! Read on to see how I transformed this inspiration into a reality.

INSPIRATION

The bride provided the inspiration picture (seen right; photo cred Jim Kennedy Photographers) for a statement piece for her vibrant, lavish wedding reception at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. In the picture, the peacock is perched on gold branches. The body & tail of this gorgeous bird are crafted entirely of different varieties of orchids. In addition, stunning fuchsia phalaenopsis orchids are draped along the gold tree branches and on the teal table.

REALITY

Pieces like these are both a challenge and a dream for a florist. It’s tricky to figure out the mechanics of another florist’s design just by looking at a picture. We had our work cut out for us making this inspiration a reality, but I’m never one to back down from a challenge. With my knack for engineering/mechanics and planning (and the help of my talented team!), we were able to achieve the bride’s vision and create a breathtaking statement. Read below for a step-by-step behind the scenes look at how we brought the vision to life.

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STEP 1-2

First I had to source the peacock itself to serve as the main structure for the piece. I found a large bronze peacock locally at Eventures Party Rentals, but the color was dingy so (with the permission of Eventures) we spray painted it gold for some sparkle and shine.

As you can see, there is no base for this peacock and we needed it to sit on a table, so the next step was to anchor the peacock in some way. The peacock was heavy, so I wanted to be sure it had a sturdy base. We wrapped the peacock’s feet in plastic (since it was rented) and then anchored it in a large bucket of plaster of Paris. I knew I could hide the bucket at the event with strategic, artful draping of the teal tablecloth.

Step 3-4

The next step was to create the peacock’s orchid tail. I could have glued the individual stems of orchids to the peacock sculpture itself, but then the entire peacock would have to be kept in the cooler until delivery and there would’ve been significant risk of damaging the orchids during transport/delivery. So, I chose to use a flexible, plastic mesh as a sort of “hoop skirt” tail. My team & I hand-sealed each individual fuchsia and teal dendrobium orchid stem and wove the stems into the mesh in layers. The mesh was then removed from the peacock and stored flat in the flower cooler before the wedding.

FINAL STEPS

Once the peacock was safely delivered to Crystal Bridges, we had quite a bit to assemble on-site. I used zip ties (a florist’s best friend!) to fasten the mesh tail structure to the gold peacock. I tucked and glued a few more orchid stems to cover up the chicken wire and zip ties. We had hand-glued individual green cymbidium orchid petals to the body of the peacock earlier. Then we artfully arranged the teal tablecloth to hide the bucket base.

Last I added the gold tree (which we conveniently had from a previous event) and draped stems of dazzling fuchsia phalaenopsis orchids to achieve the final product. I am so proud of how this piece turned out; I think it’s truly breathtaking! (I only wish I’d gotten better photos. We were so busy with the set-up of the wedding, we forgot to take time to get better shots!)

Do you have an image you're curious about? Just email it to althea@roseofsharonar.com and I'll take a look.