In today’s #flowerpower feature, we’re celebrating the sensational sunflower. A large friendly flower that is usually bright yellow in color with a dark center, surrounded by petals that look like rays of sunshine. Known for following the sun across the sky, the sunflower has come to mean “power”, “warmth” and “nourishment”. This bold and bright bloom will add an informal touch to any wedding bouquet, table centerpiece or flower arrangement, and the long, thick stems allow for unique uses. These standard beauties will add a major pop of color and excitement no matter where they are featured at your event and the darling mini-version would make terrific boutonnieres!

Each month we’re featuring a specific, popular wedding flower, sharing important tips and information that all DIY brides will find valuable if incorporating said blooms into their events. Whether you’re arranging your own bridal shower flowers or creating your own wedding bouquets, I hope you enjoy the tips and information below.

Fifty Flowers

For those who might not know, FiftyFlowers is an online flower wholesaler who ships gorgeous flowers to your doorstep, straight from their partner farms. Their customer service is outstanding and I know that you’ll have an extraordinary experience with them, no matter if you’re ordering flowers for your entire wedding or just a few bunches for your bridal shower. You can shop their website just like you would a flower mart, even scheduling your delivery time with just a few clicks – it’s awesome. I absolutely love that at any time, no matter what shoot or event I need flowers for, I can visit their site, shop and the flowers magically arrive at my door. Basically, they are the Nordstrom of online flower sales!

Flower Availability:

For the most part, sunflowers are available year round, but certain specific varieties like the chocolate and lime green have limited availabilities. Visit the Sunflower page on FiftyFlowers.com to find the exact availability for your favorite variety and color!

In this post, I’m featuring the Standard Sunflowers and the Rustic Wedding Flower Combo Box.

Farm To Vase Prep:

These bulk Sunflowers are shipped directly from FiftyFlowers.com partner farms. Before shipping your flowers, they prepare them for their journey with proper hydration methods. If your flowers appear sleepy and thirsty after their journey, it is absolutely NORMAL. Just follow these simple steps and the flowers will bloom delightfully!

Recommended Delivery Date: 3 days before your event.

Rehydration Steps:

• Remove flowers from box by cutting any straps and removing any plastic.
• Fill vases/containers with at least 4″ inches of fresh, cool water.
• Cut the bottom of the stems diagonally approximately an inch from bottom under running water with sharp scissors or a knife. This will create a fresh surface to absorb water.
• Immediately after cutting, place each stem in the prepared water to rehydrate for at least 4 hours, after that they are ready to be used.
• Allow flowers at least 4 hours to hydrate well.
• Change the water every day to keep them as fresh as possible! Assure that your flowers have sufficient water. The flowers will drink an exceptionally large amount of water upon arrival.
• Hardware store buckets are terrific for rehydration!

They Seek The Sun: Sunflowers may not have perfectly straight stems, please keep this in mind when designing your arrangements. Also, Sunflowers are affected by phototropism, meaning that their heads follow the light. Place a light directly over the sunflowers while they hydrate to help them open upward. Once arranged, make sure the arrangement is evenly lit to prevent shifting.

Pairs Well With:

Sunflowers are great for rustic, farm, or barn themed weddings and work fabulously as stand-alone flowers because they’re such show-stoppers. Mixing them with softer blooms like garden roses, ranunculus and anemones will provide a nice contrast to its bold textures, and pumpkin trees would be another terrific choice especially for fall. In looking at loads of pictures online, there are so many beautiful wedding color schemes that go with bright yellow sunflowers. For one, the dusty gray/green of the Rustic Wedding Flower Combo Box I used here is gorgeous. Reds and oranges are terrific for fall. Pale violets and pinks would be great for spring. Hot pinks and bright greens would be awesome for summer and so on and so forth. Creating a bouquet packed full of only Sunflowers would also be a terrific idea, just wrap with ornamental rope and you’re good to go. These gorgeous blooms are like the bow on top of a package! Big, bold and beautiful!

Arranging Tips:

• Sunflowers are very hearty flowers that can look fabulous out of water for hours, which makes them a terrific choice for bouquets!
• Each flower has a minimum vase life of 8 days, which is awesome.
• There is only 1 flower per stem and the size will span from 4″ – 6″, with a 24″ stem.
• The stems on these flowers are super thick and so you’ll want to use a heavy duty pruner like these PowerGrip2 Pruning Shears from Fiskars to make clean, proper cuts.
• When ready to arrange, give each stem a fresh diagonal cut.
• Standard sunflowers will be too large for boutonnieres, but the mini-version will work perfectly.
• Looking for something super unique? Pull the yellow petals off the sunflower and you’ll be left with the gorgeous green ringed center shown above!

Win Your Wedding Flowers!

Fifty Flowers has an awesome contest going on this year that I just had to share! They want to hear about your unique wedding flower story! Everyone who signs up will get 5% OFF their flower order, then once married, you visit their site to share your flower story and you’ll be entered to win one of the 3 great prizes! From $5,000 cash to a $500 Shutterfly gift certificate. Story sharing ends December 15th, 2017!

Post Sponsored By:

FiftyFlowers is the customer-centric, online destination for wholesale wedding flowers, shipped fresh from the farm straight to your door! Inspired by the DIY bride, we offer an extensive selection of fresh flowers, greenery, and floral accessories because we believe anyone can create their own wedding flowers.

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