EMILY THOMPSON FLOWERS

In May, our team of intrepid warriors had the privilege of designing the wedding of one of our own, Hawaiian princess Ren.  After a dip in the volcano of the Big Island, we hit Oahu, which we proceeded to denude of all vegetation.

Our first harvest was a gentle butchering of Honolulu’s Lyon Arboretum.  We got intimate lessons in the rank ways of the heliconia and had our minds blown by the cannonball tree, or Couroupita guianensis.

The wedding boasted an entirely foraged design.  Not a single bloom was purchased, though we certainly paid dearly for some.  Luckily, no one was maimed by falling coconut clusters.  For the rest of our haul, we scoured roadsides at dusk, remote off-road sites for ironwood and other invasives, and a generous cousin’s vast jungle of a back yard. Hawaii will grow back.

 

The site, overlooking the North Shore.

 

This haul of date inflorescences had a depth and breadth like nothing I had ever seen.

 

 

 

 

 

Our fabulous flower friend, Holly Vasecky of HollyFlora in L.A., built this ceremony site of heliconia volcanos, and at the exchange of vows, her flower cannons exploded into the sky.

Bear, the unofficial mascot.