Had a bride ask for a bouquet that smelled like her grandma's garden, and it threw me for a loop

This was for a wedding in Portland last month. The bride didn't bring a photo, just a list of scents and feelings: 'warm dirt after rain,' 'old roses,' and 'something minty.' I spent a whole day just smelling things at the wholesaler, mixing herbs like rosemary and lemon balm with garden roses that had a real perfume, not the scentless ones. I even tucked in a bit of moss around the stems. When she saw it, she cried and said it was perfect. It made me realize I'd been focusing so much on how things look that I forgot how powerful smell can be for memory. How do you all work scent into your arrangements without it being overpowering?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer_thomas420d ago

Totally get that. Had a client ask for a scent that reminded them of a beach vacation. Used dried lavender for a soft base, not too strong. Added a few stems of eucalyptus for that clean, sharp smell. The real trick was rubbing a lemon verbena leaf between my fingers to release just a bit of citrus. Kept it light so it wasn't a punch in the face.

thomas.piper20d ago

My old lavender base was way too heavy until I tried your light touch method.