The Blooms

A long, long time ago...ok, I won't sing, but really. A long, long time ago, I came across a picture from a wedding related message board and absolutely fell in love.

Image via Rachel Ray / Jello Centerpieces with Flowers

I have been obsessed with this picture since I found in (in 2007) and have had it saved to my wedding notebook since then.  

The reason I am showing this to you now, is because this has actually hurt me in my search for a florist for the wedding. A lot of them don't either have the slightest idea how to do this, or don't have the means of doing this (no stove to boil jello...etc.).  So, I was finally able to find one florist who said she would try to make the centerpieces before I signed a contract. I thought this was perfect.

I got a call a week ago saying that she tried it but it wasn't really that successful, and that she was saving her trial for me if I wanted to come see it.  So, I stopped by her shop after work that afternoon.  This is what she was able to accomplish:

Front side of rectangular vase / Personal Picture

Back side of rectangular vase / Personal Picture

Side view of rectangular vase / Personal Picture

So, as you can see, there was a huge problem in keeping the flowers to stay down in the jello while it hardened, and not to float to the surface.  The florist said that she was going back and forth to try to push them down as it hardened, but the process was too quick.  She also said that it was very time consuming and that she really didn't have the resources to do it in the shop.

She was very nice about it all, but it was kind of disappointing that something I have been so obsessed about for years may not be able to happen for our wedding. 

I let her know that I was very thankful that she tried this, and that it was helpful to know this early that this idea may not work.

The ideas that she had for the bouquets were beautiful, and I loved them, but you will have to wait to hear about those.  She said that she was still willing to do the rest of the flowers for the wedding, but she was adamant about not working with Jello.

So, I have decided to try the Jello centerpieces to see if there is some special trick to getting it to work, and to determine whether or not I would be able to do them on my own for the wedding.  But, in the meantime, I may need to start thinking of alternative centerpiece ideas.  Any suggestions?