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Extraordinary Day Prep

"Greening in" with hebes, clematis vine and camellia.  Endless buckets! 
This is Part II of Extra-ordinary Day.  
For 30 centerpieces, and an undetermined number of large arrangements, I knew that this would require some forethought.  I began with some backwards planning.
Sunday Reception: arrive at 8am, set up the hall & place the arrangements. 
Saturday:  make larger arrangements & transport the flowers to the church.
Friday:  pick up flowers from farm & add tulips to centerpieces.
Thursday:  prepare vases and "green in" the centerpiece oasis.  
Monday-Wednesday:  cut greenery.
Michael Gaffney relates in one of his videos on YouTube, that for a Saturday wedding he arranges all the greenery of his centerpieces on Monday and adds the flowers Thursday.  This process is called "greening in".  A useful tip and it worked well.
Greenery
I cut all the greenery-  it seemed frivolous to buy as we live in a rural area with a mild coastal climate.  This was considerable work and consisted of a few misadventures.  The site of the seeded eucalyptus has been christened by my children "Dog Poop Alley", for very unfortunate circumstances involving my favorite leather oxfords.  I advise rubber boots for greenery expeditions.
A large, cool work space was critical for making and storing the arrangements.
Practice
The week before production I did a mock up of a centerpiece using one of the vases and some tulips, as I knew the flowers donated would consist mostly of tulips, lilies and irises.
Tulips gave me considerable anxiety and I have never known how to keep them from drooping unattractively or stretching all directions.  Once again, Michael Gaffney to the rescue! He suggests cutting their necks (sounds violent) just below the flower to prevent them growing out of the arrangement toward the sun.  They stop growing and focus on healing the cut stem.  It worked beautifully!
Practice centerpiece with tulips.
So many of his videos provide great tips in arranging with and without oasis. "Stopping up the drain" (or the neck of the vase) with a lot of greenery provides a good anchor for your flowers in lieu of oasis.  I used this on several larger arrangements.  
Color
After consulting the sage Marie-Jacqueline, she suggested gold and white (liturgical colors for feasts of the Eucharist) as appropriate for a First Solemn Mass reception.  It was the perfect recommendation!  The flower farm had these colors available along with purple irises which provided a nice Lenten reminder here and there.   
Next up, read Arranging and Transporting!

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