Yesterday I took a workshop on current trends and techniques in working up wedding and prom designs, held at a wholesale house in Lexington. The speaker was very informative and engaging; I don't have the info with me right now, but I'll post his info, as he does travel around the country doing these workshops.
There were some methods being recommended of late I was kinda skeptical about, mostly uses for various floral products on the market. One was the use of floral adhesive glue for corsage and boutonniere work. I've always shied away from using it, unsure that it would hold flowers well enough into the designs. To my surprise, it works amazingly well! I wore the wrist corsage I made for a while to test it out, and even gave it some good shaking, but it held together great. Also learned that flowers glued, so that a drop of glue seals the cut part of the calyx, actually last longer than wired and taped blooms. He also mentioned that adhesive made for this use is a necessity, hot glue and other glues will not hold, and are likely to shorten bloom life.
Another product I hadn't tried was called "stem lock", an aerosol can with the little straw to direct the spray where you want it (like WD40). Its made to use on bouquets where an oasis bouquet holder is used. After the bouquet is completed, you just direct a few squirts where the stems enter the foam, and by golly, that stuff really works! Nowadays most brides have a lot of pictures taken before the wedding, and the bouquet gets handled a lot before the ceremony- I've had to replace flowers in large, cascading designs a couple of times, so I'll definitely keep some of that stuff on hand from now on!
Speaking of cascading bouquet designs, the speaker said they are making a comeback, after about 10 years of hand tied bouquets being the most popular. This makes a lot of floral designers happy to see the design element back in style in wedding work.
