While I personally am a gal who has a love for color, especially well placed pops & splashes of, there truly is something to be said for gorgeous winter whites. Floral arrangements, be it those in your home or those for a winter wedding, run the gamete of the deeper darker color spectrum. While we are indeed reprieved from pastel colors, bold neon like hues and the like, sometimes the dark can be all a bit too much. I dont know if it is age or saturation, but I am certainly taking on a whole new appreciation for a more neutral palette of late. When I got to think about this, I reminded myself of a shoot I featured only a few short months ago, a gorgeous late fall session in a cabin in the woods that was wonderfully rustic chic {for the post Click Here} One of the elements that attracted me to the shoot right from the start were the amazing florals which are the very definition of winter whites!
Winter whites can take on any form from a solid white mass of blooms to something like the above from Les Petites Excuses, the floral designer from the shoot. For me, whether I prefer all white vs a few spots of color mixed in, depends on the bloom types themselves and how they are being used. For the purpose of a centerpiece, I am utterly in love with this arrangement. The very first element that jumped out at me was the cotton puffs! Such a wonderful touch and a great way to inject a true earthy organic feel. The cotton allows the arrangement to feel much less staged and a lot more real, a lot more along the lines of something that one might be able to gather out on a farm. Cotton also has the ability to lend itself to a rustic wintery feel which is perfection when married with winter whites.
The other reason I love this arrangement so much is the mix of the dark wax flowers, slender eucalyptus leaves & few additions of mixed petite greens. While I can appreciate all white styles, for me it is typically too much, so I really gravitate to the above mix. White is clearly the star here and it is obvious to see that we are working with a neutral palette. By injecting elements of a darker tone, we are able to create a peaceful balance between the light and the dark, something that pleases our eye to view. Also, by adding the darker tones, we allow the white to really come forward in a way that it struggles with when surrounded by fellow white. Working with light & dark tones create a highlights & shadows in a very literal sense, the dark additions create a ‘shadow’ type effect to their lighter counterparts, allowing them to become the proper highlights that they aim to be!
An area where all white blooms make a bit more sense {to me mind you, this is not the general concussions} is in bouquets. The bouquet above is from the same shoot {it really is a gorgeous shoot!} though in this case, the darker wax flowers are only used as an accent, very sparingly, to every so slightly break up the white blooms. Here the snow white roses, white hydrangea, tulips, & white gooseneck like ‘green’ do all the heavy lifting. There are enough varying stems within this arrangement that the white is still able to take its own shape within each bloom. Perhaps that is the issue I have at times with all white arrangements. Often we see a mass of the exact same flower and thus they all simply start to blend into their neighbor. The above, the varying shapes of each flower type, along with structured placement, give a raise & fall to the bouquet, which allows each flower type to stand out on its own and be defined.
White is a color of peace & harmony, winter whites give off that same feeling and for that I love them! The 2 arrangements from the shoot have a real rustic chic quality, a real peaceful earthy feel & there is something very timeless & transcending about them. Whether you’re looking for wedding arrangements or something for an event or holiday party, I highly encourage you to take a chance on winter whites!
Floral Designer: Les Petites Excuses | Event Designer: La Mariée Bohème | Photographer: Sophie Asselin Photographe