A Crown for the Queen of Succulents
A dear friend of mine, Reeve Cooper, now Sollee, asked me to help play a role on her special day and it was a very easy yes. She is as I’ve coined her, the Queen of Succulents. She herself self-proclaims as “Austin’s Most Boss Plant Lady”, which I whole-heartedly agree. I met Reeve through a series of floral classes that I taught last fall and her personality and infectious laughter made it easy for us to become fast friends. Day to day, she is knee deep in succulent arrangements for her clients and let me tell you… she is passionate about these drought-tolerant friends! When she asked me to help with her wedding floral crown, I knew it had to be filled with succulents.
She mentioned something with olive branches and left everything else to me. The dream client, giving complete trust to the final product. I’ll be honest, this was my first wedding floral crown, so I’m glad it turned out nicely. She took a little risk and it paid off! I chose more impactful succulents that had more cool blue and grey tones that paired with the supernova thistle. The softness of the plumosa and little white flowers from the ginestra are the perfect balance to the heartiness of the succulents. It was a beautiful day and cheers to the Sollees! And a big thanks to Leeann Funk for the stunning shots!
Succulent Floral Crown
FLORALS + SUPPLIES
Floral snips
Bobby pins
Wood skewers
1 bunch of olive branch
1 bunch of plumosa fern
1 bunch of white ginestra
5-6 potted small succulents
1 bunch of supernova blue thistle
STEPS
Sift through the olive branch bunch and pull stems of smaller and more evenly spaced olive leaves. Cut 10-12 segments of 10-12” long olive branches. Remove the leaves from the bottom 5-6” to reveal a bare stem. As you layer the floral crown, the bare stems are what you will use to help bind the structure of the crown using the floral tape. The younger branches will be more malleable and will create a softer effect when assembled.
Using the floral tape, begin to assemble the floral crown by mixing together soft stems of plumosa fern and olive branch with a few stems of white ginestra to add a few white blooms along the length of the crown. The floral crown should run about 16-18 inches in length. I like to have all the leaves run in one direction and then to finish off the end, attach a final strand of olive branch running the opposite direction.
Remove the succulents from their pots and remove all the dirt revealing the root structure which should be about 2-3” long. Cut the wood skewers to 3” segments with one side pointed. Push the pointed end of the skewer into the base of the succulent so that it is secure and the roots hang around the skewer.
Using floral tape, wrap the skewer and the roots all the way down to create a faux stem look.
For this floral crown, I started with a half up half down hairstyle. I made sure to brush out the hair as smooth as possible prior to securing the crown. Along the lines of the half updo, I secure the floral crown to the hair using bobby pins. I tried to use 2-3 pins for every 2-3” section.
Rather than a full circle crown, I let the olive branch drape along the back of the bride’s head. Where the hair meets with the half updo is where I added embellishments. This creates a more intricate and interesting floral crown.
Using the staked succulents and clippings of the supernova, I created a larger succulent vignette in the back and a feature succulent in the front.
Once everything is secure, I give a finishing spritz of hairspray to set the floral crown.
