Flower Today: Bird of Paradise

Bird of Paradise is one of the exotic bird from Irian Jaya (Papua), Indonesia. But what we mention  here now is not a bird but  Bird of Paradise Flower. This flower is very unique and colourful. The colour looks contrast with its leaves. The flower has some petals from which an orange long shaped flower arises.  The petals have fuschia or purple colour around the top edges. Overall this flower looks like an exotic small bird.

This ornamental plant is frequently to be used to attract attention on simple flower arrangements which using lots of leaves so that it will show its beauty. Really, doesn't It look like a real tiny bird emerging out of green leaves? What a beautiful plant it is!

IPBI DPC Bandung: Wedding Hand Bouquet Trend

Helloo again everyonee!!!!! Whoaaa, without realizing it, we've almost  pass April. Gosh, time does fly so fast. It’s almost summer time, the perfect time for a garden wedding…. flowers bloom everywhere… Then, in anticipating all the wedding rush out there, what else would be best than a wedding inspiratiooonnn!!!!

After the demo of easter flower arrangement last month, this month IPBI DPC Bandung was back with another inspiring demo and this time it’s about the current wedding hand bouquet trend !! At 9.00 AM I already arrived at the hall… Like the old phrase the early bird gets the early worm, the early come gets the front seat and the best flowers pictures first as well,  he..he..

A total of 6 wedding bouquets displayed that day (one is not shown in the image)   mm hmm…. so so yes, it means that there will be 6 wedding bouquet ideas for you!!!

The main tutor for this demo was Mrs. Ling-Ling from IPBI DPC Bandung and helped by Mr. Oei and Mr. Harry on the hand-tied. Like the previous demo, some of the hand bouquets already 50-70% finished (even one bouquet had 100% finished), so that it really saves a lot of time.

So then… where’s the wedding hand bouquet trend ideas? Relaaaxx….we’re working on  … In the mean time, the picture above is a little teaser for you…..

IPBI DPC Bandung Will Hold a Workshop on May 16, 2012

Teman-teman, ada kabar gembira nih!

IPBI DPC Bandung akan mengadakan Workshop - oleh Andy Djati Utomo S.Sn, AIFD, CFD yang akan diselenggarakan pada:

Hari/tanggal : Rabu, 16 Mei 2012

Pukul : 10.00 s/d selesai

Tempat : Landmark Convention Hall, Jl. Braga 129 Bandung

Tema : American Style

Biaya : Rp.300.000,- (anggota IPBI)

Biaya sudah termasuk makan siang, vas, materi dan sertifikat. Harap membawa peralatan merangkai bunga (hasil rangkaian boleh dibawa pulang).

Pendaftaran paling lambat Kamis, 10 Mei 2012 ke Sekretaris IPBI DPC Bandung. Cepetan daftar ya karena pesertanya terbatas, loh!

Catholic Wedding Ceremony - part 2

 4.      Signing the marriage license / Penandatanganan surat pernikahan

This session also has variations. Some couples postpone this signing session until all sessions are completed, or else.  

 

The pastor will ask the couple and witnesses forward to sign the wedding certificate (this is the church marriage license, not the government legal marriage license)

5.      Ask for parents blessing / Mohon doa restu orang tua

Now I think this is what distinguishes a Catholic ceremony in Indonesia and in other countries. After the couple is officially pronounced to be husband and wife, the pastor then ask the couple to go to their parents' seats and ask for blessing. This is a form of thanks to their parents for raising them and the parents will be asked to bless the couple in entering a new family life by giving them a 'cross sign' on their forehead.

See in the picture, the groom starts first by kneeling down in front of his parent in-law and ask for blessing, after he finished then it’s the bride's turn (this is usually the teary part :D) This custom in Indonesian traditional culture is called sungkeman and it shows how a part of Indonesian culture integrates with Catholic rites. A song will accompany this session, usually the one with lyrics depicting love to parents. Since this session usually a teary part, song in this session will be memorable to guests so slow ballad songs will touch their hearts deeper…

6.      Eucharistic Liturgy / Liturgi ekaristi

Ok, some weddings do not include this session since it will take more time. If this session is skipped, the pastor will officially end the wedding mass with blessing then proceed to number 7. Or else the mass  proceeded with eucharistic liturgy and communion then end with blessing

7.      Closing : Pray in front of Mary statue / Berdoa di depan Bunda Maria

The bride and groom carrying flower arrangements, a bridal candle and also accompanied by the pastor and altar boys go in front of Mary statue and pray asking for Her blessing upon their new family.

8.      Photo session / Sesi foto

After the mass, it’s photo session!! Then let's get on with the reception

Note: to see session number 1-4 see our previous post

That’s it!!!! Even for same Catholic wedding, in other countries there might be different variations too. Is the wedding ceremony different in yours? Let me know, ok?

From my own experience as a guest, the songs play important part too, especially the first entrance song and the one during session 5, I’ve seen some guests even got teary just by listening to the songs. So, if you have time, consult the songs with the choir group to achive maximum effect and make your wedding more memorable.

Church Decor by Team Margriet

Catholic Wedding Ceremony - part 1

Welll, this is not exactly about flowers, but this post is still related to the weddings particularly Catholic wedding ceremony in Indonesia, so I guess it’s still fine :D . If you’re planning a Catholic wedding we hope this post will give you insight on the ritual. Whaat? You’re not a Catholic? Don’t worry we plan to post wedding ceremonies from other religions soon! So lets start, shall we?

1.      Bride and Groom Blessing / Pemberkatan Mempelai

Like any other Catholic rites, a catholic wedding will began with a blessing. In Indonesia this blessing has two variations, whether the couple being blessed before entering the church or at the main altar. The choir will sing the entrance song at this point and it’s usually the most memorable song for the guests, so pick the song carefully!!

Variation 1: This is the old tradition, where the bride and groom are blessed by the pastor at the church’s entrance.

They then enter the church hand in hand together behind the pastor.

Variation 2: Now this is the new trend in Indonesia, brought in by all those Hollywood movies, where the groom waited in front of the main altar then the bride enters the church with her father.

After the groom receives the bride then the pastor bless them with holy water.

2.      Liturgy of the Word / Liturgi Sabda

The mass then proceed with liturgy of the word session, until the pastor gives light speech. This speech usually contains a bit of interaction with the couple, like a sort of question and answer game to test their level  of love and understanding of each other

3.    The ceremony  of sacramental marriage / Upacara sakramen pernikahan

We now enter the most important session i.e. the Pastor will ask the couple one more time about their willingness to get married, then the wedding vows exchanged, afterward the pastor ask all the guests to pray together for the new family.

Thus the wedding rings will be blessed, and then the couple exchanged rings. Afterward the bride will be unveiled and the groom may kiss the bride. Next the tray containing a Bible, a Holy cross and a Rosario will be blessed too, then we proceed to session 4.

(to be continued in part 2)

Wedding Church Décor: A White and Pink Theme

We’re baaack!!! As promised, here’s another wedding flower décor done in white-pink theme. These one's a bit posh and certainly more expensive. You might remember the flower arrangements pictured above from my last post. Yes, this is how their up close look with a white tulle ribbon added underneath. A total of 20 flowers stands were lining on the church aisle that day (11-11-2011). As you can see we used quite a number of flower types such as lily Sorbone, Universe roses, Belavitae roses, Avalance roses, spray carnation, hydrangea, chrysants, local baby's breath, ruscus and ivy.

From the church’s entrance, here are how all the flowers stands look like lining up on the church aisle all the way to the bridal chair (see picture below). Yes, lots of flowers really brighten up the aisle and not to mention exuding lots of sweet scent from the flowers. But don’t forget these flower arrangements cost more than usual, hee..hee..

If you turn around, this is how the row of the flower arrangements look like from the front aisle. And the picture below showed how all of the flower arrangements look from upfront. More than usual, since there were 2 air conditioners put inside the church that day, we made extra two flower arrangements in front of them.

As you can see, here’s a more close up view of the front and side part of the flower arrangements in front of the main altar. Just look at those imported baby's breath hanging down beautifully.

Now the flower arrangement number 2 is the one in front of the Jesus statue, the mirrored version with the one in front of the Mary statue. These cute flower arrangements are in triangle form, with white snapdragon on top and amaranthus hanging underneath.  Look at the pictures below them to see a more close up detail on the flower arrangements and the other one at the seven fingers candelabra.

The flower arrangement number 5, is the one which attached to the wedding chairs also use more various flowers than the usual. It almost looked like a hand bouquet, right? Personally, I really love the colour combination. For this arrangement, we used anthurium, Sorbone lilies, Universe roses, Belavitae roses, Avalance roses, snapdragon, spray carnation, leather leaf, ruscus.

And the pictures below are the detail of the flower arrangements in front of the air conditioners and the psalmist altar… Lovely.

So, what do you think? We really hope this can be another inspiration for you who wants a white and pink theme wedding. For another colour theme, we'll post another time, real soon.

Church Decor by Margriet's Team

Wedding date 11-11-2011

Flower Today: Balloon Plant

The flower today is balloon plant or bladderbush,  in Indonesia we call it as 'Bunga Balon'.

It has rounded unique shape and hairy just like the fruit of 'rambutan'. Its colour is light green. But be careful, this plant has thick white sap like milk which supposedly toxic. This ornamental plant is often to be used in flower arrangements or table centerpieces or for wedding decor, though not as main flowers but as filler.

Tips on Memorable Wedding Date

Weddings as a happy occasion usually held on good day, this term can have lots of meanings but lately a beautiful wedding date or in Indonesian “tanggal pernikahan cantik” does not necessarily mean a result of a complex calculated birth days or to avoid unlucky days, but simply a memorable numbers. Like the wedding of Indonesian celebrity, Irfan hakim, which held on 07-07-2007 all with seven on it, this seven-theme extend to the dowry, which also had seven numbers in it. Last year we even had the chance to do a wedding church décor for a couple who married on 11-11-2011 at 11.11 AM, cool huh?

These memorable wedding date had been a phenomenon for quite a few years and might continue in the future. Of course, the same number on date month and year will end this year  at 12-12-2012 but lots of other combination can be made to make a memorable wedding date such as 11-12-2013 (11-12-13)  or 20-12-2012 for instance and many others. Since getting married on memorable date becomes a trend, it’s interesting to see if memorable wedding date is really a good idea after all…

The most reasons for picking out a wedding date with memorable number is to make the couple easily remembers their wedding date, so no more excuse for forgetting your anniversary date. The other reason is because it's a trend and since lots of people have to compete for booking venues and stuff on a memorable date, thus being able to get married on memorable day is considered an achievement.

Whatever your reason, we would like to share with you a few things to be considered if you’re trying to get a memorable number for your wedding date :

1.      Cost

Yep, the economy rules. The more people wants to get married on a certain date, the bigger chance for venue or ballroom owner as well as caterers to increase the price. Why? For venue it’s because they have more bargaining power when lots of people want to use a hall or ballroom. For caterers because more demand will increase the ingredient price, this of course will effect the end price.

As for wedding décor, especially the ones using fresh flowers, the price will increase 50 to 100%. If you’re on very tight budget, consider artificial flowers with basic design instead.

2.      Quality

Flowers are harvested annually according to season so the supply is basically constant. In case of high demand, to fulfill orders many planters substitute full bloom flowers with smaller buds or give lower grade flowers. We experienced this ourselves, for the same price, the quality of the flowers declined. This might also applied to food so you must consider this too.

3.      Time

When lots of people want to get married on the same date, the competition begins. Most venues, caterers and decorators must be booked a year maybe even two year in advance, so the wedding must be planned far way ahead. What will you do if on the date the church can be booked, decorator can be booked but the venues had already fully booked or the rental price had increased unreasonably?

4.      Schedule

On 11-11-2011 last year, we noticed significant traffic jam in Bandung area eventhough it’s not weekend. Reason? The wedding guests' vehicles J. In St Peter’s Cathedral itself held 5 weddings, (we haven’t counted weddings occurred that day in other churches and mosques all over Bandung) so lots of guest’s cars parked overflowed to Merdeka street, just like Christmas mass. So consider traffic in your schedule, you might get late to the church or reception venue because of it.

Also prepare in case you have to rush. Usually, after the wedding mass, the couple and family will have a photo session (with the pastor and by themselves) inside and outside the church. Afterward, most guests would like to  congratulate the couple before the crowd dispersed. Depending on guests numbers, this usually takes time between 30 minutes to one hour. On 11-11-2011, since there are 5 weddings held that day, after the mass the couple only had time around 5 minutes to take pictures inside the church, then the church committee announced the couple and guests to went outside before congratulating ritual so that guests for the next wedding can come in. When we step outside, whooaa!! There’s already crowd standing there waiting and rushing inside.

Lesson : on days when lots of wedding occurred in church, less leisurely time to take pictures and stuff… younger people might not overly concern with this, but older parents and relatives might get a bit miffed when they have to rush here and there.

Reception time must be well planned too. The couple who got married at 11.11 AM held their wedding reception at 12.30 PM. Hence the traffic and so on, the couple arrived at 01.00 PM to the reception.  A little past the lunch time, resulting in the guests already been hungry and a little grumpy. This might not happen if the mass occurred at lets say 10.00 AM or at least give enough lag time between the ceremony and the reception so that the guests can go home or find to eat by themselves. So, the memorable wedding hour had its consequences too. That's why, plan the reception time carefully. 

Pheww, quite a lot to be considered huh? I'm personally not to keen  on this memorable wedding date trend, since for the same budget you must put more effort and compromise on lots of things, unless you prepared to pay more. For me, I prefer a leisurely wedding in good quality. But don’t be deflated, this post are not intended to discourage you from choosing a memorable wedding date, just for consideration only. If you think the wedding date is well worth to be fought, then go for it!! Wedding is one in a lifetime anyrway.

These are few pictures of the day before the event 11-11-2011 during the arranging flowers' time. Lots of flower arrangements must be made by Margriet that day since one of the wedding was held for the family of the biggest supermarket chains in Bandung and few special requests have been made. Some of us worked from morning untill evening.

In the morning only the base of all the wedding flower stands had been covered with foliage, but at noon... Tadaaa!!!! all of them are done, pretty huh? These flower arrangements were for the main aisle. We’ll show you the detail next post!

This is what the main altar flower arrangement look like before it's finished.

 If you’re curious to what these wedding arrangements look like when they’re finished, don’t miss our next post, ok?

Note:

Church Décor by Team Margriet

Wedding Church Décor: Tropical Colour

Today, our inspiration is tropical color!! For you who love bold colors, this inspiration will suit your desire. Since we’re using bold colors, the flower arrangements not  as large as the usual.

The flowers used are gerbera, snapdragon, chrysanthemum, daisies, hydrangea, rose Aleandra and the foliage is schefflera, leather leaf and ivy

These are details on chair & pew decoration and the bridal candle

The flower arrangements in front of the psalmist altar and the Jesus statue.

The ones on the Mary statue and seven finger candlestand

Church Decor: Team Margriet

Flower today: Pom-pom or Billy Button Flowers

Pom-pom or often referred to as 'poms' is flowers that can stand for long after being cut. It is also popular as billy button. Billy button is usually used as filler to wedding bouquets, table centerpieces and flower arrangements. Very cute, isn't it? You can find green, yellow or white billy button in market.

White Billy Button Flowers

The Divine Mercy Sunday

A week after the Easter Sunday is the feast of Divine Mercy or in Indonesian it's called as 'Hari Raya Kerahiman Ilahi'. Actually, it's preceded by Novena to The Divine Mercy during 9 days in a row which begins on Good Friday. And a different intention of the souls will be prayed each day.

After 9 days held Novena to The Divine Mercy, St. Peter Cathedral Church is now getting ready with the feast. A big picture of the Divine Mercy placed on the right side of the altar and so was a long flower arrangement.

These are the pictures of The Divine Mercy up close

Overall look and detail pictures of the big Easter candle which placed beside Altar.

This is the flower arrangement in front of the announcer table.

The overall look of the flower arrangement in front of Mary statue (left image) and the close up (right image). From different point of view, the statue of Mary here looks more charming, doesn't it?

The flower arrangement in front of the psalmist

The materials used are lilies, anthurium, hydrangea, gerbera, spray carnation, roses, shamrock, sena, ivy, schefflera and dracaena.

Church Decor by Team Margriet

Trip to The Flower Nursery at 'Istana Bunga, Cihideung – Lembang

Still remember I mentioned on my post about Margriet’s 24th anniversary that we’re going to do a trip during the reses time? Well, we did it at last!!! A month ago on March 17, 2012 we finally went together, not all of Margriet members could go but thankfully most of us made it to Cihideung, Lembang. This area has been famous for its agriculture products i.e. veggies, fruits, and of course the flowers,  since it’s located at the mountainous area of West Bandung.

The basic plan was from the church parking lot directly to the villa of Mrs. Melani,  then had a morning coffee break, after that we had a few retreat sessions with pastor Budi, and the last we'd head on to the flower nursery and plantation, then head back to Bandung, all in one day. We arrived at the villa at about nine o’clock, proceeded with morning coffee and of course some gossiping…Since pastor coming late (because of lots of people did confession at church), then we decided to go to the flower nursery instead. Next was the retreat session which took quite a long time (The retreat was divided into 3 sessions…..) After the first session, it’s lunch time already…so we had lunch and continued with session 2 and 3.

It took only a few minutes to go to the flower nursery and plantation since the location is not far from the villa. While walking to there we also enjoyed the fresh air …mmmh …and don’t forget the lush greenery along the way, we city girls rarely see such sceneries so it’s really felt wonderful. The nursery itself specializes in roses. Lots of roses variant are bred here, unfortunately when we came , they had already been harvested a few days ago so all the remaining were the ones that hadn’t bloomed yet… aaaaawwwhhh what a pity ….. Anyhow, let’s think positive!! eventhough only small blooms left, we could still see and learn all the varieties, right?

And here are some of the varieties, clockwise from top left are Aleandra, Zade, Voodoo and Purple roses. I don't know why the last called Purple as the colour is not like purple but shocking pink. It resembles Belavitae rose. The different is that Belavitae is pink roses with hot pink tipped on its petals while Purple is bi-colour roses i.e. soft pink on the base of its petal continued with shocking pink on top. Aleandra roses are not quite different with Voodoo. Aleandra has yellow - orange colour just like the colour of curcuma, while voodoo has light orange colour and its petals are bigger than aleandra.

Overall we had quite a good time there. All of us were busy taking pictures, touching the roses and interrogating the workers on how these roses being cultivated. Strictly none of the roses allowed out the nursery, even the ones that fallen on the ground couldn’t be taken ( yes, one of my friend asked if she could have the fallen one, but failed… well, you’ve tried babe, better luck next time!) after this flower nursery and plantation, we were supposed to headed on to another planter, but running out of time (aaaaaawh again) so we simply went back to the villa.

After finishing the retreat session with Pastor Budi we finally head home at 2 p.m.… Last but not least, taking pictures together before going home. In the middle of the way to Bandung, the rain dropped. Okay, see you on the next trip.

Wedding Church Décor: Green-Yellow Theme

Hello again everyone!!! This time we will share you another wedding church décor ideas.. this time in yellow and green tone… For the flowers we used green anthurium, ‘Mohana’ roses, gerberas, green hydrangea, chrysants, yellow pompoms and tiny white daisies, while the foliage is  philo sellum, monstera,  song of india, leather leaf and ruscus.

This is what the wedding décor look like from the front door.

Up close on the flower arrangement in front of the main altar

The arrangement in front of the psalmist altar

Flower arrangements at the Mary statue

Detail of the seven finger candle stand and the chair & pew decoration. The yellow pom poms looked really cute up close.

The ring pillow and bible tray, in gold tone

The wedding bouquet and bridal candle all in yellow roses ...

Church Décor: Team Margriet

Decorator for ring pillow and bible tray is unknown.