Beautiful Day

THE NOTEBOOK, PAGE 26

The Bridal Bouquet

I love flowers, this you know. One summer during college, I worked for a florist on Seventy-seventh Street called Stems-it’s long gone-doing deliveries, and later, simple arrangements. Stems had a beautiful built-in flower cooler with huge oak and glass doors, and I would take any opportunity I could to step inside that cooler and inhale the scent. If there is a heaven, it had better resemble the walk-in cooler at Stems, filled with roses, lilies, dahlias, and gerbera daisies in rainbow colors.

Bridal bouquet: Limelight hydrangeas, white peonies (tight, not blooming), lush white roses, jade roses, jade lisianthus, green hypericum. This combination will give a rounded, sumptuous effect with a perfect balance of white and green shades.

Bridesmaids: White hydrangeas and jade roses. Tie those up with matching green ribbon.

Please note that I’ve avoided adding Asiatic lilies, calla lilies and orchids. These flowers are too structured, too citified-they cannot coexist with the softness of the peonies. Trust me.