Coriander Bits 13!

Alison xo

Honest Gut

Marion and Dave's wedding, shot by Elizabeth In Love Photography

Honest Gut is a phrase coined lovingly by my bf's mom, Heather. She would corner us during a weak moment and say, "okay girls, honest gut, how do you really feel?" And, you'd have to face your inner truth because it's the deepest part of your being, there is no where left for the truth to hide. So here's my 'honest gut.' This blog has only ever been about my life(guts and all) with the business, so why change now? Here goes.

Honest gut, I can't believe we reached the end of another wedding season... and we're still alive. It was an emotional roller coaster to say the least. I laughed, I cried, I suffered minor melt downs. Coriander dad gave many pep talks, picture me (Rocky) Dad (Mickey). Kerriander was also a major rock, picture me (Danielson) her (Mr. Miyagi). There was a few days where I questioned if this business was even what I wanted. I opened a tiny little boutique with the idea to make the occasional bouquet, sell a hand crafted trinket here and there and pursue my real passion for antique collecting. I had no idea the flowers would become the thing to put Coriander Girl on the map. Honest Gut, I wasn't going to do wedding flowers. I thought it might be too stressful. It is the most stressful work I've ever done, trying to design flowers for a couples wedding day, the expectations are grand. It's also been the most rewarding work I've ever done. I know it's not brain surgery and I'm not saving lives or anything but when a bride sees her flowers for the first time and tears spill down her freshly powdered face and she mouths "oh my gosh Alison", drawing out 'Alisssooonnnn' you can't help but feel real satisfaction. It's the same scene again and again, a montage of summer wedding moments, me hugging brides and mothers, exiting hotel rooms, family homes and reception halls. I take a moment for myself in the elevator mirror, 'way to go kid, you got through this one' I nod, and it's on to the next nail biter. It was the school of hard knocks and anything I didn't know, I learned it fast. I came out the other side of this wedding cycle with a genuine respect for the floral business and florists everywhere who are busy making arrangements for other peoples triumphs and rarely having the opportunity to celebrate their own. I can't believe we found a little time for ourselves to get married. With that, I missed many birthdays, many new babies have come that I've yet to meet and endless brunch dates are long over due. I miss my friends. I miss getting a latte and walking down the street with absolutely nothing on my agenda for the day but to browse window displays. I miss being bored(Jaime:>) I miss falling asleep without a thought in my head. I miss an empty inbox, I miss sewing. I miss Nia, I miss having the time to dress up and look pretty. I miss sun on my face and I miss riding bikes with Tyler down to the lake and feeding the ducks. For all that I've missed there have been great rewards and being so busy has taught me how important balance is and that it's okay to take on a little less. I'm learning to close my computer. And, I did have fun this summer despite being so busy, I made a ton of new friends and I'm certain that I'll be staying in touch with many of my lovely wedding couples. You know who you are! We had something special. It has been a pleasure working with people who have allowed me the freedom to create for them in my wacky, non traditional organic way. I feel the flowers, it has to flow and if it's not... flowing, I've got to walk away~dance or something and then come back to it. At the end of the day, I've reconciled that my business, like a baby, is growing up, taking off the training wheels and now the braces and has started dating. She's winning awards and scoring magazine features! Like a proud mom, I tell my friends about her, I blog about her and maybe I brag too much about her but I just can't believe she's mine. I can't believe this wee little seed has grown into such a beautiful thing. A thing that I would never abandon for anything in the world no matter how much sleep I'm losing. She has bewitched me and filled my life with beauty. 'They' say the true test of whether or not you're happy in your life is to imagine winning the lottery, would you still be doing what you're doing? I can honestly say, I love what I do and would want to keep doing it. That doesn't mean I can't hire 15 people to help me!! An army! The Coriander Cadets! Coriander's Comrads, The Coriander Crew!! And maybe I'd be booking spring wedding consults from our Italian villa; >
So, there it is, my honest gut(Thanks Heather). I pinch my self every day for my good fortune. I know how lucky I am to be so busy and I also know that in a blink it can all be taken away. I'm realizing it's important for me to celebrate the good stuff out loud because it makes the reality of how hard I'm working so much more bearable. I'm thankful beyond words and very much looking forward to the next wedding season. And with a rock like Tyler, he helps me reach greater heights, take bigger risks, and the restful moments are absolute bliss. Picture me (Batman) Tyler (Batman) ;>


Karen and Peter's wedding shot by Garrison MacArthur Photographers.




Juli and Jon's wedding kicked off wedding season shot by Danijela Pruginic


one of the last and most favourite weddings this year, Marni and Jason shot by Joseph + Jaime

Alison xo

Congratulations Aly and John!

Charlie William Barber was born today at 7:33am to proud parents, my dear friends, Alison and John Barber. Aly is my very best friends(Britty) sister, I got to watch this shy teenager grow up to be an amazing, extremely accomplished young woman. Now to see Aly with her first baby moves me to tears of absolute joy. Alison and John lovingly mc'd our wedding this summer and helped make our day truly magnificent. Alison is an actress and published author here in Toronto and John a valiant firefighter, together they make an incredible team. Congratulations my dears. Much love and I can't wait to meet your baby boy!




Congratulations to Auntie Bitty and Auntie Rachel too! And to all the proud grandparents!


all photos by Joseph+Jaime

I'll never forget our summers spent in Wasaga Beach, lying about our ages, singing TLC's Waterfalls at the top of our lungs while driving the strip. "Babes on floats!" Love you gorgeous girls.
Alison xo

Our wedding flowers!

I'm a wedding florist for gosh sakes and I kind of forgot to blog about our wedding flowers! Ha!



Leucadendron~ Blushing Bride (I think I may have chosen our date knowing this flower was going to be in season) The spiky texture of this flower juxtaposes the softness of the baby pink so beautifully. If I have a top five it's in my top five.



Queen Anne's lace another favourite flower(top three) of mine and my maid of honour and an obvious choice as the fields were exploding with them in a sea of lacy white magnificence.





A simple cluster of wildflowers plunked in a mason jar.



My bouquet, tied lovingly with gardeners twine not two hours before walking down the aisle. Queen Anne's lace with a rich purple scabiosa



Brittany's bouquet a simple cluster of greens with Queen Anne's lace



Small groupings of bullet allium, phlox, and astrantia fill old apothecary jars and vintage milk bottles.




Towering delphinium grown locally, of course :>



And finally the boutonnieres, I like to call them 'wispy clusters of love.' When I used to shoot weddings on the side of my acting career, it was not uncommon to see sad little boutonnieres, the flower slumped over and hanging on by a single thread of fiber after only minutes of saying "I Do." I vowed, never, NEVER will I make a boutonniere that will fall to bits under a good hug. Hug away my dear grooms! Did anyone happen to notice the little white bunnies on Tyler's tie?


All photos by Joseph and Jaime

It's the same ol' story of the plumber with a leaky faucet, the chef who orders take out and the cobbler with holes in her shoes.
I was making boutonnieres while Rachel was doing my make up! I hadn't realized that perhaps I should have started the wedding flowers a few days before, heck, you only need them to last one day! All that said, I loved the simplicity of it all. Big fluffy clusters of Queen Anne's lace spilling out of rusted sap buckets, hand tied bunches of lavender any and every spot we could hang it and simple bouquets of wild flowers ended up being more than I could have ever hoped for. Coriander Girl is never over fussed so why would my wedding flowers be any different? Any regrets? I should have warn a hand made floral head wreath. We've been doing a lot of these lately but I didn't have the time. Perhaps I'll wear one if we decide to renew our vows in ten years. Oh it's on!
And it's time for possibly the last wedding post next week which will include details about our amazing DJ, our lovely and talented MC's and the gorgeous musicians.
Thank you so much for sticking with me as I share these details. One day, I'm going to be so glad I documented the wedding this extensively. So much for my 3 part series!
Alison xo

Coriander Girl Bits 12!

Always a gorgeous freeze frame! Lol!


Isn't that wonderful?! Note to fellow proprietors, 1537 Queen St. West is available for February 1st. The community needs more crafters, artists, jewellers(not Russell Oliver) but inspired, impassioned people like you! Is it time to open that shop you always dreamed of? Here's to taking giant leaps of faith. I can't believe that after only 2 years we've completely outgrown our little shop. I could cry! It was the perfect place for me. I learned so much and I wish I could stay there forever but in business you've got to move forward, cautiously, carefully, you've got to take risks if you want to grow.

Alison xo

The last of the wedding details

What we gave our guests!




This was one of my most favourite elements of the wedding, getting to choose what to give our dear guests. Two fabulous women contributed to the gift bags. The first woman you've heard me go on and on about because she's one of my dearest and most talented friends. Her name is Erin Candela and she's an extraordinary artist. This past year she and a couple artist friends opened the doors on their very own gallery called Graven Feather Studio. She's a phenomenal woman and clearly her work speaks for itself. She drew this canadian wild flower for us and we couldn't be more excited about being able to share Erin's art with our friends and families. I tell everyone to hold it tight because it's gonna be worth a fortune some day!
Thank you Erin for this very special contribution!



If you know me at all, what's one thing you could bet the farm on? Is it that I adore cookies? ding ding ding!
Janis Smith of Elm Hill Cookies in Oakville is the incredible woman behind this incredible cookie company and for our guests she made up little gift boxes of love filled with her deliciously decadent cookies, I'm salivating!!!



Janis! Thank you so much for this unbelievably generous gift. We adore you and can't wait to come for another visit soon! I wrote a post last year about Janis's milk and cookie bar, I still imagine myself coming in after a crazy wedding weekend the scene would play out like an old western, I'm Clint Eastwood. "Gimme a shot of your finest 2%, make it a double on the rocks, it's been a rough day." End scene.


And look! It's Harry our bunny! She put him on a sandwich cookie! I'm serious, if you like cookies you need to visit this cookie shop. Not only are the cookies amazing but Janis makes you feel like you're visiting a friend you haven't seen in a while.


All images except for Erin's wildflower and this lavender sachet are by the beautiful and talented Joseph + Jaime

And finally a little fresh lavender from Coriander Girl.

Alison xo

A wee break from wedding details

A wee break from the wedding details to bring you some exciting news! We just bought this 100 year old converted church!!!


It's on a quarter of an acre,


It has a lovely little barn,


ceilings that soar and hard wood floors that go on for miles,


the sweetest little kitchen to inspire getting back to the table,


a wood burning stove and single pane windows mean my darling is going to split a lot of wood this winter,


and the perfect sized yard to create a magical garden for our magical bunny to frolic.


We picked up our keys on Wednesday and immediately started tackling the overgrown yard. I saw a whole new side to my love, the rugged lumberjack side, so hot! We feel so blessed to have this beautiful place to call our own. It's such an amazing feeling to own your own property. I've never been so excited to rake grass! We'll be renting out the townhouse so if anyone knows anyone who needs a beautiful victorian rental property in Belleville, let me know!

Thanks again to our beautiful families for their endless love and support!
Alison xo