LaLa Life 46

A photo in the life of LaLa Photography, using various photographic mediums

Week 46

At a wedding, equally important to the bride and her bridesmaid's beautiful bouquet of flowers are the groom and his groomsmen's boutonniere. 

I must admit that I have come to photograph the groom getting ready with his groomsmen and find myself feeling a tad helpless in pinning their boutonniere onto their tux. The last thing we need is for a groom to rock up to his wedding with a dozen holes on his tux lapel making evident the attempts taken to pin his boutonniere. 

So for this week's LaLa Life, I thought to Google (who says research anymore?) and share with you  instructions on how to pin a boutonniere onto a tux. I believe it may prove helpful to us both in the future. These instructions can apply not only to weddings, but also to school balls. 

Thanks to Modern Day Floral for providing such simple instructions. They are as follows:

1. Hold the stem of the boutonniere, front facing, on the wearer's left lapel (lapel being the thickest part of the groom's tux panel on his chest). It is recommended the boutonniere sit about 4 inches below the top of the guy's shoulder and is tilted on a slight angle. Step back and see where you'll be placing the boutonniere and whether you are happy with the placement. 

2. Start the pinning by piercing the fabric from under the lapel on the (wearer's) left side of the stem of the boutonniere. 

3. Move the pin over the top of the stem and pierce the opposite side of the lapel. To secure the boutonniere, pull the pin tightly. Now ideally the only part of the pin that should be showing would be a thin line on top of the stem. Even with this placement, the pin should be placed in a location where the petal or leaf could hide this. 

4. If the boutonniere is heavy, two pins can be used to secure the weight. For those worried about the boutonniere moving or a bit of the metal pin showing, you can pierce the floral tape on the back of the boutonniere instead of having the pin go over the top. 

This week's LaLa Life picture was taking during a wedding I assisted Katey Manuchehri Photography in, where the groomsman was attempting to pin the groom's boutonniere.