I Weaponized the Farmers Market Aesthetic for My Bridal Shower
I skipped the clichés and gave my friends something they’d actually want: handwoven baskets, built for carbs.
I’m not a big theme person. I just wanted my bridal shower to be a lovely, chill dinner, and that’s precisely what it was—but I liked the idea of a loose theme of “off the market” because it let me wink at one of my favorite domesticities, which is a trip to the farmer’s market.
The first thing that popped into my head was summer produce. The second thing was a basket. So I called up my dear friend Erin Pollard, who, as you may have read here before, is a former Condè Nast exec turned full-time basketweaver under the tutelage of her brand, Underwater Weaving Studio. (She also has a great Substack called
.)
I’d seen my friends at Raf’s do a super clever “boulé bouquet” for Mother’s Day, with a fresh-baked baguette tucked into a paper-wrapped flower bouquet. (Yes, I know that technically, a boulé is round, but let us have the pun, okay?) And I knew Erin made cheeky baskets for baguettes, so I thought it would be fun to combine the ideas.
So, each of my guests received a market basket with fresh produce, but not in the way you might think. Erin wove the baskets to fit Il Buco’s fresh baguettes perfectly and included a shoulder strap so guests could style them afterwards. (I’m friends with the type of gals who appreciate a weird bag.)
I received a ton of DMs after posting them on my story, so I asked Erin to share how she did it. You can also buy the baguette kits on her website. It was a memorable takeaway for the evening, crafted with love by a wonderful friend for a very special group of girls.
Make a Baguette Basket Bouquet (aka Boulé Bouquet)
She's Off the Market: A Step-by-Step
When Jess told me she was “off the market,” I knew what to do: Create a market basket bouquet of epic proportions. For a dinner to celebrate, Underwater Weaving Studio delivered Woven baguettes wrapped with farmers’ market flowers and fresh-baked bread for the bride-to-be and guests. We loved making them together, so we’re sharing the components you need to gather friends and make them at home.
Steps:
Step 1: Make a Baguette Basket*
Step 2: Assemble the materials
Step 3: Surprise a carb-loving friend
Materials:
A Baguette Basket (*Underwater Weaving Studio has a kit for this, but you can also order one pre-made)
Wild Flowers
A Baguette
Kraft paper and or Newspaper
Twine or String
3” Grosgrain Ribbon
Water Vials
H2O
Before You Begin:
Give yourself space to spread out. Find a clean surface and organize your materials.
How to do it:
To create a Baguette Basket Bouquet, first decide on a color palette for your ribbon and paper materials. For this tutorial, I’ve chosen a 3" wide burgundy ribbon and paired it with blush tissue. I use brown recycled wrapping paper and kraft paper, as shown in Figs. 1-2. For a sophisticated look, the ribbon can be cut at an angle. You’ll be approximately 4 feet in length. The kraft should be at least 3' long x 4' wide for a high-impact bouquet as per Figures 3 and 4. Fold the Kraft in half so that it is 3 x 2’. Stack the papers at various angles on your surface, as shown in Fig. 4.
Position the baguette & basket on the paper as shown in Fig. 5. For oversized impact, I pulled the baguette halfway out of the basket so that the basket peeks out at the bottom, and the bread on top.
I enjoy picking flowers for bouquets, as it allows me to have control over the colors and shapes of the flowers. If you can, harvest a mix of long-stemmed flowers, bushy grasses, and droopy wild things, which I did for this arrangment by pairing roadside wildflowers and organically farmed stems at a U Pick Garden in Fig. 6. Here, I chose white and burgundy Cosmos, purple Queen Anne's Lace, and butter yellow Sweet William to compliment my base materials. Try to have one statement flower in the mix.
Fill two water vials, similar to the ones shown in Fig. 7, to approximately three-quarters full. Arrange two small bouquets in the small water vases and set them aside upright.
Add the two flower arrangements while holding the baguette and paper upright (don’t arrange it on a surface, because the water will spill). Wrap the paper at the bottom only, as shown in Fig. 10, creating a paper coup. Secure the paper, basket, and arrangements together with twine or string tightly, as shown in Fig. 11.
Voila!
Add a ribbon, tuck in a personal note, or even incorporate a few personal touches, such as butter, garlic scapes, grapes, or other seasonal things, to create visual interest. Hang on a loved one’s doorknob, on the back of their chair, or on a coat rack in their entryway as a special surprise.
More to Love…
 | A guest post by
|
I've never wanted so badly to be crafty. Brilliant.
The way I am swooning so hard over this. If someone gave me this I’d simply DIE