My brother the budding florist has been helping out other florists and recently assisted at this amazing Persian-Japanese wedding at the Pelican Hill Resort in south Orange County.

An advance warning: this wedding has some shockingly beautiful flowers. And when my brother showed me these pictures, I immediately pegged it as a Persian wedding — I’d helped my mom decorate one a really long time ago. A Persian wedding ceremony requires some explanation.

According to Farsinet.com, this spread is called a Sofreh-ye Aghd, which must face east, so that the bride and groom seated at it will be facing the sunrise. A Sofreh-ye Aghd requires certain elements:

• Usually needed is a spread passed down from mother to daughter (and occasionally son), made of cashmere, gold embroidered satin or silk.
• A mirror and two candelabra, which represent the bride and groom, placed on either side of the mirror.
• A tray of seven herbs and spices to guard the couple and ward away evil: poppy seeds, wild rice, angelica, salt, nigella seeds, black tea and frankincense.
• A specially baked flatbread with saffron, cinnamon, nigella seed or glitter writing on it, symbolizing prosperity for feasts and the couple’s life. A separate platter of flat bread, feta cheese and herbs are shared with guests, to bring the couple happiness and prosperity.
• Baskets of decorated eggs, walnuts, and hazelnuts in shell to symbolize fertility.
• A basket of pomegranates or apples for a joyous future.
• A bowl made out of crystallized sugar to sweeten the newlywed’s life.
• A brazier holding burning coals sprinkled with wild rue to keep the evil eye away and bring on health.
• A bowl of gold coins represent wealth and prosperity.
• A scarf or shawl to be held over the bride and groom by other happily married female relatives.
• Two sugar cones to be ground together over the couple over the scarf, to shower them in sugary sweetness and happiness.
• A cup of honey to sweeten life.
• A needle and seven strands of colored thread, to sew up the mother-in-law’s lips, to keep her from speaking unpleasant words to the bride.
• A copy of the couple’s holy book — for Christians, the Bible; for Muslims, the Koran, and so on and so forth.
• A prayer carpet/kit to remind the couple of the importance of prayer during good times and bad.
• An assortment of sweets and pastries to be shared with guests after the ceremony.

Wow, that’s a lot of stuff! On to the rest of the flowers.

Besides the beautiful Persian wedding setup, there were these arrangements. Most weddings have maybe two matching ceremony arrangements. This one had trees, orchids in vases and flower arrangements on top of white boxes. Not bad at all, eh?

Arrangements with at least two types of orchid springs were placed on white tables at the row ends. Oh, but this isn’t it — you’ve got to see the reception flowers.

The reception appears to be a mix of long tables and round tables. The guest centerpieces were an elaborate collection of vases and arrangements. Want a closer look? Yeah, you want a closer look.

So that’s one tall vase of orchids in water, with a candle on top, along with a slightly shorter one, with a lighter pink sprig of orchids. In the box looks like orchids and lisianthus.

This wedding, by the way, was decorated by Passion Flowers in Long Beach. Please disregard the 80’s era website — their work speaks for itself. If you’re on Facebook, check out this photo from the actual wedding.