Barbara and Aaron’s Sultry Spanish Wedding

I just love Barbara and Aaron!  Last night we had a triple date at Lola Gaspar’s (quickly becoming my new favorite restaurant) along with Christina and James, who I also adore.  We talked for over 3 hours as we devoured honey butter drenched tortillas and sangrias.  Such an awesome night!  They were such sweet, gracious clients and now friends.  If you haven’t checked it out yet, see their feature in Utterly Engaged, with images by the incredible Gabriel Ryan!

I want to share some pictures of their Casa Romantica wedding captured by another photographer friend of theirs, Jeffrey Neal.  He used film to document their wedding story as a gift, and I just love the texture and richness of the images.  Please check out his blog for more pics (especially the slideshow of details at the end!)  I couldn’t resist posting a few here.

The most beautiful smile award goes to…

Aaron is a talented photographer whose work I admire.  Check out the de-petaled chocolate cosmos on his bout- a funky touch!

Each bridesmaid carried their own unique bouquet.

Sheer bliss!!!

A performance by Barbara’s flamenco teacher.  Barb’s been taking lessons for 5 years now.

More of this spicy wedding to come!

Featured: Utterly Engaged

Our vivacious bride Barbara and her talented husband Aaron were married at Casa Romantica in September.  See their flamenco inspired wedding in the latest issue of Utterly Engaged and read about how they met in Spain, spoke briefly, and then happened to meet again at a coffee shop in California!  Too crazy!

See lots of lace, sexy red flowers, coffee beans, and flamenco dancing here!

(Photo from Gabriel Ryan’s Blog)

BTW, lots of birthday hugs to Christina of Simply Modern Weddings, who also coordinated this lovely wedding!

Ever Wonder How…? Part 4

Ever wonder how… to make a floating floral raft?

The first floral raft I ever saw was this R. Jack creation on the Love and Splendor Blog.

(Photo by The Image Is Found).

There are also some amazing Japanese flower rafts on the net, like this one:

(photo from here)

Piggybacking off my last post, I thought I’d share how I created the floral rafts in this picture.  I’m often asked to create things that I’ve never done or even seen before.  This was one of them!  I’m sure there are many ways to do this, so let me know if you have another method that works.

1.  Purchase styrafoam sheets, at least 2 inches thick.  Mine came from a floral supply store.

2.  I wrapped satin ribbon around the foam and secured it with pearl pins for a nice, tailored look in the water.

3.  I gathered different height candle holders and positioned them on the styrofoam.  I took wooden picks (aka hyacinth sticks) and stuck them around the candles like a little fence.  They keep the candles in place.  I was worried that the weight of these candles would be too much for the foam. Surprisingly, the foam is very bouyant and I could have probably loaded the rafts with even more.

4.  Next, I took 3″ round caged foams (see picture below, from the fss website) and spaced them evenly on the styrafoam.  It took about 10-12 cages per raft.  Note:  If you’re using sturdy flowers like mums and carnations which do ok without a water source, you can insert these flowers directly into the styrafoam sheets using toothpicks or pins.

5.  I wanted the rafts to look like fluffy beds of flowers, so I chose flowers that would give me a lot of coverage (hydrangea, stock, open roses, and ivy).  I inserted the flowers into the foam cages and tried to keep the arrangement low, so as to not block the view of the candles.

6.  We used LED pillars for one reason- if the wind blew these suckers out, who was going to jump in and relight them?  Real wax LED’s look realistic from a distance.

7.  Oh yes, remember to LIGHT THEM/TURN THEM ON FIRST before you dive in to set them up!

8.  We created hooks on the bottom of our rafts with ribbon, and attached fishing weights to the hooks with fishing line.  You can spray paint the weights light blue to blend in with the bottom of the pool.

9.  Hindsight is 20/20, and I realize now that we could have attached the  fishing line to opposite sides of the rafts, and then tied them to waterproof suction cups on the walls of the pool. You would need to  test it out ahead of time to make sure they would be secure enough.

These are incredibly labor intensive, which can make them very pricey.  I think a simple raft with votive candles on a bed of petals or greenery would be just as gorgeous (and a little more budget friendly).

 

 

 

Oh husband of mine!

Last month, Joe came to do a job that none of us gals wanted to do.  I felt like this was a man’s job, so I called on the best guy I know.

Here he is in action, placing three floating floral rafts in their designated spots.

The shallow end was no biggie…

But the deep end is where it got a little exhausting for him.

He had to dive to the bottom of this ten foot deep pool over and over to set the weights in the perfect place so the rafts wouldn’t budge.  A fountain spills into the pool, creating some turbulence which would have otherwise pushed these rafts to the edge of the pool and out of the center of attention.  He spent about an hour in there!  Thanks for being such a trooper, Joe!

These rafts are tricky to build and tricky to set up, but they are showstoppers!  So worth the effort, don’t you think?

*A floral raft how-to is coming!*

Happy Halloween to all!  The Brancaleone’s will be keeping it chill- watching scary movies and passing out candy to kids.  Pesto will be dressing up as Pocahontas (for the 3rd year straight), and Basil will be a candy corn.

A little break!

This was a crazy but wonderful month!  I had 5 beautiful weddings in 3 short weeks.  Lots of running around and early morning trips to  L.A.  As wedding season calms down and I have a chance to breathe, I am making it a priority to fit in some extracurriculars.

• I am now enrolled in a dance school, taking adult hip hop and ballet classes
• In an attempt to declutter and spiff up my home, I’ll be signing up for emails from Fly Lady (thanks Angel for the tip!).
• Oh yeah, after much resistance, I finally joined facebook!  Guess what, it’s fun!  Don’t know why I held out so long!
• I’m also making more lunch and dinner dates with my best buddies.

This afternoon I spent some quality time with  my girls Angel Swanson and Trista Lerit at the incredible Vietnamese restaurant Brodard Chateau.  You MUST try their Vietnamese Crepe (crispity, crunchity, savory and sweet) and their famous spring rolls.  Angel nailed it when she said, “Why does any other restaurant even attempt to make spring rolls?”

Thanks girls for being such sweet friends!  I always look forward to our chats where I know I’ll get a good dose of belly laughs, encouragement and total craziness.

 

We're all rocking the boots- must be Fall!

A Farmhouse Wedding

I’m still invigorated by last weekend’s wedding.  After we had all the decor set in place, I actually had time to walk around the site and just gush at the simple beauty of it all.   Our couple, Meg and Shawn, longed for a laid back country feel with tons of mason jar candles, paisley fabric, and simple florals.  I got to use buckets and buckets of pure white snowberries. They just spilled from the vases and were as plump as grapes.  Love them so much!

I hope to share the professional pictures soon, but Joe was able to snap pics of a few details.  By the way, he hung all those mason jars from the magnolia tree.  It was his project, and he took it very seriously!   Thank you Joe!

Sweet nosegays beckon guests to enter the historic property.

I really love this ceremony space at the Newland Barn, and the wild curly willow we used to highlight it.

The cocktail hour took place next to this amazing home. Green engraved goblets filled with flowers were perfect for the cocktail tables.

A last minute burst of inspiration- the old rickety tractor needed some sprucing up, so my assistant whipped up a bouquet for it.  We at T-Petal are all about the last minute flourishes.

These centerpieces were full of textures layered atop of textures.  Wax flower, cheerful yellow spray roses, sahara roses, apple green hydrangea, snowberries, and pale yellow stock.  And the flowers were at the peak of freshness.  Love my flower vendors!

There is SO much more to share- Courtney Toney from Joyful Weddings and Events whipped up countless details, from the paisley wrapped napkins to the ball jar candles to the darling lemonade station.  She is one of the most creative gals in the biz, and is a treasured friend as well.  We’ll be joining forces this weekend for Melissa and Bryan’s wedding!

Ever Wonder How… Part 3

Ever wonder how... to prevent “sweaty vase syndrome”?

I like the look of stacked vases.  The picture below features bubble bowls stacked on top of cylinders of submerged orchids.

Photo by The Image is Found.

I also love creating floral cake stands with glass vases and plexiglass.

Photo by Trista Lerit Photography.

I’m also loving enclosed terrariums, like the one below via Grey Likes Weddings.

Lidded apothecary vases filled with flowers are also sweet.

Here’s the potential problem:  flowers and plants sweat, and if the evaporated water can’t escape, it causes fogginess inside the glass.  This is not such a cute look.  I’m embarrassed to point this out, but you can even see my vase is sweating a little in the picture above!

I learned a cool tip passed on to me by my head assistant, Shana.  She is full of wisdom and I’m blessed to have her on my team.

Step 1.  Find a stick of clear glue for a glue gun.

Step 2.  Use sharp scissors to cut it it up  into little pieces, the thickness of a pencil eraser.

Step 3.  Use a glue gun to glue the pieces to the rim of your vase or jar.

Step 4.  Place your plexiglass sheet/vase/lid on top.  The little  glue gun pieces prop up the cover just enough to allow air circulation, and help to prevent your vase from fogging up.

What makes this so handy is that the glue pieces are hardly noticeable, they come off really easily when you’re done, and every florist has glue sticks in her/his toolbox somewhere.  I have yet to try this trick on a super hot day, when sweat of all kinds is all too abundant.  Can anyone vouch for this, or have another solution?

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s in my cooler? Privet and smokebush!

A few centerpieces for two very dear clients of mine.  They happen to share very similar tastes in flowers:  feminine and whimsical, with unexpected elements.

A few favorite containers from my green recycled glass collection.  I especially love the little hobnailed one on the right.

Pewter berzillia berries and velvety dusty miller add an antique feel.  The palette is kind of open-ended and mysterious- grays, soft pinks, beiges, and silvery lavender.

And then we have  seashell pink florals in a footed urn…

With the stars of the show: navy blue privet berries and eggplant purple smokebush.  They help to bring an edginess to this otherwise girly centerpiece.

Let’s just say I’m super excited about what we have on our plate at T-Petal!

Take a peek: Firebird Ballet Wedding

When my friend Kelly Demaray first contacted me about her clients’ Firebird Ballet inspired wedding, I knew it would be so fabulous.  There would be candlelight, a dramatic palette of fiery oranges, reds and eggplant,  and lots of moonlit dancing beneath the tall buildings of downtown L.A.- the perfect urban setting for Cafe Pinot.  Not to mention the fabulous Rebecca of Docuvitae would be photographing.  Many thanks to Rebecca for sharing these images with us!

Best of all, they have an amazing proposal story: the bride Kirsten  is a dancer, and the groom Jonas proposed to her on stage after they watched the Firebird Ballet (Kirsten’s favorite ballet ever!)  What a man!  As Kirsten’s “Man of Honor” said matter of factly at our consultation, “Everyone needs a Jonas!”

Here’s a painting inspired by the ballet:

Image from Wikipedia.

Kelly emailed me a picture of the gorgeous invitations to get the creative juices flowing. Courtney from Flush Designs was able to mesh the passion of the Firebird Ballet with Kirsten and Jonas’ love of art deco. To see these perfect invitations from every angle, check out Courtney’s beautiful blog post!

Our bride, Kirsten.  She is a real beauty with such a contagious energy about her.

Jonas was such a dapper groom.

Kirsten’s bouquet was made of the most luscious burgundy peonies, dahlias, and black baccarra roses.  She also asked that a few blue flowers be added into the mix, as this is considered good luck in Sweden.  I tucked in some pale blue delphinium blossoms.  I love this color combo, and now I’m dying to do a deep wine and periwinkle wedding!

The bridesmaids were uniquely attired in plum dresses of their own choosing.  Their shawls were hand-knit by a loved one, and their wild sunset bouquets tied their look together.  A reader asked me if I think orange circus roses pair well with eggplant dresses- the image speaks for itself

My fav detail of all: the cake.

I’ll be able to show you much more of this fabulous wedding in the days to come, and give you the full scoop on this amazing couple.  For now, I’m off to the dessert to visit my sister and her new husband!  Have a GREAT weekend!

What’s in my cooler?

This weekend’s wedding was a dream.  It took place at Rancho Del Cielo, perched atop a hill in Malibu overlooking the ocean.  When I handed the bride her bouquet, I got to hear the words I love so dearly, “I’m gonna cry!!!”

If you stepped into my cooler last week, you would find:

local pink garden roses and plump tulips…

Perfectly petaled dahlias…

Green and white helleborus (such a rare treat!)…

And ivory chandaliers stuffed with florals.

That’s enough of my horrible photography- I can’t wait to show you the pro pics! This upcoming weekend’s wedding is equally pink, soft and feminine, and I couldn’t be more delighted!