A Dreamy Hint of What’s to Come!

Heather and Barry are two of the most stylish, artistic, creative people I’ve had the pleasure of working with.  The buzz words that kept coming up in our consultation were “whimsical”, “cozy”, “artistic” and “lush”.  I couldn’t wait to get to work on their florals- it was so much fun to be completely surrounded by sunny yellow and cream flowers and fresh lemons for 3 days while I designed the bouquets and centerpieces.  The types of flowers I get to work with can really lift my mood!

I can’t wait to share more of the details of this wedding with you, but their fabulous photographers, Heather and Jon of One Love Photography, have posted a sneak peak on their blog.  This particular batch of photos was taken with their “Big Papa” lens, which Jon created by taking apart an old camera and using the parts to fashion his own lens.  The results?  Fuzzy, textured photos that perfectly capture the dreaminess of the day.  Stay tuned for more!  This wedding is definitely one of my faves! Be sure to check out the One Love blog post to get the full story on these images.

Showcase: Rose and Rod

I was delighted to receive some gorgeous images by Marlin and Marlene Munoz in my inbox today. This joyous wedding was conducted flawlessly by my sister from another mister, Angel of Love and Splendor. Check out her blog post for her commentary on this simple and elegant wedding!

Rose and Rod married at the beautiful Adamson House in Malibu. This venue is smack dab on the beach, and I was floored by the rustic Spanish-styled architecture. Joe and I are in the midst of house-hunting, and we dream of a home that looks like this. I’m a sucker for Spanish style.

Her bouquet was a classic mass of red charlene roses with a magnolia leaf collar. Charlene roses are one of my favorite varieties because of their intense color and the fact that they open up so big and full. Love this shot, Marlin!

Rose had the sweet idea of making 5 mini bouquets for special family members to pass to her as she walked down the aisle.

Rose wanted clean, simple red florals to pop against the crisp white linens of her long banquet tables. It was important to her that the flowers be beautiful, but not get in the way of conversation amongst the guests. So we designed over 60 petite red arrangements made of magnolia leaves, freedom, charlene and black magic roses, red tulips, dinner plate dahlias, and james storei orchids. Angel and Anna were absolute cherubs, helping me to place all 60 arrangements on the tables during the short moments between the ceremony and reception, since the reception was being held in the same spot as the ceremony and couldn’t be set up ahead of time. I couldn’t have done it without them!

I love fancy ornate linens, but clean white linens can be a breath of fresh air, allowing the red flowers and the gorgeous venue to shine.

Thanks again to Marlin and Marlene Munoz for these lovely pics!

I have a ton of recent weddings to share, including Seb’s dusty rose wedding and Heather’s lemony fresh wedding. Yes, that was what the 250 lemons were for. I used most of them but have about 20 left over. Anyone have a really awesome lemon recipe? Pass it on!

The Bouquet: from inspiration to reality!

A few weeks ago I posted this photograph by Jacqueline Veissid as inspiration for a special bouquet I needed to make for a very special photographer- Jasmine Star. She would be capturing Natalie and Bill’s day after images and wanted the flowers to be dramatic and sexy!

I just loved the white, black, mustard and blood red together.

While I was running around the flower mart at 3:00 am (that’s right, folks!) on a mission to find fun, exotic flowers, I decided to nix the mustard yellow flowers, feeling like yellow and red might look a little McDonald’s-esque. I quickly grabbed bunches of red and black dahlias, red thistle, black callas, fluffy white lisianthus, fringed tulips and feathery red celosia to use as a collar around the bouquet. I also stopped by Target to grab a few chunky charm necklaces that I could take apart and rework into the bouquet wrap.

The result? A two-ton blinged out mass of textural blooms.

Natalie and Bill are such a gorgeous couple- they are fresh from their honeymoon and just glowing. And Jasmine’s photos are out of this world! Please stop by Jasmine’s blog and check out the entire slideshow!

I’ll leave you with my favorite image:

Off to Costco to purchase 250 lemons You’ll see why soon!

Bamboo Ladder Arch!

I mentioned in a previous post that I needed to create a simple arch out of bamboo for Sharon and Dean’s wedding which took place the last weekend in September.

I stumbled upon this blog, Ramblings of a Renovating Couple, and saw that they gave step by step instructions on how to create this arch out of bamboo ladders:

When I saw how easy it was to make, and when I found two 9 foot tall bamboo ladders for sale, I knew this could be gorgeous.

Here is Sharon and Dean’s simple and elegant wedding arch, stained a deep espresso brown, and strung with an assortment of mokara, dendrobium, and mini cymbidium orchids.  Notice the beautiful white cranes, hand-folded and strung by the wedding planner of all wedding planners, Angel Swanson.

I must give a shout out to my power tool yielding sisters-in-law, Teresa and Christine, for putting together this arch. To be honest, I am a total dummy with power tools. In fact, the noise scares me! But they came to my aid and created something truly beautiful. And I held the poles steady while they drilled the holes.  Yay for me!  Pics taken by my hubby Joe.

Plus, I can easily take the arch apart later and create the most bomb-diggity towel rack

… and keep one next to the bookshelves in our future library for easy top shelf access. We’re househunting, and hoping to set aside one room in our future home to be the reading and relaxation room. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

Image above from In Style via Style Court.

Stay tuned for more pictures of Sharon and Dean’s incredible wedding!