An Anniversary Bouquet

I created a special 5 year wedding anniversary bouquet and bout for Jodi and Fraser.  They had traveled from Vegas to California to be photographed by one of my favorite photographers, Gabriel Ryan.

Jodi was having a hard time pinning down her bouquet.  Her only requirements were that it be really round and full (she said “like a basketball on a stick”), colorful but not TOO colorful.  Luckily, Jodi said I somehow read her mind and created something that she really loved!

I went searching for the perfect flowers in the pewter and mauve family.  I found multi-hued hydrangea, white ranuncula, faith and sahara roses,  slate blue privet berries, pink cockscomb, and two varieties of purple dahlias.  My favorite element was the gray brunia berries which perfectly matched the silver pearls in her necklace.

Check out more gorgeous images on Gabriel Ryan’s blog!

Check out those piercing baby blues!  Totally working it!

Congratulations on 5 very sweet years of marriage!

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 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!

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!

Temecula Wedding, Revisited

While chatting over tapas at Lola Gaspar,  Trista Lerit handed me a cd of images from the vibrant winery wedding we did together months back.  Even though this wedding took place as spring was blooming, the jewel tones are so PERFECT for Fall, and I couldn’t resist revisiting this wedding.  Especially since the weather is feeling more brisk and autumnal and I’m starting to drink hot tea instead of iced.  That definitely means Fall is near.  I welcome it!

Texture!  Color!  Dimension!  Everything I love about floral design rolled into one arch.

Creamy white callas against cherry dresses.

I really appreciate the time my assistant took to decorate the cake.  Each calla and fiddle fern is perfectly placed.

Proof that flowers make people smile!

What’s in my toolbox?

I think it’s fun when wedding planners divulge what’s in their emergency kits. Sometimes the stuff they stock seems so random and meticulous to me, proving how Type A these planners need to be! Angel from Love and Splendor wrote a terrific post for Weddingbee PRO about her emergency kit, and Liene from Blue Orchid Blog enlighted me with some of her unusual tools.

We florists also need to come prepared. When working with fragile, perishable artwork on a time crunch in sometimes brutal weather, things can DEFINITELY go wrong. But with florals, there is always a way to make it work. Through trial and error, I’ve built an arsenal of tools that has seen me through some snafus. Here are a few that I just packed up yesterday morning for a fabulous LA wedding:

• wire and floral tape: to make last minute corsages or bouts, or repair ones that are looking less than perfect
• small and large pearl headed pins
• crowning glory or finishing touch spray: when misted onto the florals, these sprays help lock in the moisture and keep them fresh- an absolute must for California summers.
• extra ribbon in the wedding colors: to rope off the aisle so guests don’t stomp your aisle petals to smithereens
• toothpicks: so I can do this neat little cake trick
• water pitcher
• hot glue gun
• extra vases: super important! I always bring a few extra vases with me for peace of mind.
• glass cleaner, plastic cleaner, and paper towels
• lint roller: to quickly pick up any flower bits that fall off the centerpieces onto the linens. I’m thinking of bringing along a dust-buster to clean up the carpets too.
• florist gummy: to stick arrangements to glass vases or containers
• extra flowers: my florist friend once told me that a big stack of chiavari chairs fell on one of her altar arrangements and destroyed it. Luckily, she had extra flowers and floral foam to patch things up just in time. Phew!
• pipe cleaners: so useful for attaching flowers to arches, bouquets to chairs, and for removing the pollen from lilies. Simply sweep the fuzzy pipe cleaner over the lily petals to brush away pollen.
• tent stakes and twine: to my horror, a chuppah once collapsed to the ground because a strong ocean breeze picked up the fabric like a sail! I had to run to REI and grab tent stakes last minute to secure the posts into the ground. Needless to say, I ALWAYS have tent stakes with me now for arches, columns, and other ceremony structures.
• needle and thread
• clear fishing line
• small buckets: the faucets on site are often too short for vases to slide under. You can fill small buckets instead and transfer the water to the vases.
• long lighters
• Water siphon tube: I think any florist can relate to the following scenario. My assistant came to pick up the rental vases at the end of the night, and was faced with these big boys:
  

  Huge thick glass vases filled to the brim with blue water and submerged orchids.

She had to channel her inner “hulk” to hoist these 50+ pound vases off the center of the table, all the way to the kitchen sink where the water could be dumped, all the while not spilling a drop of tinted water onto the linens or carpet. What I should have thought to do is to send her to the site with a water siphon tube. She could have sucked out half the water into a bucket in seconds, allowing her to more safely and easily pick up the vases. Next time we’ll be prepared!

As creative and artsy as we can be,  florists need to be a little Type A, too! Actually, all wedding vendors are working in high stress situations and need to come prepared. Just out of curiosity, any bakers or photographers want to share their emergency kits with us? That would be interesting!

Just For Fun: Flower Pot Escort Cards!

In a post long ago I included this rough doodle of a fun idea to display escort cards:

Each guest would have a teeny tiny container filled with their own special arrangement. It would be an escort card and wedding favor in one. I just love all things tiny. Well, the incredible calligrapher Lisa of Pen and Ink saw the sketch and thought my idea should be brought to life. She offered her help and promptly sent me beautifully scripted escort cards to use for my mini-baby project. Thanks so much, Lisa!

At the flower mart, I scooped up some yellow daffodils, acacia, navy blue privet berries, spray roses, billy balls and delicate lily of the nile. I purchased tiny flower pots (about 1.5 inches tall), lined them with cellophane (water tends to leak through the terra cotta pots leaving discoloration) and stuffed them with a bit of wet floral foam. I then created mini arrangements with the cutesy spring flowers. These would be adorable in mossy boxes, as shown, or at each place setting.

Lisa's handiwork is so beautiful. I wonder how she came up with all those names! "Jayden King" and "Anthony Colette" have such a nice ring to them.

I love navy blue, yellow and white together. I'm dying to do a wedding with that palette!

Like I said, I love all things tiny!!!

Thank you to my husband Joe for snapping these pics, and to the sweet Lisa of Pen and Ink! Your work is incredible!

Sweet Detail Shots

I love working with Jasmine Star for so many reasons. Besides her energy and spunky personality, she takes FABULOUS floral detail shots and always spoils me with the images. It’s only been a month since Naomi and Steve’s 2.28.09 wedding, and yesterday morning I received a disc with all my favorite flower images. Score!

The bridesmaids carried fluffy hydrangea, phaleonopsis orchids, lavender scabiosa, and more.

What a precious shot!

Wild curly willow, swags of crystals, and lots of draping florals made for a totally romantic arch.

We alternated between 3 different centerpieces. This one was a dark stained box packed with flowers and hurricane candles.

This centerpiece featured cymbidiums, phaleonopsis, and roses wired onto curly willow.

This wedding was all about the details! Thanks to Angel Swanson of Love and Splendor for bringing them all together. Thank you to Jasmine Star for capturing them with your lens!

Just for fun: Apothecary Vignette

I’m excited to say that Joe and I are finally moving into our new home tomorrow! I’ve been scouring craigslist daily for awesome *affordable* furniture that fits our eclectic, cozy, world-traveler style. This antique teak apothecary cabinet from Southeast Asia made my heart flutter and I knew I needed to have it! At 250 bucks, I consider it a steal. Sure, it’s a little bit wobbly, the drawers get stuck, and it’s got some nicks and scratches, but it’s the most treasured piece of furniture I own. I mentioned before that I was working on a Thailand inspired arrangement in honor of my trip. Well, I decided to make my apothecary cabinet the centerpiece of the arrangement. How cool would this be at a funky wedding with pictures of the couple displayed on the shelves?

My golden yoga frog. How cute is he?

This celedon bowl of floating flowers is inspired by the beautiful lotus bowls I saw everywhere in Thailand. I chose florals that mimic the petally, geometric shape of lotus flowers, since I can't find them here in the states. That big white flower looks like a gardenia or camelia, but is a composite flower made of tiny spray rose petals glued together.

A delicate celadon bowl filled with bright, funky flowers, including dahlias, craspedia, ranunculus and camelias.

Love this golden partridge, and recycled glass hurricanes with jade colored rocks. Wish I could say these are all souvenirs from Thailand, but they are not. Head to Pier 1 for some amazing nick nacks!

I even stuffed some of the apothecary drawers with playful florals.

It’s amazing how inspiring a piece of furniture can be! Thanks to my hubby Joe for taking pictures of my random flower arrangements all the time