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!

Me, In My Oasis

One day I wrote a comment on Jasmine Star’s blog in response to a beautiful Anytime session she shot. I told her that I was so gaga over those cheerful, sassy shots that maybe sometime I would be brave enough to do an Anytime shoot of my own! Well, seriously 3 seconds later, I received an excited email from Jasmine saying something like “Just got your blog comment. Let’s do it! It’ll be ultra fab!” Despite the fact that I usually feel awkward and stiff in front of the camera, I trusted Jasmine to make me look ultra fab.

I ran into JD and Polo (Jasmine’s hubby and puppy) at the dog park one night, and I was asked him where I should do the shoot. JD said I should choose somewhere that is meaningful to me. Right away I remembered my favorite place to hang out as a kid- my childhood friend Julie’s backyard in Modjeska Canyon. Modjeska Canyon is a charming oasis in the middle of O.C. It is a small town and everyone knows each other. There are foothills, horses, creeks, trees and tire swings. There are hiking trails and old silver mines. This was my only taste of the great outdoors as a kid growing up in a manicured gated community in Orange. We used to play in the treehouse and send messages in a bottle down the creek. All that idyllic kid stuff.

Julie’s parents’ eco-friendly garden was named best garden of 2008 by Roger’s Garden and featured in the LA Times. When the wildfires hit the canyons last year, Julie’s parents had to evacuate and weren’t sure if their house would still be standing when they returned. They were more crushed by the idea of losing their garden than losing their house.

Here are some favorites from Jasmine’s teaser. Check out the full blog post here!

Delphinium, garden roses, and ranunculus. Shoes from target. Woot!

Lilacs, viburnum, anenomes.

Mums, leptospermum, parrot tulips, viburnum, and lemons from the garden. I felt very Martha Stewart in this pic.

Sibling rivalry caught on film.

Jasmine is truly an artist. When she arrived, she did a quick sprint around the garden and I could just see her wheels turning. She was imagining shots and planning how to best use our 1.5 hours of sunlight. She made me feel so comfortable in front of her lens, and she was always paying attention to the little details like my hair, the angle of my feet or showing off my earrings. She didn’t just tell me how to pose, she actually showed me! At one point she even built a little dam in the creek so she could shoot me on a bridge from the water. I thought she might fall in (she was wearing those red cowboy boots of hers!) but she stood tall! Basically, Jasmine rules. The end!

BTW, I had the hardest time finding cute springy outfits that weren’t mini skirts (I don’t do mini skirts. Actually I prefer not to do skirts above my knee!) The first outfit came from The Gap. (Thanks to Rachel for posting the skirt! You had the self-control not to buy it, but I didn’t!) The white bedazzled dress is by Beth Bowley, and the maxidress is from the Modern Romance boutique at Fashion Island.

Thanks a million to my spunky friend Loann of Let’s Get Beautified for doing my makeup. She was my wedding makeup artist, and I don’t trust my face to anyone else!

If you had to do an Anytime shoot, what location would you pick?

Picking out a Bridesmaid Dress

I will be the florist AND matron of honor in my beautiful sister’s wedding in August. She is marrying the sweetest, most uplifting and respectable guy in the world (besides my wonderful hubby). Jenny-lyn is a girly girl just like me, and definitely wants pink (bright fuchsia and softer shades) to be the color of the day, accented by clean black and white details. Sounds fab! Even more fab is the fact that she’s letting us all pick out our own bridesmaids’ dresses. All 5 of her bms have completely different body types, styles, and budgets. I’m by far the shrimpiest and perhaps the most girly of the group. I’m willing to splurge a bit on the dress, since I will most certainly wear it again.

Me and my sis. No, we're not twins! I'm the shorter one with the lighter hair in case you are wondering.

The only rules Jenny-lyn gave us:

• Must be conservative enough to wear in a church for the ceremony.
• Must be black (Yay! Totally rewearable!)
• Must be cocktail length.
• Must be thicker fabric, like satin (nothing too flimsy or flirty).

With these guidelines in mind, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect little black dress. Here are some of the contenders:

#1. Love the pleats! ABS via Bloomingdales

#2. So classic and tailored. ABS via Bloomingdales.

#3. This Tadashi number is soooo cute, but is the lace on the chest a little too risque? Tadashi via Bloomingdales.

#4. This one is the most "me", but the fabric might not be sturdy enough for my sis's approval. We'll see. Anne Klein via Bloomingdales.

#5. Sooo stinkin' cute, but too short. I'm a little shy when it comes to exposing my knees and my short little legs. BCBG via Bloomingdales.

#6. I've never rocked a one shoulder dress, but I wouldn't mind giving this one a whirl. Wish it was a little longer! ABS via Bloomingdales.

#7. Last but not least, this amazing satin frock by Keemia. In black, it would be simply gorgeous. Keemia.

I’m leaning toward 1,2,4, and 7. Which one do you prefer? Have you spotted any other little black dresses that I should check out? Thanks for your help!

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!

Bouquet Inspiration…

One of my favorite photographers (I’ll spill all the details in a few weeks) asked me if I’d like to create a unique, over the top bouquet for a special day after shoot she’ll be photographing. She basically gave me free reign with this, and told me to create a work of art. Her one rule- must not be a perfect “roundy moundy” (as my old floral instructor called it) of flowers tied with a ribbon. Of course, I’m up for it! But, no rules? No predetermined color palette? No list of flower likes and dislikes to work from? Challenging, but sooo fun.

While reading my daily dose of wedding, style, and home decorating blogs, I came upon these images by Jacqueline Veissid via All Things Bright and Beautiful that just took my breath away.

The beautiful red, black and mustard florals against the thick white satin. The red-stained lips, and the golden bird perched on her finger. So beautiful!

I just adore that blood red color.

My word that is stunning! I love the big satin rosettes adorning her gown.

So, I’ve got my jumping off point for a dramatic, pretty, quirky and whimsical bouquet in white, black, blood red, and mustard. The colors somehow seem exotic and a bit oriental.. In addition to white “canvas” flowers like tibet roses, some funkier flowers that immediately came to mind were:

fuzzy white mink protea perhaps with a blood red rose emerging from the center…

black callas…

feathery red cockscomb (different variety than the “fuzzy brain flower” as many brides call it)…

and craspedia…

Not sure how to work this in, but I also saw branches of pomegranates at the flower mart that were slightly cracked open to expose the ruby red seeds. BUT I can imagine the damage these could do to a white wedding gown, so I think I’ll go without …

I want to wire black satin rosettes into the bouquet, and I want the stems wrapped with pleated black satin, dressed up with a locket like this on I found on Etsy by t8designs:

Now, I’ve got the ideas swirling around, all I need is to narrow the flower choices down (I can’t include EVERYTHING I love), and make it happen! Can’t wait to share the photos with you.

This weekend will be filled with house-hunting, wedding prop-making, and hopefully long naps with a pup tucked in each elbow. xoxo