Kuga Designs

Its 1.1.11

2011-01-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

Make a wish! It's 11:11 1/1/11

oooooooh.

I started a 365 project!
http://365project.org/

The 365 project is a free online photography site that allows you to post a picture a day, every day for 1 year. My friend Tania introduced this to me and I'm hooked! It's definitely easier than blogging every day, I already takes pictures everywhere I go, AND I can't wait to see my year in pictures come January 1, 2012. :) I'm suuuper excited!
Here are some of my pics so far.

Boston was soooo beautiful for the New Year!

This one is titled " I heart Cute Tips"

I just bought ramekins, googled a recipe making sure to look for something titled "EASY", and viola! 2 hours later sans torch, Creme Brulee.:P

Our new puppppeeeeee! His name is Cheech so far.

Here is an invite if you want to follow me:

http://365project.org/invite/r/84d903c464

I will follow you as soon as you sign up!

Music fills the Soul

2011-01-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

When I can't get on Pandora, I tune into my blog! I use Playlist.com

I added about 30 songs today, everything from Duke Ellington, to Angie Stone, to Chaka Khan, to FLoetry, to Maxwell and my favorite, India.Arie.

Enjoy!

Flower post...sorta.

2011-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

So uh...what's floral about this post? I'm talking dahlias, leaves, vines, branches, trees...birds rest or eat these things so they are in it too. HEEE! I know it makes no sense but-whatevs! :)

I was innocently reading my emails and low and behold a single picture in my GILT email captured my eye...monstrera leaf earrings by Wendy Mink.
$108

$98

I came across a site called Max&Chloe and just went to town flipping through endless pages of fabulous jewelry.

I need this Dahlia necklace on my neck now.
Kris Nations you are the ish. She's got some killer jewelry on there, like the succulent earrings and the orchid cuff. This baby is $105.

Carrie Saxl ...I need to high five you when I see you.
I could wear everything that is in the CS collection.

$90

Oh! Be still my heart.
These bad boys need to be mine. Instead of being girly and sighing or oohing...I cursed.
*shrug* I said " OH FUUUUUDGE", except I didn't say Fudge...
{shout out to Ralphie from a Christmas Story!} $100

How darling are these??? I don't even use "darling" in my monthly vocab..I mean goodness, this necklace is just the cutest thing ever. $85

This is too cute! $100

This is a Blue Bijoue Vine necklace that I <3.>

Then I found these on Etsy and I took a big gulp. I looove them.
$16

I don't even wear barrettes but I'm considering growing out my bangs or forcing my daughter to wear them so I can live vicariously through her. :P
$6

{Etsy}

I want to go shopping now and I just SWORE I was done. :/

These two I would love a replica of for now...I don't exactly have a cool $10k for this set. I am on the hunt for a blue set of earrings and cocktail ring and this is the year I find it since I have been looking for a perfect set since 2008. I missed my opportunity just 3 months ago.
Long story that I will save for another post.

Ron Hami $4345 for the Earrings and $5900 for the ring. *sigh*

BTW, if you are not a part of GILT, check it out and shoot me an email and I will send you an invite :)

Unlikely pairing, I know.

2011-01-07T20:44:00.000-08:00

Sooooo here's the thing. I really don't like carnations. I think it has to do with the fact that when I was going through floral classes, I had to use them in everything. I really hated them, but there are two exceptions for me.

1. When they are in unusual colors or if they are bi-color.
Like these- what color would you say=> white and purple?
White and deep wine? I don't even know what color these carnations are but me likes.

2. In mass, as in my hot pink pomander wedding earlier this year.

Some will shun me for this bouquet, but I really loved these purple bi color carnations and the imported peonies in December were dying for me to buy them. I bought the peonies, $5 a stem(wholesale) and since I had some leftover statice, some roses, lisianthus, and spray roses- I threw together a bouquet for a friend of mine.

I kinda dug it.;)

Sadly these peonies never opened passed this{BOOOO!} but that's what I get for buying imported Peonies out of season. Too good to be true I suppose, like eggnog for the Fourth of July; it's just not right.

On a Personal Note...

2011-01-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

I'm really shocked.

I can't believe I only posted 35 times last year. ONE HUNDRED post less than last year.
I'm beside myself.
But there is an explanation, so are you ready?
I suck.

Okay, no that's not it, it's just really hard to know where to start. Let me work my way backwards. As my profile alleges, I am a student. Weddings by day, student by night so to speak. I study my brains out when the kiddos sleep and on the weekends I play with flowers. I have been doing it for the past two years, and this year I transferred to UC Berkeley. Since I have a big family, I can't exactly live on campus so I commute 2 hours a day there, make it back home in time to pick up kids, and then get on with my mommy duties.

It's freaking hard.

There's no way around it, Cal is challenging. I had 7 readers and what felt like a gazillion papers due and they were not easy. So when you factor in my classes, my homework, my emails, my brides, my wedding, my vendors, the walk-throughs, the consultations, the prep work and labor, the set ups, the husband, the kids, their homework, their school stuff, and all the other basic life stuff we all go through. Needless to say I was overwhelmed. Then my grandfather got sick, then we experienced a death of several family members, then I got sick. That's about as far as I will go with it, but you get the idea.
I had a decision to make by September and it was not pretty. I had to basically let everything go and take care of myself, seriously take care of myself, and then take care of the remaining brides I had and get through mid terms and finals.

I survived.

I made it to the end of my semester and I completed all my big beautiful weddings and I kept my sanity and worked on my health. Thank God for my husband, he helped out and supported me like you wouldn't believe. I looked up and realized, I had 1300 emails in my inbox, I left a lot business on the table, I let a lot of opportunities for collaborations, guest blog spots, publications, contests, and potential clients go. Not to mention personally, I sacrificed a lot. Professionally and personally I was stretched too thin and burning the candles at both ends.
But fast forward to now; I got my act together, cleared my calender, set up a vacation and here I am!! BACK with a vengeance. I came close to giving it all up in order to focus on one thing but the tide has turned and I'm healthier, and that is a BIG part of what made me realize I love what I do and I can't give it up. In the time I was gone for my vacation in Boston I received 19 inquiries for weddings(!) and I am in the process of returning emails now. FINALLY!

Thanks for checking in on my little blog, thanks to those who stuck with me and those who I will work with in the future. I appreciate your business and I hope to start posting my little heart out very soon! I have a lot of weddings to catch up on and a lot of photographers to contact so you may see a random October wedding or Thanksgiving post or even a summer wedding show up.

To add to all this we got a puppy for my mama, a Jack Russel Terrier, but something tells me he is going to be our puppy since he's so cute and I'm the one taking him to Puppy Prep Academy and raising him until I go back to school. Isn't he a cutie pie?

{photo by Rig Galvez}

coral peony Kuga Designs by breemira · 365 Project

2011-01-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

coral peony Kuga Designs by breemira · 365 Project
I just started a 365 project, yay!

White and Silver Wedding Bouquet

2010-12-28T14:34:00.000-08:00

I told myself no work, for 1 month while I regroup from a rather...challenging year.
HOWEVER, I had a last minute request from a very special bride this past week.
I have been on my much needed vacation away from the world and my automatic responder has been on for two weeks while I travel to Boston through the New Year.

But them a rather curious email came through and while in bed,
I managed to reach over for my laptop and read this:
"OK,I have a secret, the flowers I asked you about were for me. I'm getting married on Monday."

WHAT?!?!?!?!

I called her from my cell phone from bed immediately to hear the story. Hahah!

She told me she was eloping and that she wanted me to make a quick bouquet for her with the only instructions being that I use white flowers and meet her at City Hall at 2:30.

So I ran frantically through the flower market on a Monday after the Holidays with zero luck on the flowers that I had in mind, but I did find some callas, football mums, alstromeria, stock, tulips, and dusty miller.

So here is what I whipped up. :)

I finally got a change to use my rose applique on the handle of the bouquet- score!

She forgot to add in a boutonniere so I made one just in case she wanted to use one :)

So I wish my lovely White Elopement Bride MUCH love and happiness!
You looked beautifully radiant with happiness and I am happy to have been able to be a part of this! xoxoxoxo

Merry Christmas/Happy New Years!

2010-12-25T21:43:00.000-08:00

Thank you for checking in on me and my little blog. :)
I have been a bad blogger this year but I hope to be back on very soon after the Holidays with a what feels like a years worth of recaps.

It's been a challenging year, but things look GREAT for 2011 and I'm so ready!!!!
I hope you have a great rest of the year and I wish you all much love, happiness, health and success for 2011!

Happy Holidays!!!

Winter Wonderland Bride

2010-12-05T20:34:00.000-08:00

AHA!
I'm not dead.

I lure you in with a picture, and then
BAM! I hit with an
"i'm sowwy"{sad face}
In hopes that you will accept my apologies for my lack of posts.
For those concerned- yes...I'm aliiiiive.
I have been busy personally and professionally and I didn't even want to half a** my blog until I had the time. Umm...except that's not now, this is just a teaser pic so that you know I will be back. Before Christmas even, just not until I finish out my latest project that will consume me till the 18th of this month. THEN, its a new me baby.

BTW~this pic is from an all white wedding at the Sir Francis Drake in San Francisco over the weekend. It was stunning! The Bride wanted to create a winter wonderland and that we did!
I will share soon =)

Love it to Pieces

2010-08-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

The Julia Morgan Ballroom has the ceiling I love to pieces....as a matter of fact if I could take a piece, I would. : P

I had a walk through this past week with Jessica of Dreams on a Dime for a wedding we are working on next month. Jessica and I worked on
Pink San Francisco City Hall Bride
My San Francisco Green Room Bride
along with my Julia Morgan Bride in October and my
Winter White Wedding Bride in December....lol! I know, I know, what's up with these names right? Well if you follow my blog you will know I try my best to protect the innocent and rarely publish a first and last name unless they have given me the green light. She's a super cool person and one helluva vendor if you are looking for a wedding planner.

We met Linda, who BTW, is one of the nicest ladies EVER, for a quick walk through of the venue.
Bank by day, wedding ceremony location by night. The gold, marble and bronze is ridiculous in there! The ceremony will take place up front where the doors to the bank will be draped and two 6 foot arrangements will go.

The guest come upstairs for a cocktail hour and then the doors are open to a reception area with honeycomb ceilings and spectacular views of the San Francisco.

GORGEOUS.

The 20 foot fireplace is majestic.
Jessica made me laugh by saying I could rotisserie her if I chose to...lol!

We will use lots of candles, glassware, curly willow, orchids and roses in browns, rust, oranges, and reds. I can't wait for this one!

Pink City Hall Wedding {the Reception}

2010-08-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

Long overdue but life and wedding season has been crazy busy. Kids are back in school, I'm back in school this week, I still have about 12 more big weddings to get through before finals and the Holidays and then I'm off for a month between mid December and January..it's going to be awesome. This summer went by super fast.

Here is the final post on the Pink City Hall Wedding In San Francisco.

Part 3 Let Them Eat Cake
Part 2 The Set up
Part 1 The Bouquets

Here is one of the two centerpiece we used for the tables. The centerpiece was an all orchid arrangement of a combination of light pink to fuchsia Phalaenopsis orchids surrounded by clear cylinder vases with floating candles in them.

The table linens and gold accents on the napkin ring holders and the plates were so pretty.

Here is centerpiece two, a rose pave in a clear cube vase. On top of the flowers sit three vases in varying heights with water and floating candles.

These pave centerpiece took me about an hour each.
Here's the design I played with to start. I took a picture with my camera phone when I realized I would be sitting there for the next 8 hours or so pave-ing my little heart out.

Here is a last minute Buffet piece we made for the Antipasto table.

The Dessert buffet looked delectable once it was set up! Wish I had taken a picture of it afterward.

The Ice Bar was sweet. I think I need one of these at my next wedding. :)

A few random pics of the room and details.

The staircase to the upper level in City hall was lit with Bao and Crystals name :)

The ceremony pieces had to be taken down from the staircase and re-purposed around the room in various areas. The room was filled with flowers and orchids everywhere.

This is a mini version of the bridal bouquet to place on the head table for the bride to toss and it just glowed in the lighting there.

So all in all, it was very successful and beautiful event. I am very lucky that Crystal is just the sweetest person, she made it really easy to work with and she was just gorgeous on the day of! All of her gowns were beautiful and she looked stunning in them. Bao hi five'd me like 4 times at the end of the night, lol, the only thing I wish I could have shared with you was the crazy grooms cake of him sitting at his computer with 9 screens!
So I thank C&B for allowing me to share in your special day.
I wish you much love and success in your marriage! : )

{And they lived happily ever after...}

Let Them Eat Cake

2010-08-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

Listen to me:
Tracy at The Buttercream Studios is a *&&^*@#% Rock Star. period.
WOW. wow. woooow.

Enough about me, and what I think of her...let's look at the facts. Go to her site and look at her cakes and tell me they are not *gorgifical*{real word, trust me I'm a florist.} I am a self proclaimed flower snob and her orchids and hydrangeas are unreal...go look! Check out the couture cakes. Not only is she talented, but she's super sweet. I <3 her.
She also competed in the Food Network challenge that's airing later this year so be sure to check her out ;)

Pink San Francisco City Hall {part three}

Our bride served one sliver of each flavor to all the guest so that they too could enjoy each and every delectable bite of this humongous cake.

Here are the pictures of he beautiful cake she made for my pink wedding wedding.
With no flash and no lighting it was gorgeous.

But when the gold and pink lights hit it, it was spectacular!

Everything was hand made and hand painted...just look at the detail.

The night before I was running behind and couldn't get to her studio so my sister went out there for me with flowers and she came back with a tray of cake. Before she said "hello" she said open this NOW so I can eat it. I let her have one bite of each {because I am greedy} and she too was in love. I managed to save some for my husband and at 2am this was my dinner.

Pink San Francisco City Hall {The Set Up}

2010-08-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

Here's the beginning post of this particularly large wedding: {the Bouquets}

Now onto the crazy set up. First of all, let me tell you I obsessed over every last little detail and flower for 30 days straight. I had been in touch with the lovely bride for months of course, but we changed the style and look of the wedding 3 times. I'm talking a complete haul over. We ended up with a mixture of the three. At point there was an after lounge involved, but in the end, it was nixed.

The last 30 days was crazy. I had to go to the fire department in SF to clear the votives, which didn't pass, I had to re-shop (for the best price) the tallest votives I could find which were UG-LAY ,so I had to use vases which tripled the cost right off the bat. I switched orchids vendors because two weekends before this event, the 15 orchids bunches we ordered came in under our standard of excellence for a white wedding that I will post once the photographer sends me pics, and I find my memory card. So we had to add $9 per bunch to our already huge order and then the tall vases we ordered were sold out a week before I picked them up (yes, 5000 vases in the inventory was depleted) and the other company I went with charged $6 more per vase...YIKES!! But, that is to be expected in this business. Just imagine, $1200 worth of vases.

When it all comes down to it, it has to make dollars and sense or what you love to do, you will not be able to if you are not watching your bottom line.

But here was the plan for the day:
The Task: To set up the ceremony area with 10 arrangements, set up the arrangements on the escort card and antipasto tables, along with 18 cocktail tables all between 2:00 pm and 4:45pm.
THEN the couple would get married between 5:00 to 6:00pm during which we would be hiding in the back room getting the centerpiece and dessert buffet pieces ready.
Finally at 6pm we would have the guests move up to the cocktail area and then have 1 HOUR to wait for the caterers to move the the theater style chair set up, roll in the tables, and then have us place 18 centerpieces down. Sounds easy? Not so much. Each centerpiece had a trio of vases filled with water in different sizes that need to be placed at each table filled with water, and then the candles dropped in and lit.....

So after we cleared the security check, unloaded the trucks, parked the cars(Thanks for the passes Pam!), dragged everything upstairs in what felt like 30 trips we finally started on the ceremony area at about 2:30pm.

Here is a picture of us setting up shop in the North Light Court of San Francisco City Hall.

These are all the cylinder vases waiting to be filled up with water.
Our shortest vase was 7" and the tallest was 47".

These all had to be taken to the first landing of the stairs of City Hall and let me tell you, these vases were HEAVY! Well...I wouldn't know because I didn't pick them up, but judging by the sweat running down Daniel and Durojaiyes faces as they lifted these vases, I figured they were as heavy as they looked. hehehe!

The tall floral arrangements were only made about 70 percent of the way. Once we got to City Hall we had to fill them in with the Phalaenopsis orchids and the rest of the roses.

Here we are in full action getting those done while the rest of the crew was on water and cocktail arrangement detail.
I told everyone wear black. Think: WAITER. lol,
BIG Thanks to
Allison, Daniel, Durojaiye, Debbie, Monica, Michelle, Mary,Melissa, and Tania for all your help!

These arrangements stood almost 4.5 feet tall!
Michelle and I worked

Here is Michelle working on the orchid placements.
That girl can work an orchid like it's no one business!!!!
Michelle and Julian were married 2 weeks before and it was her lovely all white orchid wedding I worked. ; ) She was a beautiful bride and her wedding was GORGEOUS! I can't wait to share her pics.

So then just as we are finishing up at around 4:30 pm the Fire Marshall come in for an inspection. DUMDUMDUUUUMMMM....he told us we could not leave all the vases up there on the stairs.
WHAAAAATTTTT?!?!!?! Are you kidding me? Do you know how heavy these are? This is the look we want, whaaa....? Naturally I didn't say that I jut started laughing when they told me...

Jessica, the wedding planner,( in the blue) finally convinced him to let us keep it up there for the ceremony and that they would be moved after wards. She's so good at what she does! I laughed at this pic because she has her head cocked to the side like she's trying to convince him that he's nuts, there will be no earthquake, we will be FINE....but he said no. So after the ceremony they were moved. Oh and that also had to get done in the 1 hour allotted time. grrrreat.

Here is the finished ceremony site! McCalls turned the lights on and it was magical.....gold and pink splashed everywhere.

While the guests were arriving and the couple got married, we were busy in the back room getting the centerpiece ready to go. Here are the tables {sans centerpiece} that McCalls set up. Fuschia linen, fuchsia napkins with a gold napkin holder and gold rimmed plates.

We set up the pave centerpiece cubes down without the trio of glass vases and floating candles so that they would be partially set up and easier to assemble once we hit the hour of truth.

The second centerpeice was a 6 vase cluster of vases: 3 with phalaenopsis orchids draped over one side of the vase, the other 3 with floating candles to give us light.

Then they told us the dessert table no longer accommodated our design and that we had to par it down to two vases. wwwooonderful.
The arrangements would be visible from 3 sides instead of just a front view, so we quickly had to turn this pink hydrangea floral arrangement into an arrangement to match the ceremony flowers...in 15 minutes.

Here is Michelle filling in from the bottom and I am filling in from the top.

Even with our ups and downs of the day, lack of rest and food, we were running on time. Stay tuned for the next post of pics which include the actual reception and end product. : )

Side Note:

I worked 7am - 11pm Wednesday, Thursday, and 7am - 1am Friday and 7am 2:30am the day of....I was beat. I also had forgotten to order my water proof stickers for the bottom of my vases and I called out for help on Facebook and a few friends came through with great ideas, but Jennifer from Green Quince offered to make them for me last minute! SCORE! She has the CUTEST Etsy shop ever and her invitations are so beautiful that I had to take her up on her offer. I was so grateful for her help. Look as my cute stickers : )

Vendors and Links:

Green Quince

Dreams on a Dime

McCalls Catering and Events

Silver+ White+Yellow

2010-08-13T23:44:00.001-07:00

Bride: Do you do "Handpicked" looks?
Moi: Why, yes I do. Step into my garden.....
I do it with a twist. I hope you like it ; )

Mock up for a silver, white, and yellow wedding.

These white and silver floral arrangements will be the bouquets/re-purposed centerpiece.
Feverfew flowers, lambs ear, scabiosa, dahlias, and sweetpeas.

The Bridal Bouquet will have the blue and the centerpiece will be a multi vase flowers that I will post Sunday. Happy Friday the 13th!

My Pink City Hall Bride{the Bouquets}

2010-08-11T11:11:00.001-07:00

I was such a blogging roll till July came and it was all about these crazy big weddings that nearly gave me ulcers. Seriously, all I could do was focus on flowers, vases, fire permits, ribbons, colors swatches, and such. I went to NYC for the 4th of July again and when I got back it was on!!!
I did manage to lose one of my memory cards that contain a beautiful white wedding, a garden style wedding, and some simple mock ups that I planned to share but what-evs...what can I do?

I can share with you my biggest wedding to date, that's what! : )
I ordered 2000 roses, 250 phalaenopsis, 200 hydrangeas, 300 spray roses, and almost $1400 worth of vases. DEAR GOD. It was humongous but I now have the experience to run a big production like that.

I will start with a few pictures of the personal flowers for now. I wish I had taken pics of the 44 sets of corsages and bouts but there was no time. I worked 70 hours in 4 days. 19 on the day of...it was madness. Pink madness.

The Bridal Bouquet smelled *HEAVENLY*. Garden roses smell the best! Like real roses are supposed to smell like. They engineered thorns out of the commercial roses we all use, but along with getting rid of the thorns, they also got rid of that delicious scent. The only true rose that smells divine outside of garden roses are the Sterling rose, well, any purple rose really. Try it next time you go by a shop; smell a purple rose in comparison to the other ones and you will smell the difference.

The compose of this bouquet was Patience Garden Roses, cream garden roses, Pink Sweet Akito Roses, and Bridal Akito Roses.

The Maid of Honor Bouquet was a mixture of hot pink and blush pink to match the gorgeous dresses they wore.
In this bouquet I used Pavoratti roses, Rosita Vendellas, hot pink spray rose, and Lydia spray roses.

This is a shot of the Bridesmaids bouquet, the Bridal bouquet, and the Maid of honor bouquet.

This is a top shot of the pink and cream bouquet for the MOH and the Bride.

The bouquets were all tied off with pink satin and ivory satin and pinned with some clear crystal.

I just received some pics in the mail so I will be posting the crazy(19 hour) set up and reception pictures in the next two days. Thanks for taking a look!

Yarrow, Scabiosa Pods, Dahlias...These are a few of my favorite things.

2010-06-30T00:08:00.000-07:00

I love the Farmers Market.
Unfortunately due to most of my weddings always landing on Saturdays, I can't go. :(
But if you truly want to see what flowers are in season,
the true seasonal flowers are always showcased there.
Most flowers you can get year round...if you are willing to pay a price that is.
But at the farmers market you can get a reasonably priced flowers without a badge, super fresh, and from a local farm. All pluses in my book.

This bouquet reminds me of a farmers market...I actually wish I could do a photo shoot there and am working on making that happen in the next 6 weeks.
This bouquet has dahlias, scabiosa pods, bunny tails, tulips, and yarrow.
This reminds me of Country Time Lemonade for some reason,
but who names their flowers that...right?

I made a little boutonniere( still can't spell that right on the first try) made out of a scabiosa pod, a fuzzy bunny tail(that's what I call it) and the white and yellow yarrow that makes me want to scream, it's so damn cute. I finished off the wrap with a little gold bouillion.

Blue and yellow together ROCK.

The bouquet can later be dropped into a tall container
and in the words of a wise sage named Emeril:
BAM! its a friggin centerpiece.

This ceramic cream container I bought at Goodwill for $3.99. HOLLA!

I love a great deal almost as much as I love it when I get a bunch of roses and there are no duds....has this ever happened to you? You go home and open up the roses and 1 or 2 rose heads are broken...I hate that. So when nothing falls out I give my roses a pretend hi five for being good gals. : )

Something Blue...

2010-06-28T15:33:00.000-07:00

Something Old

Something New

Something Borrowed,

Something Blue.

This one started with Mrs. M emailing me to see if I could help with flowers for her son and DIL (Daughter in Law...
I have a friend who reads my blog and always asks me what the heck MIL or FH mean exactly? )
Anyhow, she was going to host the wedding at her house and it was going to be blues whites and silver. The happy couple live out of state so the planning was a little tricky because of the time difference and we were swamped with events, weddings, the dress for the museum, ect. But we finally found something that worked.
Her bridal bouquet was a compose of dahlias, white lisianthus, roses and spray roses, lime cymbidiums, green and white hydrangea, snow on the mountain, and blue tweedia for that something blue accent.

The matching boutonniere( you know I always have to spell check boutonniere?)
was a single white avalanche rose with blue tweedia accent wrapped in white satin.

The bridesmaids bouquets pictured here are unwrapped since I was going to use some fabric from the dress that the bride provided for me once I got to the house.
The bridesmaids bouquets were white, blue, and green hydrangea, white roses, white lisianthus, lime cymbidiums, blue delphinium, and white spray roses.

When I arrived to the house Mrs. M had set up shop in her garage with the flowers for the tables, so I made self a little station. My portable workstation consisted of hasami's(Japanese shears) newspaper, and a towel.

Here they are with the fabric from the dress on the handles of the bouquet. The color is what I would call "Lake".

Mrs M decided she would make the reception flowers herself.

Now that's love right there because it's A LOT of work.
I mean the processing, the vases, the cutting, the foam, the cleaning, the design, the set up, ect.....and then you have to get dressed and get your nails/hands decent to shake hands and take pictures for the wedding that you are hosting in your house???

She's a rock star.

Check it out...she made blue hydrangea terrariums. A woman after my own heart.
Doctor by day; Florist by night.

She found a local grower to get her blue and white hydrangeas and she then picked out some amaranthus and kangaroo paws along with some phalaenopsis orchids.

Look at these colors! My camera could not capture the shocking blue of these gorgeous hydrangea heads.

Blue popcorn hydrangea in all its glory.

Look at the backyard...I only wish I could see it lit up at night.
The tent had hanging lanterns of all sizes that would make it look like mars at night under the moon. The weather was at 82 when I left so the night would be perfect for them.

Thanks for letting me be a part of your big day!
I wish you much love and success. : )
Mrs. M...if you ever want to make floral arrangements...you know who to call! ; P

{And they lived happily ever after...}

BLOGARDEN { Peony Edition}

2010-06-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

Plucked from a home garden for me with LOVE....: )

I promise I won't act crazy like in my last post where I actually illustrate how flowers talk to each other in a street fight or catty gossip girl episode...I will just present my info! ; )

I <3 Peonies. That's just it. So I want to make sure I remember when the official last day of the season is here in the SF market so that next year during planning I can better help my brides. Last week was the official week my vendors were taking and filling orders but this week the market still had some stragglers so I decided to write up a little info post on them. Everyone just asks for peonies and what they don't realize is that color and type determine price. Its' not always enough to say the pink ones, because if you click here:
Full Bloom Farm
Heartland Peony Society
The Peony Farm

You will see a whole catalog of peonies in pink.
What makes them different is the the size and fluffiness factor
{an official term I'm sure}
There are:

single, semi double, double, japanese and anemone peonies and the Bomb double peony.
So you see, they don't just come in pink or fluffy. ; )

These beauties are the Coral Charm double salmon peonies and Old Faithful double peonies.

The big fluffy pink ones are Mrs. Franklin D Roosevelts

The hot pink peonies that I love are the Double Pink Ellen Cowley and the yellow ones are Bartzellas I believe.

They range anywhere from $4 to $9{wholesale} per stem when they are in season. The cheaper ones I find are the bomb peonies that have a single layer of petals on the outside then a fluffy ball on the inside. They sell those at Trader Joes for like $10-$15 for 5 stems in the peak of the season. The ones that brides like are the full double peonies that are what my vendors call the premium peonies. The big mommas a la Martha Stewart.

Note to self~ The Shades of Seasonal Pinks

2010-06-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Type? I'm everyone's type.

This is what I imagine Peonies say to other flowers as they stun them with their beauty.

Back up Bi#$@!*, I rule May and part of June.
{and some of November and December when I'm imported from the netherlands}

And then Godetias roll their eyes and say What? I can last three weeks without my water being changed and I come in crazy colors that REEK of spring.And guess what? If you bunch me up with all my girls, we look like Peonies so there.

Then the tulips get all uppity and say Yeah well, I am in season too, and I am super cheap right now and I'm crazy! I come in all shapes and sizes, parrot, field, double, frayed edges-you name it, I got what you need, baby.

Sweet Williams - says FOOLS! People love me and they don't even know I'm a carnation so HA! They claim they love us only in mass, but they are looking- oh yeah, they are looking.

This is about the time that I truly believe I will lose all my followers because they think I'm nuts.
My husband just shakes his head and refuses to read one word.
My teenage daughter approves so I know I'm close to the edge.

This rare glimpse into my {crazy} flower world yield me no credibility and I should just take my peonies and call it a day. I can't help it.

But look at these colors and flowers?! Aren't they GORGEOUS! ugh. they make me sick.

They are also in season and I needed to post this so that I remember next year what I have in store for May and June. Godetias, that last only FOREVER. Sweet Williams that come in bi colors and anywhere from garnet red to deep velvet purple to light blush. Field tulips that I can get practically anywhere in all colors. The peonies, in coral and hot pink have been really good to me, but this is their last week.

PS. all the crazy blues are here for hydrangeas, yarrow is off the chain right now, the blue tweedia is growing like weeds, and there are absolutely no rununcuals anywhere in the market right now. ; (

My favorite flower...the Sunflower.

2010-06-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

My Sunflower Bride was the sweetest bride.ever.
She contacted me to help her out with her wedding and I knew I wanted to work with her right away because she was just so sweet and I love sunflowers.

Her bouquet was a compose of blue hydrangea and sunflowers.
You can't see the variegated lily grass loops but they are there as the collar to the bouquet.

I made her a hair piece to match her bouquet.
It was yellow chrysanthemums that look like mini sunflowers, blue hydrangea florets and lily grass loops all glued onto a salal leaf that was glued onto a clear comb.

I always make two so that the bride can freshen up her hair piece as the day goes on.
Especially if it's something as fickle as hydrangea.
She's so pretty!
Her bridesmaids were all so helpful and her groomsmen help set up the ceremony site like it was nobody's business.

Here is the grooms boutonniere.

They had so many cute details in her wedding it wasn't even funny.
I did not capture them all, but I made sure to capture my favs.
The couple had a tree on a piece of paper and this little note that read please leaf your thumbprint. The guests were to place their thumbprint on the trees to look like leaves.
SUPER CUTE!

After all the guests had checked in it looked like this.

They made 1000 cranes and they sprinkled a few here and there and a few of them made it on to the sweetheart table where they placed this lovely wooden block.

The rest of the cranes made it on to a family crest that Momma Sunflower made for the happy couple. How awesome is this?

The cookies with the stickers were killer.
Jealous much? Yes. I was.

This was an awesome couple and I wish the couple much love and happiness!

{And they lived happily ever after....}

Red, Black and White Damask

2010-06-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

Classic red roses with a touch of that dark red, almost black, eucalyptus for a wedding at the Hotel Vitale in San Francisco.

The bride wanted to keep it simple and so I used all red roses and spray roses, some red hypericum here and there, and touches of that eucalyptus. I love that the change in color and size of the roses gives it texture and depth, and that the eucalyptus gave it a feathery look.

These are the two roses I used throughout the wedding: Black Bacarra Red roses, and Freedom Red roses. This is the perfect example to me of how a color is subjective. When someone contacts me and says I want red roses, I say ummm....what shade? Lipstick, Ruby, dark red, wine, ect....

Here are the centerpiece lined up and ready to go.

Here is a shot of the centerpiece which are composed of the same bacarra and freedom roses, red hyperium, red peruvian lillies, red carnations, black eucalyptus, variagaited ivy, and some salal.

Cupcakes...my favorite!
The couple opted for a small cake on top of the cupcake tower so that they could cut into an actual cake to get that cake cutting shot. I just love the sugar flowers and the edible dragrees.

{And they lived happily ever after.....}

Soooo I'm patting myself ( just a little) for blogging my little heart out this week. :D

BTW~Does anyone know an app that updates your FB and Twitter from the blog? Thanks!

Citron + Cream = Chic

2010-06-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

I just love it when people ask me for white and green flowers. They are so crisp and clean together...that and they were my wedding colors! lol, I guess I am a little biased but can you blame me?

This was a baptism we worked for a blessed little boy a while back.
I am catching up so as you might now, my posts are a bit out of order,
but better late than never right?
We set up at Intramuros which is truly a hidden gem out in South San Francisco.
It was big and spacious and I loved the indoor garden feel of the veranda where this family had the reception.
I just adore the napkins hanging off the table like that.
The tables were set up with small cube centerpiece like the ones out in Berkeley we did last year.
check it out here: Lavender Wedding

They were all just a little bit different in placements to make them interesting from table to table, and we surrounded the cube with rose petals.

These are my favorite green roses. The Super Green rose is just a ruffly, true green flower.

The cupcake tower was too cute! I loved the iridescent sprinkles on them that I could not capture with my camera. mmmmm...red velvet.....

The favors were caramel apples and these super cute lucky bamboo favors in a vase.

*PERFECT* for the venue. Bravo J, that gal has great taste! ; P

Always go with your gut

2010-06-07T23:08:00.001-07:00

Dear Gut,

I am sorry.
I heard you say "NO! Don't do it, this is bad news!"
But I thought I could make it work.
I should have stopped when I knew they wanted something for nothing, yet, I blocked out your nagging and it turned out you were right. I even tried to get out of it, and had a chance, but I didn't take it because I thought it wasn't as bad as I was making it out to be. Turned out I was wrong and you, gut, were right.
I am sorry I didn't listen to you. Seriously.

Love,

B

Bearded Iris

2010-06-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

Look at these beauties!

This was a demo Soho did for an Ikebana lesson that combines two containers and matches the color of the container and the flowers.

The colors are just out of this world and whenever I go to the flower market, tis the season right now, they are everywhere and I have to fight myself not to buy them : )
{here}

{here}

Orchid Wedding Bouquets

2010-06-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

My goodness these were good enough to eat!

One of my instructors, who was a past AIFD president, once told me that when you pick out flowers, it's like picking out fruits and vegetables. They should be firm, green, fresh and good enough to eat. If the stems are brown, soggy or the petals were a bit limp~ pass on it.
Would you eat a salad that way?
Huh. Good point.
So since then I remember this jewel she dropped on me and these orchids were so bright and fresh I thought, I could eat this freaking bouquet! lol

This bouquet was a slightly forward cascade with the folded Ti leaves in the back to give it a nice shape. I normally don't do cascades, but this one begged for it and when the flowers speak,
I listen.

The grooms boutonniere was a simple loop of the ti leaf and a single cymbidium orchid with a matching chocolate brown ribbon.

The happy couple went off to get married at the San Francisco City Hall ( My 4th City hall wedding this month!) and she looked so gorgeous in her dress with these flowers in her hands. I just know the other brides were jealous! HAHAHA! no, seriously, they were.

Much love and happiness to the happy couple and I can't wait to work on the big wedding later this year!

Quinceanera Flowers

2010-06-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

A long time a very smart lady told me to apply my weddings skills to funeral work and I must say that I am very thankful to her. I figured I would do the same for a request for Quinceanera flowers.
The rite of passage in the Latino culture for young girls is the Quinceanera , or Quince, that is similar to the sweet sixteen, excpet the girls are 15 years old. Most of the Quinceanera's have a court that consists of either 14 couples, with her and her "chambelan" making up the 15th couple~ or she has 7 girls and 7 boys with her as the 15th person in the court.
Either way, that's a lot of personal flowers.

So here is a bouquet that is left for the Virgin Mary at the altar. It's typically the showiest piece in terms of personal bouquets so we made this one a bit bigger than we usually have for say a bride or a bridesmaid. My daughter is the model for the day. ; )
Its a bouquet with scented geranium, stock, lisianthus, and spray roses, and greens.

This smaller bouquet was the matching green and white floral bouquet for the
Quinceanera to use.

Since there were so many couples, we decided on a simple three rose compose of flowers for the girls to use. Three red roses, geranium, huckleberry, and a red eucalyptus berry.

This was the mothers corsage which was just a single rose, the berries, small sray roses, and bit of the huckleberry.

I hope the Quince had a lovely day and may God bless her always! ; )

no seriously.

2010-06-05T20:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here's the real deal.

I have been swamped on so many levels it's not even funny.
Between weddings, and school, and flowers, and my daughter, and family emergency, and traveling, and parties, and plays, and sports, and MOVING...it's been a crazy year.

But the main reason is that I have been working hard to get myself and my daughter transferred to new school. She auditioned and got into a performing arts school which I am *thrilled* about. But between the transcripts, the interviews, the tests, the auditions, the recommendation letters, the shadows, the tours, and the open houses for six different high schools...I thought I would just die. But on top of that I had my transcripts, essays, interviews, paperwork, ect. to apply for my schools as well.
I am happy to say it got me into UC Berkeley where I will be going to study in the fall. WOOHOO!

So that is why I have been so busy and not blogging. So now I am free and will be catching up on pictures since MARCH...can you believe it? I can't.

So bear with me if anyone is still there...I will be posting in random order so if you see somehting form like the winter...you know why. ; )

Thanks!

Pretty Pink Peonies

2010-05-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year for the Peonies. magical 6 weeks out here....

I present you a Pretty in Pink Peony Piece. HA! I just got a kick out of all the "P's"...anywhoo.
I know there's nothing funny about me not blogging in, I don't know how long, but I have had a crazy year...and it's about to change in the next few days, but I don't to say just yet how....and no, there will be no addition to my lovely family.
I don't think I couldchange Ku-GA to accommodate another kid. : )
Have I told the story of my name? I probably have....

Anyhow, get a load of these puppies:

Garden Roses, Peonies, spray roses, kale, and field tulips.

I have a ton of pics form events to share but it has to wait till next week when I finally finish what I'm doing. : )

Thanks for reading!

RED CARPET SAN FRANCISCO

2010-04-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

Catch the dresses made out of flowers tonight at 6:30pm!

KRON channel 4 in the Bay Area

http://www.redcarpetsf.com/

Meanwhile here are some pictures from photographer Drew Altizer.

HOLLA!

2010-04-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

Meet Del...

Ms. Grainer is modeling our Senicio String of Pearls choker and antique brooch along with our handmade cocktail hat with succulents, ti leaves, cymbidium, clematis
( funny story to be told at a later time), and the black/deep burgundy feathery thing that sounds like agonizing>>>something. I can't remember now. But this too, ties into the story of how I had a verbal malfunction at the Gala in front of a reporter who was interviewing us no less...virtual delphiniums to the person who can help me out!

What a nice surprise to find in the San Francisco Chronicle the following;

"Meanwhile, to Ruby Kade and Brenda Mira, City College students who, "inspired by the French impressionists," created Easton Grainer's dress out of 100,000 delphiniums (provided by Whole Foods, where Kade presides over the flowers on Fourth Street), bravo, and you'll catch up on your sleep later.

I am super juiced!

We are also going to be on TV on Sunday at 6:30PM on KRON on RED CARPET SF!

From the website: Red Carpet Bay Area, a brand new magazine-style program highlighting the region’s unique culture, personality and style, airs bi-weekly on Sundays at 6:30 pm on KRON.

Check back to see how we turned turned 100, 000 of these into a full on couture gown.

Bouquet to Arts Gala Night.

2010-04-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

I am exhausted.
We glued 100,000 delphinium buds and flowers to the dress.
It was awesome.
OCD, but awesome.
I need to recuperate but I have a little something to share until I post all pics.

Thanks to Rubie~ my lovely partner
Debbie, Daniel, Stella~the rock steady crew who helped sort buds into sizes for us and in some cases glue< also to Natalia, Charlotte, and Gaby who came by to check it out but got put tp work instead! sorry bout that. : )
Durojaiye, my mom, and my aunt~who brought us food, coffee, 5 hour energy drinks, cheesecake sticks, clothing, and finally who took care of our babies while we worked for almost 48 hours straight.

The De Young

2010-04-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

Round two!

This weekend is full on madness! We are making our floral couture gown this weekend and it will be an ambitious look we are after with our materials and accessories.

Check out last years Gala Night Bouquet to Arts kickoff at the DeYoung Museum.

Here's a link to more info about the week at the Museum, the demonstrations and lectures, and the floral exhibitors!

Bouquet to Arts 2010 San Francisco De Young Museum

We also have a wedding and a baptism that we are working this weekend and it will be intense but we would not have it any other way! :) Bring on the flowers I say!

Kumquats, red rununculas, golden poppies, AND daffodils?!?

2010-04-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Spring has indeed sprung!

I
LOVE LOVE LOVE
kumquats right now. I
WISHWISHWISH
I could grow them in my backyard, but sadly, my thumb is black. : /

This is a mock up for an outdoor wedding taking place on someone's estate.
That's the second one I have this year and I am thrilled!
This is a wooden container with a plastic liner inside that I have been holding on to for a while now, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to be used.
What do you think of the blue and red runner?
I like it : ) Ikea~ $1 BABEEEE!

The kumquats are bananas. Yeah it doesn't make sense, but you get me right?

I used red rununculas, white daffodils, kumquats on the branch, and surprise surprise:
wild golden poppies.
The golden poppies won't last in the arrangement but they can stand in for now so that my couple can get an idea of what a bright orange flower would look like in there.

*sigh* I love looking at it in my kitchen...and believe me I NEVER bring flowers home.

For Elizabeth....

2010-04-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

who guilted, er, encouraged me to start posting again. : P

I have had the craziest 6 months and I am finally in the clear. WHEW!
I have no excuse not to go back to posting and taking pictures and visiting other blogs so here I am. Thank you Elizabeth for the reminder that someone reads my blog! and misses it ; )

This bouquet was a mock up for a bride who is kicking around the colors yellow, red and touches of white. I told her it would totally work, and to let me show her. I used yellow and red tulips, white and red tulips, red roses, jade roses, and yellow cymbidium orchids with red throats.

I 'm diggin it...I have another mock up I'm making tomorrow to show red, yellow with pops of orange....that should be interesting.

Thanks for reading!

Cherry Brandy Roses

2010-03-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

"I want Cherry Brandy roses,the orange ones with the gold center? I like the round look, not a perfect ball though , with lots of different flowers; like magenta and yellow...
oh~ and the blue Iris."

That was the direction I was given and because it was one of my best friends I just nodded my head and smiled. But inside I was thinking about all the different colors she wanted to use and a little part of me cringed because I hate using so many colors together.
I prefer to stick to the storyline and call it a day.
But it being one of my best friends on her special day and my offering her anything her little heart desired, I had no choice but to oblige. I also ended up being her photog so I got to flex my creative eye a bit. : ) Lucky for her I am addicted to photography blogs too!

I figured the blue iris would photograpa bit purple so I added in some purple anemones that she *loved* I just wish that I could have caught the colors better, the day was bright and the flowers just jumped out and slapped ya right in the face!

Candied apple favors! My sister has been perfecting her homemade candied apples and of course jumped at the chance to contribute to the wedding.

Lucky girl with a beautiful ring!

LOVE San Francisco City Hall. The dress she wore went well with the color and architecture.

The happy family.

The couple got a beautiful day in San Francisco, everything worked out as planned, the flowers were to her liking and that made me happy beyond words, and my best friend married the love of her life. He's a good, calm, strong man that can handle my strong big hearted passionate friend; they've got a good Yin and Yang thing going: my friends and I are happy for them and subsequently will let him live, lol.
I don't have to wish them anything else because
they are living happily ever after now .....

Tulip Ikebana

2010-03-09T21:23:00.000-08:00

Hello lovely blog. I have been away for a while on hiatus....but Ikebana always, always makes me feel better!

This was the first class I have attended since February something....
BUT! I am back with some pics. This lesson is called "Paying attention to the place in which the flowers go"....alright, alright...that's the rough translation. But I swear it's something like that!
I'll update the name of the lesson.

Look at these Tulips, my goodness! They are my favorite. : )

This is a wall arrangement that pays attention to the view from below.
Can you believe I bought that red glass container from a thrift store for $3?!?! score.

Funeral Flowers

2010-02-23T09:23:00.000-08:00

Lots been going on lately...
Here is one of the many funeral flowers I have been working on lately. This is the most special because they let me express myself in flowers for a family friend. May he rest in peace.

There's a Glitch in the System

2010-02-09T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hello lovely brides and grooms!

Many of you have met with me over the last few months and may remember that my husband bought me a Mac and I was hesitant(read: lazy)to transfer over my pictures and documents. The day came when he was avenged; sadly my computer died taking all my main contacts with it, the spreads and docs we have been working on, ect.

I am trying to recuperate the files and pics, please bear with me at this time and if you can drop me an email, that would be fantastic!

Thanks!

Brenda

Eco Chic~ The Great $50 Challenge

2010-01-29T14:59:00.000-08:00

What have I been up to you wonder since I have been away so long? Loads of stuff! lol, one of them is the The Great $50 Challenge over at Sprout blog!

I originally entered an Ikebana Arrangement but wasn't too happy with it as a wedding centerpiece because I felt it was more of a guest check in table arrangement or a foyer entrance arrangement.
Here are the rules:

Centerpiece value must equal $50 retail, (US dollars) – including container and labor.
You must show your math. Retail price of all ingredients
You must show what percentage of the $50 price is for labor.
1 centerpiece submission per designer.
Centerpiece must be appropriate for a wedding.
Submissions must be received by 6:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, January 31 2010.
Voting will run from February 1 - February 28 2010. Winner will be announced March 1, 2010.
Winner will be blog reader’s choice.

Cool huh?

So I decided that I would switch from this Ikebana arrangement which I really like. :)

To this eco chic arrangement, which I really love. :)

Let me start by saying that I love Green arrangements and anytime I can avoid floral foam I do.
Ikebana teaches you how to work without mechanics( sometimes you use a kenzan) but mostly I use techniques like Jumonji-dome and Soegi-dome, which are a crossbar technique and a split branch technique.

So this is a functional centerpiece that can be placed at any table that will give it height, won't obstruct the view or flow of conversation across the table, and gives it a modern element.
The branches can be any type that has maybe flower or fruits, brides now can take advantage of Quince and Cherry Blossoms, later it can be forsythia( sp?) or tomatoes, or pomegranates or kumquats, you get the idea. But the branch can be cut from anywhere.

I used Red Quince and one loooong piece of curly willow.

The bulbs are tulip bulbs that I bought at my local farmers market for about $2 each. The goal would be to replant them after wards in a garden for the guest or the couple to take home. The gifts that keeps giving(enter cheesiness, hehe!)

The river rocks came from, yep you guessed it.But you don't have to add this element, in this picture I took the rocks away and put some blooms on the bulbs inside.

The container has been reused about 5 times now, but it can come from a private collection or from a Goodwill or garage sale, and they can all be mismatched to add charm. There's no rule that says they have to match! So REUSE!

So all in all, I like it. All under $50!

VOTE FOR ME!!!!!
Starting FEB 1st here

Sprout Blog

I love love....Dorothy Hatchel style

2010-01-14T11:27:00.001-08:00

Last month my family and I threw a big shindig for my grandfathers 80th birthday.
It was a surprise party and we had about 100 people there. The additional surprise was that my soon to be brother in law was planning to pop the question that night. Of course we all knew, but my sister was unaware and we were trying to figure out how to work it in without the help of my Grandfather and without her knowing since she was in on the planning.
Well, he got down on one knee and did it in front of everyone and she was shocked!
Too cute!

Dorothy captured all the moments beautifully and I am so thrilled she was able to shoot our event. I will post the party pics later this week, but in the meantime check out her amazing blog and the rest of the pictures of the engagement!

debbie + daniel
Dorothy Hatchel Photography

Congrats Deb and Dan!

Orange-a-glad glad?

2010-01-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

As in " knock knock. Who's there? Orange/ Orange who? Orange-ga-glad I didn't say banana?"

My daughter tortured me with that knock knock joke after I taught it to her, lol. She couldn't get enough!

What does it have to do with this post?
Nothing!

But Orange-ga-glad this bouquet is a little different than most orange bouquets? eh? eh??
Don't mind me, I'm just giddy from the New Year. = )
Lots of trials and tribulations last year, but 2010 is going to be alright.
Calm, cool, collected. That's how I am going to tackle this year.

Here is a bouquet I forgot to share last month. I absolutely love euc pods, the kale, the milva roses, and the tulips.

The ribbon has a blue butterfly accent that played off nicely with the all orange and cream wedding with hints of that bright blue!

This is a simple boutonniere with a small orange tulip, some euc pods for accents and a ruffled galax leaf finished off with the orange and blue ribbon.

One of my resolutions is to learn how to spell boutonniere on the first try and to post more. : P

Happy New Years!!!!

2009-12-31T13:32:00.000-08:00

Another Year...where does the time go?

Happy New Years to you and yours.= )
Hope 2010 brings lots of creativity and contentment in your endeavors.
Lots of love and happiness in your home.
Lots of success in every aspect of your life.

I have big thangs going on in 2010 so stay tuned!

See ya next year!

Merry Christmas!!!!

2009-12-25T11:00:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Orange and Blue

2009-12-23T21:30:00.001-08:00

Aww man... I was planning my big blog comeback and my memory card in my camera won't upload my photos! ; (

All I have are these for now.

Be back to share my Havana Nights Party!

Sometimes when it rains it pours...

2009-12-13T18:46:00.001-08:00

...so I have been away for a while and will resume my beloved blog in a week or so.
Thanks for checking in on me, be back soon!

xoxo
Brenda

Bread Bread Give Thanks!

2009-11-26T14:26:00.000-08:00

This is my centerpeice for Thanksgiving! I went to the flower market and my heart said tulips, anthuriums, eucalyptus pods, and kale. I rolled with it. =P
The roses are Milvas; so coral-ly! hehe

Well, Thanksgiving is not turning out to be as planned but I am thankful that I have the
opportunity to be home with them today. : )
My honey has been sick for two weeks now and still cannot eat solid foods so I feel terribly guilty dragging him to my mother's house for dinner. My mom has offered to make him turkey soup which I will come home and blend so it works out. : )

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Green Dianthus Ball Bouquet

2009-11-24T23:18:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for Thanksgiving!!!!

I'm excited and happy that I have a few things to do this week that give me creative freedom.

First up is a sample of what I consider green and white with a bit of gold.
I love this green dianthus ball{AKA green carnations!}
I refer to is as a Horton Hears A who flower ; )
This bouquet has light green hydrangea, green dianthus, gold cockscomb, and white avalanche roses.

Similar to the idea in my previous post I made this bouquet so that it would drop into a vase that has equisetum( horsetail) in it.

I think it allows it to double as a bar arrangement, check in table, escort card table, or bathroom arrangement.

This vignette is to show how we incorporate levels using simple white vases. The ones I used I bought at Ikea a while back to hold short stems on my counter.

Here is the unconventional masculine boutonniere.
banding the horsetail like in the vases earlier and just using a bit of the dianthus with the cockscomb for color.

Here's a quick table number idea for a bride who wants something a little different.

I'm proposing we do this on a HUGE level.
Carry the idea of banding horsetail together with gold flowers, in this case orchids, so just give it some color in small placements.

These are left over escort cards from my own wedding I had lying around.
They were simple Crane&Co. envelopes in a 2x2 with black embossed lettering in the back that says "TABLE" and the front that says the name of the guest,
who didn't ,ahem, show at my wedding : /
Then finally the insert is a Martha Stewart stamp that has the table number in it.

Pink, Silver, and Black Wedding Flowers

2009-11-22T21:37:00.000-08:00

My dear sweet cousin is getting married next year and I am putting together a series of pink and black possible flower combinations for her. So over the course of the next few months you start to notice a "pink" trend here, that's why, lol.
This one is bouquet made up of pink and burgundy dahlias, some wine colored spray roses, and some super raspberry hydrangeas.

The idea is then to be able to drop the many bouquets into tall vases so that will double as arrangements. So I found these pretty tall vases that will look great.

I just love that they are silver and black and with candle light they practically shine in the dark!

Perfect vases for a black, silver, and pink wedding :)

Baby Boy Baptism

2009-11-15T20:15:00.000-08:00

Logi Pogi had a baptism and wow-there was a LOT of people there to celebrate! :)

The biggest baby shower I have ever seen and done the flowers for was earlier this year for this baby boy so when C&A called me to make floral arrangements for the baptism I said of course!

My goodness, it was like a mini wedding! Hehe, that little boy is so loved...

We started with the front appetizer table. Would you look at that humongous cupcake??
It's like the size of the base of my vase!
Isn't it cute? I have always wanted to bake a cupcake that big....

The outside cocktail tables were lined with simple small arrangements.
I love the polar star roses! They look like garden roses don't they?

The head table was lined with simple small arrangements at the edge of the table.

The centerpiece were composed of four vases in varying glass vases.
They were all finished with blue ribbon around the neck of the vase.
The flowers were all white and blue. I realized that I took didn't have pictures of the tall centerpiece with the blue bella donna's in them so you will have to take my word for it. :/

Everyone loved the clean look of the white snap dragon in a tall vase.

My favorite part were the cupcake favors that were placed at each table. SUPER CUTE.
They were chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with chocolate and vanilla icing and a fondant cross.
The cupcakes were placed into clear boxes with Paper Source stickers that had the baby's name and date.

Last but not least was the cake from Mazzetti's in Pacifica. Hands down the BEST raisin bran muffin in the world, Sunset magazine has been trying for years to the recipe but the owner says no way. My husband and I sat down to sample their wedding cakes when we were shopping for ours but ultimately we went with Nikki's cakes over at A Tale of Two Truffles.
So they asked me to decorate the cake with a specific design and then when I got there the cake was not as described, so we had no choice but to improvise.
Before: A simple white cake with navy blue ribbon.

After: cluster of white and blue hydrangea.

That was it! A nice luncheon for the baby of the hour on his special day.
My God Bless you always Logi!

Sweet Williams

2009-11-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

This little number is for a private home that I take flowers to every time a dinner party is in order. This particular centerpiece was pretty darn economical I would say.

It's composed of yarrow, sweet williams, hypericum berries, cockscomb, spray roses, and then the ti leaf in a 6 inch cylinder vase.

Succulent Bride {Part Two: The Centerpiece}

2009-11-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

Succulent Bride Part 1

My lovely bride wanted her bridal bouquet to have green succulents, greens and pops of yellow.
So we built up form the green succulents and used cream roses and spray roses, yellow oncidiums orchids, lotus pods and china berries.

For the reception we went back to Marin and Arts Garden in Ross, CA. The couple knew they wanted to incorporate the succulents again and liked the idea of fruit in centerpeice. So when we got together to discuss the colors which were burgundy and gold, immediately I knew we would have to go for those dark succulents, some magnolia leaves, the rust colored pompoms that the bride liked and then I suggested pomegranates and she loved the idea, so we were set.

When we got to the rose color I assumed she would have picked a dark burgundy or a cream and so when I asked her to picture what we had sketched in her mind and then to tell me what color she envisioned in the roses,
she said Peach. It was quite unexpected. But it worked! :)
So here is what we came up with.

For the check in table we had a simple arrangement set up of the nice big burgundy succulent, the caramel roses, magnolia, mums and china berries.

We also had one sitting on the bar that fit perfectly in a little tiny platform.

This has been my favorite wedding combo yet!
I loved working with the succulents and I was happy with the result. It was super important to the bride that she be able to replant her flowers in her garden and I hope that she does. :)

The groom's mother met me in the parking lot and she looked at the centerpiece and then said Oh my God, give me a hug!

haha! I loved it and she totally made my day! :)

Thanks Y&T! You two are the best and I wish you much love and success!

{and they lived happily ever after....}

Candied Apple Wedding Bouquet

2009-11-11T10:55:00.000-08:00

First of all shout out to Elizabeth for making my day yesterday by emailing me and lettingme she liked my blog. Thanks so much that made me smile all day!

Thanks to Janet for helping me with naming one of my bouquets "Butterscotch" because I am working with someone to build by site and I wanted to name my bouquets and I have been playing around with the candy names, so Janet's psychic suggestion without even knowing my plan was perfect!

Here is a bouquet I madeto show a cousin of mine who is getting married next year a lot of different options for her wedding flowers. She lives out in Nevada so I will be posting everything pink and silver and black even on my blog so she can visit and let me know what she thinks.

I have a dahlia bouquet I made a couple weeks ago that I have to post but I thought I would share this one first since I will be doing an Ikebana post shortly that includes the use of the green balloon flowers.

I bought flowers from a local farmers market this time to try out a new vendor so I don't have the names of the pink roses. I also used china berries, rosehips, and green balloon flowers. At least that is what my Ikebana and I instructor calls them, but I will have to find the botanical name...does anyone know?

So does Candied Apple fit? :)

Attention Blog STEALER

2009-11-06T22:43:00.001-08:00

Stop re-posting my stuff and passing it off as your own for the ad revenue.

There is a site that I came across that has reposted my pictures and my entire posts!!!! I'm so upset...

http://topweddingflower.blogspot.com/

Go check this site out and see if you find your stuff on there because I found some stuff on there that belongs to Flower Design Jane and to a couple of other floral designers.

Succulent Bride {Part One: the Bouquet}

2009-11-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

My succulent Bride and Groom contacted me about 7 weeks before their wedding with a fabulous request; Can you make a bouquet with succulents? YEP!

So we met one Sunday after noon and sketched out a bouquet and after the easiest hour of my life, we came up with a gorgeous bouquet and centerpiece we were all excited about. :)

The bridal bouquet was composed of three types of succulents, lotus pods, cream spray roses, Blizzard roses, china berries, yellow oncidium orchids finished off with an ivory satin ribbon.

I have a lot of pictures to share but I will be MIA this weekend with an event that requires almost 100 different pieces!!!

Have a great weekend!

Yellow and Copper Wedding Bouquet

2009-11-04T19:37:00.000-08:00

Here is a trial run of the copper and yellow wedding bouquet I made this weekend.
It features rust cymbidiums orchids, yellow oncidium orchids, yellow and brown mokara orchids, yellow calla lilies, and black ti leaves.

A Happy Halloween Bride

2009-11-01T22:39:00.000-08:00

{Halloween Bride}
It was a crazy floral weekend folks...
A bridal bouquet pick up, Halloween party flowers, a mock up for a trial bouquet for a brown copper yellow wedding, and a succulent wedding today. I'm beat.

This bouquet was a quick pick up for a bridal bouquet and matching boutonniere.
It was a simple bouquet composed of peach roses, chocolate cosmos, and burgundy succulents.

The matching boutonniere was a simple rose to match on peach, a smaller burgundy succulent with a leave backing and a grosgrain brown and gold ribbon I have been harboring for a while now.

This little burgundy succulent was one of the smaller ones that I couldn't use on the centerpiece for my succulent wedding but perfect for small boutonniere.

See? Halloween bouquets don't have to be scary right?

***************************************************************************

Part two of this post is a few pictures from my sisters Halloween Party.

Iguana roses, rose hips, china berries, a tiny bit of pitto, amaranthus, and a branch that is spray painted black with some orange glitter.

This one is I wanted to make with clear separate groupings with contrasting colors.
Rust cymbidiums, yellow oncidiums, black millet, orange mokara orchids, green china berries, and red rose hips.
I printed a picture of my sister and her boyfriend on some velum paper, taped it to some cylinder vases I had, stuck a candle inside and called it day! :)

She made some cupcakes and caramel apples and borrowed my cupcake stand and created a beautiful(and yummy) display.
I was shocked when I walked into the kitchen because my sister, self admittedly ,can't boil water and this looks damn good. So good in fact I paid her a backhanded compliment and told her I thought for a split second that maybe I had made it! lol

Cutest pumpkin centipede or what?

Anyhow, hope you had a great Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-10-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!!!!

May your chocolate be plentiful

I adore Bakerella

2009-10-28T23:58:00.000-07:00

Cupcakes and love=bliss.

The.Best.Proposal.Ever.
Seriously.
Go;
http://www.bakerella.com/wedding-cake-pops/

I know I'm kinda late, but I have been slammed and just now got a chance to catch up on my favorite blogs. Bakerella posted a follow up with the answer so check it out. *sigh* I luv love....

Raspberry and Navy Blue {Part Three: Reception number 2 }

2009-10-24T16:38:00.000-07:00

Part One
Part Two

Hello there! Here is the last post on my Raspberry and Navy Blue Wedding.

So what happened to my car? Who knows, but it didn't start and thank goodness a good Samaritan from the church where we were setting up heard that awful clicking that happens when a car doesn't start and came over to give me jump. He told me it was my alternator and I thought-no, it sounded the same as when I got stuck waiting for my Lavender Bride, and thankfully when he gave the car a jump start, my car started! Turns out I didn't have to sell orchids to make it to the next reception, hehe, but can you imagine your florist getting STRANDED on your wedding day with your flowers?????

knock on wood I have a wedding this Saturday.: ( Jinx! just kidding universe....

We finally made it to the Hillsborough Racquet Club in Hillsborough California where we would be setting up a second reception for the friends and family of the bride and groom. We had a combination of high and low centerpiece. I used local seasonal flowers for the low centerpieces which included the gorgeous hot pink dahlias, some magenta phalaenopsis, super green roses hot lady roses, some fuchia stock, some lime and fuschia cockscomb, a bit of the hot pink vanda orchids and few pieces of myrtle. They sat low on the tables in a ti leaf wrapped glass cylinder vase to match the taller centerpiece.

Now I don't know where you live, but in the San Francisco flower market there was a shortage of cut Phalaenopsis Orchid stems. Normally they are everywhere and they are readily available, but the week of this particular wedding there was a shortage and NO ONE was able to fill orders for the magenta phals. My own guy who's always has them called me Monday(5 days before the wedding) and apologized that for the first time in years he was not able to fill it. They said the greenhouses were out and that I might have to buy plants at 12-16 per stem. Umm...$15 x's 20 stems =$300 x's 7 centerpeices wholesale???
No way.
Sure enough I walked around in circles and asked everyone and finally brokered(read:begged) a deal with a guy in the market that had 9 bunches left and promised to get me 15 more in the next few days. I trusted him and showed up in two days to these lovely ladies.

Not uniform in color but hey, they were all mine! He explained that he had the most difficult time filling this order and when they finally came in he had a hard time saying no to people who were willing to pay him TRIPLE what I had paid him.
All because the greenhouses were depleted.
So we made it but let me tell you it was scary...

The taller centerpiece were tall 30 inch cylinder vases that were filled with dendrobium orchids submerged in water and bunches of phalaenopsis stems in pinks, magenta's, and a variegated pink and fuchsia.

These were spread around the room and in that white room they really popped!
I wish I had better photos but I have not been able to get my camera to properly work for me and my photoshop is also compressing my pictures down. Sorry!

This was a 16 foot garland that was draped along the edge of the HUMONGOUS fireplace.

Outside of the venue there were these cool horse heads that greet you as you walk up the stairs to the reception area so we decorated this area with two simple hand held bouquets that we secured to the horse mouth using the navy blue satin ribbon.

The stairs were lined up with simple cylinder vases with gorgeous dahlia heads in deep burgundy, magenta, fuchsia, and hot pink.

Ok I saved the best for last.
The dessert table that made me stop in my tracks and say to the gals setting up
Goddamn that's a great spread!
The cake? So cute I wanted to scream. Something told me this might go over well so instead I snapped pictures to share. Check out the orchids on this cake! I gave them a few blossoms of the dendrobiums, the vandas, and the phalaenopsis and they did there thang!

The cake stand and decor werein the wedding colors of Raspberry and Navy Blue of course and would ya look at the tiers on that cupcake holder? The polka dot ribbon, the cheesecake pops, the f*&^ing caramel apple bites????stop it! I was so jealous.

But no time to relax just yet we had to make it back to the other reception to move stuff around.

Except the car wouldn't start again. :(
I was so stressed I jumped into one of the other SUV's we brought with one of my assistants and I left two other members of my crew to deal with whatever was going on with my Pacifica...(nodding head)all bad.
But luckily I was able to reach the DOC by phone, she moved some stuff for us and we got there in time to snag one picture of the wedding party and double check the centerpieces in the main reception room.

As we were leaving the reception, the rest of my crew was pulling up and were literally jumping out of the car to attack the centerpieces, but we told them that everything was already done and it was time to go. :) They sure are awesome. Allison, Mary and Debbie~you rock! :D

So my couple went on their honeymoon and I wish them the best of luck! The wedding(s) were beautiful! I wish you much love and success in your marriage, thank you for letting me be a part of it.

{They lived happily ever after...}

Raspberry and Navy Blue {Part Two:The Personal Flowers}

2009-10-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

Raspberry and Navy Blue {Part One: The set up}

{Raspberry and Navy Blue Bride}

The personal flowers were my favorite part.

The bridal bouquet was a compose of Green Hypericum berries, deep fuchsia spray roses. hot pink roses, super green roses, magenta Vanda Orchids, the gorgeous Phalaenopsis Orchid, and finally some deep pink cockscomb.
Texture city huh?

The bridesmaids bouquets included lime green cockscomb, deep fuchsia stock, green hypericum berries, hot pink roses, and super green roses.
All the bouquets were ribbon wrapped with Navy Blue Satin.

The Lucky Groom's Boutonniere used most of the same flowers in the bridal bouquet.
The bout was a single raspberry Phalaenopsis, a deep fuchsia spray rose, a tiny piece of the deep hot pink cockscomb and hypericum berries.

I always make two for the groom when I use orchids in case the bout becomes a little sad, that way the groom has a back up. :)

The fathers boutonnieres were single Phalaenopsis Orchids ribbon wrapped in navy blue satin like the groom and groomsmen, to match the super simple mother corsages.
That was a basic corsage that was a double pink Orchid with a navy blue satin bow.

The other corsages were simple fuchsia spray rose, myrtle and salal corsages with satin navy blue bow.

The rest of the wedding party had simple Hot Lady roses with a few hypericum berries and a super simple ribbon wrap in that navy blue.

I forgot to take pictures of the two Presentation Bouquets that I made for the mothers,
but when your running around and barely have time to take pictures, well, what can you do right?

I took one final picture of the waiting room before it was time to tackle reception number two.

So I walked out (quite happy with our time!) to my Pacifica, and as my crew walked to the other SUV I got in my car and it wouldn't start.
oh sh**!

Stay tuned to hear about how I had to sell orchids to hitch a ride to the next set up.....

Next up is reception number 2!

Raspberry and Navy Blue {Part One:The Church and First Reception}

2009-10-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

{Raspberry and Navy Blue Bride}

This wedding was a pretty big one for me so I will break it into three sections: The set up of the Church ceremony and reception number one, then the personal flowers, then set up of reception number two later that same day.

So basically we met up a few months ago to plan the flowers for the big day and we had to brainstorm on how to make the most out of the flowers considering that the couple had to decorate three separate areas that day.
They definitely wanted to decorate the church with two large ceremony pieces and then also decorate the pews. We also had the task of decorating 28 tables(!) in the first location, then 17 tables in the next location. Whoa is right.

{cue the violins}

I got up super early to get things going, think I'm exaggerating, check out the view.

People think its so much fun to work with flowers, and it is; but it's labor people! I get up at 4am, I wash buckets, I pick bundles of greens and flowers, and strip roses down, and drag everything around carefully so that it looks perfect, and then at the end of the day I get to go back to my studio and clean up!

Ok, ok! I really do love my job so I will stop. :)

The first location is pretty open but a little sterile so the color of the raspberry hydrangea was very much needed to liven things up.

So we got to work in our little station putting together the raspberry colored hydrangeas together with the navy blue ribbon to hang on the pews. Since we had so much to set up we had access to the church at 10:00am which was awesome but the ceremony didn't start till 3pm so we made sure to water tube the hydrangeas to prevent them from wilting.

I'm quite proud to say I personally harvested these beautiful pink hydrangeas for the wedding myself!

Once we water tubed them and slipped on the Navy Blue Satin off they were to decorate all 28 pews.

I really hoped that she was happy with the aisle decoration, I personally loved the colors!

The idea was that the pew flowers would be brought over from the pews after the ceremony and dropped into a pre-greened vase that was waiting on the tables so that they could be reused.

I loved the personalized favor boxes that they made!
Aren't they cute?!

The room was starting to come alive with color.

These two large arrangements would be placed in the front of the tall alter. The short one was for the check in table.

Here's a close up of the smaller arrangement.
Hot Lady Roses, pink dahlias, fuchsia dahlias, hot pink cockscomb,lime green cockscomb, super green roses, and the raspberry hydrangea.

Next up are the personal flowers.

Love/Hate

2009-10-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

Love working with flowers. :)
Hate waking up at the butt crack of dawn on event days. :(

Love making flowers come together and having people oooh and ahhh...:D
Hate washing buckets after the event is over.:(

*love* delivering bridal bouquets. :)
*hate*the feeling that there is not enough time to set up an event even though most times there's plenty, it's just that I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the tables, so I feel like I'm running all over the place to get it tight.. :(

*love* my life right now. :)
*hate* that I feel so busy right now!!!!

I need to slow down and smell the sunflowers.
yes, I know they don't smell but they are my fave and they make me happy so just role with my metaphor. :)

Can someone give me a blog budge when I haven't posted in like a week? I'm getting so behind with flowers, events, mock ups, school, homework, and *GULP* high school shopping for my 13 year old.....that is the scariest right now..... Seriously though, I need to get back on my blog game and visit other parts of the web for inspiration because I think it's important to be up on what's out there ya know?

Anyhow, let me give you a peek at the backed up pictures I have that I hope to post soon.

A Raspberry and Navy Blue Wedding

The tall centerpiece were Phalaenopsis Orchids on top of 30 inch cylinder vases.

Pink, Fuchsia, and Burgundy Dahlia Bouquet for a pink, silver, and black wedding.

Yellow sunflower and green centerpiece with wooden "vases" for an outdoor wedding.

Thanks for stopping by!
I'll be posting soon :)

Yellow and Purple Bride

2009-10-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

Eh? eh? see two post this week.....I'm pretty back aren't I?
***************************************************Blogger: Kuga Designs - Edit Post "Yellow and Purple Bride"

I like simple things. Simple flowers, nothing too crazy, I don't have a complicated cell phone, I can't program a DVR, I like my stuff pretty darn easy and functional....you know what I mean?simply simple.
This wedding was perfectly simple and I adored it. :)
It took place across the Bay Area in Berkeley. Yep folks, back to UC Berkeley the following weekend, except this time our destination was the UC Berkeley Faculty Club.

{Yellow and Purple Bride}
Dont'cha just wanna lay in the bed of roses?

These babies are 24 cube centerpieces lined ready to go into the back of the Pacifica.

When we got to the faculty club we had to go down a stairs or walk down a rather steep tiny hill with the centerpiece in hand. Yikes!
Thank God they let us borrow this cart to carefully roll down the hill on the side of the house.

This is the inside of the Faculty club and as you can see, we needed those bright colors to bring some warmth into this place. The room itself has incredible light coming in from the windows and the incredibly high ceilings were fabulous. The couple didn't want too many flowers, but they did want color, something low that wouldn't obstruct the flow of conversation and something that would work on long tables.

We came up with low cube glass vases with ti leaves, yellow Latina and Skyline roses, purple Cool Water roses,and some variegated pittosporum. The bud vases were also line with ti leaves and a single purple rose as well as some yellow and purple rose petals.

The round tables had the same yellow and purple centerpiece with rose petals sprinkled all around. I totally loved their personalized table number pictures.

I loved their paper products all around. The escort cards were simple white card stock with a leaf pattern that matched the cake. Super cute!

I adore3d this cake!

So simple with a soft yellow and cream print as well as that cute leaf pattern. *sigh* I want a cake like this for my bday!!!!

As we hurried to get everything done, and perfect and get outta there I glanced over and saw the first kiss as a married couple going on! So I commemorated with a picture of course and then it was off to the Bay Bridge.

This wedding was super chill. No personal flowers, did you notice? It was great, although I did miss making the bridal bouquet, but the corsages? -not so much, hehe. This bride was seriously laid back and so nice, as was her cousin from the week before {my Ikebana Bride}, so I felt really lucky to have met them both and really enjoyed working with both of them. :)

And Guess what?

{they lived happily ever after....}

Lavender Ikebana Bride

2009-10-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

Sneak Peak Part 1

This wedding had me stalking 511.org(traffic information website in California)
for traffic conditions for a week before the wedding. Why you ask? They decided to close the Bay Bridge on labor Day weekend so they could tear down one part of the bridge and rebuild another section. What a nightmare....
My normal 20 minute trip to U.C. Berkeley turned into a potentially 2 hour trip according to the news. I had to be there by 9:30 am so it was way early when I started loading the flowers.

{Lavender Ikebana Bride}

How early was it?

BUTT CRACK OF DAWN early.
The sun was literally rising as I was packing up to get all the flowers across the Bay in time as evidenced by the shadows. :)

I like it when the ivy bush had the flowering "jacks" on them.

These were a few of the centerpiece that were pre-made that morning. They had lily grass loops, variegated ivy bush, white wax flowers, white lilies, and lavender roses.

Our destination was the U.C. Botanical Garden in Berkeley CA.

We waited outside and took some pictures of the bridal bouquets as the bride was just getting into her GORGEOUS dress.

The bridal bouquet was an all calla lily bouquet made out of green goddess callas, white mini callas, lavender calla lilies and a green ivy collar tied off with a white satin corset ribbon.

Her bridal hair flowers were a compose of lavender and white spray roses with touches of green.

The Redwood Grove is where the ceremony was taking place.

I mean look at the view, beautiful tall trees covered the ceremony area.....I almost expected bambi to come out. Oh wait, it did. Just as we were walking into the ceremony location a deer came prancing out of no where to say hello! I was scared for my assistant Mary since it was between us, except she was outside 15 feet form it and I was safe in my SUV. : P

I love the theater style seating.*swoon* It was just perfect.

The flowers out there were a simple arrangement of scabiosa, green goddess callas, white callas, curly willow, lily grass and some ivy bush.

Next it was onto the reception.
Here we made two different types of centerpiece.
The first was a simple off center arrangement. The ikebana label for it is simply
"To be viewed from all around". yep. short and sweet.
The second one was two tsutsu's joined by willow.

Finally, my favorite part, the escort card table.

I fenced together equisetum(horsetail) to make a structure that I really liked.

I sliced the equisetum to hold up the place cards and elevated the whole thing by making a mat that sat on top of three vases that were also lined with horsetail.

Kinda cool huh? toot toot, I know. I'm horrible...

The day was perfect, there was ZERO traffic, the bride was gorgeous...what else could I ask for?

{They lived happily ever after....}

I'm aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!!!!!!

2009-10-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

I am a bad bad girl.
I'm sorry...I miss you too, but I'm back and ready to share a bunch of stuff that I have been doing and updates on what I'm falling into..this..fall. Ha! I'm so back, bad jokes and all. :)

Yes, I'm talking to you! :D

Hehe, these are actually favor boxes that I made as a thank you
to my husbands co-workers for coming out to his debut DJ gig in San Francisco last weekend.
Why say Thank You when you can say you're the shit?

They were my little DIY favor boxes I made for them. I used a simple laser jet printer on my home computer with a typewriter font from DAFONT.com, some brown card stock from my scrapbook box and some black satin form my black and purple wedding a few months ago. I went to Michael's and bought some candy boxes boxes for all of $1.99 and filled them up with Sees candy.

VIOLA!

I am doing my One Thing a Month challenge(so not the official name)....and I gave up soda.

I know, that may not be a stretch to some but I am a busy bee that requires soda and coffee pumping in my veins. I have given it up for the month of October and so far I have almost killed my husband and my poor kids don't know what the hell is going on! hehe...it's only day 6. :(

I'm thinking next month I'm gonna give up half and half in my coffee. I can't go black(ugh.) but I may try low or non fat. This is major people! I LOVE cream in my coffee, especially vanilla creamers and holiday peppermint that's coming up...ohh I didn't even consider that...maybe I won't give that up.
ANyWho! I am back and blogging so please come visit me soon, k
kisses and hi-five's all around. :D

Ikebana {Leaf work}

2009-09-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

The first lesson I tackled in the Sogetsu School of Ikebana book three was called:

"With Leaves Only"
So I used one Monstera leaf, two Kiwi ti leaves, and two New Zealand Flax leaves that I twisted to created a sort of windblown horizontal look.
Super simple, but I liked it a lot. So did Soho because she didn't move a thing!

See, here's the thing with Ikebana instructors, they move stuff to show you how to correctly make the placement, or they add stuff or remove stuff to create balance.

Soho is super cute because she has funny little sayings that keep you laughing even as she is tearing apart your arrangement.
Like lets say two flowers are too close together, she will say:
"These two ladies gossip too much. We need to separate so they can be peaceful"

or if you have three flowers that are not facing each other she will say:
"Look, mother and father are in a fight and the baby doesn't know where to go.
Everyone is lost"

My favorite is if you have something that is too tall and the next flower is too far away:
" Upstairs downstairs, these two are headed for divorce"

Haha,she cracks me up!
As she is telling you this she is re-arranging your flowers and the little way she will face something makes a completely different arrangement sometimes.
That is what 50 years of Ikebana does for you .

So when she doesn't move anything, it is quite a compliment :)

Here was my arrangement before.

Here is it afterward.

Notice how she added height? Made it more exciting she said, and I agree.
Man. Why didn't I think of that? She says I need to think big sometimes, not to be afraid.
Word.

Here is a closeup of the lovely red and white variegated anthuriums.

Name That Flower {Ikebana Edition}

2009-09-23T18:24:00.001-07:00

I am at a loss for the name of this flower......
It's driving me CRAZY!
Does anyone know? It's in the amaryllis family but its not an amaryllis...or is it?
This beauty was made by Soho for our lesson
"Composition of Curved Lines"

I *LOVE* it! :)

Hi!-atus

2009-09-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

Yep.
I'm a bad, bad blogger.
I've been busy with school, high school fairs, weddings, Disneyland......I have been losing my mind. But I'm back!

So check in with me this week cuz I got a ton of stuff to share :)

B

Sneak Peak at a Lavender Ikebana Bride

2009-09-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a tiny peak at my Ikebana Wedding today.
I'm super tired! I had to get up at 4:30 am to travel across the Bay to Berkley today.
Now I know that it's nothing to a Bay Area person since I am at the very edge of San Francisco, and with no traffic I'm about 20 minutes away. But this Labor Day weekend, they closed the Bay Bridge so I had to get across the water going about 57 miles out of my way....fun stuff.

So I will share pictures tomorrow :)
I made some double Tsustu arrangements as well as some simple low arrangements along with this place card mat made out of horsetail that I love and can't wait to share!

Warning: Caution*DANGERstep away from the rant

2009-08-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer:

I apologize in advance if you don't like what you are about to read. I am normally a nice...well...I am normally a reasonable, woman. :D But today, I don't really want to be PC.

The Rant:

I am a studio designer. These are my questions as I read a blog that I really like, but was thrown off because she is knocking studio and home based designers.

What if I don't want to have a bucket shop?
What if I do and I just can't afford it now in this economy?
What if retail space is almost $10k in my area?
Does this make me less of a designer than you?
What if I freelance for other studios and floral shops and I like working my own events and want to set my own hours.
What if I charge $100 for my basic bridal bouquets, and you charge $300..should I adjust? Or should you?
What if I have worked for bucket shops and their stuff is garbage and they hire me to do some stuff that I can't put my name on or document because they get the cred?
What if I my flowers were published but I couldn't get the cred because I was technically working for studio and moonlighting at the same time?
What if I am better in my baby stages than you are in your 10th or 16th year?
What if your business model sucks and you aren't competitive because of your overhead and it sucks to be you right now?
What if, hehe, what if you can't be competitive because you pay other designers to make your designs because you and your flowers are dated....

*sigh* that was the one that made me feel better to type.

So now I'm coming back to happy land.

Just do me a favor, don't knock our hustle.
You don't know what we are up to, but we are coming. :)
Hitting publish before I change my mind.

Industrial Chic

2009-08-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

I love it when couples are willing to try something new.
I love that someone wants to see what copper mesh and succulents would look like and mostly, I love creative freedom. :D

A while back I made a napkin ring holder that was a lotus pod made out of copper mesh and decorative wire. I liked it but I didn't have a place where I could show it off. I also wanted something to mix it with something sustainable and so I found the perfect union. I have a bunch of horsetail and succulents growing outside, and left over copper mesh and copper wire, so I suggested to a bride that was looking for something in green to consider the addition of copper.

Here is what I call Industrial Chic.

This is a corsage with a matching boutonniere.

Here's a close up of the boutonniere, it's made out of equisetum and a small succulent with a copper mesh wound around it.

Hope you like!

Horsetail{Equisetum} Ikebana

2009-08-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

*excuse the quality of my pictures, I have not yet figured out how to fix my settings : } *

Pink Echinacea Pods and Equisetum were the stars in my "Massed lines to Create a Surface" lesson for my Sogetsu School of Ikebana Book Three.
I also got my certificates for books one and two today.
*deep bow*
Thank you.

Hehe, I'm a little giddy since I have been patiently waiting for these to come from Japan for about 5-6 months now and they are here now and I love them. The paper is beautiful and one is written in Japanese and the other in English. :)

Ost Inspired

2009-08-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

I have a ton of people I admire, so I won't bore you with my list of fabulous designers, but I will share with you my project on Daniel Ost. If you are not familiar, just go and check out his site and come back. I don't mind, go ahead. :)

The New York Times did a piece on him here and here is an excerpt:

"While bouquets and centerpieces are the core of his repertory, Ost is also known for his exuberant installations that venture into the realm of sculpture. Massive rings of rhododendrons displayed in a field look like supernatural, organic wheels, while a meticulous construction of dogwood and bright eucalyptus leaves resembles the stained-glass windows of a Gothic cathedral. Ost is just as likely to work with branches, seaweed and fruit as he is with fresh blossoms."

He is a master at repetition and he plays with only a couple elements at a time, making his flowers, well, art.

So for a project in my events class, my group had to report on Ost(not a problem) and make some sample designs that incorporate his look with a twist.

I went back in the vault to find these babies, I almost forgot about them until recently that I pulled them out because I will be recreating one of these for a wedding.
The first one was a structure inspired by his outdoor garden work. This is equisetum that has been fenced together with 18 gauge wire to stand all by itself.

One of my classmates calls this the Emerald City design :)

The mechanics, as you can see, are river rocks to make sure it doesn't topple over.

The third one was made out of Mitsumata Branches.

{Knud Neilson Company}

I contorted the branches into a chandelier and then hung up decorative glass vases and water tubes with White Phalaenopsis.
My structure is a fraction of what Ost does.

This is a cascading arrangement made out of Calla Lilies and Green Goddess Lilies, variegated lily grass, curly willow and some greens.

Here they are together!

So I hope you like my Daniel Ost inspired post!
If you ever come across one of his books,
snag it and RUN!

Blogs I heart

2009-08-15T01:48:00.001-07:00

Too many to actually read on a daily, but I do gets my fix in.
I updated my blog list if you want to take a look at some pretty cool blogs on flowers, weddings, inspiration and things. I went from about 10 to 30, some oldies but goodies, something I just found. I have like 30 more but I think I will rotate them in and out. The big ones that everyone has linked are in the old Google Reader too, but I like to keep the hidden gems close. :)

Whenever I find a blog I heart, I go through all the blogs they list to see what they are working with, ya know?
Takes me to some cool places across the web.

Got any blogs for me, bring them on!

Lime Green

2009-08-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

Chartreuse, Citron, Lime- whatever! Me loves :)

Yep, I love me some lime.
My wedding colors were Chocolate Brown and Lime Green and my business cards are as well.
So naturally I'm drawn to these arrangements and ribbon.

I made this little guy for my viewing pleasure at home.
I like to make myself stuff that I haven't seen anywhere and that doesn't necessarily follow the rules of what flowers are "supposed" to look like.
Kind of looks mushroom-y right? But I like the clean color of the yellow cymbidium throats (Don't worry- I don't usually kill my cymbidiums mob style, I'm working on something and these were the broken cymbidiums that couldn't be used) and the green kermit mums and the ivory urn.

I've been a happy camper buying up the cool ribbon in the dollar section at Michael's lately.
I usually buy ribbon from the supply stores at the Flower Market but these fun patterns have been catching my eye.

I hold on to these whimsical ribbons in case anyone ever says they want some super cute ribbon but sadly no one has been adventurous enough yet.

I like the look of a solid ribbon, don't get me wrong.

Simple is quite pretty, too.
This is a simple kermit mum accented with tips of green larkspur and ivy, then ribbon wrapped with a thin yellow satin ribbon.

But then again, take a look a this pink boutonniere. It has a little pink larkspur, some pink cockscomb and some hot pink cockscomb. The white ribbon has gold, fuschia and aqua designs on it and I love it!

I love that cockscomb looks like velvet:)
Nature sure is sweet.

Molto Grazie

2009-08-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

Clustrmaps sent me an email that I exceeded my map capacity. hehe, I don't know why but that cracks me up. Every time someone pops by, they leave a red dot on my map from the country or state they visited from. My map was completely red in the U.S. and in other random places.
(I'm huge in Japan, lol)

So it restarted itself! I just noticed the map was different when I finally opened up my email today.
I have had 120,500 hits to my spot!!!swe-eet.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

B

Cornflower and Saffron

2009-08-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

Or blue and yellow if you want to keep it real, heehee.

Personal flowers for a yellow and blue wedding.
Personally I love bright bouquets, these colors are fun.

Simple little blue boutonniere from one blue cornflower with a black satin wrap and some decorative wire.

Go lakers! not. I'm a Celtics fan.:P
GO CAL!(yeah, I can get down with that)

Raspberry and Navy Blue

2009-08-11T23:40:00.001-07:00

Mockups are fun!