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

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!

Industrial Chic

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!

Pink Wedding in a Green Room

Green Room you ask? Yes. The color is...ummmm...an interesting color green. Loved by some, loathed by most. It is what I loving call a retro puke green color. I love the layout of the room, the high ceiling the chandeliers, the view, my God, the view. The color ,however, is a color that you have to work with. When my Hot Pink bride came and inquired about services in the Green Room in San Francisco of course I made myself available. I have wanted to work this venue for quite some time and I was happy to be able to provide color via the flowers to the room.
The Green Room in San Francisco is in the Veterans Building right in back of City Hall. It was originally designed as a lounge for WW1 veterans but now it's used for special events, performances weddings and the occasional photo shoot.
My daughter has her spring concert there every year because the room is right across the hall from the Hearbst Theatre.

Anyhow, when my Hot Pink Bride {who was almost my multicolored bride or actually my Polychromatic a.k.a. Pollyanna Bride} contacted me I was delighted to work with her!
She knew her flowers and as a matter of fact I believe she was trying to DIY her flowers, but realized about 4 weeks before the wedding that was out of the question.

I have had a lot of brides contact me for help on this and for last minute wedding orders because the idea of this seems doable at the time but as the wedding approaches they see that it will be hard to nearly impossible for them to get the look they want and still be sane by the wedding date. It can be done, since I did my own wedding flowers, but ask me again if I would ever do it.
HA!
I have a picture of me in full makeup with my veil on and sweats, WIRING my husbands boutonniere.
I will just fly SPROUT or JANET over here to arrange my flowers for me.{wink}

Ok, sorry for the rants....

{Hot Pink Bride}

Here is the brides and the MOH bouquet.
The bride knew she wanted to brighten up the room and wanted to have flowers that were
really pink with touches of fuchsia and pops of lime.
I used pink esperance roses, bright pink spray roses, hypericum berries, green cymbidiums, Jade roses, and gloriosa lilies.

The grooms boutonniere was matching green cymbidium, hypericum berries,
and pink spray rose.
I delivered these to the groom while my crew went to the Green Room around the corner form the hotel and I must say, this was the calmest groom I have ever seen. Usually there is nervous excitement or chatter or they say they are ok but they keep asking questions or fidgeting, but he was so cool.

The corsages and boutonnieres were simple.
She wanted them bright and colorful so we chose the magenta dendrobiums with green hypericum a simple ribbon loop on the side.


The drive to the venue was short and sweet. I could literally see it from where i was parked to unload the personal flowers. San Francisco's City hall is so beautiful to me. No matter how many times I drive by, especially at night when all the lights are on, I am always in love with this building.

Here is a shot of the Green Room with the chivari chairs lined up ready for the aisle.
The aisle is pretty wide because the tall centerpiece would be placed in the aisle to mark the front, last and middle rows in the pews. Later they would be moved to the high centerpiece.

The chandeliers are my favorite in this room.
I love the crown molding.

So are ya checking out the color of the room? Its like an old pale green with gold accents?

Here is the crew setting up the amber up lights.
The room definitely needed the burst of color. To give it energy, like ADIZAT, said. hehe

The weather and the view were stunning that day.

The centerpiece were tall arrangements in 26 inch tapered vases composed of dahlias in four colors, roses in three shades of hot pink, Jade rose, bells of Ireland, lime spider mums, and some lime kermit mums.

The inside of the tapered vase was a simple design of pink dahlias and spray roses.

The low centerpiece were arranged in a mint julep cup and the dahlias were just so big and juicy it didn't take that many to fill out a nice 10 inch diameter.
Here I used pink dahlias, mauve dahlias, cheery o roses, jade roses, shocking versilias, esperance roses, some dendrobium and cymbidums, pink hydrangeas, kermit mums, and a bit of the bells of Ireland.

We placed a small arrangement at the guest check in table and look at how cute they are with all their pictures.

The tall ceremony sprays were placed at the head of the aisle on two chocolate linen tables.

The third centerpiece were floating dahlias in water with a little bit of the glass rocks provided by the couple.
We were supposed to have three sets of centerpiece but when we arrived on site we learned that the cocktail tables needed arrangements and one of the larger glass bowls was accidentally broken so we ended up using the extra cylinder vases that were on hand and these fishbowls to create 8 extra pieces. Thank God I always bring an extra bucket of Flowers with me for these instances.

These were the cocktail table centerpiece we placed on the outside area
.
The couple had the most darling pictures of themselves as children at every table and these were the perfect size for the tables out there.

How cute right? They had soooo many pictures of themselves at different stages of their childhood and I thought that these two were very much loved by their families as they grew up. I spoke with the grooms mother the morning of the wedding as I delivered the personal flowers and expressed my thoughts on how sweet the bride was and she just lit up and agreed she was the perfect addition to their family. :) *sigh* I love weddings!

So the happy couple are on their Honeymoon now and I can't wait to see the pro pics by Lisa+James photography.

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

Lavender Bride{ The Ceremony}

{Lavender Bride}

The venue was in Saint Mary's College in Moraga, California.


The campus is gorgeous and I was pulling in to the driveway I noticed 3 large dogs on the side of the road and I thought rather cynically to myself,
What the..? Moraga has dough, why would they have random dogs out? Furthermore, who's cleaning their poop?
So San Francisco of me I know.
Imagine my surprise(and delight) when I rolled up three deer(doe?) and my Ughh. turned into Awwww...Bambi!
I had to commemorate with a picture,naturally.

I arrived before the wedding party so while I waited I chatted with the videographer, who's name escapes me(sorry!) and we both took pictures of the flowers while we waited.

The flower girls had a beautiful color purple dress so I made these flower baskets for them using lavender sweet peas, mauve spray roses, mauve statice, lavender roses, white spray roses, purple stock, and seeded eucalyptus.

Here is one of the Reader and singer corsages.
Mojika Cream Spray Roses with seeded euc.


Here is the usher boutonnieres.
A single Ocean Song rose with a little bit of the seeded Eucalyptus.

This color purple always seems to give me a bit of grief.
Color really is subjective to the interpretation of the beholder.
I order Blue Curiosas, for this wedding, and the grower told me not available, we can get Blue Bird roses telling me it was scary close to it in color. So I was happy with it, well the day before he called and said we were sent Cool Waters so when I got there my stomach sank as I realized the color was way to Mauve for me. So I ran around the market and finally got my hands on these Ocean Songs which were the perfect color. A true lavender.
So all you purple brides out there that want to have purple or lavender flowers for your wedding, remember: Ocean Song roses are your best bet.

The bridal bouquet was composed of lavender Ocean Song roses, lavender sweet peas, and white stephanotis with peal head accents.

As the bride made her way into the bridal waiting room, I set up the flowers for the wedding party. I love to see the flowers all lined up ready to go.
I always feel like a proud mother knowing that these flowers that I worked hard and lovingly on will go out and accent the beautiful bridesmaids and bride on a very special day.


While they got ready, I went outside to pin on corsages and boutonnieres.

Are these not the cutest Ring bearers ever?
Waiting diligently in the same spot right in front of the church doors.

I came back in to catch one of the bridesmaids taking a picture of flower girl baskets. :)

DIVAS!

I thought it was so appropriate that the Bride would have a chalk board in her waiting room because she is a school teacher!

Last but not least was the bride just before it was time for me to go and her time to step into her gorgeous dress.

The last thing she said to me was that she knew she wanted stephanotis and rose but that when she imagined her wedding day flowers it was nothing like this.
My heart did a flip flop.
She said it was better and so much more than she could have imagined and she hugged me and said Thank you I'm so glad you made my flowers!

oh god.
I almost cried.
The only floral designer in town that even thinks of crying when she gets a compliment.
I was on a high and i felt incredibly lucky to have helped C&E out on their big day.
She was so happy and he was so excited to see her that I left thinking to myself.
What a nice couple, I bet they will have a ton of babies and have great big parties with a lot of family and friends always. *sigh* I couldn't wait to get home to see my husband suddenly.

{ They lived happily ever after...}

AIFD Symposium{Modern Personal Flowers}

I think by far what inspired me the most was the boutonnieres and corsages that I saw.

The personal flowers were modern and funky. I would totally wear these myself. :P
Again, they were all from the AES evaluation I posted about yesterday.

Pretty nice contemporary designs right?