Yeah I do Traditional Stuff Too :)

I have to admit, I am a funky florist. Or at least an earthy, goofy, quirky one! I am drawn to clients with any touch of creativity and I strive to capture that in their work.

You've seen feathers, you've seen cactus and I've even thrown in a vegetable or two. But I also take traditional clients and do my best to capture their vision too.

Dalilah had a black and hot pink color scheme. We used  "Hot Stuff" roses to capture that fun hot pink and pink mini cymbidium orchids. 

I had some spare black aspidistra greenery and I used this tropical plant to bring in some loops of "black."  

It was simple, traditional and still quite beautiful.

Rose and Cymbidium Orchid Bridal Bouquet

Desert Sunset

Natalie was awesome from the get-go so I couldn't wait for her wedding on March 28th. 

Her colors were deep orange and persimmon. She also loved desert touches like my beloved succulents. 

The event was held at Boojum Tree which I am in love with, so all in all the whole wedding was just a Butterfly Petals Love Fest! :)

First her bouquet has got to be one of my favorites of all time. I used deep orange callas, orange tulips, orange Mokara orchids, and a deep rusty orange rose called Terracotta. The whole bouquet was sprinkled with three different types of succulents. My favorite was a funky, spiky, orange-tipped lime green which just hit the mark for this whole event.

The Bride's Bouquet

Each of the bridesmaids carried a different flower in their bouquet. Of course I was so in love with them I forgot to photograph them! I will definitely stalk the photographer's website until I can find photos! :)

The centerpieces were three-different styles. A simple floating orange dahlia, a traditional arranged bouquet with hydrangea, carnations, roses, dahlias and amaranthus and, my favorite, tall vases topped with moss, manzanita and little miniature orange carnations. Each vase was filled with rocks and a single succulent.

Centerpiece Details

I loved this wedding! Thank you so much Natalie and Donny for allowing me to be a part of it!

Ceremony Decor

Vendor Shout Out: KaraLayne Photography

In the bridal world there are those who are good at their job, those who are ok at their job, and then those that knock my socks off with their amazing talent!

Kara from KaraLayne Photography asked me if I would like to donate a bouquet for a wedding photo shoot she was doing with a few other photographers.

I jumped at the chance because I love doing bouquets just for the fun of it.

You can learn more about the shoot in Kara's Blog.

I made a bouquet of orange parrot tulips and coral pink tulips. The whole bouquet had a collar of lime green hydrangea. I also made a boutonniere for the "groom" in the photo shoot.

The one picture I was able to get my hands on is gorgeous! And seriously, who are those people modeling? Did they come from some other universe inhabited by beautiful people?

Kara's work looks like it came straight from a magazine. I immediately became obsessed with her blog and many, many entries in was surprised to find out we've worked together before!

The wedding I have on my blog as the "plum perfect" was shot with such great detail.

Now that I know those pictures exist I can't wait to get my hands on more!

Awesome job Kara! I make the bouquets, she makes them look amazing!

Another Stunning Succulent Event!

I know, I know you're sick of hearing about succulents! Well too bad because there are many more to come! :)

Andrea was a bride planning from Michigan. We never met face-to-face so I was really hoping I could capture her vision in spite of the miles between us.

Her colors were deep aubergine purple and green. We used the purple as an accent and used green flowers and succulents as a tribute to her destination wedding in the desert!

I used a variety of succulents including deep chocolate/almost plum echeverias.

The Bride's Bouquet

Other flowers included Fuji mums, ranunculus and green hypericum berries.

The bridesmaid and junior bridesmaids each carried a bouquet with their very own succulent variety.

Bridesmaid and Junior Bridesmaid Bouquets

Close-up of Junior Bridesmaid and Bridesmaid 

The moms carried small clutches of white ranunuculus, green hypericum berries and lovely grey/sage succulents.

The Moms' Bouquets

The flower girl wore a crown of Yoko Ono mums.

Flower Girl Halo

The groom wore a green roses accented by a small succulent which was growing as a baby on one of the bride's succulents. Isn't that cute? Or am I the only one who sees desert plants as adorable? ;)

Groom's Boutonniere

The centerpieces were quite simple. Square vases filled with green Fuji mums, white ranunculus and a pretty succulent taking center stage.

The Centerpieces

The bride gave little baby succulents as favors and I loved that!

I was a little worried since I never met her face-to-face even on her wedding day, but she sent me this email and it took away all my fears!

"Amanda,

I wanted to thank you so much for the gorgeous flowers that you did for my wedding.

It all turned out spectacular! It was very difficult planning the wedding from Michigan and not being able to meet anyone, but I was overjoyed on how wonderful it was!

I'm sorry I wasn't able to meet you in person to tell you how great it all turned out!! My aunt and uncle in the area will refer you and your business.


Thanks again,

Take care,

Andrea"

Thanks Andrea! Congratulations and I can't wait to see professional pictures!

A Little Touch of Asia

Any of my clients who meet me at my home/office know how much I love Asian culture, decor, Buddhism, the whole deal. Every time I meet a client interested in an Asian-themed wedding, I'm over the moon! :)

Tammy's wedding on the 14th of March gave me the perfect excuse to bring in some fun Asian touches to my bouquet work.

The bride's bouquet was a fairly traditonal bouquet of black magic roses accented by a touch of lemon leaf. To bring an Asian flair to her bouquet, I hid the stems in horestail bamboo.

Bride's Bouquet

The bridesmaids bouquets were a lot of fun! I used white hand-fans and attached deep red roses and the horestai bamboo. The overall effect was very fun and very Asian!

Bridesmaid Fans

We used the wire lanterns as the centerpieces and surrounded them by deep red rose petals. Each contained an electric tea light. I completely forgot to take pictures because I'm a goofball on delivery day! So I hope I have some professional pictures to share soon!

Butterfly Petals in Florist's Review!

Every March and September I wait anxiously for the Wedding Issue of Florist's Review.  What is Florist's Review? It's the premier magazine for florists across the nation. It shares tips for everything from running a successful florist's shop to how to assemble a wedding bouquet.  It's a National Magazine and I've been reading it for ten years.

This year I finally got the guts to enter the "Picture Perfect Weddings" contest.  I entered one of my succculent weddings and while I didn't win, they did put my picture in the magazine which I thought was awesome! :) 

Even if they put everyone who enters in the magazine, this was still a pretty big deal for me so I decided to share! 

Here we are on page 61:

The wedding was March of last year. It's featured on my portfolio page as "Simply Succulent." The photographer was Darby Elizabeth and the pictures were awesome!

Mossy Magic!

I knew I loved Holly and Rick when they compared my work to Brian Froud, a fantasy artist who worked on the Dark Crystal. One of my all time favorite "growing up in the 80s" movies! 

I took it as a compliment check out: www.worldoffroud.com

The couple loved my natural, woodsy style from my booth at the June bridal expo. I couldn't wait to bring their funky, unique vision to life!

Everything about the wedding was unique and suited the couple perfectly. From the location, Boojum Tree Hidden Gardens (I am in love with this venue), to the black and white converse tennis shoes the guys, including the dads wore with their classic tuxes. It was so much fun and we couldn't ask for better weather!

The color scheme was Red and Black. I've done this combination a million times, it's striking, it's sensual, it's almost gothy--but I've never taken liberties and combined it with mossy, woodsy textures for an actual bride. I've only done really funky stuff for the shows...until now. :)

The bride's bouquet contained "black" mini calla lilies, moss, trailing amaranthus, fiddlehead fern shoots, and other natural textures.

The Bride's Bouquet

The bridesmaid bouquets contained red calla lilies and fewer natural touches.

The Bridesmaid Bouquets

The groom specifically asked for seed pods or other natural touches in his boutonniere, I gladly complied! :)

The Groom's Boutonniere

The groomsmen had simpler, but still striking boutonnieres made with red calla lilies. The couple's son Ethan was the cutest ring bearer ever!

The Most Handsome, Mohawked Ring Bearer Ever!

Congrats Rick and Holly! It was such a pleasure, I can't wait to see your professional pics! :)

The Three-Wedding Saturday!

This was a busy weekend for me! I had four weddings total, three on Saturday. Yes, I am a crazy woman! But each was so unique, I couldn't resist. And for those wondering, three weddings is unusual even for me.

My first wedding was at Foothills Golf Club in Awahtukee. The simple pink and chocolate color scheme came to life with some fun textural flowers including light pink dahlias, bouvardia, pink spider mums, roses and mini pink cymbidium orchids. The fiddlehead fern added a nice chocolate, whimsical touch.

The Bride's Bouquets

The Bridesmaid Bouquets

My next wedding took me to two locations. St. Andrew's in Chandler and the Castle at Ashley Manor. Lourdes had a chocolate and red color scheme and wanted to bring it to life with earthier touches like succulents and manzanita branches.

We used two of her 16 centerpieces at the church as altar pieces. A great way to do double duty!

Altar Pieces

I forgot to take pictures of her bouquets but we were able to shoot the lovely bride as she posed for her family! Hopefully, I can have some professional pictures. The bouquets used tiger liiles, dahlias and spider mums. They were accented by chocolately red hypericum berries, fiddlhead fern and succulents.

The Beautiful Bride

The Castle at Ashley Manor actually has an in-house florist. I believe they now require all brides to use their vendors, but I am lucky enough to have a few weddings on the books for the Castle in '09. I think Lourdes's centerpieces were fun and gave a unique spin to the Tuscany castle feel.

We used gerbera daisies provided by The Castle's in-house florist and accented manzanita brances with trailing crystals and hanging amaranthus in three colors: red, green and bleached white. 

Tree Centerpieces

The other tables brought the bling inside the vase with oversized clear decorative crystals. They were topped with ivory hydrangea and gerbera daisies.

Gerbera-Topped Centerpieces

My third wedding was another fun one! Lindsay wanted to capture the wine color in her bridesmaid dresses. I suggested actually using grapes in the centerpiecs to capture a wine feel. She told me they were honeymooning in Napa and that sealed the deal! 

We put grapes in all the bouquets too!

Grape-Accented Bouquets

Lindsay also brought two pieces of antique pillow edging and a brooch of her grandmother's. I used both to accent her bouquet. The flowers used were hydrangea, "black" calla lilies, purple anemone and red mini cymbidium orchids.

The Bride's Bouquet with Antique Accents

More Shots of the Bride's Bouquet

The wedding took place at McCormick Ranch, another of my favorite venues.

Centerpieces Awaiting Placement

Close-up of Centerpiece