Summer Loving: Inspirador Open House

Vintage Pop Bottles Make Awesome Bud Vases! 

Tonight was our Summer Lovin' open house with Inspirador. I had so much fun and met a lot of great people. We even distributed bouquets to a wedding rehearsal happening as we were working the open house! Good times. :)

Our task was a simple one but I can't do anything in a simple, small way. Something about the way my brain in wired.... Anyway, the folks at Inspirador wanted us to do a "farmer's market" set-up where we helped guests assemble small fresh-picked bouquets. 

So.....

We used our normal booth set-up for our bridal shows and turned it into a flower stand. It was quite a project but I think it turned out well. I had a space for wrapping the small bouquets in butcher paper and twine and there was a small space to display my favorite bouquet ever (we'll see in a minute) and a few arrangements.

A Cigar Box is the Perfect Container for Orange Sunflowers and a Succulent

An Old Pitcher Filled with Orange Ranunculus and Blue Anemone

We're well into 2009 and this year's hot colors have been "Lapis" a dark purple ala David's Bridal and, of all things, the oft-overlooked yellow. So when I went to the wholesaler I made a beeline for all the purple and yellow. A lot of it went into the flowers we used for the flower stand but this bouquet has got to be one of my favorite pieces ever!

The yellow Billy Balls are a great contrast to that deep, dark purple. The white and purple callas are called Picasso and the rest of the bouquet featured sweet pea, anemone and scabiosa. Pictures cannot do this bouquet justice!

And there wasn't even a succulent in it! :)

We had a lot of positive feedback and I can't wait to work with them again!

Hooray for Pro Pics!

I love, love, love when my clients send professional pictures from their weddings! Somehow a professional photographer makes my flowers look so much better than my little digital camera.

It's a gift!

Here is a small selection from Rachel's wedding on May 9th. You may recall my succulent entry a few weeks ago. Her soft bouquets with a pop of succulent texture...heavenly. :)

The photographer was Harold Tseu from To Have and To Hold in Chandler. They look great. I can't wait to see more!

Inspirador Open House

I've blogged in the past about my love of Inspirador in old town Chandler. I love that place. 

I was honored when they asked me to participate in their open house next week. It has a fun summer theme and I will try to bring some fun summer designs along.

Our booth will feature a "farmer's market" where I will help you design a simple bouquet to enjoy at home.

If would like to come please RSVP by email: info@butterflypetals.com I have to let Inspirador know how many fun, flower-loving folks I'm bringing along!

Please call or email for more information.

Bridal Show Time Again

The Arizona Bridal Show is Sunday June 7th in the Phoenix Convention Center.

As usual we're very excited to not only showcase our work but also provide flowers for the fashion show.

This is the only bridal show we're participating in this year. It's an excellent opportunity to see my work in person and get a feel for what I do.

This year I am working with a theme. It's a tongue-in-cheek approach to summer. I hope you stop by and say hello!

Here are some shots of our booth from the last couple of shows. You can't miss us. We try really hard to set ourselves apart and keep our booth as fun and unique as possible. If you have any suggestionss, maybe arrangements or bouquet styles you'd like to see, shoot me an email and I will see what I can do!

Thanks again to all the brides who stopped by in January!

Succulents!

I know, I know you're oh so tired of hearing me say how much I love them but....look how pretty they are how can you resist? You know you love them too!

The point of this post is to show off the two succulent weddings I had this weekend. Both were unsual in the sense that rather than combine the usual earthy colors with succulents I used very romantic colors, deep purples and pinks and a nice ivory pink and green combination.

They're so versatile and add amazing texture to even the most traditional bouquet. 

They come in many sizes so they're perfect for corsages and boutonnieres.

Mother's Day

I worked in a shop for a long time. Each flower holiday was stressful  and tiring and full of long hours. I vowed that when going it alone I would work only on weddings.

Well I've been a little more flexible lately. I've done baby shower arrangements, anniversary parties, Valentine's Day and now Mother's Day.

Holiday work is a lot more fun when you do it for people you know. :)

Yellow is a huge color this year and when I shopped for flowers it was everywhere.

I chose white iris, white calla lilies and yellow daffodils for a fun spring arrangement. The blue agapanthus is an awesome contrast for the bright yellow.

Sunflowers also make me happy. I paired them with yellow button mums and the blue agapanthus. The galvanized container makes it a less formal arrangement.

Finally my favorite an Asian-Ikebana like arrangement in lime green and black. The flowers were a little funkier. I used Fuji mums, green Kermit mums, green dendrobium orchids and some tropical greenery.

My favorite element was the Kangaroo's paw. It's a funky little touch and its natural black and lime green set the tone for the whole arrangement.

I forgot to take pictures of my own Mother's arrangement. Oops! :)

Old Hollywood Dahling

I was in L.A. all week preparing for a big Star-studded event in June. So what better way to kick off my working vacation than a Hollywood-themed wedding?

Shelly had awesome vision for her vintage Hollywood event. I hear her centerpieces featured ostrich feathers and boas. Very luxurious, very Marlena Dietrich or Mae West.

When I arrived at her church to drop off an altar piece, movie themes were playing, everything from "Singing in the Rain" to the Star Wars theme.

The starlet theme carried into her bouquets as well. I used ostrich trim rather than the giant feathers. It softened the edges and gave the bouquets a glam look.

Her red and black bouquet was the star but the soft ivory bridesmaid bouquets were also very Hollywood.

It was a fun event and I hope the guest enjoyed it as much as I did!