A Wedding at the Zoo

Elizabeth and Ken had a fun wedding at the Phoenix Zoo. They chose Ruby's House, dedicated to the memory of Ruby the Elephant.

Ruby was a Phoenix staple. She was famous worldwide for her ability to paint picture-she was beloved in Phoenix and we all mourned when she died giving birth (at over 20 years old!).

Even though the wedding featured lots of purple flowers, Elizabeth and Ken were open to succulents. I used them in his boutonniere and on the arch swag, which contained my special nod to Ruby--Elephant's Food. A fun succulent.

Elizabeth's bouquet featured deep purple stock, white and lavender lisianthus, lavender freesia and seeded eucalyptus greenery.

Ken's boutonniere featured a large succulent, a cymbidium orchid, and lavender freesia for color.

Another Surprise!

We discovered this afternoon that we were published in another wedding publication!

Jeanine and Noah's May 2009 wedding was featured in the January/February issue of the Wedding Chronicle. You may have picked one up for free at the bridal show in January.

The photos were courtesy of Cosey Photography--they even used one of our bouquets for their advertisement in the Chronicle.

You can read the article and see our really fun succulent bouquets here:

http://www.butterflypetals.com/pdf/WeddingChronicle2010.pdf

There are also some nice shots of the groom, their super cute doggy, some centerpieces and more! It was a really fun event and I'm excited to have more print exposure!

My Arts and Flowers Piece

I know I kept it from you but I really felt you had to see my design in person. Not only mine--all the awesome 50+ designs throughout the museum.

My piece of art was "Mrs. Koch and Her Children." It's a Victorian painting of a mother and her two daughters. I chose the painting because I loved how Mrs. Koch looks like she really loves her girls. So many family portraits are stiff and formal. Mrs. Koch's dress is frou frou and over-the-top. While it was probably the fashion in Victorian times I had to laugh. She probably wore that get up to do everyday chores--the laundry, dishes, taking care of her daughters--I'm lucky if I get a shower, let alone get my makeup and hair done!

But that's another point too--she's put together but not quite "perfect." Her hair is a little messy. Her cheeks are flushed as if she just barely wrangled her girls in time for the painting. One daughter has her dress up over her knees and the other is missing shoes (they sit, cute and detailed right under her little bare feet).

I decided to capture Mrs. Koch's gown for my flower piece. I hope I did her proud!

I tried to stay true to the dress-I wanted a fitted bodice and full skirt. I used white roses, white hydrangea, and Million Star baby's breath for the skirt. I created a little waist sash with lily grass and a little side detail using white peonies. We wanted the piece to appear as though the painting had come to life. My dad and husband built a frame for the base and we trimmed it with decorative molding similar to the frame on the painting.

The bodice was my favorite part. We used silver tree, a plant native to South Africa. It has a naturally blue/green appearance and it was the perfect compliment to the sea-foam color of Mrs. Koch's dress. We glued the leaves on by hand. My husband wove lily grass into a corset similar to the one on the painting. I wasn't patient enough for this task and I think he did a great job! :) The dress in the painting doesn't have detail on the shoulders but I wanted a pop of color somewhere so I added little shoulder details with ti leaf loops and cymbidium orchids.

I wanted the piece to be 3D so I added a little train to the back of the dress using lots of Million Star baby's breath and white hydrangea.

I hope you like it as much I liked creating it! I am so pleased with how it turned out. Ironically mine was not the only dress or bust made of flowers. There were five! Which was crazy! Somehow we were all thinking on the same wave length. None of us collaborated before hand and the museum league told us this was the first year anyone made a single dress out of flowers--let alone five! :) It was great fun to see how each designer chose to represent fashion through flowers.

Showing Off..Again! :)

So this post is actually two-fold.

First I get to show off my little man again. Second, I get to show off the work of my favorite photographer, Elyse Hall.

I love all my photographers but Elyse is the one I go to for all my family pictures. I love her candid style and she's sweet as can be.

She is of course an awesome wedding photographer as well. I have some of her professional shots of my work and if my lovely husband ever gets around to my website (*uh hem, hint hint honey!*), I plan on having several galleries showing off her work!

Until then, enjoy these candid newborn photos! Elyse was sweet enough to loan us her house--a great source of natural light and some really fun props!

This Just In!

I was featured in Arizona Weddings Magazine and didn't even know it!

Just about a year ago I designed fun succulent bouquets for a desert-themed event at Different Pointe of View.

The talented photographer was Priddy Photo and we are actually planning a feature gallery on our website showcasing the fun pink and green event.

Well I was tickled to find Rachel's pictures of my flowers throughout the February issue of Arizona Weddings!

Here we are on pages 38-39:

And on page 32, where our pomander leads the section "75 Ways to Make Your Wedding Unique":

And my favorite, a nice spread with credit on pages 230-231. The wedding is the second in the section entitled "Arizona Weddings' Style Spotlight" Oh, how I love having a spotlight on our work!

Thanks to Rachel Priddy for the awesome shots--this is why we love our photographers; they make our work magazine ready!

Want to See My Arts and Flowers Exhibit?

(image from Arizona Foothills Magazine)

I have pictures. Beautiful, full-color pictures of my lovely arrangement in the museum....can you see them? Nope!

You can't see my lovely arrangement unless you come to Arts and Flowers this weekend at the Phoenix Art Museum!

Remember, admission tomorrow is absolutely free from 6 p.m to closing. I'll be there from 6-9 p.m. to discuss my arrangement and just generally schmooze with museum patrons.

Come on by so you can see the lovely piece in person! I'll give you some directions though--I'm upstairs in the Steele Gallery. I'm situated among gorgeous oil paintings and, my favorite part of the museum, the dollhouse miniatures.

See you there!