Pro Pic Parade

I am in desperate need of updated pro galleries! When you're married to your web programmer you sometimes have to wait for updates. Uh-hem--Honey you reading this?

So I decided to give you some sneak peeks.

I'll try to go in order of event!

I've posted pictures of Rachel's wedding before but she sent me another set and they are just lovely! Thanks Harold Tseu from To Have and To Hold Photography!

This next step is from the dreamy March wedding of Hawlie and JP. When your bride is model-gorgeous the flowers look that much better! :) The shots are from the talented Ben Quillinan from Ben Quillinan photography. He won the prestigious Knot.com's Best of Weddings this year and it's little wonder why!

Ben sent us so many awesome shots I can't wait to showcase his work!

Of course no gallery would be complete without the lovely Kirstin! You probably recognize her from the landing page on our site. Her peacock-themed wedding is one of my all-time favorites and I can't believe we're closing in on a year since this awesome event! The photos are from Dawn Rosa Cole.

This is just a small sampling. I have a ton of awesome photographers waiting to show up on my site so stay tuned!

It's in the Mail....

Last year I had an awesome time at "Arts and Flowers." It's the coolest event on the planet. Hosted by the Phoenix Art Museum League, the event allows local floral designers to interpret art pieces throughout the museum in fresh flowers.

It was so cool and I knew I had to participate in the next one and every one after that! After making a pest of myself, my persistence paid off.

A week or so ago I received my official invite to participate in the event. I am beyond excited! I just dropped my intent to participate letter in the mail and now I have to wait a few months before I pick out my piece of art. Listen to that "my" piece of art. :) Can you tell I'm excited?

The event takes place March 4-7 2010. It may seem far away but it will be here before you know it.

Once I pick my piece I'll share it here but you'll have to come out to the event to see our floral creation in person. :) The event takes place over a "First Friday" weekend so if you come on Friday it's free!

Desert Nights at Inspirador

We've participated in several open houses for Inspirador this summer. This one was my favorite!

The open house was Thursday August 27th, the theme was Desert Nights--think Arabian Nights, Morocco, rich colors, incense (in fact, an incense bar greeted guests as they arrived), it was right up my alley.

Here's a shot of the incense bar. Guests were able to take home their own incense and an incense holder.

My entire master bedroom has a Moroccan flair so I really brought found items I had hanging around the house.

I used glass candle lanterns to hold my flowers, a little elephant statue, and as many Moroccan touches as I could find.

The awesome photos for the night were from Kelvin Leung. I love the collages on his blog!

My husband braved heights and broken glass to hang some star lanterns in the entry way.

It was an awesome evening and, as always, it was a great opportunity to show off in one of my favorite venues and to meet really awesome couples and their families.

A Bad Blogger

Sheesh I've been away so long! Sorry about that. It's not that I wasn't working this summer--I was! I had open houses, lots of consultations with awesome brides and a few weddings--I just can't seem to remember to bring my camera to said weddings which means really, really boring blog posts!

Well lucky for me, awesome photographers shoot weddings and create memories. Since I can't remember much of anything at the moment, these guys (and gals) are true life savers!

So without further ado:

A few teaser pics from Sara's 4th of July wedding in Sedona.

The venue was the Creekside Inn. It's really cute and the ceremony site is nestled in the trees, near the creek--it's almost like a fairy wonderland.

Sara's bouquet was simple but still really fun. We used white Fuji mums and a collar of black fig leaves. A cute polka dot ribbon criss-crossed the bouquet and added a little bit of whimsy.

White carnation pomanders hung on the ceremony chairs and we brought the black and white polka dots back.

Another shot of those pomanders getting ready to head into the lovely outdoors.

Her photographer was with The 24 Studio. I love the photojournalistic candid nature of their photography. Check out the site: www.the24studioWeddings.com

Bridal Show Madness! :)

What do get when you take 600 vendors, put them in a giant, echoey hall along with a thousand or so brides? Bridal Show Madness. :) But a good madness, a fun, frantic, overwhelming madness. But what fun right? All those cake samples and catering samples (Red, White and Brew tortures me each year with yumminess wafting in my direction), free stuff....it truly is a one-stop-shop for your bridal needs.

We love the Bridal Fashion debut and take part in the January two-day show and the June one-day show each year. It's a great opportunity to meet a lot of brides and show off some of my funkier style. For example, this fairly traditional bouquet--except of course for the artichoke and closed, not full blown giant peonies. I think they add fun texture that way.

This year I decided to go for a seasonal, summer theme.

Picnic Anyone?

What else is a barbecue grill for? I personally think each and every one should be filled with blue hydrangea and sunflowers! This was probably my favorite piece.

I also incorporated a few recycled and inexpensive pieces to show ways you can still beautify your reception in today's economy. These Mason jar pieces were a big hit and so simple and so inexpensive--a lot of color and texture for your table without a lot of cash! The recycled pop bottles offer a similar effect.

I think it was a big hit and thank you so much to all the brides, moms, fiances, babies, friends, and fellow vendors for stopping by to say "hello."

See you in January!

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!