I heart Indian Weddings

More to follow!

White on White bouquet

I always love it when brides say that they want a big bouquet! (Big, full and lush bridal bouquets are my favorite!!)

This bride wanted an all-white bouquet with her two favorite flowers--large calla lilies and peonies and she also wanted to use some tropical leaves, so we used a few aspidistra leaves at the base. We also included some mini callas, freesia and 'Vendela' roses to help blend the callas and peonies.

(This was one of the most fragrant bouquets I've made in the past little while. Love it!)

Garden Reception: May 16, 2009

I am a big fan of using more than one centerpiece design, especially when there are a lot of tables. For this outdoor garden reception, we did half of the tables with tall white calla lilies and curly willow, the other half had curly willow with dendrobium blossoms. Each table also had two square vases with a floating white peony in it. We tied the look together with chocolate brown runners, gray river rocks in the vases and votive candles.

I also loved the bride's bouquet which I posted about previously...can't ever get enough peonies!

Peonies + Peach Calla Lilies

This is one of the bouquets from this weekend. White peonies, white freesia and peach 'Mozart' calla lilies. I think the callas are one of my new favorites...

More to follow!

Rewind: Valentine's Day Party

On Valentine's Day this year, my friend and I hosted a dinner party for 8 elderly widows. I had such a great time planning this event! We told the ladies to wear their fanciest dresses and we sent 8 of our guy friends to be their dates. They picked the ladies up with corsages and brought them to the house for dinner and an evening of music.

I think this is a great example of a few relatively inexpensive ideas that really up the 'wow' factor. For the centerpieces, I wrapped vases with different colors of ribbon to match the color of the flowers. I mostly used carnations (in big bunches they're actually pretty cute!) and some roses. I found some inexpensive red runners ($10 each) and placed a ton of votives on the table. We borrowed the chargers, silver and dishes from another friend.

Over head we made (literally) hundreds of the Martha Stewart pom poms in tons of different shapes and sizes. We used shades of red and pink tissue paper. It took a ton of time, but we had a lot of friends help and so it was fun. Literally anyone (even boys and kids!) can make these. (the instructions are on Marthastewart.com)

For each place setting, I made a place card using my new calligraphy skills (I've been taking lessons, but I'm still a total beginner). I also made a little tissue paper flower for each place setting in various shades of red and pink.

For the mantle, I covered different vase heights with 1 sheet of tissue paper and placed a pillar candle in each. We also lined the windowsills with votive candles and we hung christmas lights from the ceiling. The effect was...magical.

I think my favorite part about the whole thing was how meaningful it was to the ladies we invited. Many of them were in their later 80's and 90's. One said as she was leaving, "I don't even remember the last time I went out and did something fun." That made all of the late nights preparing for this totally worth it.

I can't wait to do it again next year!

Mother's Day

Nie Nie Recovery--Spreading the Word

Over the past week, I've been reading about all of the fundraising efforts that have been going on to help Christian and Stephanie Nielson who were in a terrible plane crash. The parents of 4 small children, Stephanie and Christian both suffered terrible burns and are now facing months of recovery. (to read more about Stephanie, go here).

I don't know the family, but I've been so amazed at the generosity of the blogosphere.
Design Mom has organized silent auctions, and at last count there were over 300 silent auctions to raise money. See them here

Jonathan Canlas has just announced an awesome fundraiser that he will be doing during the month of September. Check it out!

Those who wish to donate directly can go here.

Heather at Log Haven

I loved Heather's classic Black, Red and White color scheme! We used a mix of different color red roses, gerbera daisies, crocosmia and dahlias for the bouquets. The centerpieces were alternating tables with floating white roses or floating dahlias, and taller white lilies and taller dahlias. On top of the black runners, we sprinkled pearl beads. All of the vases had black rocks in the bottom. Simple and classy!

Big Dreams Little Tokyo

I'm taking a little side-trip from the normal flower-related posts to announce that "BIG DREAMS LITTLE TOKYO" is out on DVD! My brother wrote and directed it (and I produced it!). You can order it here or rent it here or here. Check it out!

Leslie & Jason: The Woods on Ninth

Here are some pictures from Leslie & Jason's wedding at The Woods on Ninth. Leslie had her ceremony in the morning at the SL Temple, and so we made a mini bouquet for the pictures in the morning, and then she had her "real" bouquet for the afternoon pictures and reception. This turned out to be a great idea with the hot weather we've been having! I love the bright and vibrant colors that Leslie chose--so colorful and fun!