Unlikely pairing, I know.

Sooooo here's the thing. I really don't like carnations. I think it has to do with the fact that when I was going through floral classes, I had to use them in everything. I really hated them, but there are two exceptions for me.

1. When they are in unusual colors or if they are bi-color.
Like these- what color would you say=> white and purple?
White and deep wine? I don't even know what color these carnations are but me likes.


2. In mass, as in my hot pink pomander wedding earlier this year.

Some will shun me for this bouquet, but I really loved these purple bi color carnations and the imported peonies in December were dying for me to buy them. I bought the peonies, $5 a stem(wholesale) and since I had some leftover statice, some roses, lisianthus, and spray roses- I threw together a bouquet for a friend of mine.

I kinda dug it.;)

Sadly these peonies never opened passed this{BOOOO!} but that's what I get for buying imported Peonies out of season. Too good to be true I suppose, like eggnog for the Fourth of July; it's just not right.

Yellow and Purple Bride

Eh? eh? see two post this week.....I'm pretty back aren't I?
***************************************************Blogger: Kuga Designs - Edit Post "Yellow and Purple Bride"

I like simple things. Simple flowers, nothing too crazy, I don't have a complicated cell phone, I can't program a DVR, I like my stuff pretty darn easy and functional....you know what I mean?simply simple.
This wedding was perfectly simple and I adored it. :)
It took place across the Bay Area in Berkeley. Yep folks, back to UC Berkeley the following weekend, except this time our destination was the UC Berkeley Faculty Club.

{Yellow and Purple Bride}
Dont'cha just wanna lay in the bed of roses?

These babies are 24 cube centerpieces lined ready to go into the back of the Pacifica.

When we got to the faculty club we had to go down a stairs or walk down a rather steep tiny hill with the centerpiece in hand. Yikes!
Thank God they let us borrow this cart to carefully roll down the hill on the side of the house.

This is the inside of the Faculty club and as you can see, we needed those bright colors to bring some warmth into this place. The room itself has incredible light coming in from the windows and the incredibly high ceilings were fabulous. The couple didn't want too many flowers, but they did want color, something low that wouldn't obstruct the flow of conversation and something that would work on long tables.

We came up with low cube glass vases with ti leaves, yellow Latina and Skyline roses, purple Cool Water roses,and some variegated pittosporum. The bud vases were also line with ti leaves and a single purple rose as well as some yellow and purple rose petals.

The round tables had the same yellow and purple centerpiece with rose petals sprinkled all around. I totally loved their personalized table number pictures.

I loved their paper products all around. The escort cards were simple white card stock with a leaf pattern that matched the cake. Super cute!

I adore3d this cake!

So simple with a soft yellow and cream print as well as that cute leaf pattern. *sigh* I want a cake like this for my bday!!!!

As we hurried to get everything done, and perfect and get outta there I glanced over and saw the first kiss as a married couple going on! So I commemorated with a picture of course and then it was off to the Bay Bridge.

This wedding was super chill. No personal flowers, did you notice? It was great, although I did miss making the bridal bouquet, but the corsages? -not so much, hehe. This bride was seriously laid back and so nice, as was her cousin from the week before {my Ikebana Bride}, so I felt really lucky to have met them both and really enjoyed working with both of them. :)


And Guess what?

{they lived happily ever after....}

Purple Bride {The Set Up}

{Purple Bride}

I really enjoyed this wedding.
The colors were great, the bride was totally kick back.
We actually planned this all on email! She's out in New Jersey and so she trusted me with her colors based on email so I have to thank her for her faith in me. :)
The Argonaut Hotel was reeeaaallly nice.
Check out this lobby area.

How cool is that concierge desk?
This fireplace is pretty sweet too.

If you don't know by now the hotel has a nautical theme. It sits right at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and it's located in the cannery. It's a pretty spectacular hotel and the rooms are bananas.

The tall centerpiece looked really nice underneath all the compass chandeliers(there is a name for these but I can't remember)

It was super romantic in there with the dim lighting but let me tell you, it made taking pictures quite a task for me.

I just could not capture the purples, like Sprout said, it comes out red. :(

The crew that came to set up the chair covers were so sweet!
I commented on how much I actually loved the chair covers because they were not the typical polyester chair covers, they were fitted damask and they felt spectacular.
I will have to find that business card to give her a little shout out!

Here are the brides maids bouquets and the flower girl halo before they were delivered.

My friend Stella, helped me out for this wedding, and not only is she am Orchid genius( knows all the names, care and handling) but she is also a calligrapher. I always write out my own cards and silly me forgot she was coming and forgot to ask her to bring hers pens. So naturally I handed her the shi***st pen, probably a cheap papermate or something, and asked her to label the corsage boxes.

Her is the lucky grooms boutonniere, a black magic rose, a purple calla and a black calla.

The mothers and fathers had matching lavender and white corsage and boutonnieres.

The groomsmen had the black magic roses, with ivy.

Then it was time to deliver the bouquet to the bride. How I wish I could have caught her in her dress. It was gorgeous. I hope to God I get a picture of her in her dress because I was so smitten with it.

One of the bridesmaids was ready so I got a bit of her dress in the picture with the bouquet.

So all in all, I had a blast :)
The bride was super nice on email and in person. She totally trusted me and she gave me the biggest compliment ever.
When I delivered her flowers she said
"Brenda, oh my God, they are exactly as I pictured them in my head. They are perfect!!!"
In my head I pictured myself running and hugging her to the ground, but in real life I was cool , like "oh good, I'm so happy!" so you know, I kept it professional, lol.

{ And they lived happily ever after...in New Jersey....}

Purple Bride {The work}

{Purple Bride}
My purple wedding was a fun experience for me because I love when I get to work with darker colors that most brides stay away from. How happy was I when she emailed me her wedding colors; Deep purple, plum, reds, black and cream?!Score.

These Black Beauty and Black Bacara Rose were gorgeous.

These Hydrangeas were something else.
My camera does not do them justice.
They were wine with a purple center and the other hydrangea bunch were deep purple with a blue center. Crazy.

Buddleia or "Butterfly Bush" was the perfect other element that I wanted to make the centerpiece a little crazy and off balance. I was looking for a sort of unstructured round.
They were the perfect shade of purple and again, my camera can't capture the deep rich purple with magenta highlights that this flower has.

So pretty soon we were ankle deep in centerpieces

We packed up and headed out to the Argonaut Hotel.
Here's a quick shot of the bridal bouquet.

The brides bouquet was composed of black callas, purple callas, black magic and bacarra roses, purple hydrangea, and wine colored hydrangea.
We did a black satin corset handle with a few white pearl head pins.

Then it was off to the ceremony and reception area.

Purple Bride {Purple Wedding}

Oh man, was today a GORGEOUS day in the Bay.
Tourist s are going bananas over here in San Francisco thinking we get 80 degree days in the summer all the time, lol!
Little do they know today was a fluke! :)

So here I am, blogging before I go back and strike down the tall centerpieces.
I really loved working the flowers today.
The wedding was shades of deep purple, lavender, plums, deep reds, and wine.
The ribbons and accents were all black and white and the bride's dress was a gorgeous dress with a black sash that was to die for!
I will share pictures later, tonight, I sleep.

In case you are thinking of the Argonaut Hotel as a venue, let me tell you, the hotel is beautiful.

Here is the bridesmaids bouquet.

Stay tuned for pictures:)

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

I posted about my blue wedding a few weeks ago and it was this past weekend at the Cliff House.

I'm a big believer of creating an event that you as the couple are happy with, ya know?
It's your wedding, so have whatever your hearts desires.
When it comes to flowers, there are no real rules.
period.
So when I met with my couple and they were adamant about a few details I was actually happy that I finally got a couple that was like forget tradition-we want what we want! :)
They said NO to Boutonnieres and Cosages. (My fingers thank you)
She wanted a true blue bouquet with her lovely Phalaenonpsis orchids.


Before I go on let me tell you my little story about blue roses this week.

I showed up on Thursday to pick up my blue flowers from a vendor I don't usually deal with, but since they were the only ones that had blue roses, I had no choice.
Anyhow, they said sorry, don't have them, we thought you needed them on another date.
Hmmm, yeah. That doesn't really help me....
But by now, I'm used to this, so I calmly walked over to Shibata floral supplies in the market and picked up this baby.

Dip it by Design Masters in Deep Blue. I bought some white roses and did it myself.
My hands and glass vase were blue for two days but hey, that's the price I pay for flowers! hehe




She had a printout of a gift box that she wanted to sit on the guest check in table.

In transit a maniac caused me to to suddenly hit my brakes and the water spilled over causing my ribbon to get soaked. Damn bird....
LOl! Just kidding, it really was a maniac.
I wasn't worried since it was early and I knew it would dry by the time the reception got going.


She wanted her BM's to have bouquets to compliment their dress and she loves shocking blue hydrangeas with white callas.


A bride after my own heart, one of my favorite couples yet! :)

Congrats guys, much love and happiness to you both, R & J you guys are a such a nice couple, thanks for letting me be a part of your day! :)

Papyrus Event {Week TWO}

SO next week is the bridal fair. I have been delivering fresh flowers to their stores this month and nest week will be the bridal fair where they will have vendors helping out couples with ideas and information. Should be tons of fun and I can't wait!

This little purple beauty is kale, purple sweet peas, dusty miller, and a little lemon leaf.
Showy and pretty against all that white.

I have purple on the brain since I have a purple wedding that I am sketching out....

Green and Purple Ikebana

Sooooooooooo I am about halfway through my Ikebana certification!

*pause for applause*

hehe, just kidding!
But I really am halfway through and yesterday was my test. :)
I decided on making an arrangement called "with leaves only".
ummm. it's pretty self explanatory dont'cha think??


I used flax and monstrera leaves and they worked out well!

I later took my arrangement apart and made a new one using my left over iris' that I had at home.I truly believe everything looks better outside don't you think?
That glorious light gives my flowers the most beautiful color ever and I fall in love with what I am doing all over again! :)

Plenty O'Thanks

So what do you think of my un-Thanksgiving Cornucopia (sp?)

I really wasn't trying to do fall so I thought I would add some Pink rununculas, Passion Flower, Privet Berries, Eucalyptus, Lavender,Kale, Thyme, and Geranium.
I kind of like it and think it could work as a centerpiece for an event or maybe even a wedding.



But look!
I wasn't the only one, hehe.
jenny said she couldn't help but Goth it out a bit by spray painting hers purple and adding lace.
I think it's cute. :)


Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!!!