Beverly Hills Hotel Wedding

This past weekend we were honored to design the wedding for Jamie & Michael Kahn. Through the planning process of the wedding I became very close to both families so the pressure was on to make sure this wedding was "everything" they hoped for. Together with IEC (Tracey Koven & Jonathan Reeves), I think we succeeded!

The wedding was held in the Crystal Garden at the Beverly Hills Hotel with 190 guests in attendance. The decor was mainly white garden florals with accents of "pink" throughout cocktail hour. As the guests approached the foyer for cocktails we adorned the staircase with a garland of magnolia vine accents with polo roses, vendella roses and white hydrangea. At the base of the stairs each guest was offered their escort card prior to walking into the ceremony.

The Ceremony was held in the Crystal Garden with an abundant display of hydrangeas lining the aisle, antiqued urns adorned with florals and curly willow vines and a breathtaking chuppa covered in garden roses.

The Reception room was elegant and romantic. Each of the tables were adorned with a mix of three low arrangements and one tall floral.

Accents of candlelight were mixed throughout each guest table. A specialty napkin fold and single cymbidium orchid bloom adorned each gold rimmed charger. The linens provided by Tabella and the lighting by The Lighter Side all helped out in the romantic touch Jamie & Michael were looking for.

Dressing up an Everyday Vase

How many flower arrangements have you received in glass vases and then wondered..."what am i going to do with all these containers?!" Although they might be basic glass vases (square, round, rectangular) you can dress them up to be something very special. I believe that the vessel that holds the flowers is just as important as the flowers themselves. Here are a few tips on how to make the basic glass vase into something a little more elaborate:

1. Take a beautiful piece of fabric and attach it around the vase with glue - making a sleeve over the glass basically.
2. Wrap a ribbon around the vase and tie it in a single knot or create a series of french knots up the back of the vase (kind of like a corset dress.)
3. Fill colored rocks or cut glass inside the vase for an added shimmer of color (these are sold in affordable packs at any craft store.)
4. Add a little "bling" to your vase with a strip of rhinestones (craft store.)

Take a look at our Everyday Flowers section. You'll notice a lot of our vases have added fabric or ribbon treatment to dress up the container.

This is a great project for friends and family and they make great house-warming gifts!

Aisle Decor

The aisle decor at your ceremony is a very important element to your overall ceremony ambiance. This element of the ceremony is often overlooked or considered less important. The aisle design can be simple or abundant but should never be overlooked. This is an area that sets the path to your vows. What could be more important!

There are a couple of things to consider when determining how the design and budget fall into place for aisle decor:

1. How wide is the ceremonial aisle? Consider how many people are walking down the aisle at any one time. If we have 3 people (mom, dad and bride) then make sure that your aisle decor isn't overdone so that it prohibits mom & dad from walking side by side with the lovely bride down the aisle.

2. Are the arrangements down the aisle something that will be reused in the reception room? Maybe the arrangements down the aisle are used as the guest centerpieces? If they are intended for centerpieces, just make sure they don't take a beating from the sun or heat outside so they look a little wilted once they finally make it into the reception room. You can also place garden boxes filled with hydrangea or rose bushes down the aisle and then reuse them in front of the stage for added decor during the reception.

3. Is the entrance to the aisle grand and therefore your aisle is minimal? This is an acceptable alternative. You might choose to have an elaborate entrance, elaborate chuppa and a minimal aisle decor. This would allow your guests eyes to be drawn to the entrance and then to the chuppa.

4. Would you like to bring out an accent color to the aisle? Maybe you choose to have a colored aisle runner with soft rose petals scattered atop the runner. (Pale blue runner with ivory rose petals). Or maybe you choose to have an ivory runner and then place an array of colorful petals in a pattern down the aisle.

There are lots of choices when determining your aisle decor. Make sure you explore all the options and pick the one that fits your design and budget.

Turqouise Accents

Turquoise has become one of the hottest accent colors when designing floral arrangements. It's such a vibrant color and so striking when combined with almost any floral color. Some of my favorite combinations include - turquoise & orange, turquoise & yellow or turquoise & magenta. Now, we all know that there isn't really a turquoise flower so really we are bringing in our turquoise color through the container, cut glass or ribbon. The flowers would then be in a monochromatic tone that would compliment and offset the turquoise palette.

Next time you order flowers....give it a try! I guarantee the recipient (and other admirers) will love it!

Modern Elegance

As promised, here are the pictures from Elizabeth & Paul's wedding at the ultra chic & hip 7 Degrees Art Gallery in Laguna. Elizabeth chose soft blue & lavender hues for her ceremony, and more vibrant magenta & purple tones for the reception. For the bride's bouquet and the groom's boutonniere, notice the subtle accents of feathers that perfectly complimented Elizabeth's shoes, that had a feather accent as well.

Thank you Isabel Lawrence for the beautiful pictures!
Coordinaor - Julie Pryor http://www.pryorevents.com

Arranging cut orchid blooms

Some of the most long lasting, beautiful and expensive flowers to have in your home are cut orchids. There are a variety of orchid blooms available such as Cymbidiums (most expensive per stem), makaras, dendrobiums and phaleonopsis (which you see most often as a plant in your local grocery store). This variety of flower also serves well as a cut flower in arrangement. Now this bloom might be a little pricier than your average flower but it does tend to last a little longer than say a rose, tulip, hydrangea etc.

When you first purchase your orchids you can keep them in a vase of water on a table (an abundant display of one type of orchid together is always magnificent!). After approximately 1 week your flowers might not be holding up as well so at that time you might try submerging the stem of flowers. Take a taller cylinder type vase. Fill with fresh water and just drop your entire stem into the water The flower will take on a new life under water! Now you have another few days to enjoy the bloom!