Inspired Wedding Bouquet

While peaking around at all the amazing wedding, photography, and floral blogs out there... I came across this beautiful bridal bouquet. Just love it! The photography is amazing, too. There are so many talented people out there, and here is the work of just a couple of them:

Flowers: A Simple Ceremony
Photography: Kuperberg

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What's Going on at The Hidden Garden?

Here are some arrangements that we just sent out the door. I thought you'd enjoy a little glimpse of some of the "beauty" that leaves the Hidden Garden on a daily basis. Enjoy!

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A Wedding at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa

Last weekend was a busy day for the Hidden Garden crew. We had to split up our staff between two weddings in two different locations. I rounded up the troops early Saturday morning and we headed over to the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa to set up the arrangements and make sure everything was in order for Becky & Shane's wedding with Pryor Events.

It's always a couple hours of getting things "organized" before the event starts to take shape. I love seeing the before and after of each job. Here are some "before" pictures of a few of the Hidden Garden staff setting up for the event:

We created arrangements for the reception tables of all different colored flowers and greenery, and designed a grassy setting for the place cards. Here are some pictures featuring the reception arrangements after we were done setting up!

These are the bouquets we created for the bride and her bridesmaids....I love the pink calla lilies and white peonies!

There's nothing like a summer wedding in June and this Ojai Valley Inn wedding encompassed all that is summer: bright and vibrant colors and flowers and a very romantic wildflower feel. The ceremony itself was adorned with purple flowers in arrangements on crooks lining the aisle and purple petals were scattered to make a pathway. It made for a gorgeous, summery wedding!

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Alliums and Eremurus

You must be thinking, "huh?" after reading the title of this post.... today I thought we would talk about two of the funkiest flowers in season right now. For those of you who saw the title and recognized the words, we're going to take a more in depth look at these flowers that spark so much wonder.

Alliums are an interesting flower; they grow just about anywhere and in any climate. You can find alliums in moist soils of Asia, the deserts of Africa, or even by the swamps and waters of Central America, yet they are most predominant in moist soils of the Northern hemisphere. They grow on tunicate bulbs that grow and push out old bulbs each year to replace them. A weird fact about alliums is that most of the time they smell and taste like onions.

Eremurus, also known as foxtail lilies or desert candles, have tall stems with flowers on all sides and basically look like bottlebrushes. They come in a variety of colors, like snow white, yellow, pink, copper, and more, and the colors range from bright shades to pastels. They're native to western and central Asia and are known for growing extremely tall.

Until next time,

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Four Seasons Westlake Wedding

This past weekend The Hidden Garden had the opportunity to design the floral pieces for two gorgeous weddings. One of these weddings took place at the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village. At the Waterfall Lawn, which is one of my favorite spots on the property, the chuppa was adorned with white flowing chiffon and pastel roses & hydrangea. The lovely bridesmaids' bouquets were made up of ohara light pink garden roses and lavender ocean song roses and white hydrangea. Our gorgeous bride, Lauren, walked down the aisle holding a bouquet of white hydrangea, roses and peonies.

We designed high and low arrangements for the dinner reception. Still one of my favorite choices when it comes to centerpieces. It gives a sense of "movement" for the eye as guests enter the ballroom since all the flowers aren't at the same level. It's also a great "budget" option!

Overall this wedding was a pastel dream and we loved helping make this couple's day brighter.

This is photographer Michael Brannigan of David Michael Photography in action shooting photos of the wedding...can't wait until we receive the professional photos he took that day (they are always so much better than the ones we take!).

Until next time,

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Hydrangeas, Hydrangeas

For the love of hydrangea....and at The Hidden Garden - we love hydrangea! .

Many of us spotted them out in the garden growing up and quickly fell in love in love with the fluffy bloom. They are popular flowers both for growing at home in gardens and used in cut arrangements.

Hydrangeas originated in eastern Asia but are also found in North and South America and have been introduced to new areas, like Europe, so people all around the world get to enjoy them. They come in a variety of breathtaking colors, including dark and light purple, pink, dark blue/light blue, antiqued red , white, and a variety of "dyed" colors (which are actually really pretty). An interesting fact about hydrangeas is that they change colors according to the elements of the soil they grow in. That means you can start out with purple hydrangeas, for example, and if something changes in the soil you can end up with blue hydrangeas, or even a blend of multiple colors!

Here is a photo of some of the beautiful variations of color found in hydrangeas:

Hydrangeas are recognized and loved by many....just don't take a nibble off one, they're considered to be somewhat toxic!

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What goes into Making your Arrangements Gorgeous?

It's Friday, the last day of a very busy week here at the Hidden Garden Floral Studio and I thought you might want an inside look at what goes on behind the scenes in order to get the weekend events ready to go! It takes a village to get the flowers looking pretty for your daily orders and parties. It all starts weeks before with a simple flower order. The order is placed with our growers (from all over the world!), flowers get picked up at the market, driven to The Hidden Garden, processed so they "drink" (you can imagine how dehydrated a flower gets from it's travels), containers are prepped, recipes for each arrangement are discussed, and the designers are off to the races....

Beautiful pastel flowers in arrangements waiting to be sent to The Four Seasons Westlake for Lauren & Mike.

A behind the scenes look at our crew working on getting flowers process, arrangements designed and delivered. It takes an army....teamwork!

Our cooler and hallways are always filled with flowers ready to get used...thank goodness we have a large facility to house our flowers.

Our beautiful bridesmaids' bouquets ready to go to our beautiful girls in the morning.

We can't wait to send these flowers off to our clients' events this weekend and make their celebrations beautiful. Next weeks blog....the gorgeous finished "weddings" from Four Seasons Westlake and Ojai Valley Inn!

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Flower Class at the Hidden Garden

What a fun night Trisha had last week teaching a group of couples who get together once a month to do different activities together and catch up. The Hidden Garden was lucky enough to be chosen to help them do something different than the kinds of activities they normally do. Trisha showed them new and interesting ways to create floral arrangements and gave them the tools so they could walk in our shoes and find their inner florist, creating designs with a diversity of flowers and materials. The students listened on as Trisha gave tips but they also pursued their own ideas and veered into different directions than we'd normally take, which was interesting to witness. They experimented and produced interesting floral arrangements of a modern, Asian zen theme. Everyone has a blast!

Here are some photos of the couples and the arrangements they created:

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Planning A Baby Shower at The Hidden Garden

I'm in the midst of planning a baby shower for my sister in law. I had so many different ideas running through my head....what color scheme, theme ideas, how are the tables set up, do we want to create keepsake centerpieces. * I can't tell you what I decided to do because she'll read it here on the blog! Photos to come after the shower is complete at the end of the month!*

There are so many unique ideas when it comes to baby shower themes and decor. At The Hidden Garden we have designed floral arrangements for so many baby showers and I've been a part of creating and coming up with ideas to celebrate the birth of a new baby. You won't see plain and unoriginal designs and decorations at most baby showers these days; whether it's a centerpiece arrangement atop a pile of teacups filled with overflowing flowers or a cute "pea in the pod" theme... the arrangements you see at many showers are not just your average floral design. People love to celebrate the arrival of a new baby and what better way to do it than go all out with gorgeous decorations and flowers!

One of our favorites looks is the polka dot box. It's a great keepsake for the baby's room after the shower. The table looks beautiful, chic for the adults but simultaneously cutesy and fun.

Here are some more pictures of interesting but beautiful arrangements we've created for other baby showers. Enjoy!

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Deep Red, Rich Romance: A Classic Romantic Wedding

Last month we enjoyed designing the floral arrangements for a beautiful wedding at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles along with event coordinator, Mary Dann. The bride and groom, Missy and Ryan, were looking to do a classic romantic look, so obviously they asked us to create bouquets and centerpieces of deep, rich red roses and burgundy peonies - a staple for a traditional wedding. Missy's bouquet were created with an array of black magic roses (rich velvety petals) with a gorgeous rhinestone flower broche on the handle. Missy walked down a white aisle lined with red rose petals and met her man-to-be under a white fabric structure that we adorned with gorgeous deep red rose nosegays. The combination of gleaming white linens and the romantic deep red flowers made for a beautiful classic wedding.

Here are some pictures that photographer Asgeir captured of the beautiful ceremony, the flowers, and the bride!

Here are some more pictures of the wedding and some of the white arrangements we had:

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Peonies, Peonies, Peonies

It's wedding season and love is in the air. What is a great concern of the brides that will be walking down the aisle? Flowers. Whether it's the flowers that make up their bouquet, the flowers covering the pathway leading to their men-to-be, or the flowers arranged on the tables at the reception, couples spend serious time choosing the flowers that will adorn their ceremony of love. Many brides go for classically beautiful flowers, like roses, while some turn up their noses at the norm and choose crazy and fun arrangements. So which flower seems to be most popular at weddings, chosen across the board by almost all brides? Peonies. Because peonies are such loved and desired flowers for events, and especially for weddings, we decided we'd take the time to do some research and find out more

about the mystery behind what makes this flower so popular.

According to Greek myth, the peony flower is named after Paeon, who was the student of the Greek god of medicine and healing, Asclepius. As the story goes, the teacher became jealous of his student, so in order to save him from the wrath of Asclepius, Zeus changed Paeon into the peony flower.

Moving from myth to reality, peonies are native to Asia, southern Europe, and western North America. There are several different forms of peonies, but they all have at least five outer petals, called guard petals, and they come in just about every color but blue: ranges of pink, mauve, yellow, red, orange, white, and the list goes on.The peony has been used for centuries in ceremonies and has been prized by many cultures, even named the national emblem of China at one point. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I would say virtually all who behold this flower find it beautiful.

As a floral company, we are asked by several of our customers to include peonies in arrangements, especially weddings, and it is our delight to make gorgeous bouquets, etc. for the people who share our love for this flower. Below is a picture of a peony bouquet we made for one of our brides.

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Angels of the Alliance Luncheon

As a premiere floral company, we love to expand our horizons past creating beautiful floral arrangements for our customers and go beyond a florist's everyday work. Today, we accomplished this by attending the Angels Luncheon put on by the Angels of the Alliance sector of the Alliance of the Arts organization in Thousand Oaks, California at The Four Seasons hotel. The Angels are a group of women that work to promote the arts in their community, and the Angels Luncheon is the famed event they put on in support of the organization's founding principle of support for the arts. At the Luncheon, we had the chance to decorate our own table according to a theme we were assigned and compete against other organizations and individuals who also decorated tables according to a variety of themes. The Hidden Garden was lucky enough to design a 'Wedding Garden' themed table, a strength of ours, and we worked hard to create a lavish and ornate table that adhered to the theme with our personal taste and creative details included. We aimed for the first place title with a spherical arrangement of hot pink or vibrant orange roses, green viburnum, green hydrangea, pink peonies and lush green amaranthus. Linens from La Tavola of the same color across the table, with green accents and adorable little cakes sitting at each place setting done by The Four Seasons pastry chef, & vibrant chairs & chargers by Town & Country Event Rentals . We loved seeing all the interesting ideas people came up with for their themes, like 'Angel's' baseball, 'Up' the Disney movie, 'Girl's Night Out', etc.. As a company that constantly calls upon our creative impulses, need for organization, and desire to please our customers with beautiful creations, this was a perfect way to support the Angels' support for the arts and to reach out to members of our community. We had so much fun participating and can't wait until we get to create another beautiful table for the competition next year. Enjoy the pictures!

Here are a few pictures of some of the other tables in the competition...some of these are so crazy they were so fun to look at!

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Long Feasting Table Arrangements

Long Tables are a trending decor element for many dinner parties, weddings and social functions. At The Hidden Garden we are often asked how to create the best table scape on long tables. A few things to keep in mind when choosing to design for a long table arrangement:

1. what is the width of the table?

You want to make sure the table is wide enough to incorporate the dinner ware, glassware AND the flowers (or whatever your table centerpiece is) Most long tables come in 32 in widths, 40 inch widths or 48 inch widths. My personal preference is 40 inch wide. This gives the guests ample room for their service ware and the florist ample room for the arrangements without making the table seem too large. Keep it intimate...

2. how full do you want the table scape to be in the center?

This can come down to how many flowers/candles you would like in the center of the table. Should it be a consistent arrangement (as seen in photos below) or do you want a little more "space" between the designs? Are you serving family style so arrangements & food will be incorporated into the center - then your table scape needs to be a little less dense.

3. What is your budget?

Long tables scapes can be much more costly than a traditional single piece for a round table. So be aware that there is more product put into filling the center of your 6 foot or 8 foot table. As you can see in our photos below this is a "lush" design of florals, candles and natural elements so our budget per table is rather high.

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