I just gave the last 38 hours of my life to this wedding, with the exception of 3 hours of sleep and a very few moments stolen away to do glamorous things like eat instant oatmeal and pack diaper bags.  I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, and more importantly the bride's mother was thrilled with it.  I just don't want to think about how long it's going to take to get my craft-cave cleaned up and in working order.  The chaos level is unreal.





My friend Jennie Love warned me that centerpieces just about kill you. This was my "take a break" photo session when I was half way done.  The last 4 were painful to complete.  Literally.  My hands are hammered and I cut myself in at least 6 places on my left hand.  And mentally following the whole formula that many times and keeping everything straight and in order was enough to make me a bit batty.  Plus lots and LOTS of stress over peonies that were blush instead of white until they matured a bit, but then were prone to shattering...... and lisianthus with stems too soft to insert into floral foam.  Party in my stress-sensors.

hop skip

No time for coherent sentences, but I'm taking a break from unpacking and settling into our new house to do my last wedding for a while.  I was insane to attempt a wedding within a week of a major move, but I think it's going to be great!  (I, on the other hand, am going to be taking a week-long nap as soon as it's over!)

pinks

In the middle of my crazy weekend of moving I got to do flowers for a sealing.  Pink on pink on pink.  Half of the flowers are from my mother's neighbor's garden.  Another wedding this week and then I collapse in a heap..... or something.

folding paper

This wedding was so much fun, and so much work!



The bride's incredible mother did most of the work by creating a boatload of origami for me to wire and use. It was a lovely personalized touch.





Thanks Andrea for a beautiful day!

sneak peek

goings on in my cave space this week......

origami and pins and needles

A major element in the design for this week's wedding is origami.  My bride's mother is Japanese and a credentialed origami instructor.  She mailed me boxes of the most perfectly folded tiny origami elements to use for the wedding, and I've spent a good portion of the week wiring everything, which has proved about as time consuming as it sounds.  But I'm excited to see it come together.  I'm a huge fan of using origami for event decor, especially as a nod to the bride's heritage.

pinterest (source?)

borrowed and bleu

the crane chandelier project at the wedding co

origami place cards via pinterest (source?)

hanging cranes at the selby

in progress

Mini manzanita trees taking form.  My dear husband deserves cookies for all his help.

featured: manzanita

I'm working on a wedding that is incorporating manzanita branches as mini-trees.  Here's a few examples of this technique:

kaboodle

BZ events

living in the 513

wish special events

LA Botanicals

Elizabeth Ann Designs

Elizabeth Ann Designs

Elizabeth Ann Designs

featured: gypsophilia

Every flower is lovely (excepting perhaps flowers that smell bad) but some flowers get a bad reputation from being used poorly repeatedly over time.

The best examples of this are carnations and gypsophilia, or baby's breath.  The problem with the usual application of baby's breath is that it plays to its weaknesses rather than its strengths.  People often attempt to "artfully scatter" baby's breath amongst things, and a single stem of gypsophilia will always look rather naked.  The true beauty of this flower is best showcased en mass.

FYI, the most common varieties of gypsophilia are bambino, cassiopeia,  million stars, new love, mirabella, orion, and perfecta.

the petal's edge

No other flower can quite create the delicate, full silhouette that gypsophilia can. In large bunches it is the perfect balance of flower to green plant matter to create something reminiscent of froth and lace.  I'm particularly fond of these applications:

Megan Hobson

Pacific Weddings

JL Designs

wedding bee

wedding bee

the knot

lalalaurie

wedding bee

source?

rex and regina

leftovers

I had some gypsophilia and salal left over from last week's wedding.  Lucky for me, those are both excellent for drying.  So I made a few wreaths to hang around my mother's house.  Waste not, want not!

Amy and Roy Wedding

{ETA: This wedding was featured on Magnifique Photography (hooray!)  See the feature here.}
There was lots of praying for cooperative weather this weekend.  While it didn't exactly deliver, I'm glad my bride stuck to her outdoor venue.  It was beautiful.  And the flowers loved the snow, even if the guests didn't!

Easter

I had enough flowers left over from the funeral piece this week that I wanted to do something egg-shaped for Easter.  I picked up some pink spray roses and tulips at the supermarket, and the rest is what I still had on hand.  This does not make for the freshest arrangement, but I still think there's a loveliness to it.



And after I finished this piece I had extra pinks and still had some aspidistra leaves. I threw this mini together for my mother's vanity.