Incorporating Themes into Floral Decor

Plan your work and work your plan.

This might be a cliche, but when it comes to party planning, it can make the difference between a smooth operation and a total disaster, a memorable event or one that is forgotten as soon as its over.

Say, for instance, you’re in charge of organizing your best friend’s baby shower.  (Or bridal shower, or the dreaded party for a birthday ending with a zero. You get the picture.) What do you do first?

Make a plan, of course! First, decide on a theme; this makes planning details alot easier. What does your friend like to do? Travel? Collect Wine? Play tennis? Run naked on the field at sporting events?

Bingo! A theme is born. (To keep it clean, we’ll go with tennis for this one.) Plan all the decor around tennis; use tennis balls in the flowers, have a tennis player logo on the invitations, use crisp shades of white with green and neon yellow and add an element of playfulness and whimsy. We achieved this with Gerber daisies, which just scream PLAY!

People remember parties that are (1) different and (2) fun. How many weddings have you been to in your lifetime? And how many were really different? Check out how this couple made their wedding memorable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

Flowers for Your House

One of the many pleasures of owning a flower boutique is that we get to bring home amazing bouquets to fill our house whenever we want….for most people, however, having flowers at home is more of a special-occasion thing.

Even just a simple bunch of tulips on a coffee table can make a huge difference in how your home feels – flowers add beauty to any decor, and for those of us who like strongly scented flowers, only one or two stems of Casablanca lilies will fill a room with fragrance.

Two of the best places to have flowers are the entry and the dining room. Both are areas that will get alot of visibility if you are entertaining, and even just a few sprigs of color can go a long way to adding that extra visual punch you’re looking for.

Keeping your floral choices to one or two vibrant colors will draw the eye, and grouping them separately and simply in clear glass vases lends a dramatic, modern aesthetic.

Flower Shoes

Can’t get enough shoes? Budget busted by endless purchases of Jimmy Choo’s, Manolo Blahnik’s and Louboutin’s? These little beauties were created for a ladies brunch with a shoe theme, and we think they’re great, although not very practical for wearing out.

This shoe was created by first packing a wire frame with moss, then building on top of the base. The heel is made of yellow button mums, and the rest of the shoe is covered in individual overlapping Mokarra orchid petals, glued on one by one. A tiny piping of mums  outlines the upper.

The shoebox is made of leaves, flowers and ribbon.

This next shoe was made with overlapping layers of silvery Lambs Ear, with fuschia Phaelanopsis orchid blossoms for the heel and toe. It also has a delicate piping of mums outlining the upper.

The shoebox is made of mums with a lid of moss.

New Year’s Razzle Dazzle

New Year’s Eve is our final chance to say goodbye to the old year and ring in the new, and what better way than to throw a party!

This year we worked with Debbie and her team at Hold The Date Events to create a wonderful “Razzle Dazzle” theme complete with zillions of crystals, ostrich feathers and mirrored disco balls.

For the centerpieces, we created a wreath of white roses embedded with crystal and silver sprays along with pure white Ostrich feathers to hug the perimeter of rotating disco balls  – reflections from the overhead spotlights was scattered all around the room, creating a great light show.

The buffet pieces were fun and fabulous, with long Ostrich feathers and fabric covered vases.

We used more fabric treatments for the tall cylinders that lined the red carpet entry to the party; vignettes of varying height vases were accented with crystal trims and lots of razzle dazzle accents and had tall silver pillar candles inside.

The Power of Simplicity

One of the hardest things in design is knowing when to stop. It’s so easy to go overboard, adding too many colors, too many disparate elements — and winding up with a mess.

One of our favorite designs for party work is to take a single flower and use it en masse, as shown here with these Calla lily troughs designed in mirrored boxes.

Set onto a long dining table with votive candles, these arrangements will add a stunning elegance to the ambiance.

Modern and clean, white is always a great choice for centerpieces, but another great choice is yellow!

We designed these centerpieces with only two elements; orchids and roses.  When using bright colors, it’s best to keep the color palette to a max of two, otherwise it can look like a carnival. Imagine this arrangement with another shade (like purple) and you can see what I mean.

Calamigos Equestrian Center Wedding

Red has been the color of choice for so many of our brides this year, in part because the color goes a long way for those on a limited budget; you get a lot of “bang” for your buck with a single, bright color.

The processional aisle was flanked on either side by a scrollwork pattern of red rosepetals, accented throughout with candles of varying size.  Candle light played a big part in the ceremony; there were dozens scattered down the aisle, behind the ceremony area and on the walkway leading to where the ceremony was held.

The ceremony was held outside as the sun was setting under a large pergola covered in a garland of lemon leaf, seeded eucalyptus and fern. Clustered all over the garland were arrangements of roses, hydrangeas and orchids. More ferns were added at the foot of the front two columns to hide uplighting and add a visual base for the design.

We’ll post more photos of the personal flowers and centerpieces when we get them from the photographer!

Dressing Your Thanksgiving Table

For many people, Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday. The crisp fall air, the family all gathered together, the wonderful smell of cooking filling the house; these are things great memories are made of. What better way to honor the day than by bringing a bit of the beauty of nature to your celebration table?

This photo shows the actual centerpiece we used for our Thanksgiving celebration last year – a mix of antique hydrangea, butter yellow roses and amber Cymbidium orchids. One of my favorite little details were the bronze ornament shaped placecard holders (that I also re-used for Christmas.)

My mother used to always take a photo of the holiday table before anyone sat down (which my brother thought was very odd, but there you go) and now I’m in the same habit. The lit candles, the beautiful linens and silver, the gorgeous flowers – the visual part of the feast is almost as important as the food!

These little bronze beaded cabaret lamps were bedded in roses and orchids and surrounded with votives and rosepetals.  FESTIVE! Don’t forget the fun little odds and ends like putting a flower on each napkin (orchids or mini calla lilies are great choices, or even a single, elegant rosepetal) and having candles and something scented in the powder room.

And how about using fall leaves on the tables around the flowers?

Parties and Events

After the wedding season comes to a close at the end of September, the parties and special events heat up! And in November, the holiday season goes into full swing, so we’ll be busy until the New Year.

Here  Joyce is working on a party for the Mexican Consulate held at Hillcrest Country Club. To coordinate with the colors of the Mexican flag, we designed large pave style centerpieces with red ‘Charlene’ and ‘Freedom’ Ecuadorian roses in leaf lined cylinders accented with Green Ti leafs.

For Cedars Sinai Hospital, we recently designed Tuscan themed centerpieces at an event at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills. We used grapes, dahlias, orchids, roses and pomegranates  designed in bronze urns to showcase an abundant fall palette.

All kinds of fruit are wonderful additions to floral centerpieces, especially to enhance events that center around a food theme.

Another great recent event was for a wedding rehearsal dinner. To personalize the centerpieces, the groom’s mother wanted to include photos of the couple, along with flowers and candles.

For a fun and modern design, we used hot pink roses cut short in different sized square containers along with photos inside glass cylinders.  Every table had a different set of photos, so all the guests saw something original!

Fall Flowers

As the weather cools and fall begins to move in, the florals we use for parties inevitably change with the season!

Although there are still plenty of dahlias available in a myriad of colors, we are using alot of the oranges and burgundies, along with darker accents and pops of bright color for drama.

For a gentlemen’s luncheon, we designed a long table with varying sized arrangements repeating down the center on a striped runner. For a masculine touch, we used dried Lotus pods and Berzilia berry with the dahlias and orchids. Brown Sedum and antique hydrangea completed the look.

Mountain Gate Wedding

Day and Tony celebrated their wedding at the beautiful outdoor venue of Mountain Gate Country Club. The bride chose an elegant palette of crisp white, raspberry pinks and celedon greens which perfectly complemented the natural setting.

Day preferred a very tailored, contemporary look, so we designed an unusual squared arch with a clean fabric and floral treatment.

The head table treatment included varying height vases with rosepetals and votive candles placed between for an interesting visual dynamic.

In keeping with the clean, modern look, we arranged a tight path of petals on either side of the processional aisle, along with small clusters of roses and hydrangeas at every other chair. The back of the aisle is an important area that should always have some kind of decor, in this case a large glass vase filled with sea glass, hydrangeas, dahlias and calla lilies.

Day and Tony’s five tiered cake was adorned with pink and green cymbidium orchids; the tabletop had petals and votive candles for the finishing touch!