Go Green!

Two of our favorite spring flowers – Bells of Ireland and viburnum – are so green even Kermit would be jealous. Neither has a particular scent but they’re both great in a variety of arrangements, and the color can’t be beat. We like to pair bright green with hot pink, apricot or purple but it really goes with anything.

 

 

 

Valentine’s Fun

Would you be amazed if your Valentine sent you one hundred roses accompanied by a dozen stunning purple Vanda orchids? (Please say yes.) One lucky girl received this enormous bouquet yesterday and we thought it was so fun we took a pic so we could share it.

Cute Cocktail Arrangements

With centerpieces most often taking center stage at a party, cocktail tables are sometimes an afterthought, though they’re an important part of the overall ambiance. The challenge is to create something unique that will stand on its own, but also coordinate with the other party decor.

Sometimes the solution is: simplify. If your centerpieces are modern concoctions of orchids and succulents, pair the elements down to their essentials and use them in the cocktail table arrangements, as shown below.

 

Other times the solution is: go wacky. The cocktail hour is usually when guests relax before the “big event” of a formal dinner, so a whimsical floral can be just the thing, like the gerbers or birdcages below, both of which played off the overall theme decor (one a mitzvah, one a nightclub party).

 

Another solution: go bold. Choose one color from the centerpieces and use it alone in the cocktail table arrangements. This works especially well if the other decor is minimalist or neutral colors.

 

Press Junket for “Hop”

 

For the movie Hop, being released on April first, we were asked by NBC Universal to create fun cocktail table flowers for a press junket at the Four Seasons Hotel. Incorporating Gerber daisies and bright springy shades of purple, hot pink and lime green, these arrangements make us “Hoppy”!

Spotlight Awards at the Music Center

This year’s Spotlight Awards, held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center downtown,  was a fun and colorful event.

Focusing on up-and-coming talent in the areas of song, dance, visual arts and instruments, the Spotlight Awards drew 2,315 applicants this year. Of those, sixteen winners and runners up were chosen.

Working with their invitation design of colorful pencils submerged in bubbly water, we created alternating centerpieces in bright primary colors, accented with fun and whimsical “bubbles”!

Half the tables were done with greens, blues and purples, arranged with hydrangea, orchids, silvery Lambs ear and Lisianthus.

The other half of the centerpieces were bright yellows, oranges, and reds, with Gerbera daisies, roses, orchids, tulips and button mums.

A fun fact: Adam Lambert of American Idol fame got his start when he came in second place at the Spotlight Awards in 2000. (He’s better at second than first; he came in second on Idol, too!)

Purple is the New Black

From palest lavender to deepest aubergine, the color purple is everywhere this spring.

And it’s no wonder; purple is wonderfully versatile. Equally at home at an afternoon tea or a black-tie event, purple can be dressed up or down, depending on the need!

As a result of its association with royalty and luxury, the term purple  is often used to describe pretentious or overly embellished literature. For example, a paragraph containing an excessive number of long and unusual words is called a purple passage.

Best bets for spring purples: anemones, freesia, tulips, sweetpeas, callas and the all-time favorite purple flower – Lilac!!

Spring at the Flower Market

Spring is here, and so are all the best Spring flowers!

Ranunculus, freesia, daffodils, tulips, viburnum, blossoming branches…the list goes on.

Even purple roses were to be found at the flower market — though nature had nothing to do with this color.

Getting up at 4am on a Wednesday morning doesn’t sound like fun for most people, but we in the flower industry are all too familiar with getting to work before the sun comes up. On the bright side, we get to be surrounded by so much beauty!

For someone unfamiliar with the downtown L.A. flower mart, it can be overwhelming. Fortunately our buyer, Jay, worked for many years on the mart at one of the largest wholesalers. He has great relationships with so many wonderful growers who pick out the best and most unusual blooms just for him.

Don’t forget — studies have shown that flowers actually make people happy!

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.

Los Verdes Wedding

Hot colors. Beautiful setting. Love galore.

Summer weddings are special in that they are ebullient, colorful and full of the pizazz of the season.

Our bride, Meredith, chose a bright summer palette of raspberry, orange and apple green with hits of purple and yellow which spoke to her sassy, vibrant personality. Her bridesmaids wore beautiful cocktail dresses in purple/fuschia and each carried a different bouquet.

Meredith’s centerpieces were broken into three different styles: a trio of vases, one large low centerpiece and one tall display. This is a great way to visually break up a large banquet room

Meredith had a great idea for her head table; each of her bridesmaid’s bouquets was used as a part of the centerpiece on the table. Standing in clear glass vases, the bouquets added color and pop with little additional cost.

Meredith’s cake was lovely and understated with small clusters of orchids and sweetheart roses on each tier and a caketop of hydrangea, roses and orchids.