Monday, March 23, 2009

A Few of My Favorite Things

A few years ago, when Fleuretica had just started, Victoria & David came to us for their wedding flowers. Last week, they came to us again and requested that we design a tablescape for their adorable daughter's birthday brunch! Victoria gave us free reign with the design, with her only stipulation that it was a {Cupcake and Candy} themed party. Not only were we delighted to be working with Vic & David again, but we were excited to put something fun and festive together. If you know Kendra or me, you'll know that this was something we'd probably do for our own kid...or ourselves. :)

The brunch was held at Maison Akira, a french/japanese fusion restaurant in the heart of the Pasadena Playhouse District. I have never eaten there but my brother swears they have the best champagne brunches on Sundays. I guess I have to check it out to see if he's right!

*doesn't it look quaint?

We started from the center of the table and made a cake using spider mums. Most floral supply stores should sell a foam cage on a cake stand, making this project really easy! Just submerge in water and plug in your choice of blooms. We reflexed a rose to emulate the piped whipped cream rosettes. We also added a paper flag garland around the cake stand to give it a whimsical touch (got the idea from Martha). Use any scraps you have lying around, or find cute cardstock or wrapping paper that goes with your color scheme. And don't worry about the patterns or colors not matching - the more the merrier (in this case anyway).

*Z is for Zoe, the birthday girl (that's not a 7....we raised the letter after taking the picture)

We also placed (empty) gift wrapped boxes on the table, adorned with satin bows and tulle.


Then we found little silicone baking cups at Michael's (our finds were pink and yellow flower shaped ones but they also have plain rounded and square ones). We filled them with a little wet foam and made floral cupcakes:

*we used button mums, hydrangea, alstromeria, spray roses and ranunculus. carnations work really well too!


Then we staggered glass vases in various shapes along the center of the table for the candy, using Smarties, Charm Pops, Hershey Chocolate bars, Nestle Crunch eggs, Jelly Beans, and my favorite, PEZ!


*Hello Kitty and My Melody were my absolute favorite growing up!

And putting all the elements together:


If you're feeling adventurous, this is definitely a project you can tackle for a party you're hosting. Most of the decor can be done way ahead of time, which will leave you time to focus on other things. For edible cupcakes (other than real ones) you can spear strawberries or blueberries on toothpicks and use dry foam instead. If you're feeling really resourceful, use greenery or succulents from your backyard to create different textures for the cupcakes. For a really fun touch, add balloons. LOTS of balloons. :)

We always love little projects like this. It was a refresher after a busy, double wedding weekend. We didn't take pictures from the weddings but will leave it to the pros to send us some soon. I'm looking forward to sharing with you a wedding we did at the Pacific Asia Musuem. Please stay tuned!







Monday, March 16, 2009

Jean & Austin

When Jean first came in for a consultation, my thought was "this girl's stylin'". As we got to talk a bit more, I found out that she went to FIDM, had a great sense of fashion, and she is a budding photographer. I knew right away that her wedding details were going to be no less than chic.

To begin with, here's one of many breathtaking engagement shots of Jean & Austin by Amelia Lyon:


With a shot like that, I knew there were high expectations for their wedding! You can find out the backstory to their engagment shots on Amelia's blog - be prepared to be 'wowed' some more!

Jean and I originally talked over incorporating black accents into the wedding but the idea was later expunged because black is a bad luck color in some chinese weddings (some say white is...it just depends on who you ask!). Jean honored the wishes of her family and we changed up the colors to blushes, medium pink, silver/grays, and ivory. And we snuck in some black accents here and there...sssh!

*Jean looking modelesque with a bouquet of peonies, ranunculus, freesia, edged with dusty miller

Something to note, the weather had been horrendous the days prior to the wedding. Heavy rainfall and cold temperatures do not make for a great wedding day! However, in the hours leading up to the ceremony, the sun made an appearance and it was a beautiful day!

*under magnolia trees at the Langham - Amelia has a great eye. The girls carried simple bouquets of ranunculus, finished with slate gray ribbon

*again, one of the best moments!

*a backdrop of crystal strings, dendrobium orchid strands, and threaded cymbidium orchids at the Branca Patio at Occidental College

*the happy couple

To see more pictures from this wedding, check out their slideshow!

Randoms:
1. We ran into Jean and Austin the next day at our Festival of Bride's Wedding Show (at the Langham). Jean was happy so we were happy!!
2. This was our second time working with gerber daisies, the first time being in January of this year! It's perfect for the pop of black, and like a carnation, can be elegant if used in the right way.

Jean & Austin: thanks for allowing us to be one of many to help you create a beautiful, romantic day! :)




Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Evolution of a Wedding Show Exhibit

In the past year, we've done a few wedding shows at various venues. Each time, we changed up the color scheme and concept, while still maintaining key elements. We like to show detailed work (such as boutonnieres and bouquets) because that's something you don't always get to see. We love us some reversible, tall glass vases so we use them when we can. And if we can build a cake in there somewhere, we will do that too! Here are some of our past shows:

*our first show at the Westin Bonaventure. it was a mixture of eggplant, purple, muave, and lavendar with accents of black

*show #2 was at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center, sponsored by Patina. We went in a completely different color direction and picked a fresh color palette to complement the modern and newly renovated room

*our 3rd show at the Sheraton LAX. we purchased a screen to display our bouquets and did a mini photo booth with the brides.

*at the Langham Hotel, where we went with a more antique color scheme, and built 8ft walls as the backdrop.

By the fifth time, we figured we were good on the basics, but wanted to present a focal piece that was really interesting. We also liked the idea of using our finds at our local Salvation Army and mixing that with more modern pieces. After numerous drawings/redraws/doodles/brainstorm sessions, we decided that we wanted to do a "Cake Reception". The final sketch as inspiration:

We were originally going to use a table that Kendra had sitting in her dining room, but upon further hunting, we came across this buffet/console at a consignment shop:
This was the springboard to the color scheme and we pulled in mustard, honey, blush, pewter, teal, persimmon, and cranberry. Sounds like a drink...a very bad one!

I think the best part of being a designer is that the ideas you dream up in your head can be a reality!

Here are some of the details, up close and personal:
*our birds nest, filled with privet berry, kumquats, and berzillia

*floral cupcakes made up of carnations, ranunculus, button mums, roses, and beads

*cake topper of mini cakes of ranunculus and galax leaves

*our boutonniere board

*the cake with button mum and china mum layers. we folded poly satin ribbon for the trim of the cake, and wrapped an octagonal cake stand with honey toned velvet.

*mix of roses, privet/hypericum/berzillia berry, kumquat, cabbage, and leucadendron

*the lone bouquet that held down the fort (we were moved to a corner to accomodate our giant wall and ended up being blocked by a massive pillar)
*the guestbook area on a bed of red carnations in a wooden box with antique knob handle

*1 of 2 main pieces, the floral art frames inspired by Preston Bailey. We purchased the curved corners and moulding from a specialty store, and carefully cut the moulding with a miter saw. Tricky but fun.

*what is a cake reception without the cake - we were placed very near the
Cakes by the Pound table. The pastry tables are usually the most popular at wedding shows (rightly so) so we enjoyed the atmosphere it added to our exhibit! You must call them and order their chocolate BLACKOUT cake.

Hope you enjoyed the show! :)

Monday, March 2, 2009

Biltmore Festival of Brides

Just a quick "Thank you!" to all of the Brides and Grooms that stopped by our booth at the Festival of Brides hosted at the Milleiunnium Biltmore on Sunday. We had a great time at the show and look forward to meeting with you to discuss your wedding vision!

For information on our "{Chock} full of {Love}" bars Golden ticket giveaway please click here for details.