Catching Up: Class, Tonys, Articles and More.

Let's play catch up!

The Wedding Class....
....is mostly why I've been away. It was a wedding intensive class that began this past Sunday through Wednesday (where I graduated to Pomp & Circumstance, ha) and lasted from 8:30 - 5:30 every day in the city. And paranoid me left at 6:30 every morning to ensure I would beat traffic and make it to class on time.

And while I was rather terrified to go through the first hands on experience (since this was my first time around other designers) everything went okay. I learned a lot and it was really kind of nice to have a four-day designing focus, rather than multitasking computer, order taking, satisfying customers, etc. Not that those things are bad. Just that it was nice to strictly soak up some design wisdom and let some of it gel in my head a little better. Especially for wedding work.

I did solidify a few styles (one of which we just used today in the shop) and learned a few crazy things as well. For one, I never thought I'd be able to complete a composite flower which is several flowers put together to form one large bloom. So she showed us how to make a glamela (glad blooms) and we completed one and then she quickly showed us a composite rose. And it looked easier than I expected. So while we had some extra time on our hands this morning I wanted to make one while I could still remember how: 

 

In this picture it kind of looks like one giant bloomed-out rose, but that's kind of the whole point too.  That's actually three roses put together. I would love to make more of these, I think they're really beautiful. (And I was so excited to make one.)

Anyway, I essentially was coming home, eating dinner with grandma, rewriting my notes and crashing.

But I saw some awesome girls....
.... and had a chance to spend the night with them before my class started.  :) I spent the night with the Puckett family and played games and sang karaoke and had a general blast. Maybe I can sneak over there one more time before summer is up. ;)

Did I mention the Tonys are this Sunday?
Oh wait, I haven't.
Um.
I'm just not excited this year. I'll watch them (and blog inner-monologue style) but I'm just not anticipating them this year. I wasn't really last year either and they pleasantly surprised me and gave me lots of hope, but look at this years Best Musical lineup:
Once
Newsies
Leap of Faith
Nice Work if You Can Get It

Now. Not that I'm not excited for Newsies to finally be on Broadway (although, honestly, I'm not all that crazy about some of the new music I've heard) and not that I don't think Once can do well there (although, honestly, it is pretty slow in some places.) But the top three are all based off movies and the last one - while it has a new story - is essentially a Gershwin review. Where's the originality? It's nowhere. At all. And it just kind of depresses me a bit.
Okay, so it was a slow season for new stuff. How about the revivals?
Evita
Jesus Christ Superstar
Follies
Porgy & Bess 

I am VERY excited to see Porgy performed because it features none other than Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis (ahh!) but I've also heard amazing things about the supporting cast as well. That one, I'm stoked for. But the others? How many times has JCS been revived recently? Evita? Nothing new. Follies? Great show from what I've heard (my shame, I don't know that one as well), but again, played a lot.

And I'd tell you about the plays, but sadly I know nothing about them. So consider the rest of it strictly referring to musicals, because I'm telling you up front I just haven't kept up with the plays. 

This article that was posted today makes me sad: For Broadway Fans, A Moment in the Sun. It mostly discusses how nice it is for Broadway to be mainstream for a little while (and it is) and how shows like Glee, Smash and High School Musical have been the main backbone for that happening.
While I haven't been able to get into those shows, I don't have a problem with them. In fact, I like that Glee does pull a lot of old showtunes and breathes new life into them for a new generation. My problem with the article is not that our "moment in the sun" is because of these television shows. My problem with the article is when you continue reading it gives the impression that Broadway is gleaming right now with success. Newsies is finally on Broadway. This is the highest grossing year ever. We are awesome.
I'm really frustrated with this. This is a terrible year for musicals. We've been in an originality drought for awhile now, but really? Not a single show? I mean, at least in the past we've had Memphis (that's a joke.)

I'm not upset with the television shows that the article claims: "I trace this surge in popularity back to 2006's "High School Musical." Sure, I despised it (and the endless sequels) with a fervent passion, as any true musical nerd would. It turned our beloved world into a pop singer-filled, Disney Channel-style, teenybopper show." but within our own community. Why aren't we encouraging and supporting good, original art and pushing for it to be on the Great White Way where there's a better chance a larger community will see it? Why aren't we calling foul for this? Why aren't we helping promote or demanding a higher quality? Why isn't someone at least trying something instead of just rewriting movies with songs?
Probably for the same reason I haven't raised a fuss this year. Because we have in the past and now we're tired and a bit jaded with the whole thing.
I do realize there is a lot happening in smaller venues now, off-Broadway and way way off-Broadway and that's great. But I also wish we could open back up that larger market where the creative shows could potentially gain more attention and maybe one day create more of a demand for thought provoking and high quality work.
Ah well, a girl can dream.

And let me reiterate - turning a movie into a musical isn't bad in and of itself. I just wish it wasn't seemingly every show right now or that they would do something new with it. Lion King is the perfect example. Its a movie to a musical and while it's not a perfect overall show, it is excellent in so many capacities. Puppetry work? Absolutely worth the hype. The opening number? Outstanding and worth every laud. Scenery? Music? Lovely. This is a great example of breathing new life and making something truly theatrical from something that's been done before. I realize that kind of brilliance can't happen every time - that's why its so special - but its an excellent description of what I hope for in movies turned musicals and why they can be good. 

Actually, I think I hate that article. I think its dumb. And seriously, how does an article entitled "Broadway's Moment in the Sun" not include....

....the upcoming Les Mis movie.
The Les Mis trailer is still gorgeous and I'm still a bit shocked it looks so perfect. This would be such a hard show to get right and I'm so excited by all the pictures! December seems just around the corner.

And yet, there's one nail biter beforehand. 
The Dark Knight Rises marketing keeps throwing me from one side to other. I thought the Catwoman poster was stupid, yet I love all the tv spots I've seen lately. So I'm hoping its actually awesome and the marketing team has just been confused this whole time. Or if not awesome, at least solid. Please, Nolan, I want a solid ending to a good trilogy. Pleeeeeease.

However, my boss is awesome and when I begged to please, could we please be done with the wedding work by 7:00 so I can go see this movie, please oh please she laughed and said of course. So Dark Knight Rises opening weekend, here I come. Mwee!!

Let's make up for that last article.
I can assure you, this one will do it. This is a story about how a five-year-old boy and his mother got onto the Avengers set, was able to take pictures with some of the cast and how awesome they were treated by all the cast members and crew. I love it. It's super cute, really heartwarming and very "aww" worthy.
The picture of him with Loki alone is worth it. (It's at the top, I won't spoil it.)

Have you heard that saying about the thunderstorms being a good omen for Thunder?
Cause I'm sure sick of it. EVERY. WEATHERMAN. EVERY. FORECAST.
But I am glad they won, I'm thrilled for them and I'll watch the finals. They actually make watching the game fun and intense to watch, which isn't saying I usually say in context with basketball. Ever. I think these are the first full games I've ever watched where a family member wasn't playing in them. So go Thunder! You are awesome. You actually have made me enjoy basketball.

That's the majority of what you've missed. We are launching into wedding season now which will keep me busy, but not like this past week. Hurrah! I should be as back as I ever am.

Oh, the Arrangement....

So.

Tonight I began watching a show entitled The Arrangement that ran for a season last year. It's essentially a floral design competition. There's actually a lot of it that's irritating - the host is pretty insufferable, most of the designers are jerks and I still don't understand how someone with only "12 weeks" experience made it on there. But the arrangements are pretty fun to watch and I like seeing the materials they use.

However, in episode 2 their theme was heroes & villains.

And for some awful reason they had a hero named Captain Arrangement and they had to...decorate his mask with flowers? And give him a flower...weapon?
I mean, this theme had potential, but it was all done really, really badly.

BUT. That is not why I'm discussing this.

Because in the second half of the episode they had to design an arrangement that would be given to Jigsaw from the Saw series. And as part of their design they were able to go to a horror house and pick out material.
Okay, that's cool.
But someone picked out GOAT EYEBALLS.

I. kid. you. not.

I will spare you the gruesome details of what they did with the actual goat eyeballs because it made me gag.

I will be skipping the rest of episode 2 and flipping forward to episode 3 where their challenge is to use completely recycled materials.

That sounds much safer.

I hope.

It's a Poppy Kind of Day

LOOK! POPPIES!

I finally found you, my beautiful poppies! I've wanted to plant you so long and could never find you.....  but now.....

I HAS POPPIES. 

Chronicling Vday: All over. One more time.

Official Countdown: Done. The end.
Official Weather Occurrence: Despite freezing fog in the state that caused major traffic problems in the city, we were great and already had a trucks going out as soon as they were loaded. Awesome. 

Hm.... do you remember our rose cooler at the beginning?

By the end of today, it looked like this: 

This is actually the best we've ever done on roses - we were sold out of red by...11:00? Certainly by noon. In fact, we almost completely sold out of roses entirely by the end of the day.

And this isn't only the best we've ever done on roses. Somehow, all deliveries except one were made (and that one was made and they just weren't home) which is a new record beating last year's two. That's really outstanding.
And we were still taking in-town deliveries up until 3:00 which is also unheard of for us. Until that point, we never cut them off once. (Sometimes we're overloaded and have to stop accepting them for awhile and can do more once that's been lessened.) And it certainly wasn't because we sold less. We checked the numbers and they came out the same as last year. So who knows why it all went so well - maybe this year it just all fell into place, maybe we were somehow more organized, maybe it was all the early orders, maybe God was just gracious, etc. 

Of course, we'll know more tomorrow when the aftermath hits. That's the day you know how well you did. People call in with complaints, concerns, etc. You live in terror of answering the phone. You take a few normal phone calls, feel safe and then one hits you sideways. And its okay because we really do want to fix it, and things will happen when you have that many go out. We do want to know and solve the problem. But its still hard. The day after is just as much a part of the whole experience as the whole week.

But....I'm off tomorrow.




Did you hear it? The Hallelujah chorus? The heavens opening?

I told my boss today that I'm actually glad this didn't happen my first or second VDay because I certainly wouldn't have appreciated it like I do now. This is the best possible Valentine's gift.

Also, according to the News Star website tonight, the Sports Park proposition was soundly voted down with not any of the possibilities even reaching a 25% yes. Considering I still believe it was too inflated and ridiculously large & expensive for our town I'm glad. I'm sure they'll try again, but maybe - just maybe - they'll have taken another look at it and made it more feasible.

Eh. Or probably not. But we'll see.

Chronicling VDay: Flowers, flowers everywhere.

Official Countdown: 4 days.
Current Weather Report: Either rain or 2-4" of snow arriving Sunday night into Monday. 

So this is the current state of our rose cooler:

Roses, roses everywhere.

Yay! It's still semi-organized!

We were busier today with regular orders, and since I was on daily orders I was only able to finish five more of my dozens. If you're keeping track, that puts me at thirty leaving twenty more to go. You can see all our dozens lining the shelves in that pic. All our loose roses are on the floor below.

And in this corner...

Another coworker spent all day doing these. Since she was able to finish her set, she's moving on to another design tomorrow and will just keep duplicating those. We've also started bud vases ahead of time in yet another, albeit smaller, cooler. 

So much prep work. But so grateful this much can be done in advance.

Finishing our sets or quotes sounds confusing. I'm trying to figure out how to explain it. Let's take, for example, my trying to complete 50 sets of red dozen roses.  That's what I mean. We have some pictures up of arrangements that we're specially selling and we have the flowers and vases for to reproduce that arrangement for you. We have enough vases to complete, say, 12 of them or 25. We'll complete all those in advance.
Also, we know we'll sell dozen roses. We know we'll sell bud vases. So we complete a certain number of those advance as well. That's what I mean by quota.


Tomorrow the plan is to stay an hour late to finish up some of those quotas, and then we'll be ready to move on into Saturday. That should be our big design day completing all of Monday's orders and getting them ready to go, plus mostly finishing our quotas for dozens, mixed, bud vases, specials, etc. And reorganizing Tuesday's orders so we know what's not sold out, how much we have left of each, what has to be delivered first, how many orders we have, etc, etc.

In other news, I would say our last shipment of Valentine's flowers came in today but that's no longer true. We learned today that our container of white lilies will no longer be arriving due to a mistake in shipment, so we'll be receiving those from another wholesaler tomorrow.

Sure, it's really upsetting that we weren't even notified that this pretty crucial and traditional flower would not be arriving, but with a holiday this large in the industry you do have to go with the flow. It would be more upsetting if our other wholesaler had not saved the day. We love her. (We loved her anyway.)

That being said, today's shipment of flowers was lovely! My boss bought a box of fresh bulb flowers this year to give us something different to play with and I've been so excited. Its rare we have these.

Okay, so the iris we always have, but the raunculus (center) and hyancith (front) is really rare.

 

 I looooove the raunculus.

The shape, the colors, the GORGEOUS GREEN CENTERS IN THE YELLOW ONES. Swoon.

Speaking of gorgeous product, we've been so lucky this year. Usually at a major holiday the flower quality tends to go down since a) the demand becomes incredibly high therefore b) they're pulled from the fields faster bringing us back to c) sadder looking flowers. However this year that has (somehow) not been the case. Not only have our flowers been nice, most of them have been downright beautiful. It's a total blessing. We're grateful, we're excited and I'm having so much fun with them.

Notably, however, this is where you start getting tired.

Chronicling V-Day: Of course they're calling for a snowstorm.

Official Countdown: 5 days.

Since we were able to green all of our vases yesterday, today we were able to begin production on roses, more roses and even more roses. My boss and I were both working on different heights of dozens, 50 of each. I was able to finish off 25, which is less than I was hoping for, but I'm satisfied that its my halfway point. It feels like it takes sooo long.

Just surround yourself with everything you need and make, make, make.

 

 

After finishing off a dozen, we wrap them up with plastic that we start saving back in November. This keeps the roses tight and lets us have more cooler space. 

Squish the roses....as gently as possible...

 Mm....25 more to go.

And since there's not enough drama surrounding Valentines to begin with, we all arrived home yesterday to the news announcing a winter storm may be coming our way and arriving Monday.

.....

At that particular point they were predicting 2-5", which I thought sounded crazy (and admittedly this was the channel that tends to exaggerate). Today at noon it was looking more like a winter mix, and then tonight all the stations are back to calling for the likelihood of snow.

Sigh. Well. At least its not a blizzard?

Chroniciling Valentine's Week: Day 1

And so it begins...

Hm....do you think I can post a blog every night of Valentine's week chronicling a small town florists experience of it?

No, I'm sensing epic failure.

Nonetheless! Epic Challenge!

"Valentine's Week" here not necessarily literally meaning "the week of Valentine's Day." For most florists (at least, the few I know of, ha), V-Day starts about a week out. (For those unaware of the date, the holiday is this next Tuesday.) About a week out we start receiving our largest shipments of flowers. There may be one or two shipments a few days earlier, but no, a week out is really when it all begins. We actually make our floral order about six weeks beforehand. As for orders coming in early, it entirely depends on the year. The past two years we've had almost no orders up until days before the big day. This year (and in other previous years I've worked) we've had a nice steady stream of incoming orders weeks beforehand. The latter is always encouraging.

Anyway, this morning I had to order our standard order for the week - in addition to the Valentine's order already on its way - when my boss alerted me he thought our wholesaler had already left for our way. Um... Immediately I mentally scanned through the list - if we could not get any additional flowers, we would be fine since we had called in our must-have's this past Friday. But I called our wholesaler anyway. Apparently they had already left because they had an entire vanful coming our way and they would make a second trip back mid-morning.

Now, this isn't really unusual since my bosses reminded me normally they go themselves and pick it up, filling up their own van. Nonetheless, it still bemused me that they were sending an entire van our way.  

This is the bulk of that first vanful- but even this doesn't include the greenery that came on it as well.

This is the part of Valentine's I love - I love that sense of beginning, that "we're all in this together" comradery as we load out boxes, process flowers, organize and get back into that holiday mindset. I love seeing the vast amount of flowers and being able to enjoy all the different kinds and colors and dreaming up bouquets. I love the anticipation even if I dread what it will be.

Unfortunately with V-Day, even though you have all these pretty flowers, there's less design and more recipe work. That's mostly because you have to bang out so many arrangements so quickly and you need solid pieces that people enjoy that you can have prepared in advance. However we do customize each piece that requests it (which is a lot) and I really enjoy that. (And sometimes all that means is we're told "pick whatever's prettiest." Okay! I can do that!) 

I guess that isn't entirely true. We actually do a lot of customization on pieces that allow for it. But we also have a website that people can choose their bouquet from as well. And since most people (understandably) want to see a picture of what they're going to receive, we do more standard arrangements. That's equally as much the reason why. 

As for tomorrow we will be receiving our second bulk shipment and then we'll get in smaller orders on Wednesday & Thursday. More roses come in tomorrow - I'm personally hoping for some Sweetness as they're gorgeous and they don't come in often, but I'll always take orange too since they're still my favorite. :)

Sweetness - Pic from Sun King. Drool.

Let the games begin.

A Flowery Post: ArtNow 2012

So last Friday we had a great opportunity at the shop to provide flowers for the City Arts Center's largest fundraiser of their year. It was a lot of fun and we even had a chance to go, so it was an enjoyable evening. (Oh, and they had chocolate covered strawberries from the Melting Pot....) 
Flowers!

I loved my bosses piece for the large table.

We also did about ten cubes for bistro tables that were placed throughout the exhibits. In the end I was really pleased with the way they came out. Initially I was a little anxious with my bosses concept since it was going to be a modern art show and the flowers we were choosing (and style) was not really.... stylized. But they ended up being a perfect fit: relaxed enough to soften the atmosphere and not compete with the other art, but just a touch of something fresh or sleek to make them stand on their own when noticed.

Anyway, since I was so pleased with them and since sometimes you ask what I do at work, here are some of my cubes:

I think this is my favorite. Thank you lily grass for standing so nice & tall! :)

This technique is called nesting. I haven't actually attempted it much - but I see it everywhere - so it was nice to try. I like the look, I'll have to play with it more often.

Heh, yes, same arrangement, just a different shot. I just liked the pic. :)

And okay, since most of you have asked for this picture:

 Also, while I'm already talking flowers and to condense the number of those posts, my boss had this amaaaaaaazing casket piece a few months back. Amaaaaaaazing.

Seriously, the amount of skill that went into this just wows me.

I mean, from that table this thing is almost reaching the floor. If you need a visual for size, it stretched across the top of the entire casket. While full couches (read: casket pieces that span the entire length of the top) aren't necessarily unusual anywhere, they're not really common in our area. Its true a lot of that is due to budget, but its also due to the fact that people open the casket during the service and want to slide the arrangement down to the end. So an opportunity to watch her build one is rare. (I had no work on this one. All her. I just observed and helped move the sucker.)

Anyway, that's what we've been up to. :) Valentine's Day is two and a half weeks away, we just began consulting an a wedding for the summer and we're slowly transitioning over into spring. Huzzah!

She thanks her Jesus for the daisies and the roses.

The perk of working in a flower shop: sometimes the beauty gets to follow you home. :)

Aren't these gorgeous? My boss said I should bring some home to grandma for Thanksgiving. :) This particular variety (High & Magic) has been incredibly lovely and have been very long lasting considering how open they are. The ones in the center are called Cinnamon and are a pretty peach on their own, but here the ones in front simply steal the show. We've really been enjoying them and I wanted to show them off.


God did pretty stellar with these, didn't He?

(Another) Wedding Gallery

This wedding was just fun to work. I enjoyed every minute of it. I'll just say up front, I loved the way all the colors (burgandys, plums & golds) & style worked out from this one. Everything turned out just gorgeous. And the lanterns were beautiful. 

Gallery!

Do you remember when I was discussing the reception pieces that averaged 40 minutes each because there were not only so many different varieties of flowers involved, but so many different colors?

Reception Centerpieces

That would be one of them.

Okay, so the breakdown for those pieces alone: dahlias (gold, red, purple), amaranthus (purple, green), candlelight roses (gold), stock (purple), hypericum (red, green), callas (purple, gold,) and freesia (purple, gold). And seeded euc.

Reception Centerpieces - Gratuitous 'I-think-this-is-pretty' photo.

And while we're still at the reception:

Bride's Table

Pam designed the bride's table, and the bride happened to be her niece. So it was extra nice that everything turned out so well.

Cake Table

Hm. So the cake table was my piece.

Of course you're most critical of your own work (and since I designed it and took the picture it's a double slam), but this picture just looks incredibly messy to me. I think its the burgundy amaranthus (hanging stuff) smack down the center. In my defense it did not look like that in real life. I was actually really pleased with how it turned out. So. There you go.

Also, on the point of tinting: we did so much spray painting for this wedding. (But honestly, I could say that about most weddings. Or often work days in general.) Those gold dahlias are actually incredibly neon yellow. We tinted their tips with black cherry paint to dull their brightness. The amaranthus came in too pink - we dulled it with black cherry. The purple dahlias weren't dark enough. The red dahlias weren't dark enough. So. Much. Paint.

Back to reception.

Top of Staircase

The bride & groom were presented at the top of a stairwell, so these pieces were for that. The birdcage was at the top and several mixed pieces were placed down the steps with candle holders containing electric votives. Apparently the guests were very consumed with worry that they were real candles.


I love the look of the top. So pretty. That green hanging amaranthus is one of my favorite flowers.

 Okay, three left and then we're done. Wedding party!


Bridesmaids:

Funny story:  So while the pictures above are of the same arrangement, each one of the six bridesmaids bouquets were to be slightly individualized.  However, since I was getting back into the swing of handhelds and it was my first one I had to rework it several times. And then when I finally finished, after glancing at my bosses once, I turned around to find that we had created practically the exact same bouquet, minus one flower. Heh.

And at last, of course, the beauty:

Bridal Bouquet

I've made comments to my boss before about how I never seem to like the bridal bouquet as much as the bridesmaids, simply because they're often given more texture or color or overall interest to their bouquets. But that is not the case here. 

I really love the look of this bouquet. I love the colors, I love the touches of sparkle, I love the way the ribbon curls on the handheld. You can't really see it without a close up, but she frosted the tips of the purple dahlias white just a touch to pick up the white of her dress. Gorgeous. This is simply one of my favorites.

With drops of jupiter in her hair.

We're currently in the middle of a wedding at work. It's turning out really nice - all burgandys, purples and golds. Very rich, lush colors. And while we've still got a ways to go, we did manage to finish one of the biggest time consuming aspects of it today - the reception pieces which I believe averaged a design time of 40 minutes each.  What should that tell you? That's essentially the same amount of time we average on casket pieces (and sometimes even those are shorter).  Blah. I felt like I was running in slow motion. But at least they're super pretty.
Part of the reason they required so much time is simply some of them came in the wrong color (this happens frequently). Which means we have to spend time playing with the floral paint to determine the right match and then go back through and individually paint each flower.
Part of the other reason is there were so many different flowers going in the piece (roses, thistles, dahlias, freesia, euc, amanrathus, hypericum berries....) and there were often colors for each flower. So not only were we constantly trying to ensure we had all those flowers in, we had to ensure we had each color of each flower in. And roses and thistles were the only ones in one color.

Are you actually interested in that? I never know. Oh well. I am.

In exciting news: this Thursday is the Train/Maroon 5 concert! I've wanted to see Train ever since I first heard "Drops of Jupiter" in 2001. (That was ten years ago?) Subsequently, I fell in love with the earlier released "Meet Virginia" and then the band dropped entirely off the map after their lesser acclaimed Private Nation album. (According to Wikipedia, they released another album in 2006 and then went off the map. Who knew?) I was really sad about this. I felt like they had such great potential and just hadn't quite completely found their sound yet.

Fact: "Drops of Jupiter" has actually never left my Top 5 Favorite Songs list since that first listen. I love the imagery, I love the whimsiness of the lyrics, I love the melody.

Then one day at work the radio was actually on a pop station (a rarity) and this chorus was so incredibly catchy and happy I immediately starting looking up the song.
And, as you may guess, it was "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train.
I do believe I jumped out of the chair and chanted "They're back! They're back!" but its all a blur now.

While I immediately downloaded this incredibly happy song (that I still love two years later), I was still on the fence about whether to download their whole album. I mean - they've had some successes with radio hits, but not necessarily entire albums. But I risked it and Save Me, San Francisco is certainly one of my best purchases. They do an excellent job of carrying touches of a theme throughout the entire listen, but each song stands on its own. They're back with great melodies, fun lyrics and lots of homages other pieces of music that make me smile. True, I skip "Breakfast in Bed" almost every time (what a bizarre song), but that's the only one.

As for Maroon 5, well, I know I've heard their songs but I couldn't tell you what exact ones they were except for their most recent. Nonetheless, they'll probably be great showmen and I'm glad to see them.

Bedtime. Bedtime, bedtime, bedtime.

Wedding, wedding, wedding

Dun dun dun.......THE WEDDING.

Okay, no need for that. But sometimes, you just have to. Yes, you do.

The reason you didn't hear much about this wedding prior to it was mostly because the bride hadn't settled on some details, and I finally told Pam to just catch me up the week of. So... I really didn't know a lot about it until the flowers were arriving.

But this wedding was a ton of fun. It was large, but still a fairly simple setup. Also, it was at a fancy schmancy country club in the city which was a lot of fun - and getting to interact with their wedding coordinator was fantastic because she was awesome. We also ended up arriving an hour earlier than we anticipated and just had tons of time to make sure everything was exactly what we wanted.

First off, here's what the back of my bosses van looked like:

And that's just the top half of the reception pieces, friends.

And that also explains why I ended up driving up ALL the glass vases...when it was the one thing I repeatedly said I didn't want to do. Ha! So much for that. (Actually, it turned out great. Everything was so tightly packed they couldn't go anywhere anyway. I just thought it was really funny.)

The big uncertainty for us on this wedding is brought to you by the letter 'W'. That's right, a 'W' was taking us down. No, we just simply hadn't made one before and with the our well-known state winds, we simply didn't think this would stay:

The Ceremony Site:

YEAH. Our W!

Haha, it actually didn't take us that long and it didn't turn out to be that big a deal. We were mostly concerned about the rose petals blowing away and they never did (even with an unexpected storm brewing...I told you, DUN DUN DUN.) But it did have to be pretty funny watching my boss and I stand there and debate whether we had it in the right shape. ("Sherri, somethings wrong!" "No, it looks great!" "No, something's really wrong!" "You're parano...oh wait...the center's upside down! The center's upside down!") Ahahaha, and we even had a stencil. It was hysterical.
200 roses, folks. That's about 200 roses right there.

What's that? You want a close up to admire all those pretty shades? Of course:

Oooo....aaaah....

Okay, now the rest of the ceremony site:

There were two of these pieces, one on either side with all that gorgeous ruskus draping and curly willow adding so much pretty height, and green dendrobium orchids and hydrangeas and pink callas and sweet william and.... aww... I really, really liked this color combination. Green is is a perfect color on its own, but it really makes all the others shine as well.

The Handhelds:
Bridal bouquet on the left, bridesmaids on the right. All callas. In a bit of a role reversal, my boss made the bridesmaids and I made the bridal, as much to my surprise as I'm sure it is to yours. Blush blush...


The bridesmaids wore black dresses, so those black pins were perfect to tie all the colors together. And my, isn't that a pretty handle wrap! Those suckers are harder than they look (at least for me. I get glue EVERYWHERE.) After all our weddings this year I'm just now getting...um...a handle...on them...can't.figure.out.any.other.wording...ahhhh! PUN NOT INTENDED. Lets move on.

If I were to talk to you about flower detail and what about this picture makes me weak at the knees floral wise, I would point out those stunning green tips on the white callas. Love. Gives them such a natural, yet incredibly elegant, appearance.



Reception:

I really, really love this style and this is partially what made this wedding so fun for us. This style is super popular right now in the wedding world, but we haven't had many opportunities yet here to apply it. The reception centerpieces were in two parts: the bottom half is a glass cylinder filled partially with black rocks and then the rest includes curly willow all wrapped up with a few mini callas. The top half includes pink asters, callas and alstromeria, with fuchsia sweet william & carnations and green dendrob's & hydrangea. And that's curly willow giving it all that fantastic height. (Yes, those are airplanes in the curly willow.)

Seriously, I just couldn't get a picture that would do them justice. My boss created the design, it was really lovely.


Top Half:


Lower Half:
If I were to try and pick a signature style, I think I would automatically tend towards this look. I really, really enjoy the submerged or flowers tucked inside the vase - especially for weddings. In fact, a lot of receptions now use this look without the top half - just a few callas & rocks down inside the cylinder. I'm a big fan of that too.

The only thing was it was HOT. We actually only had to be outside about 40 minutes, but that was long enough. We hadn't had enough (any) water that day and by the time we finished up and I was leaving I immediately hit a gas station for some water.
And an hour before the wedding suddenly we noticed this storm clouds starting to move in...and then while we were having our what-does-a-W-look-like debate, we started hearing thunder, and seeing more clouds. But, happy ending, they made it without any bad weather.

I love working on-site with my bosses. There's so much I can pick up while we're out there that you can't learn in the shop. We've got one more big wedding in September that should be really pretty, and then we're out of it for a little while. Which makes me a little sad. Especially when you've just come off one this enjoyable.

In other news, my family arrives TONIGHT! Yaaay! Woo wooo woo!

(Also, a short interview with Tom Hardy aka Bane on Dark Knight Rises! A slightly disconcerting comment regarding the ending, gah! But no spoilers, obviously.)

Wedding #1: Tropical Paradise

Okay! Now I finally get to show you the wedding I've been talking about:

Everybody together now: Oooo.....ahhhhh....

It was so gorgeous. The flowers came in so nice (mostly), the colors complimented one another so well. This was one of those projects where I actually enjoyed the work along the way as much as (if not moreso) than the end result.

Looking back at the pictures, I guess its kind of hard to believe my boss and I spent over twenty hours of design work alone on this wedding (not including all the mechanics preparing beforehand). In some respects, it may not look like over twenty hours worth of work. But I promise you, its there.

Pew Markers

For example, the piece above. These things consumed huge chunks of our time. Since there were twelve in all, we each worked six. They turned out so lovely - that green hanging amaranthus at the bottom just looked gorgeous as a runner down the aisle. And I've discovered I love those huge orange balls in the center (protea.) My boss, however, discovered she's not such a fan, but this picture simply does not do these justice. She really designed a lovely piece.

Its hard for me to seperate the final look from all the hard work put into it, which may be why I'm so attached. Maybe you see pretty ceremony flowers - and if so, that's awesome because that's how its meant to be. But what I see is the fact that they're the exact width of the pew and I see the cardboard box we had rigged with a piece of plywood on a table to simulate it. (The mechanics of these pieces alone soaked up so much time before the first flower ever entered the foam.) I see all three of us trying to lay to rest how exactly the piece needs to be mirrored on each side of the aisle and I see how early we had to start work on them because there were so many pieces and only two of us.

Bout's - (They're wrapped in moss. Love this look.)

And because this wedding was requiring so much... intensity? attention? I'm not sure of the right word. But I wasn't expecting to take on anything too heavy. I knew I would need to follow her patterns and I realized I was gaining so much experience through observation and copying her pieces (i.e. the pew markers, bouts). All that to say, when my boss asked if I'd take care of designing the toss/guestbook bouquet, I was a bit surprised and thrilled at the opportunity.

Toss/ Guestbook

Sure, I know its a small item, but at this point handhelds are one of my weakest areas. There's simply not enough opportunity to work on it consistently, and I haven't had enough practice. So this was quick and fun. (plus, it meant I got to play with the birds of paradise I had been drooling over.)

All that to say, when she asked me to handle the bridesmaids bouquets, I felt a bit like blushing. I get to play with all the pretty flowers? Me?


Bridesmaids - Colors
Not such a great shot of the bouquet itself, but it shows off all the vibrant colors nicely. The deep purple stock just completes the picture.

Bridesmaids - Full Shot
No matter the creative format, it's interesting to have two people design the same piece. My bosses original idea was a short, stocky handle of stems. But I fell in love with the elongated stems and couldn't bear to cut them. With the longer stems, the pieces looked more natural, more tropical and I loved the touch of flair.

Bridesmaids - Handle
It's all about the details, right? The handles are so rarely seen.

And then, of course, the piece de resistance itself:

Bridal Bouquet - Or in other words, why is boss is outstanding.
Let's see... birds of paradise, calla lilies, protea, dendrobium orchids, bear grass, statice, euphorbia, hypericum berry....
This really looked breathtaking up against her beautiful white dress. I love the off center cascade. I love that its many of my favorite flowers. I love the colors. I love this piece.
(Three pictures of the bridesmaids and only one of the brides? Not fair, I know.)

And all of it together....

Oh, but we're not done!
Altar Flowers

Three candelabras... (two french hens, and a partridge...)


Cake Topper

Corsages....

Flower Girl Baskets

And a parting shot....
In June you'll have to be inundated again, since I'm super excited about another wedding we'll be working then (hot pink flowers, ANEMONES, mirrored vases and black ostrich feathers? I'm there.)