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.

Things.

1) The Tony Nominations Happened?
Apparently they were announced today. I just happened to visit Playbill. I guess my body still has some sort of internal Tony clock that tells me when to check in. 
Anything of interest? Um... Newsies is up for Best Musical along with Once, but honestly other than that not much catches my eye. Peter & the Starcatcher is up for Best Play. Porgy & Bess is up for Best Revival. Yeah, I'll still check in at Tony time, but there's nothing here that really makes me want to keep up outside of those. Once received the most nom's this year clocking in at 11. Which doesn't surprise me either.
Sigh. In the Heights, I miss you. Miranda, come back. (Or Ahrens & Flaherty. Or Guettel. Someone, come back!)

2) It is May. And I hate May.
May, can we let bygones be bygones? You mostly don't like me. I mostly don't like you. You've set me into stressful fits of rage the last two years in a row. It's true, that was more related to work issues. The computer & whatnot. But let's just chill this year. Truce? Truce?

3) So you're preparing for Mother's Day, huh?
Actually, right now we're in a flurry of activity revamping our (entire) wedding process. It's becoming a huge investment all across the board and due to a sudden deadline we have to have part of it done by the end of this week. And then I need to update & revamp our portfolio. And then comb back over all our social media to see if it's a solid representation of us. And then make it through my wedding class in June - which I'm super excited about - but its still a touch intimidating.
Though I did learn that apparently all these classes are done only through the OKC center. Which means people fly from all over the nation to attend these classes. Cool!
And yes, Mothers Day is next week so that'll take precedence very soon. We're very busy for currently not having any daily work to do.

4) But I do get to see Holly tomorrow!
Holly and I are having a Trigun day. Season 1! The happy season! And then Phoenix Diner! It's a plan. I'm excited.

5) Again. My Kids are Freaking Cute. 
And just in case there was some part of you that doubted my kids are indeed the cutest. ever.

Pic shamelessly stolen from Amy. Great shot, Amy!

LOOK AT THAT FACE.

Seriously. Happiest face ever. I love this little now-somehow-five birthday baby. :)

6) The Moose is Back.
There is a theatre in NY called The Beautiful Soup who is reviving Moose Murders. Moose Murders, which opened in 1983, is the Carrie of plays. The big flop. The original of flop-dom. The show that played 13 previews, and opened and closed on the same night. 1 performance.

Personally, I love that they're doing this. Maybe it's just because I want to see Bring Back Birdie. But I've often thought I'd love to be near a theatre that once a season revived a major flop (or terrible show.) And whether they play it for laughs or try to attempt it legit, their intent could change depending on the show. Just giving it one more life.

They even made a trailer for it. I love it.



7) Oh, and speaking of "The Flop...."
There will be a cast recording of the recent Off-Broadway revival of Carrie! YAY! I'll get to hear Marin Mazzie tackle "And Eve Was Weak" which is very exciting.
Sadly, the song list does not include "Out for Blood." Somehow the song about hacking a pig got cut.
Oh, Carrie. You make me smile.

8) But Once Upon a Time doesn't.
This is actually the first time I've discussed Once on here I think. I almost hate to now.
Look.
.....
Look.
I've been watching this show all season. Because it's bad.
I'm sorry if you like this show.
But....it is bad. Laughably.
However, this weeks episode was not necessarily laughably bad. It was just downright painful.
And despite the fact that I've been watching this show because its bad, this episode was so bad that I don't even know that I'm willing to finish out the series. Even though we're only two episodes away.
Because it was THAT BAD.

Can you even comprehend that level of terrible? Because I sure couldn't

Thank goodness for the Dark Knight trailer.

On a Timer: Go! Gotta run, gotta run now....

Ahem.

I have not left the blogosphere, but I have had Less Than Much to talk about lately. Also, sadly, blogging usually takes at least 45 minutes to an hour of my time and I have not been willing to give it that. Nor should it usually take that long.

And I did promise my body I'd be in bed by 11:00 tonight. However, due to the I Must Start Posting Again drive I'm giving myself a 15 minute abstention, as well as a 15 minute timer. It is 11:01. What can we discuss in 14 minutes.

1) My Town is Stupid.
This should really be its own post. But in Friday's paper it was announced that my town would be closing 3 of our 4 tornado shelters due to the fact that they don't meet the Disabilities Requirements Act. That's fine - I understand they need to be updated - but update them. Instead the article informed us that a) not only did the fourth shelter not meet the requirements either and that b) it only holds "about 100 people" but that c) instead we should prepare for alternative action. Like getting in a closet. Or bathroom.
I'm not kidding.
Look, how many times recently have we heard of a town "needing to be underground to survive." Too many. And while its true that our particular town hasn't had that particular event yet, we live in Tornado Alley. I'm aware that most of the time getting in a closet will do it, if you even need to do that - but come on. For those rare times you do need to be underground, you will regret it deeply if you aren't. There is no excuse for any town in our state to be without underground shelters. It is foolish.

2) I Love Lynn Ahrens and You Do Too.
Apparently one of my favorite musical lyricists (of Flaherty/Ahrens fame Ragtime, Once On this Island & Seussical) has continually worked on SchoolHouse Rock since its inception. (Thank you, Wikipedia!) So if you loved the songs The Tale of Mr. Morton, Interjections! or Interplanet Janet then you do too. (She's worked on lots of others. Those were just the ones I remembered the best.)

3) Now for the Ultimate Question.
I finished reading Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for the first time. While I didn't realize it wasn't a stand alone book (and was surprised by that), I have borrowed the Complete version so I'm good to go. It was very refreshing, very fun and I'm excited to read the other books since I think I'll know less of the jokes ahead of time. (They were still great, but the ones that really made me laugh out loud were the ones that caught me off guard.) Marvin is still my favorite, although I love Trillian, and I love the Genuine People Personalities built into the computer system. The doors were my favorite. I'm looking forward to the next one.

4) I Miss Godzilla.
I must break out Final Wars soon. Anyone want to watch a Godzilla movie with me? Or we can watch a new one? Pleeease?


Down to three minutes. 

And I'm blanking! I'm blanking!

5) A Whole Class on Weddings.
My bosses were able to get me into the Teleflora Education Center's Wedding Class in June. It's a four day intensive study of all things bridal bouquet, consultations, pricing and wedding work and I'm pretty excited to take it.

Aaand just barely over a minute!

Collection of Late Night Thoughts

Sporadic thoughts late at night.

 Do you know I slept over 11 hours last night? It was glorious.

For some reason, I was so ready to be off work this weekend that when I locked the door at 5 I almost did a victory dance. (I withheld until I was safely at home.) I think it was just a long week. Not a bad week. Just one where you're ready to be anywhere but work by the end of it.

We actually had another wedding last weekend that was a setup. If I would ever remember to edit the pictures I might post some of them here, but alas. I do however have a quick shot of the bridal:

Midnight blues & whites.

Holly asked me the other day if I was enjoying the unseasonably warm winter we've had so far. I LOVE it. In fact, we're supposedly going to get up to 70 on Monday. I'm so excited.
It's not that I'm against cold winters entirely - I really do like the change of seasons. Its just that we've had such bitter winters the past two or three years that I'm soaking up whatever warmth comes our way. I would love to scrape by with a mild winter this year.

Seriously, if you haven't listened to the Megas album yet, you're missing out. And once you listen to the original, go listen to this acoustic version. They're both incredible. These guys are awesome. They're on bandcamp, so you can listen to their albums on those links for free.

Okay, so I know I'm really, really late to the game here, but Newsies is awesome.
Wait....we know you've listened to Newsies before now. Right? Right...??
No worries! I have!
This is my history with Newsies: I had never even heard of it until probably high school when my cousin Jeff couldn't believe I had missed it. I was getting into musicals at that time, so I watched it and thought it was good. Really good. But I never really got into it. I never had the nostalgia factor with it and just never really attached to it. However, I've had my iPod on shuffle a lot more than usual recently and "Carrying the Banner" came on. Oh man! What a knockout! So much punch in one song. I've listened to it so many times in the past few days. I definitely plan on rewatching it.

This Wednesday Jeff & I are going to see the Addams Family musical! Yaaay! It's been awhile since I've seen a show.

Sleepy, sleepy.... Good night everyone.

(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.)

Oh, when it's your wedding day.

I've spent all day up to my elbows in wedding work and I'm so excited to show you soon how one of them is turning out. For one, its flowers we don't normally get to play with (which is fun) but also the color combo is just knockout. I'm not lead designer on that one (thank goodness) but I'm getting a ton of experience out of mimicking my bosses designs. She's a pretty incredible designer, so I'm really enjoying this opportunity to stretch my floral muscles a bit. This wedding provides challenges for both of us, which becomes amusing long after the shop is closed and we've been staring at our respective pieces for hours to get them just right.

Also, for an entirely different wedding, I had the opportunity this morning to make the bridal bouquet and I'm pleased with how it came out. I don't have much experience with handhelds simply because we don't do them as often. And considering I had spent the two hours before fighting with the smaller bridesmaids, I was surprised at how pleased the main piece turned out.

For those interested, work is apparently still being done on Carrie: an "exploratory workshop" is in motion, to lead to an Off-Broadway revival. Whoohoo!

Also, the Tonys are to be announced May 3rd. I would probably be more excited about this, but sadly I don't think I know of a single show that would be up for anything this year.

Happy Weeding

This actually happened over a week ago now, but between the paranoia that she would call me angry or in tears and the excitement over Tate it was shoved to the side.

I have officially completed my first wedding! Well, 'first' as in, the 'first' I've taken from the very first phone call, completed the consultations, did the follow ups, worked with my boss on checking pricing and finished the bouquets.

Not to say I did it by myself, however. If it weren't for my boss and coworkers I would have been incredibly lost. Pricing a wedding? Discovering how to get the best bang for their buck for their budget? Making sure you understand the bride's vision so you can carry it into their bouquets and make wise spur-of-the-moment-when-needed decisions? Having someone to bounce ideas off of?

My bride (my bride) wanted all hydrangeas. Hydrangeas can be scary. They're very finicky. If they're not happy they can quickly turn brown and die. Which happened, actually. We had tinted her toss bouquet with some whitewash to fade out the blue and it lasted until she got her hair done. I actually wasn't at work that day, but a coworker called me later saying she had had to replace the bouquet and run it out to the chapel. She double-checked the rest & confirmed they were fine. So while we've successfully painted hydrangeas in the past this particular type of paint was just too strong. Noted.

Enough. I'm forcing pictures on you.
Her colors were tiffany blue, light blue & white.)

The Bridal Bouquet:


Please note how thick the handle is at the back of the picture. Ten hydrangeas. This thing was like a club. I could've taken someone out with it.

The Mother's Bouquet:


My bride opted out of corsages for the mothers and went with handheld bouquets of a single hydrangea cupped with babies breath instead. I wish I had a closeup of all her ribbons. She personally brought them in and I loved the white ribbon with circles all throughout it. Elegant and yet fun. Perfect.

The Reception Centerpieces:


Seriously, I know it looks like those things just dropped in there, but that's far from the truth. The hydrangeas were so large they toppled over. Bubbles, wirework and lots of manipulating of leaves later, Imy & I finally worked out a system and the others went (mostly) smoothly.

Major Things I Learned:
1) Honesty is priceless. I know this, but it was just reaffirmed. Just because I thought the leaves coming up through the flowers looked cool, it doesn't mean it did. And now that I go back and look at the pictures, and what my bride wanted, it would've been a huge mistake. I'm very pleased with how it turned out and the leaves would've destroyed the look she was going for. Much appreciation to Pam & Imy.

2) You could ask a thousand pertinent questions and still get down to the day of the wedding and realize you really needed to ask about fifteen more. This is where wise-choices-for-spur-of-the-moment questions come in. It will always happen. Just accept it.

3) I have so much to learn.

Honestly, I got really lucky. My bride was awesome-- very fun and very sweet-- and I work with people who are also awesome (and patient). And although it did cause a lot of stress & fear of what will she think and what will go wrong I really did enjoy the whole process.

Still, though, I agree with my boss. I would rather design a casket spray.