Real Wedding | liza & eric

The bride and I met more than a year ago to start planning the flowers for her wedding. She was the first bride to book with me in 2008 for her 2009 wedding, and her wedding date 6/27/09 turned out to be one of the two most popular wedding inquiry dates for us this year. We had to turn down so many weddings for this one wedding, so it goes to show it pays to book early. =P

The wedding took place at the beautiful sun-beaming Ruby Hill Golf Club in Pleasanton - the ceremony in their outdoor oval terrace and the reception in their Grand Ballroom. Chic, black and white - linens, chair covers and sashes, completely accented by our red-delicious perfectly round balls of blooming roses and carnations. Also are dahlias, tulips and hypericum berries found in the bouquets and galvanized buckets along the aisle. A quick peek from my camera:

Real Wedding | sharon & carter

Happy and vibrant were the 2 words the bride used often when we initially talked about her wedding flowers. These two words slowly translated into rich hues of hot pink and cantaloupe orange, with pops of lime green.

My creative juices completely poured out for this wedding. It was truly unique because it was the first time my good friend from high school (the groom) and my husband's good friend also from high school (the bride), were getting married. They crossed paths themselves initially in college, then through the years, with my husband and my help (we like to credit ourselves forever for this union), the two finally started dating. I can still remember the time when they were telling us how they finally got together, and the four of us happened to be sitting on these couches at Macy's. I will never forget when he told me how happy he was - like Tom Cruise jumping on the couch on Oprah. And now, the two were getting married.

So I had to give them my all and more. Pink calla lilies, tulips, hydrangeas, with cantaloupe roses, dahlias, and pops of cymbidium orchids, snowball viburnum, AND KUMQUATS! Ribbons, ribbons, and ribbons tied the theme of these vibrant colors - thick hot pink ribbon outlining the aisle runner sprinkled with orange rose petals, pink and orange ribbons on the lip of the altar vases, ribbons wrapped around the guestbook and centerpiece vases. Because they were working with a budget, using these ribbons was an inexpensive way to add so much color and vibrancy, while using minimal flowers - all to set the stage at Kohl Mansion in Burlingame with the reception following at Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Millbrae.

Here are a few teaser photos from my camera, can't wait to get the photographer's pictures!

Events | Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce mixer at Wente Vineyards

Sweet summer, picnic-ky theme set the stage for Pleasanton's Chamber of Commerce mixer at Wente Vineyards. As one of Wente's recommended vendors, we were invited to sponsor the flowers for this event. The simple mix of white daisies and seeded eucalyptus in glass vases were the perfect accompaniment to the red-plaided, green linens and white wooden folding chairs on Wente's new ceremony setting, The Vineyard Lawn.

It was refreshing to meet some local businesses that were NOT in the wedding industry:

(1) Amelia's Gourmet Deli-Bistro - freshly baked breads daily and is venturing into the cupcake side of the wedding business, coming soon online

(2) Sue Evans Photography - refreshing to meet a photographer who does NOT do weddings, but focuses on "nature and you"

(3) Cynthia Safdari Realtor - buy or sell with cindy (buyorsellwithcindy@yahoo.com) at J. Rockcliff Realtors, Pleasanton location

(4) Red Door Restoration - Z Safdari, Cynthia's husband, has been in the business for 20 years and does everything from new construction to construction management and mold remediation (reddoorrestoration@yahoo.com)

Real Wedding | catherine & dan

The wedding this past Saturday at Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park really reminded me of why I love what I do. It was a beautiful outdoor setting with the perfect weather - not too hot, a little sunny, with a tiny breeze. I will never forget meeting with this bride at our initial consultation, she said "I didn't come here to chat, I came to buy some flowers!" Needless to say, she signed with me on the spot.

The photographer promised me his team of three will definitely take pictures of all the details, but I can't wait for them, so for now, here are a few teasers from my little point-and-shoot camera:

Real Wedding | wennie & dave

Ceremony St. Regis San Francisco (Conservatory, Level four)
Reception St. Regis San Francisco (Gallery Ballroom, Level two)
Photography Martin Lam Photography

Real Wedding | lisa & keith

Ceremony Sts. Peter and Paul, San Francisco
Reception Marines' Memorial Club, San Francisco
Photographer Cohn Frankel Photography

Events | Filoli's Kaleidoscope of Flowers

Filoli, had its annual Mother's Day weekend Flower Show event last weekend, this year called the "Kaleidoscope of Flowers". (View earlier post of my initial thoughts and inspiration here). Literally at the eleventh hour, I was still searching for inspiration. I went back to IKEA, still nothing stood out. The initial idea of the hanging utensil holders were not going to "hold" well because they couldn't be hung against the wall, thus the flowers would most likely fall out and even if they didn't, it would literally just be hanging buckets of flowers. What's the big deal?, I thought.

Then I thought to browse around Macy's kitchen department since I was starting to form a "baking scene" in my head (mostly because in real life, I've been baking and loving it!). As I neared Martha Stewart's kitchen collection, her distinct signature turquoise color hit me with a "ah-hah!" moment - that color completely matched the distinct turquoise colors of the cabinetry in the Butler's pantry! I can't believe I didn't think of that earlier!

Then the rest is history and I went to town, drawing also from the red, grey, green, a lighter shade of blue, and another shade of the turquoise blue of MS's ingredient cups, and came up with my design, titled "A baking scene in a modernized kitchen, inspired by the same turquoise blue of Martha Stewart's kitchen collection as in the blue of the cabinets in the Butler's Pantry", see below: