Pink Anthropologie Inspired Shoot

I just got back from a wonderful trip to the Bay where I was able to reconnect with so many of my good friends, make new ones, went to a line-dancing western bachelorette party (ha!), and just feel like something other than a mom who works all the time, lol. It was totally re-energizing while at the same time exhausting as I think I maybe slept a total of 6 hours the whole time. My first weekend away from Bass and instead of relishing the ability to sleep, I was anxious without him. Funny how this mom thing keeps surprising me. I'll get the chance to try it again at the end of September when I head back to go to my friends wedding as well as do her flowers. I can't wait to share the photos from what should be a gorgeous wedding. But, to get to the point of this post...

These stunning photos are from my good friend Kamee June. I posted the yellow series a couple of months ago which you can read about here. Kamee got a few of us wedding pros together for a fun anthropologie inspired shoot and I couldn't believe how beautiful it all turned out. I hope you enjoy these choice shots from the pink series as I overloaded the post since I had a hard time editing them down. The entire series was also featured on Oh Lovely Day! I'm so happy it found a home as I felt these photos needed to be seen.

The flowers used were several types of locally foraged garden roses, ranunculus, astilbe, mini double petaled tulips, and two types of dusty miller. I climbed nearby hills to cut some of those gorgeous roses, specifically the Cecile Brunner's. And I knocked on the door of a neighbor for those unbelievable flat faced garden roses. I was lucky that she was so cool and gave me free reign to cut what I wanted. Her garden is flush again and I'd love to go back, but I feel like I shouldn't push a good thing.

Our beautiful bride's hair and make-up was done by Jessica Hale Frederick.

I made this cute little pink cake for another detail to shoot. In person the icing dried to a pepto pink - not at all what I had planned. Good thing it softened a bit in the photos.

The shoot was held at this amazing old property in Corona, CA, and it perfectly matched the vintage vibe we were going for. The house reminded me of a carriage house I lived in in Oakland and while I was at this shoot I kept envisioning how I would remodel it to fit me and Bass. I love old old houses and this one was a gem. I decided today I'm going to start playing the lotto again... Maybe I'll get my "old" dream house some day. Preferably in the Bay. But hey, if I win the lotto I can have one in both places as well as New York, London, and France. One can dream, right? ;-)

I'll be back next week with a new feature that I'm excited to share! xo.

White and Soft Pink Sample Centerpieces

I made these samples for one of my lovely September brides. I'm starting to get really excited for her wedding. She and her fiance are beyond sweet and so easy to work with. They wanted the flowers to be predominately white, with just a touch of blush and pink. The bride also doesn't like much greenery so I introduced her to dusty miller, which she loved. Dusty also works perfectly with the silver accents she's incorporated in her wedding. Her linens will be blue, but not the linen shown here, they'll be a much darker and matte navy. The flowers and mercury glass containers will pop nicely off of that and work with the slight vintage feel they're trying to include. We're going with two sizes and shapes of arrangements to create a strong impact in the huge ballroom, and the next few photos are of the low vases with tall candle sticks.

The flowers I used for these samples were cafe au lait dahlias, regular white dahlias, white majolica spray roses, double white lisianthus, white ohara garden roses (one of my new favorites!), a pink garden spray rose from Willie Sanchez, and dusty miller. For the actual event I'll probably substitute a few items with garden roses from Rose Lane Farms and include white dinner plate dahlias along with the regular shape.

Here's the taller arrangement that will have lower glass votives tucked underneath. There wasn't room in the budget to have the more traditional tall arrangements on a clear vase/pedestal, so I bought these larger mercury glass vases from Jamali. I'm going to try and get these guys a bit taller with more spread for the actual event. I may use some seeded and silver dollar eucalyptus to achieve a larger size. (I also included some white stock in these arrangements.)

Another perk of this wedding is I get to work with my friend and planner extraordinaire, Erica Espana of Twine Events. This will be our first actual event together after collaborating on several shoots and working freelance for Flowerwild. Erica is such a wonderful and professional person to work with. Her innate calmness is such a blessing at events when something is always guaranteed to go haywire. I can't wait to share the photos from this wedding with you. But until then, I'll be sharing more beautiful shoots. xo

Flowers for Tonya Joy's Photograhpy Workshop...

These beautiful photos are from a stylized photography workshop held by Tonya Goettsche of Tonya Joy Photography. We were so excited to have it featured on a great wedding blog, Ruffled, a couple of months ago. Tonya styled it herself and brought me on for the florals. She wanted a vintage Paris theme and incorporated some of her lovely personal items that hold importance for her as she's an avid sewer and regularly does embroidery and the like. She's truly amazing, that lady. She was 8 months pregnant at this workshop and not only did she create all the details herself, ran a team to set it up, she also taught about 15 other professional photographers for an entire day. And that's all with 4 kids at home to take care of. She's inspiring to say the least.

The flowers used for this shoot were in soft peach and blush tones and were styled to be very romantic and fitting in a vintage setting. I used local garden roses (local is now my term for foraging on public property), David Austin garden roses, peonies (Top of Brass and Bowl of Cream varieties), hydrangea, spray roses, dusty miller, hosta leaves, passion vine, and a green and white leaf I'm trying to find the name of - I'd love it for my garden.

The bride's hair and make-up were done by Katrina Kirk of Kitsch by Kat. Tonya wanted to invoke the feel of Grace Kelly with a dash of Kate Middleton on their wedding days. Kat nailed it and the bride looked so ethereal and pretty. After seeing these photos I told Tonya her sister (her sister and brother-in-law were the models) looked like a porcelain doll, such ridiculous genes in that family...

While I'm starting to tire a bit of the vintage theme that's so popular right now, I honestly loved this table set-up. And the fact that all these details play a daily part in Tonya's life made the aesthetic feel genuine and not contrived as it's starting to become after seeing so many weddings in this style. Another reason I enjoyed this shoot is that I'm also a sewer, and when I have time (and extra $ for fabric), I'm always making something. I used to have a vintage sewing machine that I finally had to get rid of after hauling it to apartment #3, so getting to decorate this beauty was a lot of fun.

I included these last two photos because they were just too beautiful to leave out.

That's it for today! I'll be back next week with another beautiful shoot. I'm also waiting on photos from recent weddings to show you some actual client work Oak & the Owl has been doing. While I slowly build O & the O's client base (7 weddings and a few parties in the first year seems pretty great!!), I've also been super busy working freelance for Flowerwild. It's such a treat working for Kate and being apart of some incredible weddings. So between O & the O, freelance, and my sweet Bassman, I'm happily, and gratefully, busy - and doing my best to keep up with blogging and social media. Easier said than done some days... ;-)

Vendor Credits

Venue: Orange Orchard in Corona, CA
Photographer, Event Stylist, and Stationery: Tonya Joy Photography
Hair and Makeup: Kitsch by Kat
Flowers: Oak and the Owl
Cake: Rebecca Williamson