Elopement Shoot ~ Fall Wedding Ideas

This shoot I'm sharing today is hands down, one of my favorites. It was featured on Style Me Pretty's Little Black Book blog this week which was so exciting. I worked with Erica Espana of Twine Events and Lane Dittoe Fine Art Photography to put together a soft and pretty inspiration shoot to give bride's an idea of what to do for an autumn wedding that doesn't scream fall. It was so much fun designing this with Erica, and Lane is always a dream to work with. So chill, funny, and gets the job done fast and absolutely flawlessly. His photos always make me sigh, they're just so beautiful. See for yourself and let me know what you think!

Erica and I decided on an orange, peach, and blue color scheme. I immediately thought of Lenox's pattern "Autumn". I've never loved this china more. I think incorporating soft tones of blue and oatmeal made the china a little less formal and softened the overall feel of it. I made this very large arrangement for the couples table. But I should put a disclaimer in as I've seen some of my designs discussed on other blogs... I do not recommend this large of an arrangement for actual functional use. When I come up with a design for shoots, I think big. My general style is big and beautiful, but I know it's not always liveable. So if this were for an actual event, I would of course make this arrangement smaller. I like to create fantastic imagery for a photographer to capture so the image kind of punches you in the face with beauty. It's not always literal. I may like to eat a meal with flowers in my face, but I understand that's not the general consensus.

Erica worked with Hey There Cupcake and they supplied us with two of the prettiest cakes that worked perfectly with our scheme. And Pitbulls & Posies did it again with their beautiful stationary. I love Amber's line of watercolor papergoods. She just does not stop with her brilliant ideas. 

 

The flowers used for this arrangement were dinner plate dahlias, button dahlias, lisianthus, clematis, spray roses, locally foraged garden roses, ranunculus, pieris, bella donna, blue thistle, and seeded eucalyptus.

The bridal bouquet was made with garden roses, spray roses, calla's, ranunculus, clematis, tweedia, snowberry, and pieris. I wrapped it first with pale blue silk and topped it with cream lace, so that the blue would peek through the lace.

I also  made a little tossing bouquet of basically the same materials as the larger bridal bouquet. I have a lot of brides asking for tossing bouquets lately, so I thought it would be a nice touch to include one here. I added more greenery for this bouquet which is a good idea for keeping the cost down.

Erica and I decided to do two table set-ups and I think this one is my favorite. I brought amber crystal place settings and made the two arrangements in the back of my car. One arrangement is in the amber crystal pitcher and the other is in a little compote. Another great way of bringing in the feel of the season is through your plate and flatware rentals. There are a few, really wonderful, rental companies in Southern CA that specialize in fine china and special place settings to make your wedding completely unique and beautiful. Using them just adds that little touch of high end and can totally change the feel of your event.

Everyone's favorite rental company, Found Rentals, was also incorporated into the shoot and I love their contribution. High end, elegant, antique feel. 

That's it for today! I hope you enjoyed this little shoot and that it inspires you for the coming holiday season. On another note, I apologize if there are formatting problems on your screen. Blogger is having some issues and my posts have been postponed because of it. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon as it's driving me crazy!!

Happy Friday!

Vendor Credits

Photography: Lane Dittoe Fine Art Wedding Photography

Event Design + Planning: Twine Events 

Flowers & Styling: Oak and the Owl

Stationery: Pitbulls and Posies

Rentals: Found Rentals

Cakes: Hey There Cupcake

Dress: Lovely Bride, LA

Shoes: Jimmy Choo

Soft Pinks and Fresh Mint ~ Florida Shoot for Mag Rouge

These gorgeous photos are from a stylized shoot that was the genius brainchild of Summer Watkins of Grey Likes Weddings and captured perfectly by Ryan Ray Photography. The concept behind the shoot was a southern Florida vibe with fresh greens, soft pinks, navy blue and white stripes, and wonderfully patterned fabrics that all tied in with each other. Summer did an amazing job with the styling. I've never seen a concept like this, much less put together so seamlessly. The style direction for the florals were Southern in feel, pink, and to have the bouquets tied in navy blue and white striped ribbons. When I was thinking Southern, I thought anything too large and bohemian would be out. When I saw the dresses Summer picked, I wish I had gone a little crazier with the design. But, all together, the shoot is stunning and I'm proud and honored to have been a part of such an awesome team. The other super exciting part of this shoot was that it was featured in Mag Rouge's 4th edition, called their "Festival Issue". We're in there with some of the best in the industry, as the magazine is full of crazy beautiful imagery, by impressive talent. So, please enjoy these stunning images from Ryan Ray and Summer Watkins and check out the Mag Rouge issue, you won't be disappointed. ;-) 

This dress just makes me sigh... hmm. And that bride has to be one of the most incredible looking women I've ever seen. Her hair, by Diana Lopez, was insane in person. I would so love to see a bride actually rock that style.

Could the groom be any more handsome? It was cute watching these two interact.

The flowers used were peonies, garden roses from Rose Lane Farms, pink scabiosa, bridal protea, cymbidium orchids, maidenhair fern, hosta leaves, and fresh mint (a little nod to Southern sweet teas). I picked up the ribbon at my favorite spot in DTLA, Michael Levine, and I love the way it visually plays with all the other patterns Summer picked out.

Isn't this invitation suite by Paper Made Design fantastic? After hearing of the qualities pineapples hold for many people in the South, I appreciated it that much more. (my post last week had pineapples in it too.) I also loved how the roses I just happened to get at Rose Lane Farms, matched the ones on the invite perfectly. Happy accident.

I created a couple small arrangements in antique silver sugar bowls. I also put the extra bout's in a footed silver compote. It just felt so appropriately Southern to me.

 

So, I made a total 5 bouquets for this shoot. This last one came from taking several of the smaller bouquets apart on site, and making one large bridal bouquet. I couldn't see what I was doing (I typically look in a mirror when I design) so I wasn't sure how the exact shape was turning out. When I got this image back and saw that the bouquet, at this angle, looked like a heart, I was pleasantly surprised. I was hoping nobody thought it was intentional, but then again, a heart shaped bouquet is kind of cool. Especially when it's unintended. Lol.

The bout the groom chose was one I made out of a garden rose, bridal protea, and mint. I also made a few out of cymbidium orchids paired with mint and little heads of scabiosa.

This shot doesn't have any flowers in, but it's just so editorial and breath taking, I had to include it. It also showcases Amy Clarke's beautiful and soft make-up treatment. The whole team on this shoot was wonderful and I hope you enjoyed it.  Happy Wednesday!

Vendor Credits

Photography: Ryan Ray
Styling: Summer Watkins of Grey Likes Weddings
Flowers: Nancy of Oak and the Owl
Stationery: Elaine of Paper Made Design
Wedding Dresses: from The White Dress in Corona del Mar
Hair: Dianna Lopez
Make Up: Amy Clarke
Hair Accessories: Renee Pawele

Post Wedding Celebration at the Marion Davies Guest House

I had the complete pleasure of creating flowers for a party at the Marion Davies Guest House in Santa Monica a few weeks ago. The clients had eloped several months earlier and wanted a party to celebrate with their friends and family. In coming up with the overall design aesthetic I worked closely with the Bride and her mother, and they were definitely two of my favorite clients. They both were so much fun to work with and trusted in my ability to make them something beautiful - which is a wonderful feeling and allows for greater freedom in what I do. The main direction I was given was that the Bride wanted a palette of fresh, summer colors, and wanted them to be lush and beautiful. Nuf' said... The Bride's mother wanted to incorporate a Deco feel because of the history of the house, and she and I had a great time collaborating on what that would look like. 

Because of my background in interior design, I loved this project even more. The Marion Davies Guest House in Santa Monica is SOO beautiful. Exactly what I want in a house of my own. Classic and timeless with gorgeous architectural details, open floor plan - given the time it was built, and lots of molding and wood paneling. You can check out more details on the house here. It's part of the Annenberg Community Beach House and is such a prime location for events. I also loved working with Gigi, the venue coordinator. She was a dream to work with and made install and strike seamless. 

This was the grand arrangement for the Dining Room. Most of the containers I used were from my collection of etched mercury glass, except for one and I'll point that out. The flowers used for the large arrangement were dinner plate dahlias, African marigolds, pee gee hydrangeas, maidenhair fern, bay branches, and two types of berries that I'm not sure of their names. The tall branches had lethal 2-3" thorns on them and were called "cottoneaster" and the smaller, more abundant berries, were called a "fruiting olive".

The Living Room mantle was an important design feature for both the Bride and her mother. They wanted to have a real conversation piece that had the deco feel we were trying to incorporate. We went back and forth with a few ideas, but when the Bride's mother mentioned including pineapples because of their meaning of "welcome and hospitality", I thought a "still life of sorts" (exact words from our emails, lol) would be a great addition with flowers on the mantle. The clients loved the idea and let me go for it. I used pineapples, grapes, oranges, lemons, limes, pears, and figs. I also used marigold heads along with the fruit. The Bride also wanted lots of candle light, so I filled in that amazing fireplace with hurricanes, and put a few more along with mercury glass votives on top of the mantle.

I also went out to my favorite rose vendor, Rose Lane Farms, in North Hollywood, because I really wanted to use old fashioned English garden roses for this event. Lynne, the owner, cut me special varieties in creams, whites, and golden yellows.  I also used coral mini amaryllis and maidenhair fern in this low arrangement. The vase is from the 1940's and was a wedding gift to my grandmother. I thought it fit in perfectly with the aesthetic and I knew where it was going to be placed (up high and out of the way), the type of party it was going to be, and that the vase would be in safe hands - so I felt comfortable incorporating it into the still life. I love being able to occasionally use pieces from my families past that have such history. 

I did a low centerpiece for the coffee table in the Living Room. It includes dinner plate dahlias, garden roses, spray roses, pee gee hydrangea, fruiting olive, bay leaves, and a few marigolds. I've recently made the official decision that I'm going to tape all my low, wide mouthed, containers. I'm tired of reconstructing arrangements on site and not being able to get the original design back that I spent so much time on originally. So, if anyone is wavering, I say go for stabilizing... There's only so much time to fluff on site. ;-)

Ugh, that fireplace... I have to have something like that in my future. It's just so beautiful. I'm totally smitten with those caryatids.

 

I did one final small arrangement for the side table where the desserts were going to be placed. I used one of my favorite etched mercury glass containers for this piece. Some day I'll be a little less enthused by mercury glass, but right now I can't get enough of it.

So I know I said I would be posting every week and I'm two weeks late with this post. Lol... It's been crazy around here with the end of the major wedding season. I have one more December wedding and hopefully holiday parties, but I'll be much more on top of emails, posting, etc. I have so much material to share that I'm excited to get it all out there. So, here's to best efforts and most likely a post every week. But to my 2013 brides, I'll be on top of emails by the end of the weekend!

Cheers!!