the astorian - a traditional houston wedding

The Astorian event venue is a site to behold.  The details are phenomenal and well thought out, the tile, the fixtures, the ceiling lighting, all of it is gorgeous. It's a fun space that we always feel so honored to work in.  

For this event Piper of Piper and Muse brought us this sweet family to work with.  They had one request, tall arrangement.  Showy tall arrangements.  We heard them and we created our version of this request.  Why do I say 'our version'... well we don't create a perfect ball, as things in nature tend to grow in ovals and droop.  Because we try to mimic nature as much as possible, as this is what we believe looks gorgeous, we create our tall arrangements (when requested in this more compact style) in a more oval shape.

The remaining low arrangements had more of our signature look as we are aware that this is what our clients are looking for as well.  Melding both aesthetics is possible and we don't find a need to make it all look the same. Here are some images of this fun one captured perfectly by our friends at The Cotton Collective Photography:

containers- why we keep it simple

We are floral design artist.  We love and are insanely passionate about everything flowers, floristry, wedding flowers, event flowers, flower gardening, flower farmers, etc.   You name it flowers and we have spent time loving it one way or another. 

Containers, well.... still a love affair. But not an obsession. We are always on the look out for new, clean, classic, unique, timeless pieces. And for this reason we have to love it.  It takes time, lots of time researching every vessel we have.  I actually really enjoy the process.

...selecting the correct vessels that will not outshine

the flowers is the number one goal.

And a process it is.  You find a store, or artist that you love and you begin the research.  From a store you have to put in an order to make sure it delivers well, in time and it is what it says it's going to be when it arrives.  This is more like a sample order. One off items of each vessel you love and then the waiting begins.  The item arrives and fingers crossed the company enjoys wrapping their precious pieces in an nauseating amount of paper.

Then we put then to use, does it hold water, not mind our floral tape we have to use and does it allow us to design and create the shapes we enjoy.  Bing it works... awesome let's order lots more.  If it doesn't, small pity party and move on to the next company that will take a small order and start from the beginning.  This process takes so much patience and all the part of the curating process.

Now we haven't event tapped into the artist that creates handmade containers, which we also source from.  This might be the most rewarding and the most difficult.  I won't dive into it too much... but it's similar to the stores but now we are dealing with the artistic element.  So much fun and risky all at the same time. Some artist are local others are from out of the country adding an element of cost for shipping too.  

But all this to say is that we do not sell containers, we sell flowers. Even though we put so much thought into everything we acquire we are still solely focused on making the flowers the prettiest they possibly can be.  And we are super aware that selecting the correct vessels that will not outshine the flowers is the number one goal.

visiting the rose farm- how we keep educated

Several months ago I got invited to work with Tulipina in Ojai creating a wedding at The Ojai Valley Inn.  Once I mentioned that I would be going to Santa Barbara, my gal pal Kelly Hornberger of Kelly Horberger Photography booked her flight and off we were to the races planning a photo shoot and getting all our ducks in a row to fit in as many experiences in as possible.

Not that woking for Kiana at Tulipina wasn't an experience that would have made the trip complete, but California has way too much to offer to pass it up.  And one of those experiences was to visit one of the most prolific producers of the most gorgeous field grown garden roses there is in North America, Grace Rose Farm.  

This might have been the most fun moment of the trip.  To sit back and see fields upon fields of some of the most gorgeous roses there ever was.  All at our finger tips to harvest. And to get a chance to experience this with a couple girlfriends made me the happiest.

We galavanted around the farm choosing which blooms would work best for the projects we had coming up.  Each row made you think of all the gorgeous weddings and events these amazing bushes have produced for.  All the beautiful memories they have produced and how they made such special times even more memorable.

As flower designers we have to keep visiting farmers to connect to the source of our medium.  We use flowers to create the most amazing arrangements and to continue that connection to the people who produce them is so important to me.

We learn something new every time we go and it is just worth seeing the farmers and giving them a hug and letting them know how much they mean to us.  That is important.  They get so disconnected from us as they are insanely hard working people. 

If you ever have questions on how to get connected and start growing a business in the flower community... start from the ground up.  Learn everything there is to learn and NEVER STOP LEARNING.  

The most amazing thing about this industry, is that 13 years later, I still don't even know one percent of what there is to learn.  And for that reason alone I fall in love with the floral industry more and more every year.  The endless information you can gather on one flower alone could consume a life time.  And to think that there are 100's of cut flowers we use on a yearly basis, that just blows my mind.

What an amazing industry to be part of.  Due to the intense amount of hard work to farm and to design flowers, I can promise you that you won't find anyone that isn't madly deeply in love with that they do.  It would be impossible to do with out a maddening love.  

2019 floral trends - how to add a touch of the current trend into your event

There are so many new trends in the floral industry that sometimes it can be hard to keep up with it all.  And we sure don't expect you, the consumer, to even try.  But let me mention one concept that I have been seeing more of lately and can totally see you trying it.

DRIED FLOWERS/GREENS

I am clearly intrenched in the floral community, so some of you might be thinking I am crazy.  But let me tell you.. dried/preserved flowers and greens are making a come back.  As some of you might know these were so big in the 80's and to be quite frank, they were big way before recorded history.  I doubt there was ever a young child who wasn't gifted a flower that didn't try to preserve it in some way or other... right? 

Who didn't dry that first rose their first crush gave them?  And hung that sweet flower somewhere to cherish for as long as possible.  I still have the first rose my fiance gave me. (And if I am real, that might have been the last rose, so this girl had to hold on to it as long as possible.) 

Here is a shot of a recent editorial we worked on to show case how to use dried product in your bouquet.  This one you will see that only has one variety, because I couldn't help myself.  This dried fern was just too amazing to not give it it's own moment.

HOW TO ADD DRIED FLORALS

1) Your bouquet, as shown bellow.  You can create such a fun bouquet with tons of impact with just one variety of dried product.

2) Hints of it through out your centerpieces.  We still love our very timeless garden roses, ranunculus but adding that pop of trendy dried product adds so much interest.

All photography above by Simon Ly Photography

forgive and move on - how simple mistakes can build stronger teams

So it finally happened.... let me start by saying that we have a raised roof Transit Ford Van.  It's essentially a sprinter van but much taller. As we really wanted our team to be able to stand up when walking into the van.  I have had too many sore back moments trying to load in a regular roofed van that this was a huge requirement for us when making the new purchase.  

I am confident you can guess what happened. We finally hit the roof of the van into a ceiling of a parking garage. Total bummer and of course I would have rather it not happen, but this is what I learned.

Forgive and Move On

If I am completely real, it could have happened to me and eventually it would have.  The grace I would have given myself, I have to give even more to my employees.  Balancing frustration with love of my employees is one of the more challenging elements to this business life.  

But at the end of the day, I love watching them learn.  Today they know more than they knew yesterday and I am confident they learned so much from that experience.  And fingers crossed it won't happen again.  

The adventures of business ownership is not easy, but having the right team in place to make you learn and laugh is the key to success.  And besides, they gave me the best reason to go and grab a margarita at the end of the day! 

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For the arrangement above we were inspired by fall colors.  We also wanted to mix tones with colors and textures that are not expected and typically seen.  These rich colors are perfect for the upcoming fall events.  We paired it up with a black urn which always kicks up the drama.  I think this might have been one of the studio's favorites this week.