Rewind: Valentine's Day Party

On Valentine's Day this year, my friend and I hosted a dinner party for 8 elderly widows. I had such a great time planning this event! We told the ladies to wear their fanciest dresses and we sent 8 of our guy friends to be their dates. They picked the ladies up with corsages and brought them to the house for dinner and an evening of music.

I think this is a great example of a few relatively inexpensive ideas that really up the 'wow' factor. For the centerpieces, I wrapped vases with different colors of ribbon to match the color of the flowers. I mostly used carnations (in big bunches they're actually pretty cute!) and some roses. I found some inexpensive red runners ($10 each) and placed a ton of votives on the table. We borrowed the chargers, silver and dishes from another friend.

Over head we made (literally) hundreds of the Martha Stewart pom poms in tons of different shapes and sizes. We used shades of red and pink tissue paper. It took a ton of time, but we had a lot of friends help and so it was fun. Literally anyone (even boys and kids!) can make these. (the instructions are on Marthastewart.com)

For each place setting, I made a place card using my new calligraphy skills (I've been taking lessons, but I'm still a total beginner). I also made a little tissue paper flower for each place setting in various shades of red and pink.

For the mantle, I covered different vase heights with 1 sheet of tissue paper and placed a pillar candle in each. We also lined the windowsills with votive candles and we hung christmas lights from the ceiling. The effect was...magical.

I think my favorite part about the whole thing was how meaningful it was to the ladies we invited. Many of them were in their later 80's and 90's. One said as she was leaving, "I don't even remember the last time I went out and did something fun." That made all of the late nights preparing for this totally worth it.

I can't wait to do it again next year!

Mother's Day

Leslie & Jason: The Woods on Ninth

Here are some pictures from Leslie & Jason's wedding at The Woods on Ninth. Leslie had her ceremony in the morning at the SL Temple, and so we made a mini bouquet for the pictures in the morning, and then she had her "real" bouquet for the afternoon pictures and reception. This turned out to be a great idea with the hot weather we've been having! I love the bright and vibrant colors that Leslie chose--so colorful and fun!

Leslie & Jason's luncheon flowers

More on the wedding later!

Hot Pink, Lime Green & Orange

Hot Pink & Orange

The Movie Wedding

One question I am often asked is, "So, do you do this full time?" Well, the answer is...sometimes. I like to do all kinds of creative things--and flowers and weddings are just two of them!

I also work in the film industry with my uber-talented director brother. This summer I took a month off from weddings to be the production designer for his latest indie film that was shooting here in Utah called "White on Rice." What is a production designer? Well, basically I was responsible for all of the set design, or how the backdrop of the movie looked--props, wall color, artwork, decor, furniture etc. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun too.

One of the scenes in the movie was a wedding! Being that this is an indie film, we didn't have a very big budget to work with...and by not very big, I mean almost nothing...However, we wanted a funky, hip, young and creative look and we needed 10-- 60" tables and 10 cabaret tables, a cake and a few big pieces. Three things came to mind: curly willow, wheat grass and gerbera daisies.

(Incidentally, I also got to learn how to make a wedding cake for this scene! Yikes, are those ever a lot of work!!!)

























































































This last shot is with two of the main actors: Nae and Mio Takada

You can visit the imdb page for more information.

And you can check out some of the promotional stills by Jonathan Canlas here

Silvana & Justin: Rose Sachs Gardens

This was one of the weddings that I did back in June, and thankfully all of the pictures were recovered from the computer that crashed!

Some of the fun highlights for this event---I loved the variety of colors and flowers in the centerpieces. We did 4 different designs at 4 tables each. I also loved different textures we were able to use---rosemary, scented geranium, lavendar and so many types of flowers!