Tyler + Becky

From Chandra Abel Designs

Here is the photo story to go with that ginormous bouquet I posted over the weekend. It was so much fun for me to do Tyler and Becky's personal flowers. Their theme was succulents, and Becky loves peonies, so the juxtaposition for me was obvious. Even I was excited to see how they were going to turn out. The flowergirls' bouquets however, are probably one of my most favorite bouquet designs ever (see photo in blog header). We combined spray roses in pale pink and green (so great for little ones' bouquets because of their miniature size) and blushing bride (some fun irony - even if I'm the only one that gets it). The wedding was beautiful (I always cry at weddings) and the reception was so much fun, they even served It's-Its for dessert! A Big Congratulations to Becky and Tyler, thank you for letting me be a part of your day!

Best of Orange County Nomination!

I found out a few days ago that Chandra Abel Designs was nominated for FOX's Orange County Hot List for Best Flowers! How exciting! I'm so thrilled to be nominated, now I just need your votes! So would you mind? Here's the link.

Becky's Bouquet

A few months ago a good friend of my man's got married, and she asked me to do her personal flowers and a few other floral related things for their big day. Here's a couple photos of her bouquet, which was MASSIVE, as you can tell by the poor flower girl who's trying to hold the darn thing up. I did love this bouquet though, despite its mountainous proportions. The combination of the feathery peonies and the hardy succulents is a pretty tough one to beat in my book. I'll do a more detailed photo story of this wedding later on this week. Photos by Melissa Slater of Slater Studios.

A Family Affair.

So in August of last year, my beautiful niece got married, and I happily did the personal flowers for her and her man. The wedding was in my brother's backyard, of which the whole family put weeks (if not months) of work into transforming their miniature canyon into the perfect venue for a summer wedding. Her colors were grey and white, so I was so excited to come across the last bit of dusty miller (the velvety, grey leaves) at the LA Flower Market to include in her bouquet. I also used leucadrendrons, and striped off all of the leaves and used the button at the center (grey acorn-lookin' things) to get some grey for her girls' bouquets. I wanted to include some green for contrast, and she really loves kale, so you'll see that in her bouquet and in the maids' too. As for the white, we used the trusty ol' mini callas and hydrangea, and threw some miniature cymbidiums in there to gussy it up a bit. The maids also had freesia in theirs to set them apart from Lea's bouquet. The photos show Lea being walked down the aisle by her dad (my half-bro), plus you'll see her coming back from getting her hair done and discovering the bouquets in her dressing room.

Pretty in Pink.

Sweet and simple. Just hot pink peonies and spray roses. Photographed by the always amazing Melissa Fuller.

Some left over Christmas spirit.

This is an arrangement I did for a friend's family for their Christmas dinner. There were actually twin arrangements, but one gives you the gist quite well enough. I loved the stained glass look of the vases, and the James Story orchids were a fun, atypical choice for a Christmas arrangement. Also included in this arrangement were ranunculus (They are in season! Yay!), parrot tulips, rosehips, berzillia, and ti leaves.

A pretty, poofy, white wedding bouquet.

Here's a bridal bouquet from a wedding in October at the Ritz in Dana Point. It's got dahlias, roses, ranunculus and hydrangea.

Renegade Craft Fair - The outcome!

I realized yesterday that I never posted anything about how the Renegade Craft Fair at Fort Mason went. It was amazing! Not only was there a ton of adorable crafts (the booths around me were hand-made aprons, vases, belts, stationary...), but the Planted terrariums were a hit! I sold out of every piece I drove up with within the first 3 hours of the fair (my surrounding vendors were a little jealous). Needless to say I will be doing this fair again. Here's a couple photos from the day: a close up of my display table and one of my sis hangin' in the booth.

New Year, New Photos

Happy 2010 fellow flower lovers! Here's a new photo of a sample bouquet with a new favorite color combination: peach, yellow, white, and grey. This one includes ranunculus, roses, and berzillia berries (sometimes misnomered as brazillia or brazil berries).