Hayley + Steve

I had the pleasure of doing the flowers for a high school friend's wedding this Saturday.  I always enjoy what I do (even when time starts to run out and the pressure is on), but getting to do it for a friend made the job even more fun.  Hayley came to me knowing that she wanted to use bold pink as a part of her color palate, but she was torn between using lime-y green or an aqua-purple as her secondary color.  My two cents?  Use them both!  I always try to encourage brides to go with more than just two shades for their color palate.  Why?  You hardly ever see just two colors occurring in nature, and I say embrace the natural. The trend of using just two hues for a wedding color palate is coming to an end; it's time to embrace color! Hayley agreed, so we used all three.  And let me tell you, for a simple, all-hydrangea centerpiece, it was definitely the right choice.  I come from the school of thought that each flower should be appreciated and be able to stand on its own right in a piece.  The tri-color selection did exactly that; you could see the value of each stem that was added, instead of it just looking like a poofy mass.  To the right is a photo of the truck all loaded up with said centerpieces, and below a close-up to show the texture in all its glory.

Hayley of course wore white, and her maids wore the bold pink she loved.  I swapped the colors for their bouquets, giving Hayley the bright bouquet of peonies, garden roses, and ranunculus, and her girls fluffy white hydrangea (a great way to give the photos some contrast - I love an all white bridal bouquet as much as the next wedding obsessed person, but unfortunately they get lost in the wedding photography against The Dress).


Hayley before walking down the aisle and a close-up of her bouquet:

In addition to the fun of doing Hayley's flowers, I got to see a lot of faces I hadn't seen since high school which was such a treat.


Congratulations Hayley and Steve!

My favorite part of the job.

When people find out I what I do for a living, invariably one of the first things out of their mouths is "Yikes. You must deal with a lot of crazy brides." The opposite couldn't be truer. I have yet to encounter my first bridezilla. All of the couples I have worked with have been incredibly gracious and appreciative, and Megan was no exception. My interaction with her (and her mother!) when I delivered the personal flowers was the kind of moment I live for as a wedding florist. She loved everything about her bouquet, from the dark plum colored anemones and grey dusty miller, to the looped satin bow detail. She said something like, "I knew what you made would be beautiful!" Seriously, it gives me such a trill to get that kind of reaction. I think when a bride holds her bouquet for the first time, the imminence of the day sets in and emotion takes over. It's such an amazing moment to witness, not to mention the fact that something I made sparked it. Below are some photos of Megan and Nick's flowers, which I loved making just as much as I did delivering them. Photography by Kim Le.

From CHANDRA ABEL DESIGNS

From CHANDRA ABEL DESIGNS

From CHANDRA ABEL DESIGNS

From CHANDRA ABEL DESIGNS

From CHANDRA ABEL DESIGNS

From CHANDRA ABEL DESIGNS

From CHANDRA ABEL DESIGNS

A little preview from the Ojai wedding.

Here's a close up of a bridesmaids bouquet, along with a shot of the lucky lady and her girls.

From Chandra Abel Designs

Photography by Kim Le.

Feelin' pretty special.

Check out this blog! Its creator, Stephanie Gale (designer of 100% organic cotton scarves), visited our Planted booth at the Unique LA Design Fair two weeks ago. She had some very flattering things to say about us, and she covers other eco-conscious designers in Southern California.

Click here for the link: Eco-Syle Life Beau Monde

Or just read what she had to say about us here:

Highlighting more of the creative companies I met at the Unique LA Show 2010, (so many of them!), today I'm remembering how intrigued I was when I saw the miniature utopian environments inside clear glass containers or set into the hollows of logs.... had the thought how one could get lost inside any one of these little botanical worlds. And I thought that Chandra herself must get lost in them while arranging and creating them. PLANTED is the emerging business of Owner & Floral Designer Chandra Abel, grown out of (so to speak) her years in her Wedding & Event Floral Design buiness, Chandra Abel Designs. These surely are NOT the old fish tank terrariums I used to see as a kid! With an eye for balance and composition, as well as unusual and delightful individual plant selections, you can further be impressed that Chandra uses only locally grown plants and locally supplied containers, which not only supports other small businesses but has has less impact on the environment (no long-distance shipping). And think of it an added plus that Chandra is as graceful and inviting as her artistic creations.