Today, we recall the events of the tragic day ten years ago that had such a huge affect on this country and world.   We will never forget how we all united.  To the brave who lost lives, loved ones who lost family, those who volunteered and served for this great country, we are indebted and grateful for your heroism and courage.  Today, we still stand united.  God Bless America!

Back in July we shared with you some of the exciting designs we saw and experienced at the AIFD American Institute of Floral Designers National Symposium held in San Francisco.  While in attendance, I tested in the PFDE Professional Floral Design Evaluation to become an accredited designer within AIFD.  I am honored to share with you all that I have been invited to become an accredited designer in the organization.  This is such an honor and a goal I have had for a number of years, and I am so excited to be a part of an organization full of designers I look up to.  At the moment I hold a CFD status which is a Certified Floral Designer; however, next July, I will also get to place AIFD after my name.

AIFD is “the floral industry’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to establishing, maintaining and recognizing the highest standard of professional floral design. AIFD and its worldwide accredited members are in the forefront of the industry in presenting educational design programs and in designing flowers.”  Becoming part of this selective membership involves demonstrating advanced professional ability in the floral art through an educational pathway, an online test showing that the Elements and Principles of Design are understood as well as a “hands on” design test.  The floral design test involves creating five designs in four hours.  Categories are sympathy, flowers to wear, wedding, duplicate and arrangement.  A meeting prior to the start of the test lets you specifically know what the specifications are for each of the categories, ours being an urn sympathy arrangement, an over-the-shoulder corsage, a non-traditional bouquet and a birthday arrangement for a Mother.  Each candidate gets the same floral product and hard goods to create their designs, and the following day each design is scored by seven judges.  Scoring a 20 out of 25 with no one design scoring less than a 3.75 score is passing to become invited into the organization.  The designs are scored on creativity, scale, unity, balance, focal emphasis, line, depth, color, mechanics and category interpretation.  With a high standard of quality and integrity to meet, each design must be exceptional.  One of the most exciting parts of testing is walking through the room after the judging has taken place & seeing the designs and creative ideas that candidates create.  It is amazing how so many different people can create totally different designs and techniques with the same plant materials!  The testing process is & can be stressful and surely I put a lot of pressure on myself and my designs. Waiting over a month to receive the results even more-so. I am very thrilled and can’t wait for next July however, where I get to walk across the stage with the other 20 candidates who also received this honor.

If you are into interior design, you will see these little guys popping up everywhere!  They are glass cloches and they are so cute, especially to feature something special inside.  Here, we have a beautiful opened ‘Milva’ rose.  Coming in all shapes and sizes, you will definitely be seeing these make their way into wedding design and possibly your own living space!

If you love a little rustic mixed with elegance, Laura and Justin’s Taber Ranch wedding is just for you!  With soft, airy flowers in the ivories, yellows & peaches this wedding was so beautiful!  With the most gorgeous handmade touches, we think you’ll enjoy it just as much as we did.

Be sure to check out the full feature on Snippet & Ink’s wedding blog, featured just this week!  Molly Watson Photography captured the day beautifully, be sure to check out her website and gorgeous work as well!

Overlooking the Capay Valley, the ceremony took place atop a hill… breathtaking!

Fresh herbs, garden roses and fragrant flowers were used for the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets.

A traditional chuppah with a birch structure and foliage accents was held by close family members during the ceremony.

The interior of the barn is so charming.  For centerpieces, we used an eclectic mix of metallic containers ranging from silver footed tea pots to antique brass vessels.  Flowers flowed out of the vessels to take on the feel of the surroundings.

Laura, the bride put her personal touch to many of the details, with homemade shortbread and vintage key escort cards.

We hope you loved this little peek at Laura and Justin’s wedding!  Be sure to check it out on Snippet & Ink’s feature!

Get this Look:

Photography: Molly Watson Planner: Lauren Geissler of Downey Street Events Venue: Taber Ranch in Capay, California  Bride’s dress, veil: Atelier des Modistes Bride’s shoes: Miu Miu Hair: Shannon Dean Makeup: Christi Reynolds Makeup Artistry Groom’s suit: Sarar Floral Design: Botanica Floral Designs Officiant: Rabbi Avram Davis Harpist: Ricardo Tan DJ: Sonny Garcia of Fog City Entertainment Catering: Culinary Specialists Cake: Torino Baking Rentals:Celebrations Party Rentals

Whether your wedding taste might be a ballroom look, winery feel or clean and modern, I love it when you OWN IT!  Now what do I mean by that?  I mean, taking each part of your decor into consideration.   The feel your venue has, how that translates into your linens, your favors, your flowers…your overall decor.  The wedding I am sharing today is the perfect example!

Buena Vista Carneros Winery sits tucked back into a valley…as you enter the property, you walk down a tree covered driveway to a beautiful, historic building covered in foliages which creep up the sides of stacked rock.  Inside this structure, you will find the same stacked rock walls, and an open tasting room that leads to a mezzanine level where wedding receptions take place.

After visiting the venue with our clients, the look we had discussed all fit into place.  A rustic, natural feel was our goal, and I think it was the perfect compliment to the surroundings.

Short centerpieces were created in birch covered vases.  Flowers in a green and white color scheme enhanced the indoor and outdoor surroundings.  White hydrangea, green viburnum, hanging amaranthus and tulips were used throughout.

Birch votives were just a finishing touch to tie it all together.

Arrangements were created with a mounding-natural feel.

Tall centerpieces were also accented with a birch treatment to the vase and river rocks placed inside.  With two different heights to the centerpieces, this just helped add a little interest to the room.

Carrying into the personal flowers, the same look was carried out.  Fresh herbs, green ranunculus {which were beautiful}, and scented geranium made this bouquet extra unique!

The flower girl wore this woodsy halo we created from birch, moss and green floral accents.

Along the same look and feel, our ring bearer carried a moss and birch box for the rings.

At the reception we displayed a large manzanita wishing tree where guests filled out wishes for the bride and groom on the tags above and placed them on the tree.

Hopefully you can see how this look all ties together from the personal flowers to the reception look and feel.  Enjoy!

Brides and consumers these days are savvier than ever when it comes to wedding design and flowers thanks to the numerous industry blogs and information available via the web.  I think it is a wonderful thing that brides are involved in the process, doing research and finding out what they do and don’t like.  Being part of the floral industry, having a Horticulture degree and a strong design background, there is still so much more about this industry than the everyday consumer could even dream about.

Sooooo, after being inspired by all of my floral friends from the recent AIFD Floral Symposium I just attended, I am thrilled to start a new blog series, Demystifying the Design.  These posts are going to be focused on thoughts, ideas and deconstruction of things you may not know about the floral & wedding industry, and things that explain design, how we make a living doing what we love, and the in’s and out’s of daily life as a floral & event designer.  I really hope you enjoy this… it’s a peek backstage at my crazy-hectic life I love so much, and I hope it sheds a little light onto an industry that only those who have been there and done it really know what I am talking about.  So here it goes!

Today’s topic:

By the Bunch

Did you know that our product comes in bunches of allotted numbers? Sometimes it is by the stem for pricer blooms, or groupings of 5 – 10 – 25 or a “lot” of foliage.  This is how we order it from our growers-suppliers and brokers for your wedding.

When putting together orders, estimates and creating designs, a good designer will know how many stems will be needed to create the design, and we can plan accordingly so that we order in advance and reserve these materials weeks before an event.  By knowing the amount we need, we tally up totals and divide by the number of stems per bunch so we can put together a floral order.

Designing in a studio such that we have, we don’t keep “inventory” or “flower stock” in our cooler because we aren’t a retail storefront.  Meaning, we don’t sell everyday bouquets; so when a single yellow rose is wanted for a ceremony, we still have to order the entire bunch of 25 stems from our wholesaler.  I’m not sure that a lot of consumers are aware of this, as most times they have ordered through their local florist or picked up a mixed bunch of flowers at their grocery store.

Hopefully you found this post interesting!  I’d love to hear questions, feedback or ideas you would like to hear about in the future!  I have a line-up of topics I’d like to share, but if you leave a comment here with a suggestion, we will be sure to answer it in a future post, thanks!

Hi all!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are back into the swing of things! We just returned from a fabulous floral conference for the American Institute of Floral Designers held in our own backyard, San Francisco.  AIFD is an organization dedicated to the advancement of floral design education, service and leadership.  With floral designers traveling from around the world to attend, and the most fabulous presenters, we always walk away from AIFD Symposium totally inspired!  Here are just a few photos we captured to share with you all!

At AIFD Symposium there are flowers EVERYwhere, including the bathrooms.  Here’s an arrangement that was displayed in the hotels’ lobby.  Sorry, I don’t know the designer on this one.

We enjoyed a tour of the San Francisco Flower Market.  I tell you, we are so lucky to have the most amazing flowers here in California.  Others from around the country were gawking over the California Grown products!  Pictured above from left to right is Melinda Lynch, AIFD; owner of Festive Designs and floral instructor at California Polytechnic State University, Christin Henderson, AIFD; owner of Garden Grace Designs and agriculture teacher at Dinuba High School, J Schwanke, with ubloom and JTV, an online community for floral designers; Darci, a student of Cal Poly and SAIFD member, and myself.  J has the coolest videos and product ideas for those in the floral industry, check out ubloom and JTV online!

Succulent trays where you can hand-pick your plant materials.

Here is a design from Amsterdam native Rene Van Rems, AIFD.  Rene’s designs are European-influenced, and always breathtaking.  His presentation focused on “Designs Through the Centuries.”

Bill Schaffer, AIFD and Kris Kratt, AIFD featured an event geared presentation with the most gorgeous Red Riding Hood chuppah I didn’t get a photo of… it was awesome!  Here are a few floral columns they created for a Bat Mitzvah vignette.  I love the structure and the beautiful leafwork!  Their presentation also featured interviews with highly regarded event professionals sharing trends, new industry technology and vendor interactions.  The biggest surprise of all was their own engagement at the end of the presentation… a huge secret to all, and an entire change of scene known as a “strike” in the event world.  Very cool, and such a highlight of the events this Symposium!

A design created by Lois Hiranaga of Hawaii.  Lois was inspired by the rug hanging behind the structure, I think this compliments the look perfectly!  And so fun!

A bridal bouquet created by Pim van den Akker.  I love the shape of this, and learned a lot of new techniques from Pim’s presentation.

What a great and inspiring week!  Just being around flower lovers and designers is so inspirational and really re-energizing!  Until next years Symposium in Miami, it has been a fun one here in San Fran!

I had to share this super cute idea with you all.  One of my wedding friends, Kristy Huston, with Kristy Huston Photography {as seen here on the blog}, recently was married, and we were able to do her wedding flowers!  Yay!

She was looking for a very handmade accent to the floral pieces we created for her, and came to me with a bunch of fabric yo-yo’s that she had made in her colors.  I was thrilled to finish off the stems of her bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages with a few of these fun accents!

Her bouquet featured garden roses, lisianthus, sweet peas, spray roses and godetia.  Green hanging amaranthus also was added.

A simple jute wrapping adds a nice neutral backdrop for the yo-yo’s to be featured.  Since we really couldn’t bring in the blue colors int he flowers, this was the perfect accent place to do so.  We added fun coordinating pins in pinks and blues as well.

What do you think?  Do you love it?  I think it is just perfect for that handmade touch!

If you are planning a Summer wedding, and want a fun and exciting vibe, you will love this color combo!  There is so much energy that orange, hot pink and lime green give off, and we had so much fun creating these artsy centerpieces and florals.  I hope you enjoy!

Melissa, our bride is such a positive and energetic person, so these colors suited her personality perfectly!  She was looking for something fun, artsy, and just loved the idea of the wheatgrass, moss, fruit accents and fun decorative wiring.

Here, we added a fun touch by curling the decorative or oasis colored wire into little fronds.  Accents of colored pins also add a fun touch.

Melissa’s bridal bouquet was created in the same color tones with hot pink peonies, scented geranium, cymbidium orchids, green hypericum, poppy pods and other fun colors.

The bridesmaids each carried bouquets of the same colors, but a smaller, scaled back version.

Boutonnieres, again another fun look with oasis bullion wiring for the stems, and a bright pop of orange.

I love how each of our clients are unique, each personality is a new design.  We loved creating these for Melissa & Mannie’s wedding, and hope you all enjoyed these Summer colors!

To see another similar color inspiration, see our post on Get Married Event’s Summer Cocktail Lounge featured on our blog.