September 2008

(all photos courtesy of Jenny Tam)

ceremony site overlooking the Atlantic

It was a perfect fall day in New England when Wenli and Patrick were married at the Ocean View Inn in Gloucester, MA. It isn’t too common for The Flower Lab to do events outside of California, but I am definitely up for the challenge and ready for any chance to travel! Not only is it fun to showcase some west coast style and design, but I love checking out markets, wholesalers, and design trends all over the country (and world)!

Wenli loves loves loves orchids! So we showcased cymbidium, James Story, and mokara orchids for her fall palette wedding in reds and oranges. To offset the price of orchids and to keep within budget, we also featured beautiful deep red ‘freedom’ roses and orange, fragrant ‘milva’ roses. Orange freesia and brown hypericum berries were added for additional texture. Bouquets and personal flowers were comprised of mostly cymbidium orchids with accents of roses, freesia, and hypericum.

bridal bouquet

bridesmaid bouquet

mother’s corsage

The view for the ceremony was simply stunning – gorgeous blue Atlantic ocean water with gently peeling waves, a bed of garden flowers, and soft green grass. There wasn’t much more the place needed – just some small poseys attached to the aisle chairs to bring it all together!

ceremony chairs

chair posey

Sometimes my brides have asked to have additional bouquets of flowers available at the ceremony as special gifts to parents as a way to honor and thank them. For these thank you bouquets, we accented the red and orange roses with James Story orchids, black ti leaves, and wrapped the flowers in chocolate brown abaca mesh.

thank you parents!

Inside, the reception tables were long and rectangular, so the centerpieces featured red containers of similar shape and were anchored by two floating candle arrangements with immersed mokara orchids. For a natural “drift wood” New England beach feel as well as Asian inspiration, we used sand-blasted manzanita branches for the main centerpieces with pink mini cymbidium orchids glued to the branches. Red and orange roses and hypericum berries anchored the centerpieces to the fall theme.

reception tables

floating candle arrangement

branch centerpiece

another branch centerepice

wedding cake

Overall, it was a great trip out to Boston and Gloucester!

bye-bye Beantown!

Jenkis and Nathan planned a beautiful wedding bridging Western and Eastern traditions. The ceremony was held at the Hilton Pasadena followed by a banquet reception at Empress Harbor Seafood Restaurant in Monterey Park. The chose to feature burgundy as their main color – reminiscent of lucky Chinese red – while also mixing in shades of purple and fuchsia.

At the Hilton, we draped sheer burgundy fabric along the sides of the aisle and hung pomanders made from carnations with burgundy tips. The arch was decorated with burgundy dahlia, purple hydrangea, pink lilies, and purple alstroemeria.

the arch, aisle, and pomanders

pomanders close up

guestbook table with floating flowers in a lily bowl

bridesmaids and bridal bouquets

bridal bouquet with ribbon detail

The reception centerpieces were in luminescent fuchsia cubes – small enough to accommodate the many dishes soon to be served on the lazy susans. They featured ‘red magic’ roses, fuchsia gerbera daisies, purple hydrangea, and large burgundy dahlias.

reception table flowers

head table flowers in a silver luminescent container

toss bouquet

wedding cake

We made a European-inspired arrangement for the sign-in table of steel grass, china berries, and burgundy chrysanthemums.

sign-in table

It was pretty busy at the Empress Harbor Seafood Restaurant that evening with two wedding banquets that took out the entire restaurant! Regular patrons had to sit and eat al fresco (something I don’t think Chinese people in the SGV like to do in the LA heat!)

Team Flower Lab recently provided flowers for a wedding at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The very hip couple getting married were Amber and Patrick – who wanted something a little different and unconventional for their wedding. How cool is it that you can have weddings and special events at The Natural History Museum in the presence of dinosaur bones and elephants?

There are dinosaurs back there!

The ceremony was held in the main rotunda as you enter the museum alongside a snarling triceratops and tyrannous saurus rex. After which the reception commenced in the great hall of African mammals where tables were labeled according to their proximity to various exhibition cases – think table “hyena”, table “gorilla”, and table “chimpanzee”.

rhinos sit here!

Amber loves calla lilies so we used tall white callas mixed with curly willow and seeded eucalyptus in the ceremony altar pieces. The cocktail tables were decorated with a small pot covered in moss topped with a large burgundy dahlia.

lovely white callas

dahlia in a moss covered pot

I don’t think there is a more perfect venue to have mosses and manzanita branches in the floral décor than the Natural History Museum. And apparently we weren’t the only ones who thought so according to the special events coordinator! For the reception, we featured approximately 2-ft. tall natural manzanita branches secured in black pots with plaster of paris and decorated with flowers in shades of burgundy: dahlia, hydrangea, ‘black magic’ roses, hypericum berry, as well as seeded eucalyptus and lemon leaf. In addition to attaching burgundy dendrobium orchids to the branches, we hung red votive holders and some Spanish moss.

manzanita branches

dendrobiums and hanging votives

the great hall of African mammals

Amber’s bouquet was a simple and elegant bouquet of all burgundy calla lilies wrapped in sheer organza ribbon and accented with black beaded trim. The escort card table and sign-in tables featured tall arrangements of ginger in black glass trumpet vases.

burgundy bouquets and flower girl basket

ginger escort card table

The Flower Lab in action!