09.23.08
Posted in Special Events at 7:34 am by tweeny
The Flower Lab was approached by Kitten Rescue of LA to donate centerpieces for their fundraising dinner event – Fur Ball at the Skirball! Hubby and I rescued our 15 year-young Samoyed 5 years ago from the Massachusetts SPCA, so I thought, yes! We should help the kitties too! And what better way to do a little marketing and advertising as well?
The invitations for the Fur Ball had a very swanky and elegant feel featuring red and black as their main color scheme. To match this, we made centerpieces with gorgeous red ‘freedom’ roses, mostly burgundy carnations and some red carnations, and burgundy dahlias. Keeping with the theme of swanky elegance and simplicity, we did a grouping arrangement of three glass cylinders of varying heights, each accented with thick black satin ribbon. Each vase was monobotanical – a hand-tie of all roses in the tallest vase, all carnations in the middle vase, and a single burgundy dahlia inside the lowest vase. With a sprinkling of red rose petals around the grouping on the table.
There were two other florists who donated arrangements – Mericle’s Flowers of Torrance and Maggie Jensen Designs. Go us! Afterwards, The Flower Lab as well as Maricle’s could not resist having our pictures taken on the red carpet!
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09.02.08
Posted in Weddings at 2:07 pm by tweeny
Calamigos Ranch is a beautiful and popular venue to have a wedding. Located in the hills and canyons of Malibu, it’s a magical location with large trees adorned with twinkling lights. It’s hard to believe you are still in Los Angeles!
Corrin and Marcus had their wedding at The Oaks at Calamigos Ranch, with an outdoor ceremony on a deck among the woods and trees followed by an indoor reception in the building attached to the deck. In keeping with the outdoor and natural feel of The Oaks, Corrin wanted her flowers to have a wildflower look with mostly small, delicate blooms. Their colors were lavender and purple with highlights of pink and ivory.
For the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets, Corrin wanted sweet peas and hydrangea. We also added deep purple lisianthus and ivory spray roses.
The centerpieces were kept low and simple, but wildflower in feel with lavender hydrangea, purple lisianthus, pink wax flower, blue delphinium, and ivory spray roses.
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08.29.08
Posted in Special Events at 7:40 am by tweeny
The Flower Lab recently provided the flowers for a gala at Big League Dreams for the sister cities of West Covina and Ohtawara, Japan, organized by the East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Community Center, Inc. “Kakehashi” roughly translates into “building bridges of understanding and friendship”. No awe-inspiring views of the Pacific Ocean at Big League Dreams, but this venue is an amazing location for large outdoor events with plenty of parking and multiple swanky baseball fields!
The evening was marked by taiko drumming, musical performances, and a silent auction (of which I tried unsuccesfully to win the UCLA vs. USC football game in December - waah!). Here are some pictures of the florals and decor:
And here’s the full color advertisement for The Flower Lab in the Kakehashi Gala program book!
Thank you East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Community Center!
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08.26.08
Posted in Weddings at 11:38 am by tweeny
Jessica and Chris were married at the Neighborhood Church in Palos Verdes Estates. It seems like the past few weddings I’ve done have been at venues with extraordinary views of the Pacific Ocean - this was no exception! The church is a beautiful Spanish building with terra cotta tiles with a back patio where you can look out and see an expanse of beautiful blue.
The colors were ivory, Tiffany blue, and copper, so we tinted white hydrangea using Design Master’s Peacock Blue. To get a deep orange like copper or terra cotta, we used ‘Circus’ roses and ‘Mango’ mini calla lilies. We also used gerberas and alstromeria of deep orange. For ivory, we used ‘Vendela’ roses, ivory dahlia, and ivory lisianthus.
The altar arrangements were in 24-inch tall clear glass cylinders filled with copper florists’ wire with pieces of coral attached. The flowers included tinted aqua hydrangea, orange alstroemeria, Casablanca lilies, and large ivory dahlias.
The reception was held at The Chart House in Redondo Beach. For a vintage look, Jessica requested that we used containers that look like they have been well-aged, like a copper penny that has turned a little blue-green. Luckily we found some nice French buckets that had the perfect color and look! To incorporate the oceanview, but not too literally, we attached sanddollars to the containers.
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08.24.08
Posted in Weddings at 11:05 pm by tweeny
One Saturday in August there were two weddings held at Stauffer Chapel with the same florist!
The beautiful stained glass windows in the chapel goes well with any color scheme. Here’s a wedding in purple and ivory with deep pink accents.
The reception was later held at the Lindero Country Club in Agoura Hills, just up the canyon road and a little further on the 101.
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08.13.08
Posted in Weddings at 5:57 pm by tweeny
Jessica and Jean were recently married at Stauffer Chapel at Pepperdine University. If you haven’t been to Pepperdine it’s a really nice drive up the Pacific Coast Highway and the views from the chapel are spectacular!
The altar at the chapel is set against a stunning backdrop of an entire wall of stained glass. (watch out for backlit pictures!). The colors of the wedding were white and yellow and Jessica wanted to incorporate lemons in the florals! For a more wedding “look”, we stuck with more subdued tones of yellow as opposed to bright, golden yellow.
lemony altar arrangement
Here’s the bridal bouquet comprised of ‘Tibet’ roses, lisianthus, yellow cymbidium orchids, freesia, dahlia, and mini calla lilies. We finished the bouquet with alternating lemony yellow and ivory satin ribbon.
bridal bouquet
full bouquet with ribbons detail
The reception was held at Duke’s of Malibu in the Moana room. There are almost 360 degree views of the ocean throughout the room! To continue with the yellow and lemon theme, the centerpieces had lemon slices pressed against the glass. And to create interest throughout the room, we made two styles of low centerpieces — one with a matrix of ‘lemon dream’ roses bordered by bupleurum and the other in a glass cube with a mix of yellow and white flowers (lisianthus, teddy bear sunflowers, hydrangea, dahlia, roses, salal, and bupleurum).
square table centerpiece
cube table centerpiece
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08.04.08
Posted in Flowers, Suppliers, Weddings at 4:35 pm by tweeny
I recently provided the flowers for a wedding at Yamashiro Restaurant in Hollywood. If you haven’t been to Yamashiro before, you must come to catch the view! In fact, you can even join one of the many star gazing tour buses that take you around Hollywood, Bel-Air and Beverly Hills! Many tour buses stopped in front of the restaurant while I was there!
The wedding ceremony and reception were held in the beautiful outdoor courtyard garden. To match the lovely Japanese garden atmosphere, the centerpieces were comprised of natural manzanita branches accented with cymbidium and dendrobium orchids. The colors of the wedding were burgundy and chocolate brown, so we used these amazing dark burgundy cymbidium orchids, burgundy mokara orchids, and green dendrobium orchids as an accent. The branches rested on dark red and black ti leaves held down by black river rocks. Individiual light brown chrysanthemum blooms were scattered on the table around the branch.
For the bouquets and the escort card table arrangement, we used beautiful burgundy dahlias (as well as ‘black magic’ roses, brown chrysanthemums, and seeded eucalyptus).
Step into the LA Flower Market now and you will see fabulous dahlias of all colors and sizes! I’m especially partial to the large “dinner plate” dahlias and could not resist using these large burgundy ones. I highly recommend Yamaoka Flowers, Saita Nursery, and Endow for dahlias in the Southern CA Flower Market side of the market. Hooray for dahlias!
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07.24.08
Posted in Weddings at 9:07 am by tweeny
Reina and Rick
Reina and Rick had a romantic sunset ceremony with the Pacific Ocean as backdrop at Malaga Cove Park in Palos Verdes Estates. An intimate reception followed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Redondo Beach. There were lots of roses, Reina’s favorite flower, all in a warm sunset palette to reflect the evening’s theme.
For the bouquets and centerpieces, we used two varieties of roses - Gypsy Curiosa and Sahara. Gypsy Curiosa roses have a large number of petals in beautiful shades of orange, gold, with some hints of raspberry. Sahara roses have a lovely creamy shade and are sometimes almost almond. Both roses open fully. Here are a few pictures of the centerpieces and the wedding cake – which smelled incredibly good!
Roses, lotus pods, eucalyptus, lipstick pods, statice, and solidago in a square ceramic container in cinnamon.
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07.17.08
Posted in Weddings at 9:40 pm by tweeny
Jessa and Jason
Jessa and Jason had really great ideas for locations for their wedding ceremony and reception: Pacific Palisades Park in Santa Monica (along Ocean Ave between Alta and Palisades – awesome view!) and Writer’s Boot Camp at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. Their colors were pink and green and Jessa loved dahlias! With the park already so beautiful with the surrounding trees and plants, Jessa decided on something simple and elegant for the ceremony. We lined the aisle chairs with pink chrysanthemum pomanders and accented the altar podium with a small garland of pink and green flowers (acid green fuji mums, gerberas, hydrangea, and roses).
For the reception at Writer’s Boot Camp, Jessa wanted to display some pictures on branches as guests walked in to sign-in and receive their table assignments. So we created a large tree with 4-ft. and 3-ft. tall manzanita branches secured in plaster of paris in a black clay planter. Blooms of pink and green dendrobium orchids were glued onto the branches for decoration while allowing space for all the pictures.
We also decorated the cocktail tables with long single stems of fuschia gerberas – effectively creating a modern look for the white, open space. Half the dinner table centerpieces were low, and half were tall – a great idea to help keep costs down while also creating interest and drama in the room with the varying heights. Low arrangements were all gerberas in bright orange, pink, and fuschia, while tall arrangements were all dahlias in bright orange, pink, and fuschia. The use of monobotanicals is a great tool for creating a modern and dramatic look that fit very well in the open and modern space at Writer’s Boot Camp!
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07.14.08
Posted in Floral Happenings Around the World at 2:09 pm by tweeny
For AIFD final evening’s dinner extravaganza, “Luce Moderna”, designer Anthony Vigliotta and his team were sure to make even the bathroom unforgettable.
Willies on a plate and on urinals too!
This bathroom created quite a stir! After AIFD President Tom Simmons made a comment about it prior to his presidential address, men and women in their tuxedos and ball gowns were traipsing about the hotel peering into every men’s restroom. Finally it was there on a landing between the second and third floors!
Hubby complains a lot about how women’s restrooms are usually so much larger and more opulent than men’s restrooms with sitting areas, mirrors, and overstuffed couches. Well, on this night the men’s room took center stage! Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the designs were made by an Anthony vs. an Antonia!
Which sort of brings up another point. Why is it that in even women dominated and stereotypically feminine industries, men are still tapped with most of the honors and positions of power? We can do it too ladies!!! Set aside those fears and insecurities and let us too share our creativity, wit, and leadership!
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