Real Wedding - Laura & Garett (8.8.08)

Shortly after Miss Pineapple originally blogged about me, I was contacted by Laura and she inquired about my bouquets. We initially decided on apricot colored dahlias. After she saw what I created for Miss Pineapple's bouquets, she immediately changed her mind and we decided to do the Victorian Elegance (peach peonies with copper centers, mauvish purple roses, copper tone roses, copper fillers, peach ranunculus, stephanotis and tuberose buds) look instead. Laura started out only wanting the bridal bouquet and the MOH bouquet and then the order increased into small centerpieces and a toss/keepsake bouquet! Laura was one of my 1st Canadian customers and she was so worried that the order would be held in customs so she had me ship 1 month prior. Luckily I had shipped a previous order that only took 6 days so I had to push her order out a little.

At any rate, she contacted me today and sent me a link to her website and I got to see some of her beautiful wedding pictures so I thought I'd share them with you. Isn't she beautiful. They make such a cute couple. They look like a lot of fun. I always enjoy receiving real wedding photos and I hope again to add these to my Real Weddings section of my website when my orders slow down a bit. But for now, please enjoy a few of the images she shared with me! Don't you just love her birdcage veil? Too cute!

Thank you Laura for sharing your wedding photos with me and my readers.. Congratulations and Best Wishes for a long and happy marriage!

Fall Colors - Part IV

Today was an extremely busy day of a lot of things that I wish didn't happen today. My car broke down after dropping Aidan off at preschool (dead battery). Luckily my husband was still home and could jump it so I could make it back to the house. I was able to work on a few more flowers for my centerpiece order, but my work was cut short because I had to walk to pick up Aidan and walk back. Even though I didn't finish all the items I wanted to get done, I finally finished Kirsten's order!!! :)

Here are some images of the corsages and boutonnieres which completed her order. The corsage wristlets I ordered didn't exactly work. They were too loose and so I emailed Kirsten to see if she wanted the ugly cheap looking elastic wristbands or if she wanted to try doing ribbon corsages (Kirsten - I hope your family doesn't read my blog!) Anyway, we decided to go with ribbon corsages. I think it will look really nice and really bring out the rich chocolate browns. The corsages and boutonnieres are different, some red and some orange, but they all look beautiful and uses the flowers and elements that were in the bouquets.

I'm so glad to finally get another BIG order out the door. My target for the centerpieces to ship is Tuesday so I have a lot to get done....

Best Wishes to you Kirsten and your hubby-to-be!

DK Designs Clay Floral Centerpieces

I have to say, I've been working so much on flowers the last month that my elbow and wrist are starting to tell me something.... Don't take 8-9 wedding orders in one month! LOL.... I wanted to share some photos of my work in progress for my first official large centerpiece order since I was featured on Martha Stewart. This particular client saw my Victorian Elegance pieces and really liked the urn style vase. She said she has some black lanterns and so we decided upon these large black ceramic resin urns. They are 12" tall! Jennifer is using these centerpieces as her decor for the church as well as for the memory table at her reception.

The photos show light yellow really large roses - 25-30 petals each and creamy ivory peonies with that golden yellow fringe center. The photo actually has all the flowers that will go into 2 centerpieces, just to give you an idea of the scale. There will be green hydrangeas, orange-yellow tulips, red orchids and some green bells of Ireland. I think by the time it is done, this arrangement may measure 16 inches and will be 4 sided!

Clay Cake Topper - Photos from Barnaby Draper Studios

As you saw from my previous post, Cindy ordered a cake topper from me for her September 6th wedding in Long Island, NY. She sent me pictures and I decided to google Barnaby Draper Studios. I came upon a fabulous website. Barnaby Draper is pretty famous in the fashion and music industry. He's photographed the likes of Dave Matthews Band, Dianna Ross, and more. His company of wonderful professionals also do videography and have been seen on Good Morning America and Throwdown with Bobby Flay! How cool is that..

It's my first experience with working with a NYC photographer and I was really apprehensive about asking if they would allow me to use their images for my website. I decided to go ahead and email them anyway and I got a wonderful email from Nicole in their Santa Barbara, CA office and she said, "yes, we'll send the images you want out tomorrow!" SWEET! Well, even better than I could have imagined, Nicole emailed me just 10 minutes ago and said that the blog post was up. I thought she was just letting me know BDS has a blog. They just posted pics of Cindy and Adam's wedding (Cindy works for Billboard Magazine which is why I think she knows Barnaby Draper Studios (he shoots for the magazine).

At any rate, they were so kind to mention DK Designs and my custom cake topper. I have to say, I've been so very fortunate and very appreciative of all the wonderful professionals I come in contact with. They are truly amazing and so personable!

If you live in Santa Barbara, CA/Southern California or NYC/Long Island or I'm sure probably anywhere in the world. Barnaby Draper Studios is worth checking out! Exquisite Affairs Productions helped coordinate this beautiful wedding!

Here are some photos from the blog post on BDS' site.. I hope when things slow down a bit, I will have time to finally update my Real Weddings section of my website!

Thanks again Nicole and Barnaby Draper Studios! Hope I get the opportunity to work with you again!

Keepsake Cake Topper - Pictures from the Bride

One of my clients contacted me via my Etsy site and asked me if I could create cake flowers for her wedding cake. If you recall she wanted esperanza roses and green hydrangeas. She had a multi-tier square cake. We decided on a shallow square vase decorated with her flower choices. She just got married last month and here are some pictures she sent me via Etsy... I love the 5 tier cake. I think that's the biggest one someone has asked me to create a cake topper for. Don't you just love the piping detail on each layer... It almost matches the beading on Cindy's dress. Exquisite. I wish I could have had a little taste. Looks delicious.. the cake that is! LOL..

Thank you Cindy for the beautiful pictures and I'm so happy that you LOVE your cake flowers and now your keepsake floral arrangement to decorate your home!

Custom cake-toppers that are housed in a vase are a perfect way to for you to always have your wedding day flowers to enjoy for years to come. After the wedding, it becomes a floral arrangement to decorate a room! Plus, it's probably less costly than if you ordered real flowers or custom sugar flowers. Think about it... a great alternative which will be enjoyed and always bring wonderful memories of your wedding day bliss.

For all my past couples, I hope you'll send me photos of your wedding day so that I can share your wedding day with my readers.

Cindy just sent me a couple more photos. Here is what her real centerpieces looked like. Hmmm.. you can barely tell the difference between real and clay flowers.... I'm glad all I had to do was the cake topper...

Fall Colors - Part III

One more post for today... Here's the MOH bouquet paired up with the Kirsten's bouquet. STUNNING! :)

Fall Colors - Part II

Last night I finished making the chocolate brown proteas and the remaining flowers for the corsages.. This morning I painted the protea and decided to work on the bride's bouquet... This is the end result!

I added some red bud like berries to tie more of the red color palette in without adding another flower and decided to use some grass like leaves as the green filler accent. It's got a hint of tropical with the protea, tuberose flowers and the grasses and very earthy and fall like with the reds and oranges. The protea was another first for me on this bouquet order... They are on the smaller side because I didn't want it to overpower the bouquet. All in all, the colors balance each other and definitely is rich in color. Up next, the MOH bouquet and then tomorrow will be finishing off the boutonnieres and corsages.

After I complete the MOH bouquet, I'll be focusing my attention on the next order - centerpieces.. another fall like arrangement to share by end of this week! More pictures to come, promise!