Off To a Good Start!

Photos by Richard Wood

The 2009 Wedding Season started off with the wedding of Jamie and Eric, on March 28th at the beautiful V. Sattui Winery. I could tell from the first time I spoke to Jamie on the phone that she was a total sweet heart. Not only that, but she was totally trusting: since she was planning from out of state, I didn't meet her in person until the day of her wedding! After months of planning, I met her for the first time when I delivered her bouquet! Of course she was just as cute in person as I had imagined.

Jamie and Eric wanted a very simple, classic design for their wedding flowers, in shades of rich red and chocolate (think wine and chocolate=yum!). 

I loved the chuppah we designed for Jamie and Eric, flowing with red dupioni silk fabric.

We did a little something different for the ring bearer pillow. Their ring bearer was a little girl, and we wanted to something special, so we made it round instead of square, just for fun. I thought it looked like a little wedding cake. So cute.

And the best part? The note I received via email from Jamie, when she returned from their honeymoon:

Hi Jennifer!!

I got your text, thank you!  Eric & I just got back from our honeymoon and wanted to say thank you for the BEAUTIFUL, stunning job you did on all the flowers for our wedding!!

Everything looked so perfect... from my bouquet to the rose petal aisle... to the flower arrangement on the top of the cake... and the huppah was MAGICAL  >> I LOVED the flowers on the fountain, too : )

All of your designs .... the colors... made our wedding like a fairy tale.

We can't thank you enough, truly.

All of our guests said how beautiful the flowers were too!

I will send you the site to our photos soon : )

: )  Jamie

Awesome. Thank you Jamie and Eric for having us be a part of your wedding day.

Lush Favorites, Installment #2

Kelly and Peter, V. Sattui Winery, October 14, 2007

all photos by Richard Wood

One of our favorite weddings from the 2007 season, was the wedding of Kelly and Peter.

Kelly worked in the events industry, and had recently moved to California from Hawaii. When I had my first meeting with Kelly, she told me that she had first heard of Lush when she was working at a hotel in Hawaii. Part of her job was to help Brides with their planning process for weddings at her property. She said that numerous brides had brought her a photo from a magazine ad. The same image from this magazine crossed her desk over and over. Guess what? It was an ad we used to have in a wedding magazine--with this photo. She had held on to a copy of that ad and had been keeping it in her "wedding file" for years! When she moved back to the mainland, and started planning her northern California wedding, she just knew she had to contact the florist from that ad--LUSH! 

Kelly had a clear idea of color palette: crisp greens, bright oranges, soft creams, crisp white and touches of chocolate. She had a few clippings (other than the magazine page with our ad, ha ha) which she trustingly handed over and declared--"Do your thing!" 

I loved her bouquet of green cymbidium orchids, white dendrobium orchids, tuberrose, kangaroo paw, and chocolate cosmos.

The two ring bearers carried adorable ring pillows of bright green Kermit mums, with a chocolate ribbon accent.

The focal piece of the ceremony (aside from the Bride of course!) was the stunning "arch" we created using the existing V. Sattui architecture. We covered the woodwork in the shape of an arch with gorgeous, colorful seasonal branches of sugar maple and liquid amber. We infused this with clusters of flowers in the palettes of green, orange, and some creams. When the light hit the arch, it absolutely lit up--almost vibrating with color and texture. 

The Bridesmaids, who looked gorgeous in their dresses of dark espresso and a green sash, carried captivating bouquets of bright green and orange. 

Stay tuned for the rest of the story!

Featured, Again! Project Wedding

Our second featured wedding in Project Wedding's Real Wedding series was the wedding of Marisa and Mike at the gorgeous Harvest Inn in St. Helena. Click on over to see the full gallery of images shot by the fantastic Richard Wood, of Richard Wood Photographics.

http://www.projectwedding.com/real_wedding/show/marisa-mike-st-helena-ca?page=3

The color palette of blue, varying shades of purple, cream, and soft greens was absolutely perfect for their May wedding. One of my favorite parts of the design for the day was the bright blue and purple aisle of delphinium blossoms. Who says a flower petal aisle has to be  made from rose petals? 

Lush Favorites, Installment #1

Before the 2009 Wedding Season kicks off (hopefully giving me lots of good things to blog about) I thought I'd go back in time a bit and post a few of Lush's all-time favorite events from the past couple of years. 

For our first installment, I'd love to share with you the wedding of Giselle and Brett from October 2007. Their wedding was held at the gorgeous Beaulieu Gardens, in Rutherford, CA. Their talented wedding planner was the lovely Brandy Cabral, of  Bliss Event Productions. And, just to make it even better, the wedding was photographed by the divine Anna Kuperberg.

Giselle and Brett were such a great couple to work with. They are both archetects and therefore they had very specific ideas and great style. What they wanted: Clean lines, interesting textures, contemporary styling. And, a very 'archetectural' design, especially for the tablescapes. Their colors were very defined: Neutrals of white, ecru, against accents of black. For the flowers, we added a pop of chatreuse green to provide a contrast against the crisp whites, and to help everything 'bounce' against the subdued linen, while still exuding a fresh, clean, refined look.

The tablescape was created from using a repeating pattern of several, different arrangements in square cubes, placed together in a very linear, clean line down the entire length of the long kings tables, creating a uniform "runner". 

Can I also just say, that I simply loved Giselle's bouquet of dendrobium and cymbidium orchids, succulents, lotus pods, and stars of Bethlehem?

Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

Welcome to Our New Blog!

Welcome to our new Blog! I am excited to finally be entering the Blogosphere. I can't wait to share lots of images of beautiful flowers, fun stories and the every-day goings on inside the Lush Life!