Festa Italiana 2011

This was my 4th year working with the Portland Italian Festival. I always love working with the people and being involved in the set up in my small way. Naturally, I stuck with red, white and green flowers. Since the flowers are outside for 3 days in August, I'm careful with my selection and preparation to make sure they make it through. Definitely visit the Festa next year, I'll keep you posted on dates when the time is right. It's always in August at the Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon. I've never had so much fun dancing and of course, eating! Ciao...

Sara and Ben

Sara and Ben are awesome! Sara sent me a picture of a gorgeous bouquet with silver zipper flowers and funky chains as partial inspiration for her bouquet. The end result ended up being a fusion of different inspiration she provided along the way. I made the silver zipper flowers out of... well, zippers of course. ;) I felt like this floral collection really matched the couple. They compliment each other beautifully, are classic and romantic, and have an edgy 'outside of the box' splash about them. Once again, I'll collect pro pictures at some point, I'm sure. :) The wedding was at McMinnamins Edgefield on a beautiful summer day. Pretty much as good as it gets! 

Brooch bouquet

Check this out! I've been wanting to do a brooch bouquet forever! While I can't claim full responsibility for creating this beauty, I did take the role of 'artistic director,' if you will. One of my fav brides of the summer, Allison, had the idea of putting together a brooch bouquet for photos and as a keep sake from her wedding. All of her wedding shower guests contributed a brooch, and she collected quite a few herself. She showed up to my shop with brooches pre-wired, all construction elements and fabulous ideas. The base of the bouquet is her 'something blue,' and was the tie her father wore on her parents wedding day. The tie and photo brooch with her fathers photo held great significance for Allison, representing his presence in spirit on her wedding day. Thank you Allison for letting me a part of constructing this gorgeous and sentimental keepsake. It was so much fun working with you! 

Sarah and Alex

Check out this awesome wedding! Sarah and Alex are two of my favorite people ever, and this bouquet goes down in history as one of my favorites of all time! 

Such a unique and beautiful bouquet! Sarah gave me a list of really crazy things that she wanted in her bouquet. I knew it would be awesome, and it really did 'create' itself. I had every funky, non floral, produce type pretty in front of me and I just put to together by trial and error. What will hold up? What looks good together? Some of what you can see in this angle are prickly pear, jalapeno peppers, pine cones, scabiosa pods, succulents, dusty miller, alder cones, blue roses, chestnut pods and just the slightest touch of baby's breath.

Here you can see the millet and pittesporum. You can't see them from either of the above angles, but I also used brussel sprouts, which were really pretty when grouped together.

The gorgeous couple!

The wedding was at the beautiful Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon. Sarah and Alex rented pipe and drape and covered the walls of the banquet room with luxurious white linens. They also rented these amazing thrones, which served as a great place for photos all evening. I rented the topiaries from Garden World, which I would recommend to anyone. With a delivery fee, they dropped off and picked up the trees, saving my back! I simply fashioned some beautiful, flowy fabric around the buckets that the trees were planted in and finished it with some sheer brown ribbon that I simply tied and cut to flow.

I took lots of pictures of the beautiful bride!

Another use for the topiaries. Stunning, if I do say so myself.

Planted succulent pieces for the bar.

All the table centerpieces were living succulent plantings as well.

Thank you Sarah and Alex! I'll treasure your wedding, and both of you forever!

Smelling the roses!

I've recently been named 'caretaker' of a rose garden with well over 500 rose bushes. I lose track every time I try to count, so I gave up and resorted to estimating. Its a beautiful English style rose garden and is literally just minutes from our little farm. I stumbled upon it over 5 years ago when I was preparing for my own wedding. Since I was marrying a man with the last name Rose, my flower decision was easy. I just wanted beautiful, fragrant, garden roses. I worked up the courage to stop by and ask the owners of the garden if I could buy some roses for my bouquet. They happily let me, and a love affair with antique roses was born. I've popped in a few times a year since for a bucket of roses here and there and nurtured a budding friendship with the owners. A few years ago the husband passed away, and his aging wife has since been trying to keep up with the garden herself. This season when I popped by for a visit, she expressed her need for help, and told me that if I wanted to take over caring for the roses, they were mine. What's a girl to do in this situation? You guessed it, prune about 20 rose bushes a day. ;) Here are just a few shots of some pretties I have the pleasure and the honor of caring for...

P.S. Confession time... Although I know how to prune with the best of 'em, I'm really no expert otherwise. Advice, tips, tricks up your sleeve? I dove in head first and now I'm making some wings. Any wisdom from readers would be very well received and incredibly helpful!

My little bro gets hitched!

This wedding was so much fun, so incredibly beautiful and absolutely 'Paul and Montana.' Being involved with a wedding on a personal level reminded me about what's truly important, what isn't, and that having a great time and enjoying the moment really is the goal. The wedding was at Montana's parents house just outside of Joseph, Oregon. It couldn't have been in a more picturesque setting. Mt. Joseph and the Eagle Cap wilderness framed the gorgeous ceremony and following reception. I couldn't be happier that my brother found his true love. Even from the beginning, there was never a question in my mind that Montana was my little bro's match made in heaven. I love you both! Congrats and cheers to a lifetime of love and happiness!

Seriously, isn't she gorgeous!? Her dress was a true vintage find, purchased from an antique shop and we're thinking is circa 1930.

The colors of the wedding were shades of orange with deep purple.

Pretty Momma!

Bridal bouquet

Bridesmaid bouquet

Boutonniere of scabiosa seed pod with accents and grass wrap.

A new use for a heart shaped basket.

Mother's corsage

Gotta love the moose antler and flowers!

Montana's super talented father made this antler shed arbor just hours before the ceremony. I think it is definitely worthy of being shown off.

Sara and Andrew

From the minute I received the first email from Sara, I knew it was meant to be that we work together. I love the style of this wedding! Sara wanted deep jewel tones with eggplant and teal making a spotlight appearance. She's also a fragrance specialist, so I was sure to include some antique garden roses and Spanish lavender. There were also a few wild irises, fern shoots, peonies, poppy pods, billy balls, sea holly, coral bells, horse tail fern, sedum, peacock feathers and even some pops of purple kale. One of the direct quotes from Sara that I drew inspiration from was, "If people show up and see things looking too 'traditional,' they'll think they're at the wrong wedding." I love it! The wedding was at the McMinnamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse Octagonal Barn in Hillsboro, Oregon. I always look forward to my McMinnamins weddings! Enjoy a few photos I snapped. More to come! Their photographer was amazing, and very quick to get me gorgeous photos. I just need to spend some time downloading them now so I can show you all. To be continued... ;)

Bridal bouquet with a glimpse at bridesmaid pretties.

Pretty bouquets all in a row!

Corsage

Corsages ;)

Grooms boutonniere! Garlic top, fern shoot, sea holly, green blueberries and a peacock feather hiding in the background. Fit the tall, handsome groom well, if I do say so myself.

Boutonniere. Sedum leaf, fern shoot, sea holly, wrapped in purple kale.

Yet another boutonniere

All of the different boutonniere styles represented.

Pretty bridesmaid bouquets in the shop.