Photo Shoot - "Violet"

Photo Shoot - "Tuscany"

Photo Shoot - "Dried Herb"

Photo Shoot - " Turquoise"

Photo Shoot - "Tomato Puree"

Photo Shoot - "Amparo Blue"

Still can't believe these are my flowers!

Photo Shoot Flowers - A Collaboration

You might remember this teaser photo from a post a few months back. It stems from a collaboration I did with the creative team at eInvite stationary company. Photographer Adoniram Sides chose a selection of six Pantone colors for the backgrounds and asked me to make floral pieces to compliment them.

I've never done any work specifically for the camera, so I was completely fascinated to see how the photography process works. The way the camera "sees" the florals is also interesting, some things jumped out more than expected, some things receded, some colors made sense on paper so to speak, but not in front of the camera. Some things looked great in person, but crappy on the monitor. Some flowers had to be moved, some proportions were wrong...it was work, even though we were having fun!

Here, photo assistant, Amy holds up color swatches in front of the floral display, so they can match the colors exactly on the computer. You florists all know when the color of a flower you're familiar with is just wrong in a photo - well this is how someone who isn't intimate with all of mother nature's variations can get the color correct.

Adoniram sets up a shot in front of the 2010 Pantone color of the year, turquoise! You've seen it every where, magazines, catalogs, blogs, well here it is with flowers from Sprout!

I had swatches of the six background colors and designed something for each one, but in person some of the florals looked better in front of colors different from the ones I had planned in my head. In particular, the "Amnesia" roses shown against the turquoise above, looked great in front of almost everything.

From 3D to 2D - it looks so different! And in a surreal disembodied kind of way, it doesn't feel like my work at all.

So what does this all have to do with stationary you may ask? Well, eInvite artist Michelle May has a few wedding invitation tricks up her sleeve that I will share with you over the next month or so, as she gets ready to head to the huge stationary show in NYC. Even I don't know exactly where the creative inspiration has taken her, but stay tuned!

My New Favorite Rose!

If you asked me what my favorite flower was, I don't think roses would be at the top of my list, but I am in love with this one!

This is definitely my new favorite rose - "Mirabai". I love the swirl of the petals. Yes, I totally get turned on by certain rose petal shapes! Florists will know what I mean, some petal formations are just way better than others, am I right?

And the color - well, the color is this rich, bright, but not really bright, antiquey rose that's warmer in the center and cooler in the outer petals. The photo really does not do the color justice.

I have no idea if this is a new variety of rose or if it's just new to me, new varieties are constantly popping up up, but I will be keeping my eyes open to get this again!

Baptismal Candle

There are many Orthodox Christian churches in our area. Candles figure prominently in some of the ceremonies and we get asked from time to time to decorate these oversized candles with flowers mainly for baptisms such as this one and for weddings.

This is one of the more modestly sized candles we've had to deal with, and I hope we struck the right balance of flowers and candle with the spray of dendrobium orchids, "Sweet Eskimo" roses, waxflower, satin ribbon and abaca fabric garland.

Would love to see one of the candles in action!

Cost of Wedding Flowers - Centerpieces

Time for another price check! This centerpiece comes straight from the cover of the latest Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. Loaded with gorgeous garden blooms such as lilacs, peonies, garden roses, hydrangea, sweet pea, jasmine, dusty miller, and foxglove, I estimate that this lush confection would set you back about $450.

Check out our previous posts on this subject here, here, here, and here.

Tulips Together

Can you stand how amazing these fringed tulips are?!!!

I adore unusual varieties of flowers, especially of flowers that can be rather common place like the tulip. If I hadn't told you these were tulips, would you even have known?!

LOVE!

How to Order Prom Flowers

1. Show us a picture of your dress. (promgirl.com)

2. Choose your bracelet.

3. Pick out some coordinating ribbon.

4. Select the flowers.

5. Add some bling!

6. Go from this...

7. ...to this!!!

The process for creating a prom bouquet is much the same as the wrist corsage, only no need to choose a bracelet.

Every prom order is one of a kind and custom made so your flowers are exactly what you want. Because everything is custom though, we hope you can get your order in at least a week before your prom, so we can source all the components in enough time.

Have fun, be creative, and let your flowers add to your one of a kind prom style!

Sometimes the Bride Picks Up Her Own Bouquet!

Manicure - check!
Wedding hair and makeup - check!
Italian grinder to eat in the car, so you won't starve - check!
Pick up bouquet - check!
Get married - double check!!

Prom Flowers - Boutonnieres

'm noticing a trend this year of the girls making the guy's boutonnieres just as special as their flowers, with ribbon or colored wire wrapped stems, and accent flowers. This red tipped white rose was customized with a stem wrap of pearl wire.

You'll notice the boutonniere in the top photo has a couple pins for attaching it to the guy's tux lapel. Well there are other less tricky options for getting the boutonniere to stay in place like the EZ Pin, shown in the picture above.

Two prongs with a rubber stopper, take all the fiddling out of pinning on a man's lapel flower which is especially helpful if you haven't done it before. An extra $4 to upgrade your boutonniere to the foolproof EZ Pin, well worth it!

(Actually, it makes pinning on a boutonniere a whole lot easier even if you have tons of experience pinning them on! Can't wait till I get a whole wedding party with them as it's no fun fumbling around at the church!)

Prom Flowers - Wrist Corsages

Managed to get a few quick shots of some of the wrist corsages we did last week for the first prom of the season. I usually think to do this after the fact, so I'm pretty happy I thought of it this time before we sealed the flowers in bags!

First up, purple stock blossoms, with lavender roses, and white waxflower on a silver bracelet. Complimentary white rose boutonniere with a purple stock blossom accent. This look is pretty classic and fits the ROMANTIC Prom Profile.

OK, I think this might be my favorite wrister from last week - the girl ordered a red tulip boutonniere first and then the guy came in with a pic of her dress which was super helpful. The gown was white with a loose and modern black floral print, so we thought the licorice gum drop bracelet was the perfect match and red roses and tulips since we already knew she liked red flowers. I also used a touch of black and white animal print ribbon to play off the dress pattern.

This wrist corsage was done to go with the GYPSY Prom Profile. You'll notice the design is not symmetrical like the other more traditional corsages, with the ribbon flying off to one side, and we got a little more creative with flowers which are composed of white orchids blossoms with sweet black and white ornithogalum arabicum (sorry, no better name for that!) flowers in the centers. Nope, you won't find those flowers growing anywhere, as I just made them up special for this order!

Another black and red wrist corsage on the licorice gum drop bracelet, this time all red roses though.

If you're interested in finding your Prom Profile, grab a friend and come down to the shop and take our short little quiz. In just a couple minutes we can tell you your prom style and then we can custom create flowers just for you!