ghosty dreams and flower things

Moving Day

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 05:57:00 +0000

Hello friends,

We're cutting the ribbon on a shiny new website that has a built in blog so it's time to say goodbye to this one. We would love if you would take a peek at the new site!

We'll get to blogging there asap, but in the meantime we have added many galleries in our new portfolio section and links in the press section of work never shared here. There is so much pretty to see!

Thanks so much for your support.

Honey and Poppies

the new blog

a+e

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 20:47:00 +0000

I met Alisha when she was 18. She worked at the coffee shop next to the flower shop where I worked. She was sweet and silly and had a funny laugh and she kept me properly caffeinated. Later she became my coworker and then my friend. And 12 (?) or so years later, also known as last month, she got married. She asked me to do her flowers of course. She just sent me a link to her pinterest board and said "you know what I like." And I do. I like it too.

on snobbery

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 01:21:00 +0000

There is a tremendous amount of pressure on us garden style florists to use only extremely hard to find garden flowers and only the most exotic specimens of those. I can't even count the times a week I see on instagram someone talking about how they "foraged" their flowers (hopefully NOT from somebody's garden, but you never know).

I love those flowers too, but I'm a business person, not a 20 year old sunhat wearing independently wealthy vagabond who drives around clipping things from yards instead of buying them at the flower market.
Sorry if that sentence seems random, but I have a feeling it will get a few cheers from some of you.

It's hard to not be jealous seeing other people get their hands on amazing flowers. Of the NYC florists who get to use varieties I've never even seen before. But then I try and check my privilege and consider the florists in the middle of the country with no local markets who are jealous of what we can get in LA.

Which brings me to these centerpieces from yesterday. A bride who wanted all white and was extremely concerned that nothing show any tiny trace of browning or bruising had me reaching for varieties that are considered passe amongst many modern garden florists. I ended up loving what I made, and it was a flower recipe with ingredients that most florists should be easily able to get their hands on.

I love using more unusual flowers and I will always do my best to source from local growers as much as possible. That said, it's so nice to have this reminder that Columbian hydrangeas can still be graceful, that traditional roses can sometimes work as well as garden roses, and that queen anne's lace can be graphic and modern. It's all in the styling.

Brides and flower enthusiasts, sorry about this post. This one's for my florist readers. And for them I'm also giving the recipe for this arrangement:

6 white hydrangea
5 Polo roses
3 Vendela roses
5 white freesia
2 white peonies
2 stems of white lisianthus
2 white veronica
3 white stock
1 stem of white campanula
about 1/4 of a field bunch of queen anne's lace

and greenery. I used
-1 branch of tree ivy
-3 stems of brake fern
-2 hosta leaves

fin.

Timanda + Martha

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 02:46:00 +0000

Today I helped my girl Heather with an install at Casa Romantica in San Clemente. And it made me think of the last time I was there, for Tim and Amanda's wedding last September. Amanda founded a little blog you may have heard of . And the wedding was featured in Martha Stewart Weddings (both the summer real weddings print edition and online here.)

It would be difficult to adequately explain how incredible and gratifying and humbling it felt when the best of the best of the best asked me to be on her dream team of wedding vendors. And tougher explain how it felt when I found out the wedding would be in Martha. With a 16 page spread. So I'll just show the pictures and leave you with these two words: Head Explosion. Okay, two more: Heart Explosion.

Thanks to Amanda and Tim for choosing us. And thanks to all of these amazing people who helped make this wedding beautiful:

Photography: Max Wanger / Event Planning: Bash, Please / Videography: Sharkpig / Location: Casa Romantica / Ceremony and dinner reception music: Elan Artists / DJ: The Flashdance / Flowers: Honey and Poppies / Rentals: Yeah! Rentals, Casa de Perrin, Signature Rentals, and Bountiful / Linens: La Tavola / Fringe and balloon installation: Geronimo Balloons / Wedding cake: Sweet and Saucy. Smaller cakes: Porto’s Bakery / Catering: 24 Carrots / Bartending: Pharmacie / Photo booth: Smilebooth / Transportation: Beverly Hills Rent-a-Car / Save the date video filming: Scott Clark

hello, is it me you're looking for?

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 22:42:00 +0000

hey strangers.

A couple of days ago, Jessica told me I needed to hustle in a blog post before the weekend was over so I can say I did at least one in the first half of 2013. Whatever. I'm a rebel. Happy July 1st everybody, and welcome to my first blog post of 2013.

For starters, I thought I'd mention that even though I'm the worst blogger in the history of the universe (and that goes for facebook updates too), I actually have an instagram that I update regularly. You can take a peek here at what I've been up to: http://instagram.com/megan_gray. And if you care to follow, my username is megan_gray.

We are still working steadily but at a much less fevered pace than before. For anyone who was wondering from this post. We ended up committing to 12 weddings for the year and have done 5 of them so far. It has been wonderful. I have been focused totally on each one and I feel like I'm doing my best work. I'm a happy girl, albeit one who should blog more.

I'm breaking the ice by sharing Ashley and Kenny's wedding. Ironically this isn't new work... they got hitched back in 2011. But for the longest time we weren't supposed to share any pics because the wedding was selected to be featured in Style Me Pretty's book. Our bouquet even got the inside front cover (hooray! hooray!).

I'd love to share the whole thing, but since I don't have access to the pro photos, I'll just share snippets of the floral work we did. And tell you that Ashley's bouquet was one of my all time favorites. These two have so much style, and I really loved their wedding. My girl Jesi did an amazing job on the design.

Thanks for reading, anyone still here! I promise I'll be back before the end of the year.

Urban Jane Austen

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:10:00 +0000

I don't really have the words to express how much I loved making the flowers for Pam and Eric's wedding. I tried to edit down images and still ended up with 50+. Not including the pro pics.

When I first met Pam, she described her ideal aesthetic as something like "Jane Austen wanders into a modern urban environment and throws an awesome party." And I knew what she meant immediately. Together, we envisioned what turned out to be one of my favorite weddings of the year. Lush, romantic florals made less girly with casual/wild styling. Simplicity combined with tiny details you didn't quite notice at first. Gorgeous handmade modern ceramic vessels paired with vintage mixed metal containers. Everything was somehow both purposeful and curated while seeming effortless. I adored it.

I'm just showing my own flower pics, but you can enjoy some of the gorgeous details beautifully styled by In The Now and snapped by Sweet Little Photographs on Green Wedding Shoes.

And just one more of Pamela in her head crown. This beauty is by Sweet Little Photographs. More HERE and HERE.

thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 08:00:00 +0000

This is a shoot but it was a real dinner party too. Or maybe lunch party (dunch party?) since it happened in the late afternoon. It was magic.

Last year, one of my favorite couples told me over a post-wedding dinner that they were planning on dipping their toes in the wedding industry by starting a boutique food company focused on creating small jars of deliciousness. I'm sure they could explain it better than that, but that's what their business means to me. I offered to help if I could, and Rachel told me that what she would really like to do to make their debut was a thanksgiving photoshoot. And this is what we made happen.

My criteria in wrangling this shoot:

-I wanted it to be collaborative. This was the most important thing to me. I brought in people who I think are amazing and asked them to just do their thing. Trust and freedom ruled the day.

-I wanted it to be simple. Pared back. Thanksgiving is about people, not excess. Rachel was adamant that she wanted everything to be attainable.

-Food was the star. We all know that the people you spend the holiday with are really the star. But c'mon, it's Thanksgiving. I didn't want huge flower arrangements and over the top decor. I wanted amazing food and happy people.

So that was what we started at. I emailed some of my favorite industry people (pitbulls and posies, found) and some who I just had creative crushes on (casa de perrin, braedon flynn) and we went to town. We got together, created something beautiful with our hands, and then sat down and enjoyed it together. Magic.

This is Rachel. She created all of this marvelous food along with her husband Jon (who was away cooking more food at the restaurant he was a chef at). She's a firecracker and gave me a big batch of homemade apple cider salted caramels just last week. I'm so thankful that Rachel and Jon hired us to do their wedding flowers and then became our friends.

This is Josh and Diana. They provided all of the insanely beautiful dishes and glasses and silverware. I ran across some of Diana's beautiful food styling work a couple of weeks before the shoot and Casa de Perrin's gorgeous website a few days later. I emailed them cold, hoping they would join us. I'm thankful that they said yes and then turned out to be really wonderful people. And that they've turned into friends too. And that Josh has my favorite laugh ever.

This is Loop. He is a busy guy who happens to manage some of my favorite venues, including Carondelet House, who hosted this shoot. He also coordinated Josh and Diana's wedding. He helped us out and made sure things ran smoothly. I'm thankful for Loop because honestly he cracks my shit up. And funny is pretty much my favorite characteristic.

This is Amber. She will modestly deny being conceptual, and yet she created placecards and food tags for us that were lasercut chipboard reminicent of deconstructed quilt pieces to go with our Americana theme. Go figure. I'm so thankful for this crazy talented girl, who has become one of my dearest friends and confidants over the last year and a half.

This is Jeni and Allison. I met Allison on the first shoot I ever did (she was doing paper at the time) and Jeni on maybe the third. They joined forces soon after and are pretty much vintage furniture superheroes now. I'm so thankful for their talent and sweetness. It has been amazing seeing Found grow so phenomenally.

This is us. We do flowers. And block printed cards. And I'm thankful for both those things. And thankful for Matthew. He's the bee's knees.

And of course, there is Braedon. Who took all of these gorgeous photos. He snapped about a million before sitting down to eat with us. He is incredibly gifted, and I hope to work with him again one day.

Thanks for reading, guys. And thanks to Design*Sponge for featuring us last year.

adorable emily

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 22:19:00 +0000

Emily and Ryan live in New York but got married in Southern California. They were planning on creating all of their decor themselves, but Emily knew she wanted an extra special floral head crown that was best left to the pros.

I was completely smitten with Emily's descriptions of both her and Ryan and their decor (basically, super creative, eclectic, nature loving cat people.... um, which also describes me. There is actually a cat sitting in my lap and draped over my left arm as I type this). Naturally, I adored making Emily's hair piece and bouquet.

These wonderful images by Matthew Morgan just landed in my inbox and I couldn't wait to share them. Isn't Emily the cutest ever?

Thanks so much to Emily for sharing these, Matthew for generously letting me blog them, and to Carissa for sending Emily my way!

disconnect

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 22:50:00 +0000

We just got back from a trip to Europe (my first). It was heaven. And one of the best parts was not checking my email or social media. Just dropping away and being more present in my surroundings. Not having internet on my phone. Not reading blogs. Bliss.

This made me realize two things: the first being total confidence that I'm making the right decision in wanting to work less next year. I've been thinking of that for awhile now. Wanting to take on fewer projects and have more free time. To simplify. To be okay with making less money knowing that I will be repaid with more time. The second realization was that I want to be independently wealthy and to travel all the time. Clearly, I'll be giving up on #2.

But back to #1. It's something I've been telling my industry friends for awhile now, but haven't had the nerve to say here. I'm planning on doing hardly any weddings next year. Probably less than 10. Hopefully around 6.

All of this could change after a few months of the slow season. But for now I'm starting to feel burned out. It's a weird contrast - I've been doing flowers for 16 years and I feel like I'm at the top of my game. It seems strange to walk away. And honestly, I don't think I could completely. But I do need to pull back before the spark goes out.

The people I've told this to who are more business minded all say the same thing: "that means you can charge more for each event." But that's just not the way I think. It makes me stare at them dumbly. I need a healthy budget because I use really high quality flowers and generous amounts of them. And because I throw myself so completely into each project that I do. And yes, because I know that my talent and experience warrants it. But money's just not what motivates me. It never has been.

So how do I pick then? If I'm only doing a tiny tiny number of events? For perspective: this year we did 32 weddings, and we were fully booked for the year by the end of January. I'll be telling people no often enough to make me feel plenty guilty.

My goal then is to have only events that I'm passionate about and clients who I connect with. People who want to hire me because they're a fan of what I specifically do, not because they chanced across my website but would be happy hiring anyone. I want people who truly love flowers. Who think of them as a priority at their event, not just another detail.

I want people who want flowers that are lush and romantic and a little wild. People who trust me to make something gorgeous with the best the season has to offer.

And while I'm definitely a big fan of simplicity, we're talking weddings here. The fanciest day of your life, dang it. What better time to have a full table and a little drama?

This of course makes me laugh because the fanciest, fullest thing I would ever think to make is still going to look simple compared to the ostentatious things that happen in the wedding world. All I'm saying is this - I'm never going to make one of those awful overstuffed arrangements that has a million Ecuadorian roses, looks like a tree, and costs $3000 per table. But I also don't want to do a table of eight mason jars with one or two stems each ever again. It's about balance.

I apologize for the disjointed rant. I'm just thinking about the coming season and wondering how I'll find my like-minded clients. They're out there, I know.

Paintapalooza: a wedding production brunch

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:52:00 +0000

So when the ladies over at Gather events approached me with this shoot idea, I thought it was pure genius. DIY is still so big with weddings right now, and having a fun party where your friends come over to get their craft on, food on, and drink on while getting your wedding details made just seems super fun AND practical.

This shoot ran in a series of posts over on Ruffled last week. You can hop on over and check out the story along with loads more beautiful details, a video, and a few fun tutorials here, here, and here.

And here are the amazing people I got to work with, ALL of whom I wholeheartedly recommend:

VENUE
1342www.onethreefourtwo.com @studio1342

PHOTOGRAPHYThe Why We Lovewww.thewhywelove.com @thewhywelove@thewhywelove1

VIDEOGRAPHYTower Filmswww.towerfilms.net @TowerFilms

CONCEPT, EVENT DESIGN, PRODUCTION, STYLINGGATHER Eventswww.gatherevents.com@GATHERevents

FLORAL DESIGNHoney and Poppieswww.honeyandpoppies.com @honeyandpoppies

HAIR & MAKEUPFiore Beauty
www.fiorebeauty.com @FioreBeauty

CALLIGRAPHYJimin Bruen for petite pig chocolateswww.petitepigchocolates.com @petitepig

COCKTAILSMichael Nemcikmike.nemcik@gmail.com @michaelnemcik

yellow and gray and happy and sweet

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 18:26:00 +0000

Remembering Cory and Shaun's wedding makes me smile so much. We also did the flowers for Cory's sister last year, and each wedding was a pretty magical experience. The mother of the bride left me thank you voicemails that made me cry. Twice. (Once for each wedding). Just wonderful, wonderful people.

Cory and Shaun had a simple and sweet wedding at a golf club last June. It was joyful, relaxed, and completely unfussy (just like them). I had a blast designing their flowers.

I know we've all seen the yellow/white/gray color combo quite a bit for the last few years now. But I think any color combination can look fresh and exciting with the right treatment. In this case, heart stopping yellow tree peonies and adorable mock orange blossoms stole the show and made the color palette really shine. (For other wonderful examples in this palette that really stand out, check out these two by McKenzie Powell and Studio Choo).

Cory's bouquet. Yellow tree peonies are one of the few flowers that send my allergies crazy. Having hundreds of them in my house meant that my eyes were watery for three days straight. Totally, utterly worth it.

chamomile, craspedia, and dusty miller bridesmaid bouquets

dude flowers

little dude "flowers"

and for the ladies

the centerpieces were in modern square ceramics that had been wrapped in geometric printed fabric in our palette. We alternated a single large with a cluster of three small.

The bride's mom requested a keepsake vessel for the flowers on the sweetheart table, so we hunted down this yellow majolica pitcher at an antique mall

the end!

wait, p.s.- word to the wise, florist friends:

Lemon Pompon garden roses from Green Valley. I used them for the first time this wedding. They were amazing.

strange and beautiful

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:49:00 +0000

We only do full weddings over here, much to the confusion and annoyance of the regular random calls we get from people who find us on yelp. But sometimes? Once in a blue moon? We'll make an exception. One of those exceptions was for Shannon and Jay, and I'm so so glad we did.

Shannon and Jay's initial inquiry email to me said they only needed personal flowers since they were d.i.y.-ing everything else with family members. There was a certain friendly sweetness to the email, and also a link to their own website. Their own website where they do amazing graphic design work for awesome companies like Chronicle Books and 826LA. Intrigued, I sent them the link to our "getting to know you survey", and after they sent it back, I was thrilled.

A sample of their survey answers that had me so smitten? A color palette described as "Shades of blue, Gold, the greens, purples and pinks found in succulents and soap bubbles. Teals and indian saffron." They also stated their belief in the importance of authenticity and personalization. And best of all was the following quote:

"We are really interested in the strange and beautiful places where the aesthetic and scientific intersect. Those places where logic and chaos are conspiring to show how clever they are. I think these moments are obvious in the spiral of a nautilus shell, the fractal geometry of a spider plant that replicates itself perfectly over and over again, and self propagating succulents. As designers, we are also into the classic, the traditional, something with history."

That's it. I was in love. Honestly, I probably would have done the wedding for free. Getting to meet these two in person did not disappoint - they are wonderful. Smart, funny, creative, nice. Dream clients. All I ended up providing was Shannon's bouquet, four very simple bridesmaid bouquets (think single big blooms and greenery), and some corsages and boutonnieres. But I loved every second of it.

Warning: I'm going to absolutely bombard you with pictures of Shannon's bouquet. I loved it. Jay's boutonniere. And a few corsages for the ladies in the family. And yes, I deliver my corsages in teacups. What?

Oh hello there

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:21:00 +0000

Hi, friends. It's been awhile. Four months filled with insanity. Our season is near the end though, with only four more weddings left this year. I hope to cull together lots of images to share now that things have slowed down. Honestly though I've been the worst ever about taking pictures this year. There have been so many weddings this year where we brought a camera to the set up, only to be too exhausted to take any photos. And many of these when we see the pro photos, the colors are way to edited for me to ever want to share them (that's a rant for a different post though).

Anyway. Here are some pieces we did for a bridal shower last June. I have always been such a color fanatic, but this year for the first time, I feel like I have truly fallen in love with whites. Let me rephrase that - white and green. Flowers NEED greens. They just do. Green is a neutral for them. I think I was traumatized by years of working in a conventional shop where all white meant a bunch of white roses stuffed in with white hydrangea and no movement or variation, or (most importantly) greenery. In fact, I'm deciding right now in a diva soap box moment that I refuse to book any weddings ever again for people who don't want greenery. There. I said it. I might not stick to it, but there you go.

So enough with the rambling and on to the pictures. As always, click through to our flickr page to see the full set.

These guys went down the center of one long table, filled in with lots of mini satellite arrangements of more textural flowers and greens in vintage cut/pressed glass vessels. Which naturally I didn't get a picture of. And one last grainy shot (taken with my ipad but it's the only shot of this 4' monster). It perched on the entry gate across from a smaller partner piece.

National Stationery Show debut!!!

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:45:00 +0000

We're on the east coast right now and SO FLIPPING EXCITED to be headed into NYC tomorrow for the National Stationery Show! We're exhibiting in the Crow and Canary booth (3024) so come check out all of our new goodies and a ton of other awesome C&C lines.

Source: us2.campaign-archive2.com via carina on Pinterest

amy and tom's eclectic urban wedding

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Fri, 11 May 2012 05:36:00 +0000

Dream team wedding! Another one. I swear to you, at weddings like this, when every vendor is top notch and bringing it, the air almost crackles while we're setting up. Everything comes together so well and you can feel the energy of it all. And even at the end of the night when we come back to strike, you can still feel the energy and happiness from the guests.

Here's who made it happen:

Planning + Design: Carter & Cook Event Co. / Wedding Photography: Gabriel Ryan Photography/ Wedding Videography: Aqua Vivus / Floral Design: Honey and Poppies / Paper Goods: Paper & Thread Studio / Catering: Loteria Grill / Venue: Marvimon / Hair + Make-up: Symmetry Beauty by Nyrie / DJ: Red Shoe LA / Wedding Dress: Vera Wang / Desserts: Cake Monkey / Linen: La Tavola Linen / Rentals:Arcadia Party Rentals

And on to the photos. These first few are by Gabriel Ryan, who is one of my favorites to work with.

And my own floral detail shots

Amy's bouquet, with dahlias, yves piaget garden roses, and ranunculus. Amy wanted very little greenery and a more modern, clean look. And color. Lots and lots of color.

Amy's sister/maid of honor carried this one

A variety of boutonnieres to choose from, wrapped in turquoise chevron ribbon

For the tables, we did some long wooden boxes and then tons of mixed metal and vintage pressed glass containers. Carter and Cook also scored some vintage cobalt bottles for us.

If your heart's not happy enough from all of the prettiness, check out the video. Tom's vows are the best ever.

Thank you to Style Me Pretty for featuring this guy here: http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/12/01/marvimon-wedding-by-carter-cook-event-co/

Brooke and Tom's backyard bash

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 03:16:00 +0000

I love a backyard wedding. And blushy peach and tangerine is one of my all time favorite color combinations. So naturally I adore Brooke and Tom's casual wedding from last summer.

We had a kickass team for this one:

flowers - honey and poppies
photos - jen lauren grant
coordination and design - in the now
vintage rentals - found

And thanks so much to Style Me Pretty for the post, and to the UK magazine Wedding Flowers for their upcoming feature as well.

Cafe au lait dahlias are so pretty they almost bully you with it.

hops and thistle in Tom's boutonniere. More on hops later.

major perk of a backyard wedding: you get to relandscape as part of the wedding decor. and do stuff like this:

and this:

Remember when I mentioned hops? Yup, we covered that bridge with them. Beautiful. Dude-friendly. Win-win.

By the way, Brooke's dad MADE that bridge. And all of the wooden tables for the reception (!!!).

P.S. this is the second backyard wedding I've done where a custom bridge was built over the pool. The first is here. More people should build bridges. They rule.

And now I will barrage you with a ton of detail shots from the reception.

If you click on over to the Style Me Pretty post, you'll see a ton more cuteness from In The Now and Found. Like so:

Lush ombre centerpiece

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:50:00 +0000

Last year I got an email from Brides magazine asking if I would submit a floral arrangement. After the initial "holy crap, BRIDES knows who I am?! I of course said YES!!!!!!!!! The one hitch was that I had only about three days to get my submission together. So I took the flowers I was using for my wedding that weekend, hauled a table out to my backyard, and came up with this:

Here's the shot that made it in the magazine (BRIDES Southern California Fall/Winter 2011):

I was totally blown away not only to see it in print (actual print press is always so so exciting), but to have it featured on their blog (HERE) and on top of that to have the editors name in their top floral arrangement of 2011:

So freaking honored.

Here are some more glamour shots of this dude; you can also see more by clicking through to our flickr:

Softening it up a bit

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:23:00 +0000

Some more pics from last year... these guys were for a vow renewal in late May. There should not have still been poppies but a cold Spring let us have them until almost June.

I love that the same flowers as the last post in basically the same tones can look quite different with just a couple of tweaks. Sub out the coral charm peonies and soften up the styling, and you've got something so much more pastel-y and Southern Weddings influenced.

I made these freelancing for Kate when she was in San Diego working on a giiiiant weddng. No, I don't freelance. Except for Kate once in a blue moon. Because she's amazing.

Premade garland had been ordered at the flower market, but it came in ugly and completely stiff. Like a 6 foot baguette made of salal. So I made my own.

Garland secret: make the garland out of greenery, then water tube in delicate stuff (viburnum, queen anne's lace). The green aqua pics can be hidden and the flowers will last that way. Yes I did climb on a fence, lure a horse to me, and toss this garland over its neck.

And then after the photos were taken, I did climb on the fence, lure the horse back, snag the garland, fluff it up, and then had Matthew toss it on top of a 10' doorway. Toss like a basketball because nobody knew the door was going to be that tall and there were no ladders. I never said this stuff was glamorous.

Sure does look pretty though. That doorway (and the table and chairs in the earlier pic) are from the wonderful ladies at found.

julie and kevin and ruffly spring goodness

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:46:00 +0000

Florists can't pick their favorite flower and usually not even their favorite season. I'm going to tell you that Fall is my favorite at some point, but right now I am really loving Spring.

Later Spring (which it is in Southern California right now) is just so so good. The earlier Spring flowers are all hitting their peak - full of petals and grace and scent. The flowering branches are still going strong, and the peonies are finally starting. The ranunculus are petering out a bit but the ones still around are kind of ridiculous - full of soft, papery petals.

We had a wedding yesterday and one coming up in two weeks, but other than that, nothing for 6 weeks. I decided to take the time off for ghost academy - to finish off new designs before our big National Stationery Show debut, to go to the show, and to print like crazy when we come back. I will be incredibly busy and really need this time. But it means I'm missing out on so much flowery goodness.

These photos are from last year, just about this time. Julie and Kevin got married at the California Yacht Club. We used coral charm peonies, Juliet roses, Quicksand roses, viburnum, jasmine, ranunculus, poppies, parrot tulips. The usual suspects.

Sometimes I make Matthew hold the bouquet in photos and then get annoyed at his hairy Man hands. True story.

Simple centerpieces with table numbers painted on:

And some bright little baby guys for the cocktail reception the night before:

Kianey and Scott at Padua Hills Theatre

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:21:00 +0000

Hello friends.

Last night as I was trying to fall asleep I was beating myself up for being the worst blog slacker in blog slacking town. I'm not sure why I should feel so bad about not blogging since it's mainly done for advertising and I'm booked up solid for 2012, but there you go. I feel like a little kid neglecting their chores.

Anyway. That has nothing to do with Kianey and Scott. Who lived in Fresno but got married in Claremont and now live in North Carolina. Their wedding was last March (2011 kids... I'm not kidding about the blog slacking). They had an unusual color palette (for me anyway - blue, white, green)... basically peacock. Although Kianey did specify that she didn't want to make the room look like it threw up peacock. Which immediately made me like her.

I used viburnum (one of my all time favorites), anemones, succulents, delphinium, etc.......

And made this:

and these:

and for the dudes:

and a headband for the flower girl:

We added a spray of succulents and some draping to the ceremony structure at Padua Hills Theatre:

I'm in love with that giant ruffly blue succulent. Here's a shot of it installed (by the pro photographer, palosstudio.com):

And while we're on the subject of Palos Studio, please check out this cute and funny picture of Scott and Kianey. Please also make up captions as to what he's saying to make her laugh so much.

Padua Hills Theatre is a stunning venue in person - the outdoors is effing gorgeous.... vistas everywhere of classic California chaparral and tons of gorgeous olive trees. The reception takes place indoors, in a restored classic theatre that's stunning. The theatre is really dark though so here are my studio shots of the centerpieces.

I love a single dramatic centerpiece, but I always fall in love with all of the little components of groupings. For Kianey and Scott, we had:

mini succulents planted in silver pots

cobalt glass bottle budvases

those cute white ceramic vases from ikea you saw everywhere for awhile

and finally a single larger central arrangement, also in cobalt glass

final bouquet shot!

You can see more by clicking through to our flickr page

Why don't you make me?

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:51:00 +0000

We just shot a little time lapse video showing how we make our ghost academy cards. Check it out!

Huge thanks to our friend ghost ghost teeth for shooting and editing the movie and to my sister Anna's band Dreamdate for the song ("Why don't you make me?").

For a step by step tutorial on block printing, click here.

joshua tree wedding shoot

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:08:00 +0000

I feel like I should apologize for my long blogging absence, but truth be told, it's been lovely. I've been trying to unplug more - spend less time online; particularly on twitter, facebook, and pinterest. It's so easy to get totally immersed in the internet and all of the negative baggage that comes with it. Especially in the high school-esque politics of the wedding world. I had a bad week back in January where I saw my work being ripped off three different times in just a couple of days (including my logo by people I had previously liked - now that was devastating). My husband's take is that I'm really fortunate to be where I'm at right now, I'm always brimming with ideas, and I can't really expect to get credit for EVERYTHING I do. That it would be preposterous to do things called "inspiration shoots" and then be upset when you're copied. Totally true. But raspberries to him nonetheless.

And with that, I present this Joshua Tree love shoot. Shown on Style me Pretty last year, but never shared here. Definitely some of the pictures of mine I see uncredited the most around the web (they're usually credited to that infernal tumblr and none of the designers).

I can't claim too much to do with the look of this shoot. My photographer friend Ashleigh Taylor asked me to make the flowers, but I wasn't able to go to the shoot itself. Instead, she styled it with the help of another photographer, Candice Benjamin. Wardrobe styling was provided by Hope Stanley. And finally, paper goods by my dear friend Amber from Pitbulls and Posies.

I created a simple bouquet with a lot of impact by using a small variety of huge, amazing blooms. This guy has coral charm peonies, ranunculus (from the famous fields in Carlsbad - they only get this big at very peak season), succulents, and large balsa flowers. The stems were wrapped in scalloped lace, and I created tons of cascading streamers out of fringed crepe paper.

The bouquet was reused for the tablescape, which is something I suggest to lots of my brides. I also made a few peony and succulent mini arrangements in eclectic mixed metal containers, and mounted some ranuncs to driftwood.

Ashleigh reused the vintage wooden folding chairs that I had lace stenciled for hitched:

Pretty, simple, bohemian. And their last name is "Hello." Really. I'm jealous.

p.s. sorry about the wonky picture layout - blogger is being bad today.

Casual elegant Palm Springs wedding

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:05:00 +0000

Oh, Jane and Rick. So pulled together, chic, and effortlessly cool. With total goofball engagement photos (where they were making funny faces) on display at their wedding. A winning combination, no?

Jane loved succulents and so we pulled together a palette inspired by the tones that they come in. Our dominant color of white was accented with grays and dusty blues and muted greens. It was subtle and full of texture and I thought it came out just beautiful.

We used succulents in a large variety of shapes and colors along with air plants, lots of herbs, silver brunia, dusty miller, acacia, garden roses, ranunculus, lisianthus, and thistles.

The centerpieces were organic and wild but in simple, clean glass vases to rein them in a bit. Perfect for an outdoor reception poolside in Palm Springs. The herbs and garden roses smelled heavenly.

I know I say I fall in love with a lot of bridal bouquets, but holy moly did I love Jane's bouquet. Like true love. Like my heart still beats faster looking at the pictures true love.

The grace of those roses (grown by my favorite garden rose grower in a tiny farm smack in the middle of urban North Hollywood) astounds me.

The bridesmaids each had a complimenting but slightly different bouquet in whites, grays, and greens.

I always think it's fun to do the bridesmaids with a bit of variety. It still looks cohesive, but it lets each girl have her own little thing going on.

And the guys each wore a different type of succulent on their lapel. The Groom's one request was for his boutonniere to smell good, so we added rosemary and sage to them. The stems were wrapped in a soft gray velvet.

We also made some terrariums for the ceremony. They used succulents and airplants in clean, modern vases. We topped the dirt with crushed glass crystals for a tiny bit of sparkle.

The terrariums lined the aisle along with strips of fabric in blues and grays. Later we moved them to a lounge area.

The end. Except that I have to show you that bouquet one more time. Or two.

P.s. If you ever find yourself near the Colony Palms in Palm Springs, where this wedding was held, you should check it out. If only because the manager looks eerily, wonderfully like Jeff Bridges as The Dude in The Big Lebowski. It's awesome.

Elyzza and Michael and the 2D Pinata.

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:14:00 +0000

This wedding was magic. An incredible vendor team, a wonderful couple, and oh yeah, I got to make a nine foot tall two dimensional pinata.

Elyzza and Michael got married at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach. The space is super modern but quirky at the same time (think two or three story concrete walls painted an almost obscene shade of fuchsia).

When I met Elyzza for the first time, Christina from Simply Modern Weddings had already put together a gorgeous inspiration board for her Latin fusion wedding. I would love to take more design credit, but honestly, those two had done all of the heavy design lifting for me. Beautiful handmade Mexican pottery for the florals and an incredibly fun color palette? That was all them. All I had to do was provide kickass flower arrangements. Oh, and the 2D pinata. More on that later.

First? The beautiful pictures from Ashley Rose.

We used tons of texture and color in the florals.

The boutonnieres and the bridesmaids' bouquets were wrapped in braided fabric. Makeup by Erica at 1011 makeup.

Elyzza's bouquet was wrapped in Mexican embroidered fabric. I cut up a small blouse that I picked up in Olvera Street for it.

Me? Not so much a shoe person. Not normally. But HOT DAMN those are some good looking shoes.

Each bridesmaid bouquet had a dominant color (either pink, purple, or orange) so that they were cohesive but subtly different from each other.

These getting ready pics are at the gorgeous Hotel Maya in Long Beach.

Okay. It's pinata time. So the wedding ceremonies at the Museum take place on a big concrete stage. With a giant rolling delivery door on it. We wanted something high impact to make the stage look as wonderful and colorful as the rest of the wedding. Enter my idea to create a 9 foot tall by 8 foot wide fringed tissue paper backdrop. The 2D pinata. And Elyzza, bless her soul, said yes.

We also made matching tissue pom poms (inspired by confetti system) to hang from the chairs.

Things to know if you make one of these: It is going to take you a long, long, long time. It is going to resemble the coat of a Snuffleupagus on acid when it is lying on the floor of your living room. Make sure your ceilings are tall enough before making it (it was going to be 10', alas I have 9' ceilings).

The backdrop was moved behind the dessert table after the ceremony. Desserts are by Long Beach heroes Sweet and Saucy Shop.

The super cute escort cards (and other paper goods) were made by Paper and Thread. Christina created this backdrop for them by painting a table runner from CB2 and nailing it to a huge sheet of plywood we brought.

Half of the tables had wooden boxes with colored glass bottles, and half had florals in beautiful decortive pottery.

I love the tile table numbers!

Thanks Elyzza and Michael for being so fun to work with! (P.S. Elyzza had already bought a Ghost Academy card to give to Michael on their wedding day without knowing the connection. It made me super happy!)

Thanks to 100 layer cake for featuring this wedding!

And thank you to all of the kickass vendors!

Design/Coordination: Simply Modern Weddings
Florals: Us!
Paper: Paper & Thread
Hair/Makeup: 1011 MakeUp
Sweets: Sweet & Saucy Shop
Photography: Ashley Rose

Treehouse themed Happy Trails wedding

noreply@blogger.com (megan) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:19:00 +0000

I had so much fun designing decor for this wedding. When I first met with Dolly, she told me that she and her fiance Andrew were thinking of having childhood nostalgia as the theme for their wedding at Happy Trails (a venue I love.. remember it from this wedding?). Later they decided that since at Happy Trails you basically get married in a giant treehouse, that that would be the wedding theme.

I'll start with Dolly's bouquet. She wanted soft, fluffy, cloud-like flowers, so I used Cafe Au Lait dinnerplate dahlias, several varieties of garden roses, balsa wood flowers, and herbs and lavender foliage. The stems were wrapped in scalloped lace.

The bridesmaids had simple clusters of cafe au lait dahlias, lavender, and herbs with a stem wrap of a sweet faded looking calico fabric.

The boutonnieres and corsages were all made out balsa flowers and herbs.

To bring in the treehouse theme, we brainstormed about games kids play and things that kids are into when they're in that treehouse-y age range. We tried to stick to things that had a classic vibe and weren't tied to a specific era. We made about 20 tin can telephones (yes, they really work - we tried them out in the studio) to hang on the chairs going down the aisle. The ceremony area was flanked by two cute painted chairs that we filled with tons and tons of classic soda pop bottles with single blooms.

The tablescapes were composed not just of flowers but of tons of fun items that the guests could interact with. These included jars of marbles, crayons, and jigsaw puzzles, board games like Monopoly and Scrabble, classic games like sliding number games, domino, and wooden peg games, cool and funny toys like dreampet animals, kids books and boyscout manuals, paper planes and mini kites and... it goes on. Here are some studio shots of individual items to give you an idea:

This was one of my favorites... mini aqua mason jars and coke glasses with hearts on them. I cut the hearts from japanese comic books and affixed with washi tape:

The flowers are all garden roses and veronica in these guys.

We also made pennant table numbers with little pom pom trim:

And here are some action shots of everything assembled on the tables:

You can see more detail shots of this wedding by clicking through to our flickr, and all the fun pro photos by Mark Brooke Photographers on Green Wedding Shoes here: http://greenweddingshoes.com/a-whimsical-treehouse-wedding-dolly-andrew/