Friday, September 12, 2008
Each and every weekend, I get to meet the most wonderful people and get to go to the most beautiful events in the world…it’s my job to make the events beautiful! This wedding was a few weeks ago at The Del. The bride, her mom, and her grandpa, were super! It was a great day, and the photos reflect the magic of the event. Tim Otto is responsible for them. Check out his web site at www.timotto.com – enjoy the photos of this beautiful day!
Here’s the bridesmaids…hard not to love the color of their dresses, and the flowers against them!
I’m a believer in romance and this is one of the most romantic couples I worked with all year long…they are so wonderful, and so was their family. I love my job! I get to create beauty, and meet wonderful people, and make them happy on the most intimate day of their lives! Ah, life is good! The canopy we did for these guys had 2 or 3 shades of fabric woven together to create a beautiful effect in backdrop for the shades of cream and beige and burgundy flowers!
The beautiful grand ballroom at The Hotel Del Coronado! Probably, this room is the most traditional environment in the city, so creating a more contemporary look can be challenging in the space! We employed traditional design tactics but updated the look of the all white wedding with bursts of butterscotch and chocolate amidst the white flowers, and chose linens that are just a shade off of white.
Some of the tables had spikes of white butterfly orchids in them…they are just so fab in their simplicity!
Some of the tables had these tall cylinder vases, with butterscotch cymbidiums floating in them, and tall arrangements of casa Blanca lilies, imported roses, a really interesting foliage called grevallia, and chocolate brown accents…the depth of the foliage and the brown accents, really tied the flowers into the warmer colored charger plates, while still giving a really clean elegant ‘all white’ wedding look!
The cake was awesome too from CAKE…we set the cake on a dark wood cake stand to elevate it, and give it a little more importance in the room, and then embellished the cake with white ruffly orchids and those great chocolate monkey tails. What a pretty wedding this was!
So, a couple of weeks ago, I was invited to design two parties at La Costa Resort and Spa for a wedding coordinator get away they were planning. What do wedding coordinators do when they’re not coordinating? Well, these two days they were pampered by the staff of the resort, and I tantalized their senses with a great opening night party, all done in shades of hot pink, and then took them to the French Quarter for the closing night dinner. Hey, it’s hard to impress a crowd like that! They’re some of the most talented and creative people in the city, and let’s face it, they’ve seen ‘it’ all, so my designs needed to be unique, memorable and a little outside the box. I had help from my friends (like the Beatles said) in pulling it all off…first there was Paige Levy in the catering office (Paige has now moved to the beautiful new Grand Del Mar…go see her) at La Costa Resort & Spa; then there was Classic Party Rentals who pulled out the stops and got us all the great china and stemware you see in the photos; Wild Flower Linen created beautiful pieces for our tables; Plush Impressions brought in tons and tons of loungey furniture; Wayne Foster Entertainment dazzled them at dinner and Tim Altbaum provided DJ services for the opening night party! Did I forget anyone else? Oh yeah, me…we did all the design and floral…so enjoy the next group of photos! The entry was marked with huge floor vases filled with submerged spheres that were pink and opalescent…David at Plush, found me a hot pink runner…that in itself was amazing! Thanks to all who helped make this event a really cool success!
The corners of the bar held various sizes of clear glass cylinder vases and I submerged different sizes of spheres, and then topped them off with a candle…I love the pink water too…just brought it all together in our world of pink-ness!
The crazy fun linens for the little cocktail tables were the brainchild of Wild Flower Linens (www.wildflowerlinens.com) and they added a great spunky element to the décor. In the background, you can see how we used some great furniture from David Wright (no he’s not my son, or my brother) who owns Plush Impressions (www.plushimpressions.com). Did you see the clear Lucite bar stools next to the belly bars? Those are his also. I wanted a huge pop of color, so we built planter boxes to hold the lush palm trees, and painted them hot pink.
This is Plush Impressions cool glowing bar that was the anchor in the middle of our party. At night, the white parts of the bar you see glow in any color you want…we chose pink, cuz it was our ‘thing’ but you could have orange, or purple, or blue or green…just whatever fits your mood! The stainless steel parts are also great if you want to add a vinyl monogram or message…just make sure it’s vinyl that adheres without glue!
Hot pink rocks are nearly impossible to find, but we found them! The hot pink accent was great fun!
I’m also really diggin’ this swampy looking tree that my awesome designer Rebecca created! Black Manzanita with crazy green fuzzy wired stuff, and green Spanish moss. I swear the thing looked totally real! It sat on this great terrace that comes off the Poinsettia Ballroom, and David with Plush Impressions brought us black ottomans and black shag rugs (www.plushimpressions.com) to finish off the area.
The room wasn’t set completely when I took these photos, but you can see some of the details of the party! We created an environment that was reminiscent of New Orleans, and chose fleur di lis as an accent piece; atop the bright yellow spheres was a fleur di lis…on the edges of the cake were fleur di lis! Even topping the fringed lamp shades there was a fleur di lis! And no, fringed lamp shades don’t come that way! We got out the glue guns and added the fringe! We added a variety of prints that I called ‘sisters’ that worked together to echo the French Quarter look of the event. Stripes covered the chairs, while a scroll damask pattern centered the tables. We also used two varieties of mustard linens on the tables: one was a textured bengaline, and the other was a textured suede! I love texture!!! The linens were supplied by Wild Flower Linen (www.wildflowerlinen.com) and the awesome chairs came from Chameleon Chairs (www.chameleonchair.com) And the ballroom is the Poinsettia Ballroom at La Costa Resort and Spa!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
The day started out cool and overcast, and rapidly increased in warmth and humidity, and I wondered if the flowers would last as Jen Dery shot images for a Grace Ormonde Wedding Style magazine photo shoot we did on Friday at The Grand Del Mar, inside the gazebo. Stacie Barba of A Day of Elegance (www.adayofelegancesd.com) invited us to work with her and create a table top, with her inspiration, of the color pink. We put a twist on it, and shaded the traditional "sweet" pink with a bit of brown. The mocha crushed velvet linen on the table was perfect, thanks to Wild Flower Linens and Classic Party Rentals supplied the brown and pink glassware accents on the table, along with the chairs and flatware and charger plates.
The Grand Del Mar is an awesome property so go check it out if you haven't seen it yet!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Another cool wedding at Estancia in La Jolla
 We are so lucky to have really visionary brides and grooms who hire us! This couple wanted something truly unique and not the "boxed" wedding flowers. We decided that given the look of the resort they chose, the truly ab fab Estancia Resort & Spa in La Jolla, that we'd go after a slice of "old Mexico." From the cooking elements that the bride loved, to the warm glow of colorful glass, illuminated by candles and inviting room lighting, this party had a unique vibe to it. (and, by the way, the reason I say that resort is awesome is because they truly practice excellence in customer service...all the way around, really nice place!) The couple hired Trena Lozano, from Trena's Special Occasion, to coordinate the event. As usual, it came off without a hitch; Trena is a wedding rock star! Carol Smith, from The Invitation Factory created the menus, and seating cards, that coordinated with our centerpieces. Carol created an old iron medallion look that we repeated on the bridesmaids bouquets.
The beans and the brightly colored gourds spilling onto the table tops, and the tequila bottles added so much color to the tables; it was awesome.
Check out these arrangements!
I love really unique pieces, so when I went to Europe to the grand daddy of all flower shows last year, I saw these really nice floral containers and so I bought them, and I filled them with pin cushion protea for this wedding. Do you think they are cool too?
The ceremony was really different too
We just didn’t want to use rose petals in the grass, so we opted for lime green fuji mums instead. Then, we created a base of the same flowers for the legs of the canopy to sit within. The breeze was blowing so nicely and the little orchid garlands fluttered in the breeze. They were happy guys that day too!
A Colorful Way to Begin a Blog
 On a very warm summer afternoon, only a week or so ago, a great couple tied the knot at their grandma's house in Point Loma ... it was magic! Here's some of the photos I took that day. Check out the ceremony set up, creating a great intimate environment, and the starfish that appeared throughout the party ... the reception was at the Stephen Birch Aquarium, so the starfish felt right at home! Mark Vogel at TKA Catering and his team of professionals provided the food and beverage for this party, and by the way, those guys really know what they are doing. The food is great, and the service is stellar. Merilee Norman of Ever After Events was the coordinator for the wedding day.
 Awesome, amazing roses, huh?
 These happy little guys greeted guests as they arrived at the wedding
 The lanterns were great during the day time, when guests first arrived at the party, and then when night fell, they lit up with a solar powered light (so the bartender could see...very important that the bartender can see...LOL)
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