Behind the Scenes
When I blogged Brandon’s photos from the Jessica Claire photography workshop a few weeks ago, I had no idea that the photos from that event were going to be picked up by so many wedding blogs (see Press). What a pleasant surprise!
Since this shoot turned out to be such a hit, I thought I’d share a little bit about the “behind the scenes” design process…
The rustic setting for this shoot was scouted and chosen by Jessica & Summer. It was at the Riley Wilderness Park in Mission Viejo. The lack of color in the natural backdrop allowed us to go with a really muted color palate and know that it would still stand out.
Summer and I had oodles of fun gathering all the little details for this tablescape. Summer started her design process with the idea of the hot-air balloons and a vintage french aesthetic. When she told me that she was going to use vintage papers, I suggested that we also incorporate old books. I’m sort of a fiend for books, and have a rather large collection of old books that I’ve collected over the years, mainly from my travels in England (outdoor book sales along the River Thames in London are KILLER!). Summer also did some incredible DIY paper/book projects, which are to be featured in the next issue of Utterly Engaged Magazine!
Many of the detail items were pilfered from Summer’s house. This fabulous chandelier, for example, usually hangs in Summer’s bedroom!
This ridiculously fantastic paper-mache balloon was made by Summer. It was a HUGE project, terrifically time-consuming, and we had so many text-messages and phone calls back and forth during the process as we tried to figure out the most efficient way of paper-macheing the world’s largest balloon (okay, perhaps I’m exaggerating… slightly).
About half of the chairs were picked up at garage sales and estate sales, and the other half came from my home and Summer’s home.
Some of the vessels used for floral arrangements were found by Summer in vintage shops, while a few came directly from her home (like this silver piece, which was sitting on her kitchen windowsill with a green plant inside!).
And a few were mine, like this silver pitcher, which came from the tea service that my Mum gave me as a wedding gift!
As for the flowers themselves, Summer gave me a color scheme of pale peach and pink, cream, and aqua. Since I wasn’t buying in immense bulk like I would for a wedding or event, I didn’t have to place any orders for the flowers. I just went to the flower market the day before our shoot, and picked out flowers in person. I knew I would need some garden roses to “set the stage,” so I started with Caramel garden roses (the really full creamy/caramely roses), “Engagement” roses (the coraly roses), “Versilia” (the smaller caramel roses) and “Else” (the coral spray roses).
Then I found other flowers that would help me produce a vintage gardeny vibe- we wanted a truly organic look that didn’t look too “perfect.” So I found some peachy stock, pink sedum, pink hyacinth, queen anne’s lace, and assorted pinky/peachy/orangy ranunculus.
I used lots of dusty miller for foliage, and added in dried lotus pods, silver brunia, pink astilbe, and scabiosa pods to really go crazy with the texture. Texture is my favorite design element by far, and I don’t think there’s any such thing as too much texture!!!
For the boutonnieres, I chose to do three different designs. Summer had provided me with the tissue-paper flowers, and I planned to incorporate them into the bridal bouquet, so I made the groom’s boutonniere from a tissue-paper flower accented with pink sedum. I wrapped it with simple pale pink satin ribbon and applied three aqua pin-heads for added visual interest. The second boutonniere consisted of a dusty miller leaf, a bit of silver brunia, and a single ranunculus bloom, wrapped with aqua ribbon.
The third boutonniere was actually my favorite. There is something so fabulously “Tim Burton” about it, with the combination of dusty miller leaf, pink astilbe and scabiosa pod. I left the stems exposed and just wrapped them with a bit of velvet aqua ribbon. This boutonniere certainly suited the shooting location best, but the other boutonnieres helped with tying all the other elements together.
Bouquets are my speciality. They are what I obsess over more than any other element in a wedding. I think this is because when I got married myself, the only floral element I really saw a lot of— and really had the time to ENJOY (whilst having pictures taken!), was my bouquet. Brides and grooms experience such a whirlwind of activity on their wedding day, and I think it’s really important that they truly love their floral accoutrement. Thus I spend exorbitant amounts of time making sure that my hand-tied bouquets are perfectly assembled, that all my mechanics are flawless, and that there are lots of details to look at!
This bridal bouquet came together seamlessly, with all the textures and colors I’d envisioned for it. I also treated the handle with both pale pink and aqua satin ribbon, a shoelace bow, long trailing ribbons, and a marcasite butterfly pin. For the bridesmaids, I wanted very simple, structured designs to contrast with the bridal bouquet. I did one as a mound of pink sedum with a collar of dusty miller, and the other with an opposite color scheme of silver brunia and a collar of pink astilbe. They both had pale pink satin ribbon wraps with an accent of a white lacy ribbon.
Every element of this design collaboration came together so perfectly, and I’m always amazed when I step back and take a breath to realize “it’s done.” And even more importantly, “it’s perfect.” This collaboration was the result of a really impressive design team, and I’m so pleased to look at the photos and know that I was a part of the process from the beginning all the way through to the finished product. Much thanks to Summer for involving me, and further thanks to everyone who has been so vocal in their appreciation of our designs! It is such a tremendous reward to know that you have enjoyed the images so much!
Stylist: Summer Watkins of Grey Likes Weddings
Floral Design: (me!)
Hair & Makeup: Vivian Tran of All Made Up
Invitation & Paper Goods Design: Megan Gonzalez of MaeMae Paperie
Paper Goods Printing: Czar Press
Hair Accessories, Shoe Clips, Banner: B. Poetic
Cake: Cheryl Stewart of Cake My Day
Calligraphed Boutonniere Tags: Victoria Hoke Lane of Calligraphos, Ink
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