Jasmine Star is a celebrity in the wedding industry. Everyone in the industry knows who she is, and for very good reason- she’s an exceptionally talented photographer. When Jasmine emailed me a while back to ask if I’d design a bouquet for her workshop, I nearly flipped. I couldn’t believe that Jasmine knew who I was, admired my work, and wanted to work with me! Of course I was thrilled to design for her workshop, and even more thrilled to meet her and discover what a generous, genuine person she is. We’ll be working on a wedding together in 2010 and I can hardly wait to see her in action!

I wasn’t able to stay for the shooting section of her workshop since I had meetings to get to, but Jasmine sent these stunning photos to me recently and I wanted to share them with you! You’ve probably already seen some of them on her blog, but here are a few of my favorites… because they make me happy.

Much thanks to Ashley Rose and her husband Jeff for modeling- I love using real couples as models for photo shoots, because their affection is so authentic. I’ve been in love with love since I was a young girl, and I just love watching people who are in love. P.S. Aren’t they adorable???

Thanks also to Vivian Tran of All Made Up for styling Ashley so perfectly. Vivian is such a kind person, I always love working with her.

I have to say that workshop designing is particularly exciting for me because there are no rules. I generally am given very basic guidelines regarding color or aesthetic, but otherwise get free reign to design “in the moment,” as the inspiration hits me. Weddings are different because everything gets planned and detailed months in advance and my creativity has to be a little more structured. Don’t get me wrong, there’s not much that makes me happier than designing weddings. But it’s fun to have complete freedom every once in a while.

Wasn’t this bouquet totally scrumptious?

Yummy yum yum. It’s made of dendrobium orchids (“magic”), tulips, upright gold amaranthus, green berzillia, celosia and brown corn. I wrapped it in gold ribbon and brown lace trim.

And what about the boutonniere? Fun? I love doing something a little unexpected, and this mini-pine-cone did the trick. The stems are exposed in keeping with the “Anthropologie” vibe we were going for.

Thanks again to Jasmine for involving me in this project, I enjoyed every moment!

All photos by Jasmine Star. Used with permission.

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

I’m back to my studio in Los Angeles after spending the past two days in Ladera Ranch and Mission Viejo down in Orange County. And what an amazing two days it was! Several months back I was contacted by Summer Watkins of Grey Likes Weddings about teaming up with her to create a faux wedding for photographer extraordinaire Jessica Claire’s first photography workshop. The goal was to create exquisite details for Jessica to use to teach workshop attendees her personal tips and tricks for shooting magazine-worthy wedding details. Of course, with Summer doing the styling and Jessica leading the photography, I couldn’t have been more thrilled to get onboard with the project.

After months of planning and meetings with Summer in Riverside and Huntington Beach, by the time this week rolled around, I was sooooo ready. I was also bursting with excitement at the prospect of working with so many insanely talented wedding industry professionals, and ridiculously excited about seeing my floral designs photographed by so many different photographers!

I’m not going to lie, putting this shoot together was a lot of work! It was basically on the same scale as a small wedding, with the added bonus that we got to set it up on a Wilderness Nature Park in the middle of nowhere (so it wasn’t the middle of nowhere, exactly…just far from the urban jungle that I call home). Oh, and let’s not forget the 97 degrees of pure heat and the arrival of the Santa Ana winds! Pulling this off was no small feat, but as I look at the images below, I am certain that it was worth the blood, sweat and tears. Okay, maybe it was just sweat. And dirt.

These images were provided to me by Brandon Kidd, who attended Jessica’s workshop on Tuesday and was the first of the attendees to post his images online. I am overwhelmed by his detail shots and the astonishing beauty of his work. Thank you, Brandon! There is so much I could say about the flowers and creating these designs, but in this case… the pictures say it all.

What I will say is how much I enjoyed working with Summer (left). Her vision for this event was brilliant, and working alongside her throughout this process was a tremendous experience. I have worked with coordinators and stylist who have such a “set in stone” mentality that they don’t allow the other vendors/designers room to be creative. Summer’s design process was a breath of fresh air. She gave me all of her concepts for the overall look, along with the color scheme and theme- then she gave me free reign to do my thing. As a designer, there’s nothing I love to hear more than: “You’re the designer, DESIGN!” She also truly went the extra mile with all the thoughtful details and DIY projects she incorporated.

Megan (center) was so creative with her paper designs- they added such whimsey and charm to the event and Megan was just loads of FUN! Last but not least, it was so nice to finally have the chance to work with Jessica and to watch her conduct her class with such grace and ease. I just wish I could have listened in on ALL of the workshop!

Throughout these past few days, I’ve been reminded afresh of how very fortunate I am to be working in an industry I love with so many fun, interesting, innovative and exceptionally talented designers and photographers. Lucky me!

The Designers
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

The Photographers
Jessica Claire : Blog Post (of course!)
Brandon Kidd : Blog Post
Jenny Liu : Blog Post
Richelle Dante : Blog Post
Jeanna Hayes
Rachel Clare : Blog Post
Alissa Ferullo : Blog Post
Person + Killian : Blog Post
Cathy Empey : Blog Post One, Two, Three, Four
Watson-Studios : Blog Post
Lisa Hessel Photography : Blog Post
Ashley Hoskins Photography : Blog Post
Shuffield Photography : Blog Post
Fola Adewole Photography : Blog Post
Kari Sikorski Photography : Blog Post
…
{Other workshop attendees, if you post photos from the workshop, please send me a link and I’ll add you to this list!}