I love this wedding, partly because I just love this family! About three years ago I first met this wonderful family when we were hired to produce the florals for Melissa’s sister, Tara. She, and her mom, were such an absolute pleasure, and I’ll never forget her sister Melissa’s heartfelt words when seeing the ballroom before the bride “It’s so beautiful, Tara’s going to be so happy!”. How can anyone not be overjoyed to have the opportunity to do the same for such an amazing sister??

Here are some of our fun pics from Melissa and Kerry’s big day, can’t wait to see the professional ones by Carrie McCluskey! Special thanks to Victoria of Theory Weddings and Events, Concepts Event Design, Culinary Concepts, Culy Warehouse and our outstanding team that made this wedding just right for them, and for me.

Melissa’s bouquet.

Bride’s maid’s bouquet.

Ring bearer box.

Escort card table.

Cocktails, peonies in January.

Room shot.

Elevated centerpieces.

Vignette centerpiece.

Menus by Theory.

The head table awaiting the bouquets.

Cakes!

A custom guestbook table made of our tilted manzanitas!

Notes were written to the couple…

…and placed in special globes for them to find.

Detail shot.

Looking through.

Peaking down.

Overall and good night.

Recently I purchased my daughter a play register, she loves collecting our change to put in her register. She started to go through some of my old purses to add to her collection (her purse and change collections) and in the process has shown me two things. She started churning up my old business cards which she puts in her register too and every time she hands me one she put it in my hand along with a quarter. One, I thought that was an interesting network tactic to consider for future networking. Two, she started handing me what soon became the evolution of my years of business card creation which I had totally forgotten about. Each one of them has a story behind it, something I thought would be fun to share.

Enjoy!

Sharon

Oh, and here is my first. This was made at a Kinkos on La Brea Blvd in Los Angeles the night before my first wedding in December of 2000. I didn’t fully launch the business till 2005 but I had been working under the name since 2000. The wedding went great and the evolution of cards took off.

This was the next card, made in 2003 after doing my friend’s wedding. This was the year that I realized that perhaps listing the address which I shared with my three roommates (with the one car garage I started the business out of) was, perhaps, a bad idea. Through trial and error I had figured out the right size for a business card as a file (I’m sure there were programs for that but recipes are not my thing) so I managed, with what now seems like all the time in the world, to create pages of these which I printed out and then hand cut. This card was the first, and last, of this home made version.

Number three, circa 2005 or so, the first one created online using an actual program. I hated that the corners weren’t rounded but it was such an improvement from the last ones that I quickly let that go. I finally matched the website, that alone kept me happy for years.

The current card, I finally got my rounded corners. I loved the matte finish and the subdued espresso, overall the card works. It’s come time for a changes, I’m in the process of figuring out what that is, but looking back at cards or years past, I think I’m doing alright.

One of my absolute favorite things about going to Europe, besides the food of course, is the absolute unleashed beauty of architecture and design. Everywhere you look you can find echos of history, some make you think, some make you cry, but they all affect you. One of the highlights of my trip was a trip to the Virta Museum in Weil, Germany. A small city with a huge gem, an exhibit of design by such artists and Rudolph Steiner housed in a Frank Gehry building, needless to say I fell in love! Here is a link to the exhibit to catch a gimps, and maybe a flight, of these amazing displays!!

Enjoy!

Sharon

Basel, Switzerland

Color Therapy

A building at Virta

We’re so excited to present to you our new store window! These outdoor installations are what we have adopted as our living, breathing store window display. This representation of “Outdoor Living” encompasses everything from draught tollerent and native plants to a vintage laundry facility to a getting ready area to a place to “brunch”. Soon to be installed are framed lariat terrariums from the macadamia nut tree. As the largest installation of it’s class, this has become our feature presentation in the “Life After People” design series.

Enjoy!!

Welcome.

A place to get ready.

Mason jars taken over by succulents.

Mirror details.

Living section.

Along with a Tiffany Trunk.

Time for brunch.

A place to rest your feet.

… and take it in

…set near our locks and tools

Laundry basin and washboard.

Clipped on succulents.

Succulents overflow.

One last look.

No room for milk.

But a place I’d call home.

The holidays are just so much fun, especially when you get to do something that’s different and oh so sweet! Here is a little shoot that we did with a group of girls! It’s styled by Jen of Jen Likes and shot by Suzanne of SheWanders! Check out the album on our Facebook Page or by clicking on the picture below. Enjoy!

I love this wedding!! This amazingly fun couple, Maya and Adam, decided to have a super cool steampunk wedding at the always lovely Loggia Room at The Prado. They collected really cool gears for us to use throughout the wedding, the same ones they used on their escort cards, guestbook and more!! Special thanks to the always wonderful Suzanne of BB Weddings, Concepts Event Design and the always fantastic staff at The Prado. Here are some fun elements that helped their day be so unique!!

Fun bouquet with textural elements!

Corset wrap with da Vinci buttons and Moulin Rouge trim

A lush vine decked arch with embedded dahlia blooms “growing”.

Neat lantern accents.

Neat escort card table.

Succulent, grain and gear fun!

Neat gears on the escort cards.

Guestbook set up with gears!

“Pouring” centerpiece with tilted “mad scientist” stacked vases, with, of course, gears.

Love this cake topper!

Love this cake! Shot by Helene Cornell.

A little while back we received a call from the PR department at Evans Hotels, they own properties like La Jolla’s The Lodge at Torrey Pines, asking us to design a look and create florals for a shoot they were having at their most exclusive venue. That’s a call you don’t say no to! So we went to work designing a shoot for their super exclusive property, Evans Garage, an unbelievable car museum begun by Mr. Evans Sr. and his friend. It’s so exclusive, in fact, that the property is only available to rent if a client is already working with an Evans property to produce a multiple day event. They have cars, planes and machines like first edition jukeboxes covering every square inch of the venue. Here are some pics from the shoot done with Concepts Event Design as well as shots of the venue itself because we just couldn’t resist!

Glitzy doors.

First looks.

Vanda napkin tuck.

Details.

A view of the atrium.

A 1950’s Mercedes race car!!

Amazing!

They even have Santa’s sleigh!

And here’s a soap box car Louis Vuitton made for their event there, made of their purse material!!

Stained glass!

One last look!

…which turned out to be a beautiful castle wedding for our bride Katie! This was a really fun and super artisan wedding to have as one of our last of the season, over 60 pomander balls were created for Katie’s wedding!! She and Christina of Bliss Events rolled with each rain filled punch and tended to every detail, leaving their guests with one amazing night at the beautifully transformed Mt. Woodson! Special thanks to Christina of Bliss Events, Classic Party Rentals, Personal Touch and the always sweet, A Sweet Addition!

Katie’s bouquet, super fun and natural.

One of the ring bearer ring boxes.

A fun escort card table.

More pomanders as you enter.

Their woodsy pomander arch.

Putting out the petals!

Pomander decked manzanitas!

Beautiful tent!

Love the chandeliers!

Low spherical centerpieces.

A pretty sweet sweetheart table complete with custom champagne flutes!

Details!

Love this groom’s cake spraying “mud” onto the wedding cake!!

And the sweetest of all, a candy station by A Sweet Addition!

Wow, it’s officially the holiday season once Thanksgiving has come and gone. The very next Monday one of our holiday shoots was featured on Bride Suite! Here are some pics you can thumb through here, or you can also click on this link to view the entire model studded shoot!

Special thanks to Couture Events for coordinating the entire shoot, Culy Warehouse for lending us their space, Scott Lawrence Photographs for the stunning images, Lounge Appeal for the furniture, Raphaels for the rentals and Paper Scissors Print for the fun paper products.

A welcoming holiday table.

A view from above.

Fun greens and candles connect the individual arrangements.

Fun invite!

Places everyone!

Awesome chairs!

Golden succulents and iridescent bubbles!

All is glittered and bright!

And now off to our after dinner lounge, furry friends included.

I love this sweet little wedding we had recently with Amy of First Comes Love, Concepts Event Design and Sweet Cheeks at the always lovely La Valencia in La Jolla. Here are some fun shots of Jessica’s elegant fall floral selections.

Enjoy!

Sharon

Jessica’s elegant fall bouquet complete with scabiosa pods and dusty miller.

Succulent escort card favors.

Jessica’s fun escort cards!

Cocktails.

Love these colors!

Some had orchid decked manzanitas.

Close up.

Another close up.