Let's Catch Up

I am so far behind on my posts! So let me update all of you on the past three weeks! With all of our events we of course need...flowers! Lots of them! So for the last few weeks the first thing we see is the mountain of flowers. Which for me, is a bit like Christmas day when we get all of our different varieties into the studio.

Mountain of Flowers:

 This wedding was held at the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota. We used two of the ballrooms for the wedding. One of the rooms was for the ceremony and the other for the reception. The bride wanted a grand entrance for her ceremony so we provided these black gates that would open up for her entrance down the aisle. I was able to design half of the gate on  both sides. I really wanted to make sure it looked right, being the first thing that the bride sees. I also made the altar piece on the left side. This was my first altar piece I made that was so large, but it really turned out great and looked amazing all together with the other elements in the room when we finished.

 Grand Entrance:

This was definitely one of the favorite photos of the day. Jordan just photo-bombing the intern.

 Once the ceremony was done guests then transitioned into the reception area. The bride and groom sat at the long feasting table facing the dance floor and  all of their guests. This reception area looked beautiful and I loved the arrangements on top of the crystal vases. This room was so large that it really helped to fill up all of the visual space.

Reception: 

We also had another wedding that had their ceremony held at this beautiful church in downtown Tampa. The detailing and stained glass in this church is so beautiful. Perfect place to get married! We stopped by to add a few details to the church by adding a few bows down the pews and dropping of the most important thing...the bouquets and boutonnieres! 

Details and Delivery:

 Once we finished the setup for the ceremony we drove down to the Marriott hotel and setup for her reception. We all loved the pink snapdragons in these arrangements. It really made all the other shades of pink in these arrangements pop!

 On our busy weeks with lots of events and weddings we get to have Sylvia Bird come and design with us. I always love the work she does and this is some of her beautiful bouquet work. I love watching her work, makes me realize that there is still a lot for me to learn!

This wedding was held at the Tampa Yacht Club. I really loved the combination of calla lilies and orchids in these arrangements  Athena made the base of the bouquet and let me finish it off with the orchids which changed and finished the whole look of the bouquet. It was great! Also, if you look closely at the picture on the top right you'll notice that we have one orchid with three throats! We definitely don't get those in very often, if at all.

So in between all of our weddings we also have other events that somehow we fit in during the week. I don't know how Ian and Zoe do it all sometimes. I loved the used of cherry blossoms in the arrangements, they are just so light and airy against the pink roses. Larry and I had a lot of fun making all of these. 

We also make arrangements for a salon every week and this is just a little something I made for the week.

For my internship/school semester my professor at school wanted me to practice making funeral arrangements  We normally don't make anything for funerals but I needed the practice so Ian taught me how to put together a funeral casket and spray. This is from my first attempt. I was so nervous since I've never done anything like this before. You really have to make sure everything is secure because you don't want flowers falling out during transport, which is a lot at a funeral.

So after giving me a chance to get the idea of how I needed to design funeral arrangements Ian wanted me to make a new set of arrangements  This time with the clock running. I was given an hour and a half for both arrangements  I didn't think there was any way I could finish both in that time! But, we started the clock and this is what I made. Once I finished we stopped the clock and I still had 45 minutes left! I was so excited!  

This was an Indian style wedding which was being held at the Marriott Waterside Hotel. I loved the blue linens paired with the deep purple flowers. We then set out jeweled votives that were used as party favors for all their guests. Once again...it's all about the details that really makes the difference. 

This week we needed some fresh arrangements for our office so I made this arrangement with some garden roses and orchids. I love love love garden roses! Can't get enough!

And this another weekly salon arrangement!

Wedding at the Don

I was so excited to see this wedding all come together this weekend. We used so many bright colors that made everything so bright! This wedding was held at the Don Cesar in St. Petersburg. The bride looked so gorgeous when we came to deliver the flowers. I got to peek in the side room where her dress was hanging up so I had to share! Enjoy!

During the week we had a small floral show where various floral companies around Tampa had to create a design for each part of the Ringling Museum of Art. This was the section assigned for Botanica and this is what Ian designed for the area. Ian decided it was time for me to go out on my first solo setup and delivery so this was a good one for me to start out with. I was so nervous, but everything turned out great and we ended up having some great reviews for our designed section!

One of the head designers here at Botanica also had to interpret a painting this week with flowers. The picture was a man dressed all in black with one sleeve that had a red lining. After looking more closely Larry noticed that there was a waterfall in the background where the man was reflected. He chose to use this as his inspiration and used just a small section of the waterfall where he showed the red lining in the man's jacket. I thought this was a very interesting interpretation of the paining! I don't think I would have thought of doing it this way.

 Ian also had me make a couple of these crowns for another Gasparilla party we had during the week. The roses opened up perfectly for this event so they looked great!

Party In An Airport Hangar

We had an amazing event this weekend in Boca. The event was being held by Mr. Busch, a.k.a Mr. Busch Gardens. The event was held in a private airport hangar. All of the trees and palms that you see in the first picture were all brought in just for the event! After moving all these plants in it was our job to make the finishing touches with the flowers. My favorite part!

The tall vases on the table were a bit fun to get onto the tables. I think each vase weighed about 30 pounds each. Both of our guys Larry and Eric had to lift them up and over all the glassware on the table and set them right in the center. I think both of them got their workout in for the day after that! The tall vases made all the difference in the hangar. They really filled up the upper space and created more depth with the trees and low arrangements on the other tables. 

We also had another event that our other crew (Tiffany, and Janet) set up this weekend too. This wedding was held at the Dali Museum. I was able to help build the smaller arrangements that you can see on the right. We used antique hydrangea, roses, stock, and some foliage to create these arrangements. 

We also had a small event during the week at the Tampa Bay Yacht Club. I loved, loved, loved, the linens at this event! All the colors in the arrangement just popped when we put them on the tables.

It's All About Mechanics

I had another great week working at the studio. We had a few different events and smaller parties going on. I really have begun to appreciate our slower weeks. It gives me a chance to ask all the questions I want to and observe how the designs are being built. The designs we make here are all beautiful but the foundation to these designs are the mechanics. Your client won't be happy with an arrangement falling apart or flowers dying because you didn't take the time to place your flowers in the foam correctly. Overall you want your client to be happy. This is just one of the key things to pay attention to in order to do that.

Okay, now on to the fun part!

For this event we used fringed tulips, succulents, roses, and some wheat-grass. I loved the addition of succulents and grass into the mix of flowers. Really made for a very organic feel.
   
Bar Mitzvah Party:

This arrangement that Tiffany made was for a private home delivery where we also used fringed tulips, normal tulips, and hydrangea. I think the fringed tulip may be my new favorite flower to use in arrangements for this time of year.

Tulip Arrangement: 

While I was processing the tulips I noticed that one of the leaves of the fringed tulip had also started to get the same fringe look on it. So cool! It's amazing to see what happens to these flowers sometimes in the growth process. I wonder how this works?

About the middle of the week we had a little celebration party for Zoe. Larry made this interesting arrangements with orchids, spray roses, and hydrangea! I loved how much the colors played on each other and helped everything really stand out. The orchids in the arrangements are actually mini orchids so Larry used some wire and floral tape to make an extended "stem" for them so he could place them throughout the arrangement. 

Party for Zoe! Blue or Pink?

Ian and Zoe went to market a couple weeks ago and ordered a bunch of new containers and pieces for us to use in upcoming events. This is one of the new pieces we just got in so Ian put together this arrangement of assorted tulips and greenery in different glass bottles. It so simple but I loved it! This is an easy but cute idea for a collection of flowers. There are a lot of events that we could fit this into, hopefully something soon!

Can't wait for and event to use these!:

We also had a couple appointments for incoming brides where we prepare a sample of their wedding proposal. This is their first look at what their overall design will be. Here they can ask any questions and gives us a chance to make any adjustments.

All White Sample:

Second Sample: (I loved the waxflower in this one)

We also had a simple delivery for a conference later at a local hotel. If you can't tell I loved the lighting in here in addition to the flowers we added.

Hotel Conference: 

Friday was the busiest day this week! We had a last minute party at the Art Museum, arrangements  that needed to be made for the Oscars, and three cascading bouquets for more gasparilla celebrations. It amazes me how much everyone can accomplish in one day. In this business it seems like its all or nothing, everything always comes at once. Friday was my favorite day this week though! I love the busy days!

Tiffany started out the day by making the three cascading bouquets. I have really never made a cascading bouquets before so she went over making each bouquet step by step. Once again its all about mechanics in creating a successful cascading bouquet. One of the major problems for these bouquets are the stems falling out. With the cascade effect more of the stem is hanging out of the holder. There are a few tricks using wood picks, tape, wire, and floral adhesive to make it so nothing will be falling out of your bouquet. In addition to mechanics she also mentioned a few other things that stood out to me. While building the bouquets she said to think of each color or flower type as a layer. Each layer should have its own depth and dimension. This way it doesn't all blend in. Another thing that I observed was the way she placed her foliage in. Instead of taking individual strands of ivy she clustered and bound them together and placed the cluster on top of the holder. Once this was placed she trailed it down through the bouquet. This way everything is more secure and you don't use even more foam space with multiple insertions with all the foliage that you need for finishing touches. One final thing that I think was very key to the design was the way she treated the longest rose stem in the bouquet. In order to support the long rose stem she used a wood pick and wire to wrap around the base of the stem to stabilize the rose. the wire piece was pushed through the other end of the foam and curled around the cage. This ensure that end rose will never fall out!

Step by Step - Purple and Red Bouquet:

Final Product:

 Fuchsia Bouquet:

 Finished Product:

All White Bouquet:

 Finished Product:

Larry also made these amazing arrangements for the Oscar party scheduled for Sunday. The addition of the white flowers really made the difference in these arrangements! 

Oscar Party:

We also had an event on Friday for the Tampa Bay Museum of Art. We started out with some simple white and green arrangements with callas, orchids, and greenery. We headed out to deliver the flowers and had about everything placed when we were informed that the client also needed some purple in the arrangements  With it being about 4:00 on a Friday and not much time we ran back to the studio and had to decide what would complement the design. Janet came up with the idea of adding some purple design wire into the arrangements in addition to the small amount of purple stock we had available  With only about 15 minutes left before the start of the event we added in the finishing touches and this was the result! Even though these last minute additions can be stressful I secretly love the little bit of adrenaline rush it is to get things done at the last minute. It feels good to look back and see what you've accomplished when that moment is over. 

Museum of Art:

We have had a lot of spray painting projects lately and Eric decided to do a little bit of wall art in our painting booth. I love it!

Orchid graffiti style!: