Elegant Bouquet with Bling!!

Recently I received incredible photos from Laura and Eric at Anthology Photography. They were shooting the gorgeous wedding of Bree and Brian last July.
Bree wanted lots of "bling" mixed with more unusual elements incorporated into her bouquet, so we used crystal bouquet jewels inserted directly into the flowers, wired crystals cascading from the bouquet, and more crystals to embellish the stem wrap. Mixed with garden roses, blushing bride, lady slipper and cymbidium orchids, fern curls, feathers, chocolate cosmos, and agonis foliage the outcome was stunning.
It sure was a super elegant bouquet with a sparkly twist to it!

Flora Nova Holiday Designs

This holiday season we would like to extend our holiday decoration services to all our friends, clients, and colleagues: let us decorate your home for the holidays or simply indulge in a beautiful floral center piece for your holiday dinner table. This is a chance for you to enjoy creations and designs by Flora Nova Design during the holiday season!

Holiday services range from decorating your tree, your entry way, your dinner table, or any area of high visibility - please book early!

Or you can simply just order a floral design for your dinner table. Holiday arrangements contain flowers and foliage mainly in orange, red, brown and cream color palettes (unless otherwise requested) and we offer each arrangement in the following price ranges:

• Fancy - $65 (hydrangea, some roses, various chrysanthemums, and foliage)
• Beautiful - $100 (same as above but bigger with orchids)
• Deluxe - $125 (same as above yet bigger and with more unusual elements)
• Or let us have fun and custom-design your table scape - customized options starting at $175.

[Delivery is free within Seattle city limits.]

We kindly request to please pre-order your Thanksgiving flowers by end of next week, November 14th to guarantee availability. For Holiday orders, please contact us by December 10th.

Centerpiece Options for Thanksgiving

Roses, hydrangea, chrysanthemum, with gourds, berries, or pomegranates

A design in purples with kale, roses, carnations, spider mums, and purple foliage:

Or a more earthy design with succulents, mosses, berries, branches, and rocks on a wooden tray:

Deluxe option in square glass vase with roses, leucadendron, cymbidium orchids, proteas, and more:
Design Options for the Holidays

Or some beautiful potted orchid plants embellished with holiday decor:

Or outdoor/indoor decor products ...

Luxurious custom designs are available upon special request. A consultation meeting prior to your order is highly recommended.

We hope to hear from you this holiday season!

Real Wedding - Sarah and Jared

Fabulous Sarah Rhoads recently gave me a couple of CDs with gorgeous pictures of weddings we worked on together this season. Choosing just a small sample of pictures was close to impossible, because I just loved every single one of them. I guess I mentioned before that I just love Sarah's work! :)
The adoreable couple Sarah and Jared got married at the Seattle Tennis Club on a balmy and sunny August evening - Lake Washington during sunset was simply a perfect backdrop for their wedding ceremony.
But without further ado, here are the photos ...

Urban Unveiled 2009 - What a Blast!

It was yet another great evening! Last night we participated in another Urban Unveiled show - a "Wedding Event like no other...". It truly is like no other: so elegant, so fun, so stylish! It was not only great to see so many fabulous colleague-friends there, but also to talk to many fantastic brides and grooms who visited the show.
For our own table, draped in chocolate and with lots of gold accents, we designed a gorgeous orchid center piece featuring masses of rust and gold cymbidium orchids (with a total of ~140 blooms!), fern curls, gold roses, and brown foliage. Wow - truly a show piece!

We used a spotlight, illuminating the design at night and bringing out the warm and rich colors beautifully.
Table, Chivari chairs, underlays, plates, flatware, and gold rimmed glasses all courtesy of Pedersen's Party Rentals. Beautiful embroidered overlay and matching chair sashes from Choice Linens.


For Pedersen's table, which was draped in their gorgeous new plum colored table linen, we designed a low center piece in orange, white and plum. We used lots of roses, orchids, spider mums, purple kale leaves, and looped purple calla lilies. Several silver spheres mixed in with the flowers gave it a touch of glam ...
And finally for True Colors we created several elements featuring lush fuchsia colored flowers mixed with chartreuse green and chocolate elements. Jesse and Travis designed this gorgeous table scape, featuring tall manzanita branches inside big birch trunks, adorned with fuchsia rose and carnation pomanders, lots of hanging votives, and crystal strands. Wow!

Urban Unveiled 2009

Only 3 more days till Seattle's premier wedding show! There is no better way to spend you evening than to munch on yummy foods, sip delicious drinks, talk to some of the industry's best, and enjoy lots of eye candy...
This Thursday, October 15th at 6:00 at Benaroya Hall. For more information and to get tickets go to the Urban Unveiled web site.
Below, one of our designs from last year's show:

Bouquet Wraps

I always tell brides: the bouquet is the one area where you should not cut corners. Your bouquet should be all and everything you always wanted and imagined. If budget is a concern, it is the one place, where you should not skimp.
Besides the actual flower choices, it is the little details that make your bouquet special and memorable. There is so many ways to "dress up" the bouquet you will be holding for most of the day.
The combination of different textiles and materials add a special glam: ribbons, pins, crystals, pendants, pearls, wire, and beads are just some of the fun examples shown below ...

Luna & Yanda :: Elegance in the Park

Luna contacted us on fairly short notice (relative speaking...). She was still living in Vancouver when she first emailed me, and moved to Seattle only a few weeks before her wedding day in June. Her sweet personality and really fun ideas for her wedding day made this project fun from the start.
The wedding ceremony was held at Queen Anne's Parsons Gardens right off of Highland Drive - it was our first time there: a very idyllic beautiful little park overgrown with large rhododendron bushes (which were in full bloom on her wedding day - even in the colors of her wedding!).
The intimate reception for close family took place at Canlis Restaurant - we created a fun table scape featuring pink peonies (Luna' favorite), wheat grass bowls with a few blooming branches, and lavender sprigs on each place setting.
The truly artistic and gorgeous photography is from one of Seattle's finest: John & Joseph Photography.

Real Wedding - Liz and Jeff

On July 4th we were up at the Plateau Club providing the floral decor for Liz and Jeff's wedding. It was a sunny and balmy day - a perfect wedding day.
I loved Liz and Jeff right from the start - a sweet and super-fun couple! Liz knew pretty much what she wanted right from the start (oh, it sure makes my life a little easier ... ;-): romantic, lush flowers in mainly creams/whites and very light pinks. For the ceremony we created a beautifully lush floral arch featuring lots of hydrangea, roses, lilies, peonies, stock, and fresh green smilax garlands. The reception center pieces included similar flowers - half of the tables had tall center pieces, the other half was decorated with low mixed vase arrangements in the same colors.
I loved how her bouquet turned out: Liz had provided me with some pearl jewelry which we incorporated into her bouquet - very romantic!
Their talented photographer Joey Nicole provided these truly beautiful images:

Urban Unveiled 2009

The evening of October 15th, 2009 we have once again the pleasure of participating in this year's ultra-chic wedding show Urban Unveiled. And again it will be hosted at spectacular Benaroya Hall. The party starts at 6:00PM.
Tickets are on sale now, so please make sure to visit the Urban Unveiled site to find out details and to purchase your tickets. The producers of this up-scale event don't think of it as a regular wedding show: "it is a celebration, a cocktail party for those getting married and the creative partners who make dreams come true. This evening of opulence is a chance to meet and mingle with the Urban Unveiled partners who can take your bridal vision and make it a reality while you enjoy fine wines, nibble on sumptuous cuisine, decadent cakes & other to-die-for desserts."
We couldn't agree more! We are very honored to have been selected for this event based on "amazing artistry and reputation for excellence". The vendors are truly some of the city's best. We encourage you to came and experience it! I am sure you will not be disappointed.

Green Washington

Yesterday we provided the floral decor for the 2nd Annual Green Washington Awards Dinner and Roundtable at the Bell Harbor Conference Center hosted by Tiger Oak's Seattle Business Magazine.
For the 28 tables and the stage we designed truly "green" center pieces featuring locally produced or sustainably grown elements: the wheat grass, willow branches, lily grass, zinnias, and Aralia leaves were all purchased from local growers. The roses and hydrangea were sustainably grown at farms in California. And the zinc container is quite durable and can be reused for many different purposes.
Working in the event industry and establishing environmentally friendly practices for our business operations can sometimes be a challenge. That's why a project like this one is a welcome challenge for us to rethink processes and think about where we order future flowers and products from.
While we already have lots of environmentally friendly processes in place (we recycle everything and reuse products as much as we can), I have another specific personal goal for the coming (slower) months: how to reduce or even completely eliminate the use of floral foam. I wish there was a less harmful but equally versatile material available. I am sure some of my fellow designers would agree.

Real Wedding - Katie and Josh

Last night Katie and Josh celebrated their wedding at Newcastle Golf Club. Katie and her mom Debbie were a delight to work with - I truly had a lot of fun designing their wedding day. With their color palette of raspberry and chocolate, Katie's desire to incorporate lots of branches, and a great sense for taste and style they wanted to achieve an understated elegance. Nothing over the top yet romantic and beautiful.
We created an arch with lots of willow branches, smilax garlands and delicate clusters of pink flowers and then carried the theme to the reception featuring tall willow trees "blooming" with orchids, lots of candle light, and silk drapes with up-lighting.
Katie and Debbie were absolutely thrilled - what a nice way to end a busy summer wedding season!

Subtle Fall Colors

Last Saturday was a very busy day for us - a wedding at the Woodmark Hotel and one at the new Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle. While we ususally don't book 2 weddings on the same day, this was an exception and happened unexpectedly (both brides booked during the same week last winter ...).
But we pulled it off - with the help of an exceptional team. :)
Here are just some images of Alaina's wedding: her ceremony was at St. Patrick's Church and the reception at the grand ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle. The bride chose creams with subtle fall colors: peach, rust, champagne, and brown. We created romantic floral arrangements that could be used as altar arrangements and as deluxe center pieces for special guest reception tables. Even the pew flowers were reused with high visibility: they decorated the stage between the live band and the dance floor.

Fabulousness in Pink

Everything about Thuy and Barry's wedding last June was just fabulous: the really sweet couple, the location of their ceremony (St. James Cathedral, Seattle) and reception (Hyatt Regency Bellevue), the style and colors they chose, the photographers (John & Joseph Photography), ... The list is long...
I can't express how much fun I had to work with this couple - they coordinated the whole event themselves, which was absolutely amazing considering the size of their wedding and the extend of details they tended to. The outcome - simply fabulousness!!
There is one very important factor of their reception decor I want to emphasize: the lighting! The gorgeous atmosphere at the Hyatt ballroom was achieved by 3 different lighting elements: up-lighting against the draped walls, pin-spot lighting to each center piece from the ceiling of the ballroom, and table up-lighting under each center piece vase. Wow! This was not a very inexpensive decor accessory, but worth every penny! If you choose to invest in beautiful floral decor, then a professional lighting installation is almost a must! We will be happy to talk to you about options.








For lots more great pictures of their beautiful wedding, check out the John & Joseph Blog.

Real Weddings: Jackie and Bryan

Today's wedding at the Woodmark Hotel at Kirkland was first thought to be drenched in early season downpours. But the lucky couple was treated to sun shine right when their ceremony took place. The lighting was fabulous and brought out the fall colors in their flowers beautifully.

Real Wedding - Pauline and Scott

Well, I guess, 'tis the season! I haven't blogged in several weeks! Time flies when you are busy with so many events and weddings and when it is hard to find a moment to blog and share pictures of recent work. Oh, and there is so, so much to share - here is the start of a hopefully more frequent blogging in the coming weeks ...
A few weeks ago we worked for Pauline and Scott, who celebrated their wedding on a beautiful sunny and warm evening at Newcastle Golf Club. What a fun and easy-going couple! Pauline knew exactly what she wanted - it was a true pleasure working with her!
For her bouquet Pauline wanted to use flowers in various shades of pink, so we combined roses, nerines, callas, orchids and threw in a few stems of chartreuse green mini hydrangea for a subtle contrast.
Her bride's maids, wearing elegant black dresses, were carrying smaller hand-tied pink bouquets of roses, nerines, and hydrangea ...
The large pink ceremony pieces - we used a total of three propped onto tall black vases and pedestals - were later used as deluxe center pieces on family and special guest reception tables. This was a great way to reuse the ceremony flowers! We changed the look slightly for the reception tables by placing these large designs onto tall square glass vases containing a few pink roses inside the vase.

The beautiful pictures above were taken by Scott Eklund of Red Box Pictures - great photography, Scott! Truly nice work!

Real Weddings: Sarah & Jared

Have I mentioned before that plum is a big color this year? Here is another design take on this beautiful color of 2009.
Sarah and Jared tied the knot last Saturday at the Seattle Tennis Club - a really fun, loving, charming couple, who was sent our way by Sarah Rhoads. Thank you so much Sarah! Once again, I can't wait for the gorgeous photography.
Weather-wise, it couldn't have been better: a balmy summer evening - the sun came out right at 6:30 during their water front ceremony. Perfect lighting - perfect temperatures! Wow, what a gorgeous evening!
Sarah & Jared wanted clean designs of purple and white - here are some of the pictures I took - enjoy!

A beautiful escort card table design ...

Some of the guest tables were decorated simply with lots of hurricane and votive candles on a bed of white rose petals. How romantic!

More votives on the head table...

And the ceremony setup by the beach - simple and clean!

Julie & Jeff's First Anniversary

Some of you might remember the post from exactly a year ago, when we had the pleasure to work with Julie and Jeff's wedding on 08/08/08 at the Woodmark Hotel. Last night they celebrated their first anniversary - once again with style, great company, and fantastic food. They booked a room overlooking the Snoqualmie Falls at the Salish Lodge and had an intimate party with close friends.
The decor was similar to the decor they chose for their wedding a year ago, with some small design variations ... with lots of candle light - ahhh...
Thank you so much Julie and Jeff for letting me be part of your special day again!!

A Very Busy July ...

Phew! July is almost over - it has been a very busy wedding month for us. I just wanted to post a few pictures of weddings we did in the past 4 weeks. I don't have photos of all of the weddings, but here is a sweet selection.

On July 4th we were at the Plateau Club (our first time there) for Liz & Jeff's wedding - we created an arch and centerpieces in light pinks, white, and chartreuse green.




A week later we were at Newcastle Golf Club for Pauline & Scott's wedding - another beautiful wedding in shades of deep pink. Both, ceremony and reception, were in the Prestwick tent.

Finally, last night we were at the Woodmark Hotel for Lauren & Casey's gorgeous wedding. Black, white, and silver - another favorite color combination of mine. Very classy!
Now, we are taking a week off to recoup - I am looking forward to spending some time with family: trips to Vancouver and Lopez, salmon fishing, and Wild Waves are in the plans. Ahh ... :)

Bree & Brian - A Wonderfully Elegant Affair

Last Sunday we worked on a really elegant wedding at the Dome Room at the Arctic Club Hotel - a simply gorgeous location even without much decor.
Bree and Brian - a truly fun and kind-hearted couple - have fabulous taste and know how to celebrate in style! With help from wonderful Janel and Jennifer from Occasions, who planned and coordinated everything to the last detail, the Dome Room looked gorgeous, luxurious and simply elegant.
To create large square guest tables seating 12 we worked with Pedersen's (tables and chargers) and BBJ Linen (satin table linens and chair covers) - the 11 square guest tables created a stylish layout for the reception! Three different center piece designs - one lush and luxurious, one elegant simplicity, and one modern wimsical - created visual interest. And their color-combo of ivory, gold, chocolate and purple worked just perfectly in the Dome Room.
The photos below are from Ken at Azzura - his work is stunning as always! It's hard to choose which of the pictures they sent me I should use for this blog post - they are all just extraordinary!

A Cool Winter Idea

Travis and Jesse from True Colors Events had asked me last spring to participate in a table top design for the latest issue of Seattle Metropolitan Bride and Groom magazine. I didn't have to think twice! Thank you Travis and Jesse for including us for this fun project!!

Our theme was Cool Winter and Jesse and Travis had picked a really "cool" color palette of icy pinks and purples mixed with silver, black and white. The fantastic linens they chose from Party Mosaic created a bold and sparkly backdrop. (BTW, check out Party Mosaic's really nifty Table Top Designer tool - a very handy little app helping you with your color choices!).
For floral center piece we designed a composite style arrangement of 3 different vases - each vase with slightly different contents with pink and purple roses, dark purple callas, white hydrangea, mixed with dusty miller leaves, berzillia and snow berries. We added some glam by wrapping shiny wires and bead strands to the vases and the votive candles.
Winter weddings can be as grand as summer weddings and are often much cheaper too! There are tons of flower choices during the winter months - almost as many as during the summer - really everything is available except for maybe dahlias and lily of the valley ... But hey, there are tons of alternatives!