Interior Design and Beautiful Things
Danielle and Joe Portelli were married in Burlingame, California in August, 2012. In an exciting twist, I did not do the floral arrangements for the day, but was brought on board as a wedding coordinator and decorator for the entrance hall to the reception room. With only two weeks to get it everything from the church programs, to favor labels, to the guest gift bags together, it was definitely a challenge!
Desiree and Jeremy were married at Crystal Springs in Burlingame, California, in June 2012. We are so grateful to Carlos Hernandez for taking such awesome photos and for allowing us to use them on our site.
The ceremony overlooked one of the most gorgeous nature preserves in Northern California, and it was important that we didn’t take anything away from the natural surroundings, so we chose to decorate the gazebo with a simple bough made of King Protea, vintage pearl strands, and an early 1900’s papier mache garland made for a theatre in London.
The beautiful bride has a love for Frida Kahlo, Day of the Dead, and vintage eclectic, and wanted to honor her Mexican heritage with a colorful and creative bouquet, as well as interesting decor.
Included in her flowers and in her groom’s boutonniere were two small, turquoise, skull stick pins that she had carefully chosen to make her day more meaningful.
We also designed a floral hair comb of bright pink roses and Dusty Miller for the bride to wear under her mantilla-style veil at the ceremony, and reveal at her reception.
For the guest sign in table, the bride had provided family photos and some very special accessories, such as a rosary, a gorgeous Frida Kahlo art book (to be used as the guest book), and a large, turquoise vase, that we filled with flowers. We created a sort of altar and added mismatched mercury glass votive holders, a scattering of spray roses, and an antique, handmade, lace table cover.
All of the reception tables were covered in different handmade lace table covers that we had individually tea-dyed to create a rustic look. We created centerpieces out of vintage silver compotes surrounded by mismatched mercury glass votive holders.
The Sweetheart table was covered in a lace tablecloth and included a set of cups, filled with succulents, that spelled out “Amor”. We added mismatched mercury glass votive holders to give it extra sparkle
The bride chose an amazing spread of candy for her guests that they could mix-and-match and take home as favors. We found a source for her on Etsy that made vintage-style adhesive labels that the guests used these to seal up their glassine bags of treats.
We also found a phenomenal Ex Voto (votive offering) for the couple to use as the cake topper.
We are so lucky to have been a part of this special couple’s day and we know they’re destined for a life of love, laughter and endless adventure!
Much love,
Melisa
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Marlene and Robert were married in Pleasanton in May, 2012, at the gorgeous Palm Event Center. We are so fortunate to have had the day, (and our floral designs), captured in the stunning images provided by Duy Ho Photography.
Changing the format of our blog meant shifting content into specific buckets. While this makes things so much easier to find, it also means that unless you’re looking, you may miss our latest work!
I don’t usually devote blog space to weddings or wedding-related wedding-ness but I am so excited to have come across some fabulous new stuff that I had to share it.
Cathy and Tim got married at the San Mateo Garden Center in San Mateo, CA.
Adam and Jessica were married at Ardenwood Farm in Fremont, CA.
I was introduced to Jessica by her awesome sister Melissa, who kept me calm and smiling while we worked together in a rather nightmarish Menlo Park office – but let’s save that story for another day…
Valeria and Angela were registered as domestic partners in San Francisco on May 28, 2009.
Wendy and Sheldon were married on Dec 31, 2008 in Half Moon Bay on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
As an homage to Wendy’s Taiwanese heritage, I incorporated Asian peonies. To reflect her personality, style and spirit, I used the brightest, boldest and bravest color I could find – hot pink – and wrapped it in a deep burgundy silk Offray ribbon. The bride, wearing a stunning column dress accented her look with a Gardenia in her hair.
I made boutonnieres for the groom, the bride’s father, and the groom’s father as well as corsages for the bride and groom’s mothers.
I made varying sizes of pink and white arrangements to be scattered around the beautiful old railroad station house where they held an intimate reception dinner.
Wendy and I have known each other for almost 15 years. It was such an honor to be able to provide flowers for her special day!
Melisa
I am definitely not a traditional florist. In fact, I don’t consider myself a florist at all. I consider my shop a design lab. Ordering flowers from me might seem like a visit to a circus psychic (I ask a lot of questions about the receiver), but I strive to design unique and amazing arrangements that stand out from the regular fare. Twice a week I visit the San Francisco Flower Mart in the wee hours of the morning (before 7am to be exact) to see what interesting things the vendors might be selling.