Evie & Nate were seriously a dream couple to work with; super nice, easy going, with amazing taste to boot, and the booked my girl Kirsten for the photos. The inspiration for the wedding design, was Evie’s Greek heritage. When we first spoke, she said she wanted it to feel like her grandmother’s garden in Greece. So we talked about using fresh herbs like bay and lavender, of course olive branches, and then mixing in fluffy garden roses.

In Evie’s bouquet I used a mix of Patience garden roses, bay leaves, lavender, olive branch, and queen anne’s lace and wrapped it up, with a strip of torn linen.

In keeping with the herb theme, I made petite boutonnières of lavender and rosemary and wrapped them with copper velvet ribbon. The bridesmaids carried simple dried lavender poseys finished with a tidy bow.

The ceremony was held at St. Barbara’s Greek Orthodox Church and decor was kept simple with olive garlands attached to the church pews.

After the ceremony, guests made there way to the rooftop of the Canary. I designed a “potting bench” seating card table using Town & Country’s potting bench bar. At the center of the table, guests’ names and seating assignments were spelled out on wood plant markers and tucked into moss. To finish the vignette, I used a collection of vintage watering cans, potted lavender, and stacks of rustic garden containers.

On the tables I used a mix of stone, and iron, garden containers and filled them with annabelle hydranga, Patience and Caramel Antique garden roses, bay and olive leaves, sweet peas, and dahlias. A soft green linen was draped over the tables and La Tavola’s cut lace linen layered over. A mix of gold and silver mercury glass candle holders added a hint of metallic glow.

A big congratulaions to Evie & Nate and a big thank you to all the vendors who made this day happen! To see more of this wedding hop over to Once Wed and Santa Barbara Magazine.

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I love unexpected color combos and this spring bouquet, with its mix of purple, red, and pink, definitely fits the bill. I wanted the colors of this bouquet to almost be a transition between the holiday colors of Valentine’s Day & Easter…

I layered two ribbons, a gauzy purple/red ribbon over soft lavender.

Deep red ranunculus were contrasted against dark purple sweet pea.

To create this bouquet you need:

-1 bunch purple clematis

-1 bunch purple hellebore

-1 bunch red ranunculus

-I bunch pink anenomes

-1 bunch dark purple sweet pea

Begin by placing 3 flowers in your hand and then adding more flowers, going around the bouqet to maintain a round shape. Finish by winding stretchy floral tape around your stems to keep them together. Then wrap lavender ribbon to cover the tape, and pin with a pearl headed pin to hold the ribbon in place. Then cut two lengths of ribbon, lavender and purple/red, and wrap around the bouquet and tie into a bow. And now you have a perfect spring bouquet!

To see more bouquet arrangement tips & ideas click here.

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I love me a colorful bouquet of flowers and this one designed by Camille of Modern Day Designs is simply, tropical perfection.

The bouquet is made up of several different types of phalaenopsis orchids (Santa Barbara is fortunate to have a lot of local orchids farms), fuchsia peonies, peach ranunculus, coral dahlias, sandersonia, peach mini callas, and maidenhair fern. I love the rich layers of texture and the color scheme of rich oranges and pinks.

From Camille: “Maybe not the flowers you typically think of for winter, but this bouquet is a good example of ‘me’: loud and showy, gorgeous flowers, vivid colors. I love color and phalaneopsis come in a rainbow of options. The phals are a winter flower here so Westerlay Orchids has buckets and buckets of them for sale–for any designer here in Santa Barbara, they are a huge breath of fresh air amidst all the traditional winter options. I picture this with gold, brass, and wood containers, linens with an ethnic print, punched-metal star lanterns. Exotic plants are part of the centerpieces, using ferns, flowering succulents, and mini bromeliads. Guests could experience a slice of paradise and some of Santa Barbara’s treasures during the chilly winter season.”

Thanks Camille for sharing your gorgeous bouquet with SB Chic!

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I worked on this wedding last year, and it was so much fun to do something very out of the ordinary. First up, the beautiful bride wearing an amazing J. Mendel cocktail dress with the biggest, most amazing fascinator I’ve ever seen! The bride used to own an art gallery and she gave me the concept of the “bower bird” as the inspiration for her event design. The bird builds an elaborate bower (sort of a nest cave) to its attract mates… So with that in mind, I created a moody, forest-y, slightly gothic design for this wedding…

For the bride’s bouquet,  I used a palette of hot pink and blue with touches of black all cuffed with black feathers and then wrapped with gold sequin trim. For the bridesmaid’s bouquets a palette of purples, blues, with a touch of green via forest-y leather fern.

For the ceremony, I strung a cluster of confetti system pinantas for this rock n’ roll couple.

For the head table, I made a runner out of black river rock to reference how the bower bird collects items to decorate his bower. Containers were a mix of metallics and wood. Local jewel tone dahlias were mixed with anemones, orchids, scabiosa pods, moss, and leather fern.

Guest tables were set with a cluster of arrangements surrounded by gold and silver mercury glass candles. For the table numbers, I used a piece of cut blue glass and wrote the number on it. DJ Smiles spun tunes and guests enjoyed a buffet of pie rather than wedding cake, a fitting end to very unique wedding!

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Back in June I had the honor of designing this sweet wedding for Selena & Erik. Selena wanted a wedding with a soft pink and feminine feel with a vintage touch.

She wore a stunning Vera Wang wedding gown with a etheral long pearl necklace. For her bouquet I mixed cafe au lait dahlias, peonies, sweet pea, astilbe, garden roses and a few bits of maidenhair fern. She wanted her bouquet to be slightly “jagged=y” but with soft, big, blooms mixed in.

I love how the bridesmaids wore different muted dresses in mint-y soft greens. The color worked perfectly with their pink astilbe bouquets. And how handsome are the groomsmen in their suspenders?!

The ceremony was held under a large willow tree at a private home. I made the willow tree “bloom” by attaching white dendrodium orchads to the strands of the tree.

I love how the tree moved in the wind during their ceremony.

For the reception we used Town & Country’s vineyard tables and the bride made the adorable eyelet runners. For flowers, I continues with the soft pink and white palette and placed blooms in footed old silver pieces. Congratulations Erik & Selena!

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I’m simply in love with this editorial styled by Joy de Vivre and photographed by Kurt Boomer. Shot on a ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley with Pervuian horses, what could be better?

Joy draped the table in La Tavola’s aqua Tuscany linen for a slightly casual feel then ramped up the elegance by pairing Town & Country’s cane backed chairs and elegant rimmed china. Flowers by NLC Productions added a punch of hot pink and sherbet.

To finish off the design, elegant paper goods by Lazaro Press in a palette of gold and hot pink. To see more of this editorial check out the new magazine Flutter created by Tracy of Lazaro Designs and Kim of Love Mikana.

More Inspiration:

I love the lavender, but sometimes the purple color isn’t right for a wedding… Hence white (yes, white!) lavender is great option particularly for a bride’s bouquet.

For this simple bouquet, you need just one bunch of white lavender (available through Florabundance if you’re wholesale) and, ideally, some vintage lace. This light pink lace I picked up at a local antique store for $8. I love the delicate texture it brings to this frangrant bouquet. If you can’t find lace, a torn strip of linen could also work or you could pick up some modern lace at Michael Levine’s. The best part of this bouquet? You can make it well ahead of your wedding, making it a great stress-free DIY solution for either a bride or bridesmaid’s bouquet.

And to see all Flower Chic posts click right here. And a special thanks to Florabundance for sponsoring this post!

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