Real Wedding: Greek Garden Elegance

Kelly
May 13

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.

Flowers & Decor: Kelly Oshiro
Bride’s Shoes: Louboutin
Reception Venue: The Canary Hotel
Wedding Planner/Coordinator: Amber Weir
Lighting: Bella Vista
Garden Prop Rental: Vintage Vignettes
Dessert Table: Enjoy Cupcakes
Calligraphy: A Charming Occasion
Linens: La Tavola

Editorial: A Spring Dinner with a DIY Flower Garland

Kelly
May 06

Today I’m featuring a tabletop that was recently published in Santa Barbara Magazine and Style Me Pretty Living. It was a collaboration with the always amazing Nancy Neil and super chef Ayda Robana of Om Sweet Mama.

We set a simple table; with a god’s eye patter runner from Heather Taylor Home and china and flatware from Botanik.

Simple salads, like the panzanella with Haricort Verts featured farm fresh ingredients (recipe for the salad is here).

Instead of traditional flower centerpiece, I opted to make a flower garlad to keep the vibe relaxed but still very pretty. To make the garland you will need:

2 bunches of bay (depends on length of table)

2 bunches clematis

1 bunch hot pink ranunuculus

1 bunch wax flower

Begin by simple laying the piece of bay leaves end to end. I created a zigzag effect here so you could see the pattern of the linen. Then I simply took the blooms of clematis, ranunuclus, and wax flower and tucked it into the bay. You can wire all these pieces together but its not necessary. And that’s pretty much it! You can see more of this table right here and here.

PS I apologize for my blogging absence. A lot if going in my personal life and I will blog about it once things are more settled. For now, posting will remain on the lighter side. Thanks for hopefully sticking around here and enjoying some pretty :) .

Photographer: Nancy Neil
China/glassware/flatware: Botanik
Candlestick holders: Make Smith
Wholesale Flowers: Florabundance

Editorial: Spring Entertaining Ideas

Kelly
April 10

I was so happy when Nancy Neil invited to participate in this spring entertaining story with Ayda Robana of Om Sweet Mama. We shot at a private estate in Goleta and setup this table on their private dock (you know to go with their private lake). I used a low wood bowl and placed the centerpiece at the end, so the star of the table, the FOOD would stand out.

A menu of seasonal and local ingredients made up for a delicious feast (post-shoot this was dinner for the crew, it was rough but I got through it). My favorite? The squid ink pasta with eggs over easy…

For the rest of the table, Nancy pulled gorgeous plates & glassware from Botanik in Summerland and used God’s eye linen from Heather Taylor Home.

Wine was generously provided by Cambria Winery. For recipes, and the floral how-to, hop over to Design*Sponge right here. There were two more tables we shot that day, including one that is being featured in the current issue of Santa Barbara Magazine and can be seen here. Thanks ladies for a fun, creative shoot!

Photographer: Nancy Neil
Catering: Om Sweet Mama
Flowers: Kelly Oshiro
Beeswax Candles: The Lower Lodge
Leather Candleholders: Make Smith
Dishes/Glassware/Carafe: Botanik
Aprons: Finery

Press: Spring Dinner Party on Design*Sponge

Kelly
April 04

Back in January, Nancy Neil and I put together this table for Ayda Robana at the sickest estate in Goleta (can you say private lake?). Anyway, hop over right here to check out the full feature on Design*Sponge and I’ll have my recap of the table up on Monday.

Photographer: Nancy Neil
Catering: Om Sweet Mama
Candlesticks: Makesmith
China & Glassware: Botanik
Beeswax Candles: The Lower Lodge

Entertaining: Soft Wintery Blue Tablescape with
Modern Day Designs & Patrick Moyer

Kelly
December 17

Today I’m super excited to welcome Camille of Modern Day Designs to Santa Barbara Chic! Camille was kind enough to design this soft wintery blue tablescape featuring peonies, succulents, astrania, and muscari. Patrick Moyer came out to capture the pretty on film, Town & Country set the table with their pretty rentals and Florabundance provided the pretty blooms.

Camille used a soft palette of peach with touches of blue and white.

A glass dome held a succulent in a footed silver container.

White peonies and chocolate queen anne’s lace created texture in the arrangement. For the place setting, Town & Country’s provence china and pearl handled flatware created a slightly French feel.

My white garden chairs just happened to work perfectly with Camille’s design!

Containers were a mix of silver and glass and held gorgeous winter white peonies from Florabundance.

My personal favorite, muscari, was arranged simply in a glass vase.

And finally a single strand of Astrania was placed at each place setting. Thank you, Camille for desiging this pretty winter table just for Santa Barbara Chic!

Photographer: Patrick Moyer
Flowers & Decor: Modern Day Designs
Wholesale Flowers: Florabundance
Linens: La Tavola

Anthropologie Wedding- The Table

Kelly
March 16

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For the dining table I set it up under a large juniper tree. I picked out the linens and napkins from Michael Levine’s and had them custom made for the table.

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For the decor I love the idea of mixing traditional taper holders and putting them in glass cylinders. The look is modern, and practical, since  you’re taper candles would blow out otherwise.

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For flowers I used pink and white ranunuculus, blue thistle, berzilla balls, muscari, peonies, queen anne’s lace.

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All the containers were from Anthropologie except for the pink depression glasses (reused from the Valentine’s table I did for the City Sage), the candles holders (Jamali Gardens) and the glass cylinders were bought in downtown LA.

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I mixed Town & Country’s gorgeous aqua chargers with their Provencal line for the table setting.

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On top, I made a flowers from copper wire and tucked in the menu card envelope which had a letter pressed pattern that matched the napkins.

Photos: Kirsten Ellis of Beaux Arts Photographie

Flowers, Design, Production: Kelly Oshiro Events

Rentals: Town & Country Event Rentals

Paper Goods: Nutmeg Press