When it comes to designing events, a beautiful recursive process begins, layering from the story details of my clients and the occasion into the colors, textures, shapes, and varieties of flowers, not to mention design elements, that I select and weave together. Like composing poems for someone or for a specific experience, composing floral arrangements and atmospheres is an intentional process of context, meaning, and resonance.

 

Where poetry becomes music is where floral artists meet with inspired wedding planners & designers, when the language of flowers contributes to translating story elements in concert with the colors, motifs, and elements of the entire event, from tableware to escort displays, from favors to cocktails and cake. 

 

Some of my favorite work has come forth and been crafted in this way, gathering story elements from my clients and weaving themes and meanings together in partnership with our wedding planner friends and other talented vendor partners, to craft a fresh and deeply meaningful celebration for our couples and their guests together as one great creative force with many instruments through which to compose it.

 

 

CAROLINE & DAN | OLD RANCHO ESTATE

 

For Caroline and Dan, an old world coastal California story unfolded, with deep ties to the native landscape and the dreamy themes played through in the song “Hotel California” by The Eagles. For their joyous celebration at Old Rancho Estate, with its landscaped courtyards and stucco walls reaching up to red tiled roofs, we suspended dried tumbleweeds and filled them with flowers floating over the long head table. We composed vibrant floral poetry across the tables in rich poppy pinks with sage greens and warm apricot tones, and we helped bring together a palette of opulent earth tones enlivened by bright citrus and fruit hues. This crescendoed in a full floral arch of prickly pear cactus limbs, dramatic palm fronds, local blooming sages, vining white blooms, and bright roses to bring clusters of focal blooms among the many feathery textures. The whole event, from Caroline’s opulent bouquet to the fountain filled with flowers to a growing installation up a tree behind the bar, which reminded guests to “Take It Easy,” a theme of old-world romantic California coastline in bloom brought the space and the story of their love to life.

 

 

 

TALLIA & MATT | PARK HAYATT AVIARA

 

For Tallia and Matt, soccer players with a flare for sport and spunky rap music, a fresh and playful celebration of their love came to life inspired by soccer and music. We flowered their ceremony arch into the likeness of a blooming soccer goal that we draped with mesh and wove with a climbing installation of flowers. The al fresco aisle was blooming up from the ground with ball-shaped flowers like summer’s seasonal ball dahlias and meadowy-dramatic golf ball allium to echo the spherical shape of the sport. A wide escort display wall designed by Amorology and Backup Backdrops carried the lyric “When I Move You Move,” where we pinned clusters of blooms behind the hand-painted soccer ball escort “cards.” We also installed a blooming music of flowers around the alfresco band stage that bordered the large dance floor, where bridal party and guests danced in the open air, a fitting celebration of love, movement, and music.

 

 

 

 

GWYNNE & MAXX | THE INN AT RANCHO SANTA FE

 

For Gwynn and Maxx, an autumnal California floral story of warmth and elegance came together around their love for Sherlock Holmes and their ties to the landscapes of England and New Zealand. We wove fruiting pomegranate branches into their blooming ceremony arch, and we designed a full-tilt inverted floating meadow of suspended foliages and blooms over their head table, drawing from the expansive landscapes of New Zealand, and ignited by strands of floating blooms we created to mimic the illusion of dragonflies and hummingbirds, two special symbols for our couple in remembrance of their mothers who had passed. The entire even was glowing that that love and magic, and I genuinely will never forget the moment we got all of those orchid blooms strung up — it was as though the place was taking flight.

 

 

 

CHELSEA & CALEB | RANCHO BERNARDO INN

For Chelsea and Caleb, musicians and music lovers, a warm, 70s lounge vibe flowed into the jazzy and elevated alfresco event, which took place at Rancho Bernardo Inn in November. We flowered an extraordinary arch structure crafted to embody the squiggle experience emoted in jazz music by Amorology and Backup Backdrops, with bushy textures, bright and berry-bearing nandina, golden rain pod, and hardy, starry blooms like cremons, roses, and dried peegee hydrangea. I chose all floral shapes and foliage gestures for their arc and grace as embodiments of music, which the spiral and autumn eucalyptus also accomplished beautifully in both gesture and line. We opted for warm terracotta vessels to carry the abundant floral arrangements blooming across the textured tables, contributing to a true story of warmth, abundance, and good cheer in a glowing enclave of southern California magic — just the kind of loving glow our sweet couple Chelsea and Caleb bring to any space they grace.

 

 

 

When it comes to design work in the language of flowers, my devotion is to two things: (1) the story details of my clients and how I can translate them visually and in the sensory vocabulary of florals, and (2) the cues I can take from nature (the ultimate artist and inspiration in my opinion).

 

Knowing the story details of your clients gives you a wealth of design inspiration to enliven and make intentional the floral design work you craft for their celebration. Pair that with taking cues from the way vines, shrubs, and trees naturally grow — each branch and flower at its own stage of development and each seeking its place in the sun — and you will create breathtaking designs that bring the magic of the natural world into the tailored set design you can create for your clients.

 

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Caroline & Dan Vendor Team

• Planning & Design by @amorology 
• Photography by @spostophoto 
• Floral Design by @nectar_and_bloom
• Hair & Makeup by @kcwitcamp 
• Venue @theoldrancho  
• Paper Goodes by @twinkleandtoast 
• Rentals by @adorefolklore @catalogatelier @personaltouchdining

• Featured on The Knot @theknot
• Photography by @spostophoto 
• Planning & Design by @amorology 
• Venue @parkhyattaviara 
• Floral Design by @nectar_and_bloom 
• Paper Goods by @fourthingspaper 
• Rentals from @adorefolklore @catalogatelier @backupbackdrops @bbjlatavola @hostesshaven 

• Photography: @dearlovers
• Event Planning + Design: @amorology
• Floral Design: @nectar_and_bloom
• Venue: @theinnatrsf 
• Tabletop: @catalogatelier @hostesshaven 
• Rentals: @adorefolklore @theonicollection @brighteventrentals 
• Video: @klfilms 
• Paper Goods: @fourthingspaper 
• Cakes + Dessert: @heytherecupcake_ @susiecakesbakery 
• Backdrops: @backupbackdrops 
• Beauty: @xo.beauty.co 
• Features: @stylemepretty, @theknot

• Featured on Style Me Pretty @stylemepretty
• Photography by @elliekoleen 
• Planning & Design by @amorology 
• Venue @ranchobernardoinn 
• Floral Design by @nectar_and_bloom 
• Paper Goods by @epochdes @fourthingspaper 
• Rentals from @adorefolklore @catalogatelier @backupbackdrops @bbjlatavola @excellentpartyrentals 
• Desserts by @heytherecupcake_ 
• Entertainment by @luckydevilsband