Shelly

Shelly...Oh, Shelly...
Sometimes when we finish an event, its a little bittersweet. Shelly has been our client since March of 2007 -- 13 months! -- and now she's married and I for one will miss her! Shelly was by far one of the most organized and creative brides I've worked with yet. She's a graphic artist and so much of her personal touch could be seen throughout the event. Like many of our other super-talented brides, she designed her own invites, place cards, etc., and it was so fun to see how a few common threads can pull an entire theme together. The ceremony was held at the Cathedral downtown with dinner and dancing following the ceremony at The Memorial House. Her bouquet featured Titanic and Sweet Akito roses, pink ranunculus, stephanoits, peonies, hypericum berries, curly willow, and brown ti leaves. The centerpieces were double-blossoming cherry branches with accents of cymbidium orchids and votives at the base. We also used pink tulips on the fire place and in the lounge area (as well as submerged roses) and made the coolest arch out of curly willow with strung hyacinth and stephanotis blooms hanging from its branches. Lots of fun. I'm excited to see how her photos turn out and hope they have a fabulous time honeymooning in Tokyo!

Opie Foto

This past weekend was the Thanksgiving Point Bridal Expo, and while we weren't exhibitors, we did a few florals for Opie Foto's booth at the show.
Like any wedding vendor who's been around the block more than a few times, I have a handful of people I love working with and like to recommend to brides based on their excellence in business, skill, and professionalism. Be it photography, tailoring, cakes, venues, stationary -- anything really -- I only recommend vendors who exhibit proven consistency in their work and who I see are striving to master their art. Opie Foto is one of those vendors I enjoy being associated with. She's not only one of my favorite local photographers, she's also one of my favorite former clients. From the our first meeting, it was pretty apparent that she has a very distinctive style -- one that I certainly could not pull off myself, and one that I find simply captivating. If you have ever looked at the photographer's names attached to the gallery photos on my site, you'll see a number of her shots. Each one is rich and artistic. She shoots from angles that seem to make everything more beautiful and its a real treat to see my own work through her eyes. I think of her as being almost like King Midas -- everything she "touches" with her camera lens is gorgeous. Truly art. And if that weren't enough, she's modest, down-to-earth, and genuine to boot (and she's probably rolling her eyes as I say all this about her!).
It sounds like she had a really successful show and I'm glad for that. You ladies watch -- Opie Foto is going to take our little Utah wedding industry by storm. If you're interested in her, you'd better book her fast. I have a feeling she's going to be mighty busy this year...

Shelly's bridals

Yesterday was a doozie of a day, starting with a frantic 3 AM search for Benadryl and culminating with a dinnertime trip to Instacare where my four year old received three staples to his head after an unfortunate encounter with our granite kitchen counter top. After the kids were in bed and we were ready for the dreaded day to be over, I quickly checked my email and saw that sweet Chauntelle from Opiefoto had posted pics of Shelly's bridals. So gorgeous! It was a great end to an otherwise bummer of a day. Thanks for your beautiful work Opie!
(And isn't Shelly just beautiful??? Her bouquet featured Sweet Akito roses, dark ti leaves, green hypericum berries, seeded eucalyptus and young, budding curly willow...for those that might want to know...)

Happy Thursday!

Nothing like a special order to brighten one's day...

Thanks for the Thank You!

I have some of the most thoughtful clients!
I received this sweet thank you gift and note from Sarah (see previous post).

Liz,
Just wanted to let you know how wonderful it was working with you and to thank you for all your amazing work. Planning this wedding from the UK was a breeze thanks in such a large part to you. I hope you like the pin. In Scotland, grooms traditionally wear thistle so I thought you would get a kick out of it. Thank you again!
Sarah

The insert that came with the pin said that "Heathergems" are made from the stems of heather that have been dried, shotblasted, and dyed various colors. Stems of different colors are then mixed together and compressed into a block by 80 tons of pressure. The block is cut into slices and individual pieces are cut, shaped, and filed by craftsmen before being lacquered and set into silver fittings. Its a very pretty stone...reminds me of an opal in a way. It was so nice of Sarah to think of me!

Sarah at Snowbird

Did you know that Utah is one of the fastest growing locations for destination weddings? It's true. I don't know if its our many recreational possibilities, our gorgeous canyons, or just because frankly, weddings cost about half the price in Utah as they do elsewhere in the country. Either way, we're seeing a lot of them this year.

Sarah and Ciri planned their wedding from London, where they currently reside. Their families live in various states throughout the US, so they decided to bring everyone out to the Rocky Mountains for their wedding. They were married at the Snowbird Cliff Lodge in an intimate ceremony and dinner with 50 or so of their closest friends and family. I was *so* excited to finally meet Sarah -- after months and months of correspondence, it was like I was being reunited with an old friend. Sarah was the bride of my dreams. Open-minded and gracious, she presented me with a single inspiration photo, a budget, and basically said, "Go at it. I trust you." And everyone was thrilled with the outcome.
The colors were purple, green, and silver. We came up with three centerpiece designs which allowed us to provide a good mix of textures and styles while still keeping with her target budget. (That's a really good tip -- if you love arrangements that are full and lush but can't afford the high price tag, choose one or two alternate designs that are on the other end of the price scale to balance things out) Sarah wanted a modern-romantic theme, so we infused both traditional and contemporary elements into each design in order to achieve that. The silver accents of the pillar holders and julep cups helped soften the convention-like feel of Snowbird's linens, place settings and chairs. Sarah's aunt provided little silver bells as favors -- so cute!
I apologize for overdoing it with the photos. Time is not my friend these days so rather than skip lunch to go through the photos, I'll put them all up for you to see! Dan Moss from Katie Moss Photography was Sarah's photographer. I can't wait to see his much more eloquent interpretation of our designs. Can. not. wait.

Did I mention purple is my favorite color? :)