20 years in Merry Making

The San Diego Association of Bridal Consultants celebrated last Tuesday - 20 years of amazing networking. Bringing wedding consultants and vendors together, bringing a new level of professionalism to the industry, and fortifying our roles as colleagues who work best when we work together- the ABC in San Diego has played a very important role as our city's wedding market developed and continues to boom.
Rae Florae was honored to provide floral centerpieces for the event!

For the Love of Cake provided a classic 3-tier that we adorned with precious johnny jump-ups, poppy, and african daisy blossoms.

Honoring the 9 past & current presidents of the San Diego ABC, we created corsages of orchid blooms that they could choose to wear with either a magnet at the shoulder, or as a bracelet on their wrist.. and, yes, those are slap bracelets :)

Our centerpieces were a fresh combination of baby green hydrangea, coral colored coxcomb, and locally grown varieties of white firework agapanthus, lisianthus, vibrant orange and peach alstroemeria, in a ring of white carnations and satin ribbon for unexpected kick.

The light flooded the room of the La Jolla Bridge Club, and the view of the water was an appropriate backdrop as we talked about how much San Diego offers for weddings.

Thanks to Jen @ Pink Star Design for the perfect programs and Sabrina @ La Dolce Idea for coordinating a wonderful event!

Shades of Green

I am personally very excited that everyone else is getting excited about Green Weddings. Green weddings are not a fad; they are here to stay, just as recycling and reusing, they will eventually become the norm. That is not to say that everyone will be wearing hemp wedding dresses and putting potted succulents on their guest tables, but there will elements of eco-consciousness available at every turn. Choose to use locally grown flowers and recycled glass vases like we did for Hans & Shannon in yesterday's post. Choose to gift your live orchid plants to your aunts and uncles or the neighborhood elementary school's science class. Choose to not go to excess when designing your wedding- Reduce is after all the first of the 3 R's. Choose a florist who cares. Yesterday the Association of Bridal Consultant's monthly meeting focused on Green Weddings and of course, I was more than happy to provide the florals seeing as how Going Green is right up my alley ;)

Wanted to be sure and showcase the lovely local selection- every flower you see here is grown in either California or Mexico. On the top we have pale yellow Stock flower with a nice fragrance to boot, pow factor orange and yellow tulips (two thumbs up for also being Veriflora certified), and the exotic looking Banksia protea, which have naturalized here in San Diego from Australia. On the bottom, we have a base of lavender purple Statice flowers, targets of red-orange Gerbera daisies, and neon mauve dahlias to seal the deal. (I feel like I'm narrating a fashion show!)
Anyhoo- great meeting yesterday hosted by the lovely Water Conservation Gardens at Cuyamaca College, informative and humorous presentation by Rene van Rems - International Florist Extraordinaire (btw, I want your job:)), and organic dining by EcoCaters. Check Heather Moreau of Vallentyne Photography's blog for her post on yesterday's event, too!

Welcome!!

Spring is a time of renewal, correct? Hence, out with the old blog and in with the new blog!

And what better day to begin than on the heels of last night's fantastic ABC meeting. The Hard Rock Hotel hosted this month's event in true rock star fashion- hip staff and fun food stations. Plush Impressions debuted their latest designs- lounge furniture will never be standard fare again thanks to their imagination. Still, the top of the evening was celebrating Peggy Jewell and her dedication to San Diego's Association of Bridal Consultants. My own personal thank you to you Peggy, for being such a wonderful role model to those young vendors out there taking a leap of faith, proof that success comes with sound business practices and your heart in the right place.

Back to flowers! I just can't get enough of the blooming branches everywhere you look!! Keep your eyes peeled for ornamental plum trees, quince blossoms, and that lovely scented wisteria. I snapped these precious pink cherry blooms in Co. Waterford, Ireland just last month.