“Double-Duty” Designs

October 23rd, 2008

Silver Ice Bucket ArrangementTrying to stretch your budget without sacrificing decor?  Consider selecting ceremony flowers that can double as decor for your reception.  This will allow you to cut down significantly on what you’ll spend, while still having floral decor at both the ceremony and reception sites.

These silver ice bucket arrangements decorated the aisle at the ceremony and then were moved to the guest tables afterwards, where they served as centerpieces.

Other “double-duty” designs include:

• Bridal Party Bouquets can be used to decorate the head table or cake table.

• Low-profile Unity Candle Arrangement can be placed on the Guest Book Table to decorate the entry to the reception site.

• Large Ceremony Arrangements can be placed on either side of the doors at the entrance to the reception site or can be placed on pillars behind the head table or cake table to provide a “floral” backdrop in the photos.

Silver Ice Bucket Arrangement

Silver Ice Bucket Arrangement

Fab Photos (Part 1)

October 20th, 2008

Wedding Day Photography Tips!
Provided by Gina at ArtandPrint.com


Your wedding day can be hectic and you will be on a tight time schedule.Beata_Bouquet
Decide before hand what will be the most important pictures of your special day? For most couples it is their portraits. Decide on a location and give yourself extra time at least an hour or more, including one indoor and one outdoor location for variety.

Getting ready pictures are also important, give at least 45 minutes. This is a great time to take all the detail pictures of the dress, shoes, rings, bouquet, invitations and rings. Plus all the excitement putting on your fabulous dress.

Special Gift for the Groom!
What’s popular now is a sexy bridal lingerie session CD, which can be done on your wedding day. What better gift to give your new husband after your honeymoon, he won’t believe his eyes.

Group pictures have a list ready so you don’t forget anybody. Allow about 5 minutes per group, average time for group shots is 30 minutes.

Most couples skip on the portraits and give several hours for party pictures. After the first 30 minutes you will have more than plenty of them.

Why not sneak out and take couple of romantic pictures under the night sky and the glowing lights.

Beata_Centerpiece

About the Photographer:

Art and Print offers award winning photography in the Bay area and destination weddings worldwide. They capture event, portrait and commercial photography with breathtaking images that are creative and artistic. From unique concepts to complete studio services, including expert retouching.

Visit their website at www.ArtandPrint.com for more of their work.


Why Not Float!

October 10th, 2008

With all the stress associated with planning a wedding, there will probably come a time when you say, “I just need to get away and relax.” Something you might want to try to ease your cares away is spending some time in a float tank.

Float tanks are filled with warm water (body temperature) which has been infused with Epsom Salts in a high enough concentration to make you float (like a cork). The tanks are lightproof and soundproof as well, which causes your brain wave pattern to shift, mimicking deep sleep. One hour in the tank is equivalent to approximately 6 hours of sleep.

Claustrophobic – no worries – I’ve tried it and there is actually a lot of room in the tank! The relaxing effects far outweighed the few moments of anxiousness I felt in the beginning.

For those of you in the Bay Area, there is a fabulous place in Oakland that offers float sessions. Very professional and clean (the people are cool too). Check them out at The Float Center. If you have any questions, just ask for Allison. She will be happy to answer them for you and she put my mind completely at ease by explaining the whole thing.

Happy floating!

Trunk-Me-Not

September 10th, 2008

Several times in the past few months I’ve had customers ask if they can transport their flowers in the trunk of their car. I gently ask them if they would transport a puppy that way. They look at me shocked and say, vehemently, “NO WAY”. They then quickly realize why I asked that seemingly silly question. The puppy would die in the 140 degree trunk … and so would the flowers.

NOTE: You’ll be busy, busy, busy on your special day, and it might be convenient to have Uncle Henry pick up the flowers for you. Be sure to tell him to NOT put the flowers in the trunk of the car. You might even want Uncle Henry to read these tips on how to transport wedding flowers. He may embarrass himself later after having too much Champagne and doing the Hula with Aunt Gertrude, but he won’t be embarrassed by ruining your flowers.

Stay “In Season”

September 1st, 2008

Many brides are taken away by the beauty of the flowers they saw at a friends wedding and say to themselves “THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I WANT.” The only problem is they were attending a November wedding and their upcoming nuptials will be in mid-July. Big difference!

When selecting flowers for your special day, be sure to consider seasonality. Many flowers may still be available but will need to be imported from other countries and will be inordinately expensive “¦ if available at all.

Take a look at this great chart to see a listing of flowers and availability by season. Note: Some of the flowers listed may not be commercially available.