Dinner under the Stars!

So meet Price and Amber Wilson.  When Amber and I met almost a year ago, plans for the wedding were pretty straight forward: 75 guests, in a barrel room at Summerwood winery, focus of the evening was the dinner and celebration with their guests. Needless to say, all that went out the window pretty quickly as their guest count slowly pushed us to move in a different direction due to lack of space in the barrel room for the additional guests. So, "Dinner under the Stars!" was created.  Handmade bamboo cabanas were designed and constructed and draped with elegant white chiffon fabric (all constructed and designed by Allure!)  We made two long rows of 6 king size banquet tables and constructed the cabanas to surround the guests as the dined. Each cabana shared a GORGEOUS chandelier and each table was decorated with two tall crystal and silver candleholders of Allure's.  Floral used were all white orchids of all types, including my favorite phaleonopsis, and were arranged and designed by Allure also.  We made a sweetheart cabana (a.k.a. the Love Shack) for Amber and Price which featured it's own chandelier along with extraordinary black paillette linens from Wildflower Linen.  The guests were treated to trendy stations for dinner, including a sushi stations, tapas station and a meat and mashed potato bar.  The wedding cake provided by The Cakery was showcased by it's own cabana too, and was certainly a focus for the evening.  After dinner, guests joined the happy couple in the lounge area complete with crystals, two black and white chaise lounges and pomegranit red uplighting.  Congratulations, Price and Amber, and THANK YOU both for allowing me the opportunity to create a one of a kind event for you.  I'm so glad you were pleased!  

Here is the ceremony structure for Amber and Price.  We tied each fabric draped post back with chartreuse orchid ties and lined the back of the arbor with crystals.  So lovely!  The guests showered the happy couple with white and green dendrobium orchid blooms as they left the alter.

It's been a while since I blogged, so forgive me if my writing is rusty!  It's been an amazing wedding season so far and I've been so blessed to have been working with some awesome couples.  Stay tuned for amazing photos!!

Love this!

I just love the simplicity of this photo that the talented Allyson Magda shot from one of my last weddings of the season.  Every time I look at it I find it so elegant. Thanks Allyson. 

Vintage Charm

What a great couple Angela and Tim were. I had such a good time working with them.  Angela was such an organized bride and made my job soooo easy.  The colors were eggplant and champagne with floral accents in shades of white and green.  Angela loved succulents and wanted a very earthy yet rustic and charming feel for the decor.  We grouped floral centerpieces in 3's and used vintage mercury glass vessels along with birch branch sleeves to complete the look.  A special thank you to the very talented Allyson Magda for these beautiful photos.  Allyson and her assistant, Jill, were great to work with.  Floral designed and arranged by ALLURE (yep, that's me!).  Take a peek..

Tiny tots with their eyes ALL aglow...

Much of the time I try to keep my family separate from my work, but this is just one of those times I have to share the love.  These are my girls:  Lauren (10, going on 16), Hannah (7), and little Gracie (3, we call her GiGi). These photos were from a shoot  the very talented Ashley Blake, of A. Blake Photography did for us over the holiday. She's so gifted and such a sweet person.  Thank you Ashley!

Merry Christmas to all....

I can hardly believe Christmas has come and gone.  It is so bittersweet for me. I love the rush of the holidays:  the baking of peppermint and chocolate ganache dipped sugar cookies (yep, it's true!), watching my children open all their presents and seeing the pure enjoyment in their eyes, and the endless flow of champagne while visiting with my closest friends.  I hope all of you enjoyed the holidays as much as I did.  

Here are a few photos of some holiday floral I did for a fantastic Christmas party for some friends.

Wine Country Love Affair

Meet Heather and Jim, a charming couple both originally from the mid-west who moved to southern California a few years ago. After taking a trip to Paso Robles on a short but sweet weekend getaway, they feel madly in love with the area and knew this was the place they wanted to bring their friends and family to celebrate and witness the start of their life together. The setting was Robert Hall Winery in Paso and the weather was phenomenal. The vineyards were rich in color, allowing for some of the most amazing photos of their day. They were married under a statuesque oak tree on the patio and treated their guests to an refined menu catered by Chef Jeffrey Scott, all the while listening to tunes orchestrated by Beau Kramer of Kramer Entertainment.  Floral all designed and arranged by ALLURE.  One of the best vintage photo booths I've seen was brought in by Mike Larson Photography and guests enjoyed taking mulitple trips to the booth to share their memories with Heather and Jim. Heather is obsessed with smores, so we handmade a chic smores with a flame that hovered over amber and black cut glass crystals. What a treat! Take a peek...

Rustic Spring Romance

It's the story of a lovely lady who was bringing up two very lovely girls, who met a man name Jeff with two kids of his own......Rachelle had two beautiful girls and met Jeff after being set up by a good friend. He had two children of his own, a boy and a girl, and they instantly fell in love. Every ounce of detail put into this wedding was a true reflection of their love for each other and complete acceptance of each other's children. The theme was based around a rustic vineyard evening setting and that's exactly what it turned out to be! The ceremony was marked by a pinky promise between families to love, respect, and always be each other's support for the rest of their lives. A vintage bird theme defined the kids area complete with handmade feather placemats and rich copper colored taffeta pillows that each child sat on. We used rustic brown galvanized containers that held colored pencils and paper so the kids could color during dinner. On the adult guest tables, copper linens were accented with grapevine place mats and distressed wooden boxes played host to floral in shades of red and orange (arranged and designed by Camilla Flowers). This was truly a remarkable event.

Phenomenal wine!

Elegance Perfected

When I first met Angela, she was overwhelmed with the details of her dream wedding. So many vendors, so many choices. She was about ready to head to Vegas and call it a wedding! After many hours together narrowing down her decisions, and guidance from Allure along the way, the day had finally come for her and Jeff to walk down the aisle. Blessed were they! Talk about romance. A horse drawn carriage, a superior meal from Chef Charlie, and awe inspired floral decor (all designed and arranged by ALLURE) were just a few of the ultra romantic details that defined their wedding. Thanks to the stunning photos taken by one of SLO's most talented photographers, Mark Nakamura, their day was complete. Take a peak!

One Enchanted Evening

What an amazing wedding this was! The couple was from L.A. and truly awesome people. You know when you first meet someone and you know your life will forever be changed by that first verbal exchange? That's what I felt with Dara and David. I've developed a life long friendship with them and my life is all the better for it. Dara knew what she wanted for her wedding, but just wasn't sure how to turn it all into reality. That's where I came in. I collaborated with her and we came up with the Old World theme for the wedding. The guests were treated to the local sounds of the latin/spanish quartet, Luna Guitana, from Santa Barbara while sipping on Harvest Punch and Paso Punch cocktails. The bride loved moss, so I designed a moss table for the olive oil place cards, which was a hit! The guests were then treated to the most amazing 5-course meal prepared by my catering hero, Chef Charlie. Floral: Denise Benda. Kudos to Ashley Blake Photography for awesome photos! The weather was lovely and the night a complete success!