Did you attend Seven Stem’s Bridal Tea Party, in March? Well, in case you missed our lovely event, check out the pictures that the sweet and talented Megan Young, of Megan Young Graphic Designs & Photography, took of our special event at Salt Creek Grille in Dana Point.

Aside from the large arch to welcome our beautiful brides, were these cute little flower balls on wood pillars built by one of our good friends. Thanks Max!

Sweet and Saucy Shop attended our Tea Party and brought tons of their lovely work to display and treats to munch on! YUM!!

An overflowing arrangement was placed in the corner of the room to jazz it up! The orange blossom smelled out of this world!

One of my favorite pieces I made was this floral spray for the fireplace mantle. It’s so pretty and overflowing!

Looking for something to add that vintage touch to your wedding or event? Wine barrels? Trunks? Kristin from ReUp Designs & Events has just want you need! She brought some of her awesome finds to our little event that just set the tone!

Tea cups make for a lovely and simple centerpiece, wouldn’t you agree?? And who doesn’t just LOVE garden roses? These pink ones were incredible!!

TREATS!!  Thank you Cassy, from Celebratory Treats! Gluten free never tasted so good.

A different way to show off your flowers, we thought this cake stand was so adorable and  had to incorporate it somewhere. The treat table was a perfect fit!

The boys from Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler really hit it from head to toe! They looked so cute in their vests too!

These gorgeous girls from Morgan Scott Boutique really added that special touch to our tea party with their handmade headpieces. We had the pleasure of wearing a couple of their beautiful work during the event!

I Love the way this little mason jar transformed the cocktail area! Those colors just really popped!!

We served two different blends of tea, decaf and regular, which were a big hit! As I was constantly having to run back to the kitchen and make more. It was definitely yummy! I highly recommend TEAVANA in the Mission Viejo mall.

If you attended, then you got one of our adorable party favors! Which also has a coupon that you can use for on your next event or wedding!

We would like to sincerely thank everyone who was involved and helped make this Bridal Tea Party a ginormous success!! We could not have done it with out you all!!

Much Love,

Michelle and Marisa

The arch Marisa built and stained turned out better than I could have ever have imagined it! She is SO crafty and I am SO thankful to have her has my partner…in crime !

Thanks to the lovely and TALENTED Megan Young of Megan Young Graphic Design & Photography, we were able to have her work with us and be a major part of our photo shoot! She is so great to work with and I can’t wait until our next project!

We wanted to keep this project very organic and chose flowers that were very earthy. Using flowers such as Kale, air plants, acacia, hydrangea with roses and Spanish moss, I think we accomplished it beautifully!

The bridal bouquet is a combination of all the lovely flowers we used. Adding in succulents to keep with the organic theme. Using lace to wrap, I think this might be one of my favorites, I’ve ever made! It was just so sweet and smelled amazzzzzzing!!

Every groom needs to match his bride, so I decided to give our imaginary groom plenty of options to choose from. I just love how these came out! How awesome is the mint in there!?

Its come to my attention that flower crowns are becoming an up and trendy thing for some brides, so with this opportunity to do whatever I wanted, I decided to make one and model it for you personally… HAHA!

And no wedding is complete without a centerpiece to place at all your tables for your lovely guests, to finish it off we created a beautiful arrangement in an awesome tin container. Did I mention how lovely everything smelled?!

Finally, if you happen to be in the area, Dana Point CA, March 23rd from 3-6pm we will be hosting a Bridal Tea Party to show off more of our lovely work as well as other local vendors. If you are looking for something fun and unique to add to your special day come check out what these wedding professionals have to offer!!

We’d love to meet and inspire you!

It seems that 2012 was all about the color purple and weddings all over were blowing  it up!

Here are a few of our favorites from last year.

This bride loved purple and let us incorporate shades of maroon and fuchsia to really add a great contrast with the purple Orchids and lavender roses. I absolutely LOVE all the purple orchids in this wedding!! A beautiful bouquet for a GORGEOUS bride!!

Have I told you I love orchids? These purple mokara orchids were incredible! I want to scream with joy when I look at these boutonnieres!!

An elegant and eye-catching arrangement for the check in table. The purple hydrangea was insane! Love the dusty miller and curly willow.

For another purple wedding of ours, we got to incorporate the blue tones. Adding peacock feathers to the mix for that cherry on top effect!

The purple, which look like a bright blue, anemone’s are one of my favorites and really popped in these bouquets!

We incorporated maroon in this wedding. To help save on cost, because we all have a budget,  (and I probably shouldn’t be telling you, oops)  we substituted maroon carnations (Yeah, I said it. Carnations.) for a few dahlia’s and BOOM you still have a beautiful centerpiece and nobody knows, except you. So hush! Haha

This wedding was small and intimate at a restaurant.  With a river rock runner surrounded by clusters of floating candles and flower centerpieces, this made a big impact with little effort!

This next wedding reception had the same type of feel to it. Even with a small guest number the variety in vase size, centerpieces and candles it really blended well with the color scheme.

The only rectangle table at this next wedding was the head table, which was incredibly long! We used three wooden boxes, maybe 3 1/2 feet long with two smaller manzanita branch centerpieces in between. It was a great way to break up the flowers and add some height.

When you have long rectangle tables, most commonly your going to have a lot of little arrangements to spread out like this next wedding did. This was a bigger sized wedding with two incredibly long picnic style tables. A lace table runner was laid down with clusters of various containers and flowers. I just loved how sweet this wedding turned out!

And finally, this last wedding incorporated longer low arrangements with bud vases and floating candles. I love how simple and elegant the table turned out! Peonies and Gardenia’s, LOVE!!!

With the weather finally cooling down around here its beginning to feel like Fall!! I absolutely love this time of year!! The leaves are changing, it’s getting cold and I can finally wear my Ugg boots, scarfs and jackets! Hot cocoa by the fireplace here I come….well soon enough. This time of year also gets super busy wedding wise, which is why I havent had time to blog! I’m forcing myself to sit down and take a breath to tell all you lovelies out there about a super fun and creative event my sister and I recently got to be a part of!

Pottery Barn was having their Friends and Family event and asked for two floral centerpieces; one Fall themed and the other Winter. Now, I love the holidays, don’t get me wrong, but my sister Marisa…LIVES for the holidays!  She is SO incredibly crafty and has been bugging me about what we’re going to do for the holidays flower wise since, I’d say,  the middle of summer, at least! Haha! Nothing wrong with that!

Oh, ok, so back to Pottery Barn…. with this opportunity to do absolutely whatever I wanted (which really doesn’t ever happen) I wanted to do something GOOOOD, and BIG, and holiday ishh with an elegant touch to it. I didn’t want to stick a turkey in the middle of a bunch of orange hoopla and call it done.  So, after looking thru a bunch of different materials for inspiration, it was time to put our plan into action and go pickin ( literally I mean pickin!).

I already had these GIANT crates that I wanted to use, so we were going to have to definitely downsize it…

So Marisa and her husband went to work sanding and resizing it.

Once we had the box ready, we were able to put our blend of cream, sand, pale orange and brown flowers together. I went picking, literally (see I told you!), through my friends neighborhood and found some foliage like magnolia leaves, dusty miller, sycamore leaves and other goodies to add that special FALL touch!!

And thanks to the lovely and TALENTED Megan Young of Megan Young Graphic Design & Photography, we were able to turn this into a mini photo shoot!

I’d like to take this opportunity to say that this could very well have been a  country inspired, vintage/rustic Fall wedding. So after making this lovely beast of mine, I got crazy and made a bridal bouquet to match!

Megan is so good with what she does and I highly recommend her for any or all your photographic needs! Check her out at www.megan-y.com for more information and samples of her work! I can not wait to collaborate with her again!

If your wedding is in a place that already has an arch with natural greens growing on it (on a budget or not) I suggest using it! Its simple, ready to be used, and if you wanted to touch it up you can! This particular wedding was at a private residence that had a great surrounding garden area, arch included! Their reception was already jam-packed with so many different props and flowers that leaving the ceremony simple was a great idea. We did nothing to the natural structure, but add fisherman hooks down the aisle with hanging bubble bowls that had a succulent and moss in them. I LOVED how adorable and simple these were!

Keeping with our simple theme, we move on to adding one item to the Arch. This next wedding  was done at the Big Red Barn in Huntington Beach (if your theme is country I highly recommend checking out this location, its adorable!!) and the ceremony was kept very organic with a simple succulent spray. It was the only item added to the ceremony, aside from all the personals, and I thought it turned out very well!

Rather then placing flowers just at the top, you can place them on either side of the arch. This normally works better (I think anyway) on arches that are square verses round. The next few weddings are some examples. The first has the flowers placed lower than normal and  this structure had some natural vines growing on it. Sheer curtains were added, it turned out lovely!

Instead of placing your flowers low, you can place them high on the corners like this next wedding. A Jewish Chuppah was built up on the lawn area at a Golf Course in San Diego and flowers were added, trails of ribbons: yellow ombre. I just loved the white orchids and curly willow spraying out! It Looked GORGEOUS!!

After two comes three, so this next wedding shows the combination of adding flowers on the center and the sides. I feel this is a more traditional approach to an arch. A classic beauty!

So enough of this counting business, we have seen and hopefully understand now what a floral spray looks like and how they can be placed to arches. But what if your venue or church doesn’t have an arch? And your thinking to yourself, that this all might be too much for you? Well, that leads me to another option you can have! Pillars! These are easier to transport and set up and still look amazing after adding vases or candles and of course flowers!

Here we have two beautiful tropical arrangements (that can easily be reused for the reception if you wanted to) on top of two white pillars. Still a lovely sight to stand in front of to say your I Do’s!

These pillar arrangements can get really big or small. It’s really all about what you want. ( if you would like to see more examples of bigger pillar arrangement’s check us out on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sevenstems). In a Penthouse suite in downtown San Diego we added more than one size pillar to contribute to this weddings contemporary vibe.

OK, moving right a long, we venture back to arches. This time we’re going to get fully loaded with flowers!! Instead of doing simple sprays, you could get really “crazy” and do full coverage!! It will be more costly, but if you can do it, I WOULD!! It will just take your breath away! One of my favorites, is this beauty below. Just breathe it in!

If you love the full top coverage and think, I WANT MORE, you can add smaller side sprays like this next wedding did. Although there is a lot going on here, it is still “simple” because it’s all one type of flower; White Dendrobium Orchids!

This next couple wanted the works!! Not only did they do a FULL coverage arch, which you will see here. They also wanted the pillars with giant flower arrangements on top. Combined with an aisle fully lined with petals it was definitely a sight to see!

Notice that the beginning of this wedding had lots of color that popped all the way down to the white arch! (A minor detail that you might really like and want to incorporate.) I thought it turned out magnificent!

If your one of those girls who LOVE crystals and pearls,but still have that earthy romantic vibe, this next arch is one you will love!! It was fully covered in curly willow (to cover up the hideous iron arch that venue already had) and we added several floral sprays varying in size to make it absolutely beautiful!

And lastly, evening ceremonies! I haven’t mentioned much about night weddings, but boy can you have a lot of fun with those. This wedding in particular lit it UP, literally, with the amount of candles used. Lining the whole aisle from start to finish, with candles hanging from the manzanita tree branches to surrounding the platform. It was absolutely insane!!!

LOVE!!!!!!!

I was fortunate enough to be part of an industrial photo shoot and this one was funky with tools! A washer was added to fabric leaves, ranunulus buds and filler. COOL!

This boutonniere had a very ‘picked out of the garden’ vibe! It had the herbs to give it a fresh aroma and the burlap ribbon to add a country edge to it!

To stay in the country, here is one that was made out of wheat, rosemary, and some wax flower. It definitely screamed barn wedding!

This one might be my favorite! It just looks so happy and makes me smile! Yellow Ranunculus, billy balls and chamomile with filler!

Making a 2nd appearance on the blog scene, is a boutonniere that I made for our 2nd photo shoot! I love using lavender. Rosemary makes for a great green filler too. I used Scabiosa buds to garnish!

Yellow and white are just so adorable together! Especially with the burlap, I feel like I’m in the country! Lisianthus and billy balls with filler make for a sweet boutonniere (or can multi-task for a mothers corsage! Just had a bow and ta da!

Speaking of corsage’s, I think its time to introduce our first one to the post! This is a wrist corsage consisting of a garden rose, dahlia and seeded eucalyptus with a burlap bow. It was pretty massive, but I still love the way it looked! (And grandmothers typically like a bigger corsage, so splurge!)

Another type of corsage is a pin on. This one has everything in it and looooks gooood! Wheat, succulent, lavender you name it! It’s got it! Lace ribbon to finish it off.

Here we decided to keep it simple with just ranunulus and greens. Lace to finish!

Kids also get to dress up for special occasions and if your little guy is in the wedding he gets something too! This looks big, but it’s just a mini succulent for the ring bearer!

I hope this helps you get a better idea of how creative you can get with your boutonnieres and corsages!

Happy Creating!

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It’s that time again! Unlimited freedom to create whatever I want for the pleasure of sharing with all of you wonderful people! Setting up and creating a design can easily become a love hate relationship for me; I get to create whatever I want, but I have to limit myself and pick one theme! Unlike the first photo shoot, where we did a spread of different bridal bouquets, I wanted to create more of one style: bridal bouquet, boutonniere and one table centerpiece that had various pieces to play around with. One of my favorite colors to work with is purple, and it always goes great with white and different textures/shades of green. To keep an earthy feel I decided to add succulents, herbs, and spring flowers. (Oh yea, we really got into it this time!!) I found a really CUTE bird-cage, which has been the popular subject around me lately, and some candle holders to match. **I had a wedding a few weeks ago which was entirely bird themed…all kinds of feathers EVERYWHERE, bird-cage centerpieces with random bird figurines which all blended together perfectly and became one of my favorite weddings I’ve ever done. I had to share, sorry!** SO back to our photo shoot…. It turned out just lovely and I am once again so incredibly thankful for all the wonderful help I received to make this possible! I couldn’t have done it with out all of you, and of course the big man upstairs to feed my brain with these creative juices

This bridal Bouquet was your traditional round shape, but I added some jasmine vines and other cascading herbs to give it more of a romantic look.

The boutonniere to match, was made from lavender,  black scabiosa buds and some rosemary. Wrapped in the same fabric as the bridal bouquet.

The table centerpiece had many parts to it, that could be combined and rearranged countless times and gave off a different feel every time! My favorite piece was the bird cage of course, as well as the candlesticks ….and the cool wooden boxes. OK I loved it all!!

Here’s a closer look inside the bird cage, super simple, yet it stands out and looked amazing! Succulents, scabiosa pods (the brown lollipop looking thing) anemones, birch branches and jasmine.

Cant forget to mention the Spanish moss, the grey hairy curly looking stuff, it might seem strange, but it adds such an organic vibe! Not to mention more bird like if that is your theme

The short candlestick was I think the prettiest to look at. It had the best combo of all elements and really took my breath away!

These cubes, or wooden boxes were a cute addition to the table centerpieces. They had the same flowers, but brought a whole new vibe to the mix because of their shape and container.

This type of centerpiece would go best on a rectangular table, as it can be spread out to cover more area and really stand out. Candles, small votive or floating, can be added to the mix to really make it spectacular! You could also add bud vases to really fill it in and make an even greater impact!

I want to thank everyone who helped make this photo shoot happen! I have the best family and friends a girl could ask for! Thank you GOD

This head table was one of my favorites because it incorporated long wooden boxes with some manzanita trees in between.

Silver Urns in my opinion are very romantic! There was no variation in size for this particular wedding, but these urns made a big impact with their simplicity and beauty.

This may not seem like your typical short arrangement, but compared to the other centerpieces (which you can see in my blog about the big guys) they were. I love how each vase is filled with one type of flower, complimenting each other and definitely making a huge impact.

A very tropical wedding used short arrangements not only for their centerpieces, but also for the bar decor adding a little bit of beauty to an already gorgeous setting.

I love wood boxes! They add so much natural beauty, especially if your vibe is very earthy. Succulents are also one of my favorites and I just drooled over this entire wedding!

Adding props is also very easy to do when you have short centerpieces! These lanterns were very cool and looked great with their candles lit at night! (Tip: Short arrangement’s don’t even necessarily have to be in a container, these were made on bamboo plates!)

For smaller wedding parties, short centerpieces just make more sense. To spice up these arrangements, a river rock runner and clusters of floating candles were added. Such a great idea!!

More wood boxes, but this time much shorter to allow better flower coverage. They also have space for candles to add more of a romantic feel.

I absolutely LOVE this color combo!! It is just so happy and really made a big impact with the different sizes and adding the floating candles.

This is one of may favorite combo’s!!

Here is a good example of mixing all types of flowers together; spring and tropicals with pearl accents.

This is a VERY traditional and simple Phalaenopsis Orchid bouquet in a holder..(Which means there are no stems to wrap with ribbon, its in a plastic holder/piece the bride holds)

This is a very bright and tropical bouquet, round in shape with calla lilies, roses and green cymbidium orchids! Definitely demanding attention!

Another traditional style bouquet, but with a not so traditional flower!

Another great mix of spring and tropical flowers!

Here is another traditional cascade bouquet, but with a very TROPICAL and WILD feel to it. I L-O-V-E IT!!!

And last but not least, a bright tropical bouquet with a simple touch to it. I love these two colors together, they really pop against each other!

I thank God for all these brides! For the opportunity to get really creative and design unique, breathtaking bouquets!!