It’s snowing! Well, not in San Francisco, but in much of the Country it is. Christmas was filled with inches upon inches of snow and a lot of cancelled flights. Hearing all these reports made me…envious! Last holiday season I was in New England where it snowed and snowed and all was peaceful and picturesque. This is the view from the guest suite at my future in-law’s home, and if I stare at it long enough I can imagine that it is snowing now!

Succulents are one trend I am not getting tired of. I love their color, their texture, and that when you are done using them in an arrangement you can just put it in the ground and plant it! Talk about green. One of my favorite boutonniere designs is a single simple succulent, as seen here in Leo Patrone’s photograph. Slightly masculine, slightly simple, slightly succulent.

Feathers are festive and fun but bit overplayed and I hesitate to use them in an expected way. When I met with this bride we talked about her vision for her bouquet and how we could use feathers to compliment her Shanghi 1920′s themed wedding. We came up with the dramatic design you see in these images. A total of almost four feet of feathers  and eighty stems of parrot tulips were  used in her bouquet.

Carnation and dahlia pomander’s complimented the guinea hen boutonnieres. Anna Kuperberg, who is one of the best wedding photographers in the country and one of my favorite vendors to work with, took the striking photos used at this Foreign Cinema Restaurant wedding.

I absolutely love holiday weddings! I love that there is already excitement in the air, I love the winter seasonal flowers and I love a bride who isn’t concerned that it may rain on her wedding day. My Grandparents were married on Christmas Eve and I have always loved the holidays so I have a certain fondness for winter brides.

Kate Webber did a beautiful job capturing images both in the traditional setting of the Fairmont Hotel and on an urban Mission District alley. It seems to perfectly sum up this couple.

Off to deck the  halls,

As a child setting the table was always one my favorite parts of the holidays. Nothing has changed. This Thanksgiving my fiance and I hosted ten guests for a festive dinner. We based the design of the table top decor on the “twitter” linen rented at La Tavola Fine Linens. It was fun and seasonal without being too obviously autumnal.

One of my favorite aspects of table setting has always been making place cards and choosing each guests seat. When I was a little girl, I would do so with crayons and lined paper. For our table this year, I chose to use paint swatches as our place cards. Oh, “verde” how you made our table pop!

Off to plan the Christmas table decor,