Foreign Cinema restaurant celebrated being open for twelve years with a big festive bash last Thursday. The theme was rock and roll and we, well, rolled with it. To us rock and roll flowers meant nails, vibrant red and lots of soft vs. edgy juxtaposition.

A huge flower ball was the main centerpiece of the dining room. It took 320 carnations to make this sphere. Who says flowers can’t be rock and roll, baby?!

Rock on,

The truth is, I am a planner. Almost to a fault. This trait comes in very usefully when planning the design for my clients. Yet somehow, when it came to planning the floral design for my own wedding, I didn’t come up with a plan until the week of my wedding. I had the unique opportunity to truly let the season’s beauty guide my vision and decided that I wanted to use what flowers were most beautiful on that day. I have wonderful vendors at the San Francisco Flower Market and I let them know that I’d want whatever was most beautiful, most unique and most perfect for my wedding. That is exactly what I got. I was married on June 18th, and this is what my flowers looked like…

For my bouquet I chose huge peonies, garden roses, bunny tail, ranunculus and green strawberries all tied together with yards and yards of vintage ribbon. A matching strawberry and bunny tail boutonniere is what I made for my groom. And, could you imagine more gorgeous photos? The master of light, Flory Photo, captured the natural beauty of the day so deliciously.

Everyone loves wearing flowers, so why not let all the guests make their own boutonniere, corsage and hair flower? We set out trays of flowers, hair pins and straight pins and let me guests get creative! It was so fun to see everyone wearing the flowers in their own unique way. An extra special thank you to my production manager, Jenny, for working so hard so that I could just enjoy the weekend.

We didn’t have a bridal party but we did have eleven flower children. We made ribbon wands for the boys and decorated wood baskets with textural ribbon and more peonies. This flower girl really took her title to heart!

My father mad a swing just for the wedding. As a child we had one just like this hanging from a tree in our front yard so the symbolism of it was really meaningful to me. Of course we had to add flowers to it! Rosemary, “bowl of cream” peonies, bunny tail and garden roses made even the swing festive!

So, there you have it. The flowers from my wedding!

Japanese Anemones are one of my all time favorite flowers. They are delicate and graphic at the same time. My Grandmother Lucile grew them in her garden where they return each time this year. They are a special flower and I was thrilled to see them at the market this past week. I snatched them up and used them in the arrangements we did for a wedding at the Foreign Cinema Gallery.

The dusty palate included succulents, dahlias, acacia, dusty  miller, japanese anemones, scabiosa, garden roses and lavender. Oh, how we love this combination of blooms.

Escort card tables can be perfectly planned and designed and in one gust of wind destroyed leaving confused guests with no idea which table they are to sit at. Using ribbon to anchor the cards is a very easy and graphic way to keep the cards in place. At a recent event with AE Planning and Design (Alison Events) at Fogarty Winery this is exactly what we did. It worked!