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Wedding in the Woods

Moss fashions, faux antlers, and paper animals? Oh my!

Oh yes. We (Lola Event Floral & Design) recently participated in Weddings in Woodinville, an exclusive wedding show in which vendors are hand picked for awesomeness and asked to transform a space as if jaws dragging on floors were the main objective.

We were selected by Kelli at Shindig Events which is excellent since we go together like charred crust on a roasted sh’mallow. We were teamed up with Matthews Estate Winery, an expansive site with tons of options for amazing events, and Shane Macomber with Shane Macomber Photography.

Good thing we handed out napkins… to wipe the dirt off the jaws…. from the dragging, you know. And the drool off the leaves… and the tears of joy… and the anticipatory perspiration… and the… nevermind.

Spanish moss, a cord of wood, and airy forest greenery! Um,I should mention that we rent these things.

the Spanish moss from below. Magical.

Rustic furniture, big ole clear tent, warmth, plates and glass by ABC rentals by Cort, linens by Creative Coverings, table design by Shindig, paper by Paper Fling, Flowers by Lola

faux antler chandelier, yo. That’s actually what the bride is saying with her eyes… that and “Thanks for the warm shrug, yo.”

Sometimes when there is so much awesome, you need some simplicity to balance it out.

Pinecone garland

Smore deliciousery by Lady Yum. (and they were)

I’m glad we pulled off this shrug just before the event started. Dresses here and below by Dress Theory, hair and makeup by Off White, and headpieces by Off White and Madprops.

Fine, fine suit by Trillium

Garden Rose, bouvardia, and freesia bouquet by Lola Event Floral & Design

Our fine, fine, elk man made of papier mache,sticks, and paper products, in a fine, fine suit by Trillium tailor. Elk suits were out of stock so we had to squeeze him into a human suit.

This photo is by Soper Photography

Paper by Paper Fling.

Eats provided by Foodz Catering.

Super awesome lights provided by the Bunch Store.

Sh’mallows roasting over a chalkboard fire.

More yummies by lady yum. The red ones were mango Habanero. They blew my mind.

Tags: abc rentals, barnwood, bouquet, burlap, camping, candles, ceremony, creative coverings, dress theory, ferns, forest, garden roses, glamping, gold, green, hair pieces, hunting, lady yum, lodge, lola event floral & design, lola floral, macarons, mad-props, matthews estate winery, off white seattle, paper fling, reception, rustic, shane macomber photography, shindig events, smores, soper photography, succulents, table centerpiece, wedding flowers, wedding gown, weddings in woodinville, white, woodland

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Categories Floral Design, Green Weddings, Weddings

A Novel Place to Get Married

13 Nov

This summer we at Lola Event Floral & Design had the pleasure of working with an out of the ordinary, self-described “coupla nerds.” There’s nothing like a new idea to get the create juices really pumping. Cindy and Sam’s desire for a no real flowers allowed, triumphant expression of all the things they love led us and their creative team to a truly one of a kind wedding. Perhaps the most triumphant piece (besides a glowing bride and groom and proud family) was our fantastic book arch. We really just can’t shut our mouths about it.

So if you haven’t already seen it on the Huffington Post or other outlets, here it is again- this time with our own photos. Definitely go to Alex Rubin’s page for pics of the beautiful couple, more book arch, and more wedding photos.

Thank you, also, to the couple for being so neato and for choosing such a great team of creative professionals

To the Lola Event Floral & Design team for all the great pieces and long hours of mindless book drilling.

Pink Blossom Events for planning, paper flower centerpieces, and in general making everything work.

Sodo Park/ Herban Feast for the iconic site and tasty eats

Heathoriginals for paper flower mastery

and Rubin Photography for capturing it all.

Tags: arbor, bibliophile, book arch, book pages, canopy, cindy and sam, decor, library theme, lola event floral & design, lola floral, nerdy wedding, novel, paper flowers, reading, sodo park, wedding arch

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Categories Business Events, Crafty, Floral Design, Green Weddings, Weddings

Scottish Moorland Themed Arrangement at the UW Botanic Gardens

6 Aug

Open and airy heathlands, lush textures, and a deep earthy feel. These are the elements we at Lola Event Floral & Design portrayed through our Scottish Moorland inspired centerpiece displayed at this July’s UW Botanic Garden Vendor Showcase.

Every texture and color conveyed richness and movement. Since we were located at the Botanic Garden, what a great opportunity to display landscape plants that are uncommonly used in floral design.

These photos were taken by the talented Tracie Howe over at Tracie Howe Photography. You will have seen hers (and our work) in May’s travel themed post in Wedding Chicks.

Here we show local physocarpus, willow, Mexican feather grass, and Blue Star Juniper in a copper trumpet vase. Also shown are orange coffeebreak roses, green hydrangea, spanish moss, faux pheasant feathers, and grapewood. Table, runner, and furnishings beyond are by Vintage Ambiance- Vintage and Antique rentals.

This arrangement began (as they all do) with a sketch.

More yummy, rich, fall colors were displayed on Vintage Ambiance’s display. They featured their new farm tables, gold toned vintage vases, and amber glass vessels.

Place settings by Vintage Ambiance, elegant invites by Izzy Girl.

I just love those ruffly Coffeebreak roses.

Tags: aubergine, brass, center for urban horticulture, coffeebreak rose, dianthus, eggplant, fall, Floral Design, grapewood, grass, green hydrangea, green trick ball, hydrangea, juniper, lola event floral & design, lola floral, moss, nasella, ninebark, oatgrass, orange, pheasant feathers, physocarpus, purple, scottish moorland, seattle, sticks, succulents, table centerpiece, tracie howe photography, UW Botanic Gardens, vintage ambiance, vintage table, wedding flowers

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Categories Floral Design, Gardening, Green Weddings, Weddings

Kate and Joseph’s Wedding!

2 Aug

The top five reasons why we loved working with Kate and Joseph on their joy filled wedding?

Number 5- You know how much we love working with Pravda Studios.

Number 4- You know how much we love sticks…. and logs… and rocks. There are so many situations and arrangements in life that can be improved with a stick.

Number 3- You know how much we love our Seattle University community and the luminous St. Ignatius Chapel

Number 2- Clearly Joseph understands the joy and power that comes from sporting Party Socks as shown in Kim Hayes’ photo collage capturing the event.

And finally- Number 1- This is actually the first time I, personally, have experienced an exuberant, purely joy-filled bride on her wedding day. No sign of stress, no nerves, just bursting happiness and excitement. I hope Kate will write a letter for every other bride on how it is done. With all the tradition and timeline, it’s hard to remember that weddings are the ultimate party. These two, and their families knew that.

So thank you Kate and Joseph for the inspiring presentation on how to rock your wedding.
We’ve taken notes!

Below are some images of Kate and Joseph’s centerpieces by Lola Event Floral & Design.
More (and way better) photos are available on Kim Haye’s Photography Blog.

These arrangements featured succulents, driftwood bowls, dusty miller, green and white rose, hosta leaves, green trick balls, and scabiosa buds.

Table numbers were applied to stained driftwood bits.

Delicate “cloud” vases held bits of hydrangea, bellflower, hydrangea, and peony.

Thanks to the newlyweds!

Tags: architectural, bellflower, blue, centerpieces, driftwood, Floral Design, grapewood, green, green hydrangea, green rose, green trick ball, grey, kate and joseph, logs, lola event floral & design, lola floral, minimal, natural, peony, pravda studios, scabiosa, seattle weddings, succulents, wedding flowers

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Categories Floral Design, Green Weddings, Weddings

Farm to Table: Flower Arrangements with Edibles.

23 Apr

I get a special kick out of watching people interact with our flower arrangements. We don’t get to see it too often since we are typically long gone when the event’s guests arrive. This is especially fun when they see something unexpected- like something they are usually seeing on their dinner plates. That’s why I was so excited when Ravishing Radish asked us to set up a unique “farm to table” themed set for their April tasting at the yacht club on Lake Union.

Vintage Ambiance let us ransack their cave of vintage treasures. We picked up some pieces from their new stash of milkglass vessels and some old crates.

We chose to stick with oranges, reds, and yellows mostly because the daffodils look so freegin’ delicious. They are truly the happiest flower I know. After heading to the flower market we stopped by the grocery store for some kumquat, peppers, parsley, chard, lettuce, artichokes, oranges, lemons, and strawberries…. and asparagus…. and tomatoes… oh and grapes. Maybe I should have had a snack before heading to the grocery store.

aside from the produce, we also incorporated ornamental artichoke foliage and scented geranium.

We coated the lemons, oranges, and strawberries with a thick layer of decorative sugar. Yummm.

Tags: artichoke, artichoke foliage, cherry brandy rose, crates, daffodil, farm to table, floral arranging, fruits in floral arrangements, geranium, grapes, kumquats, lemons, lettuce, lola event floral & design, milkglass, orange, oranges, parsley, peppers, ranunculus, ravishing radish, red, rice flower, salal, tulip, veggies in flower arrangements, vintage ambiance, yellow

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Categories Floral Design, Gardening, Green Weddings, Weddings

Earth, Water, Air, and Red.

12 Jan

Show and tell! Simple elements in a bright open space made for a bold statement for this summer wedding. The colors were red and white with black accents. We fused elements that hinted at the bride and groom’s Indian and Chinese heritage while still maintaining their modern style. The centerpieces were inspired by Chinese landscape design which aims to set up scenes and environments that are smaller scale, simplified versions of larger landscapes. Pond=lake, Large rock=mountain. You get the idea.

This event was held at Pravda Studios on Capitol Hill and was catered by Lisa Dupar Catering. Red Sparrow Photography kindly came by to shoot some pics of our lovely arrangements pre-event.

Intermingled driftwood branches! You really don’t need much else for a striking shape and focal point.

Have I mentioned how much I love Pravda Studios? The light in here is amazing.

We used local water-lily dahlias in lieu of more costly and less available lotus blossoms. Bamboo stands in and outside of the water basin and mimics the Seattle skyline. The bamboo is painted in red enamel.

Half of the tables had the bamboo and half included these shiny black stones. This is the mountain part.

We always have a hard time staying inside the container.

Each table had one black napkin. That was the groom’s idea.

Hooray!
Another great thing about these event arrangements? No waste- well, maybe the candles. Everything is either a reusable, or a compostable.

PS, check out Lola Floral in this season’s issue of Seattle Bride in the “Paper Parade” article.

Tags: artistic, black, black stones, centerpiece, cylinder vase, dahlia, driftwood branches, eclectic, floral arrangement, minimal, modern wedding, pravda studios, reception, red, wedding flowers, white

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Categories Floral Design, Green Weddings, Weddings

Flowers for Fresh Leaders.

6 Dec

We recently did some flowers for an Ubermind Event that turned out really well. It was held at the lovely, airy, and gasp-inducing Pravda Studios and used fresh green and a pop of rust color. A little bit of research into the company gave me some direction on where we would go to make these flowers super awesome. — well as much direction as I can get by deducing ones brand soley from web design.

Ubermind:

Dynamic, young, edgy- How about we use some unusual shapes and unexpected additions

Innovative, resourceful- How about some smartly up-cycled elements.

Young and bold- um… chili peppers?

Smart and creative- All this dynamism could easily get away from us, so let’s make sure the creative impulses are wrapped in an orderly, measured way that conveys some elegance and organization.

Seattle- Something tells me there’s a lot of facial hair and bike riders over in Ubie Land. Probably weekly meetings are at coffee shops and instead of costco pastries, they have organic, vegan donuts in their conference room- Great effort has been spent to make their conference room less conference-room-like. It probably is very open and friendly with semi reclining furniture and tactile things to play with. (Mr Potato Head?) They probably have a resident Beagle or Blood Hound. Definitely a Blood Hound… named Blossom. (sigh) so definitely some local/ organic flowers are in order.

Hooray!

The curly fabric is recycled rags. Peppers are from the Pike Place Market.

Wahoo!

Tags: business events, carnations, celery, corn, corporate, eucalyptus, green, hydrangea, lily grass, natural, orange, pravda, protea, recycled fabric, red chillies, rust, solidago, ubermind, white

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Categories Business Events, Color, Floral Design, Green Weddings

Flower Baby

24 Oct

When I send my flower babies out into the world. I hope they will succeed. I hope they will find people who will love them. I hope they are taken care of. I hope they stay strong and healthy. I hope they hold it together. I hope each flower supports its neighbor. I hope they work well together knowing that, together, they can achieve so much more. I hope a lot of people take notice. And perhaps most of all, I hope their work in the world is documented beautifully through images. I hope those images find their way back to me so that I can remember and share the joy they brought to all.

I am so happy that this flower baby came across the likes of Jason and Jenny, the lovely team at JKoe Photography for Rachel and Ben’s lovely wedding. They grasped all that floral success and put it in a photo that oozes beauty.

Photo by JKoe Photography

Thank you guys! And thank you to Rachel and Ben for bringing this flower baby to life.

I love the tie, by the way.

And while sitting at my computer…for some reason drawing a flower baby seemed more interesting than doing what I was supposed to be doing.

So here you are world.

Oh, no. Honey you’re not ready for the world.

There now. That’s a pretty flower baby.

Tags: boutonniere, burgundy, creme de la creme roses, dahlia, drawing of a flower lady, dusty miller, eucalyptus, flower baby, garden rose, grey, herban feast sodo park, jkoe photography, kale, light yellow, phalaenopsis, purple, purple calla lily, ranunculus, scabiosa, sedum, vintage, wedding bouquet, wedding flowers, white

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Categories Floral Design, Green Weddings, Weddings

The Spirit of Autumn, Florified

8 Oct

I’m writing this blog with a big ol’ Darth Vadar-esque respirator on my face. Not because it’s almost Halloween and I need to practice obtrusive breathing, but because my house is making me miserable. My house has revolted against us and sixty some years of homeowners who neglected some much needed home improvements. We’ve basically spent the last two months rebuilding a good chunk of our house. And today is clean up day. The day my dear house’s tears of construction muck are wiped away, her newly insulated surfaces polished up, and given the big “Your gonna be okay” pat on the… wall.

The last month’s house challenges have sent me and my house into a state of depression. The kind that can only be comforted with episodes of Glee in bed (the only room that is unaffected) and bad food choices (specifically flour tortillas fried in butter until they are 30% black). Yum but not so healthy. But big changes that shake up routine in some areas, seem to shake up other areas. And out of this period of chaos has come… well, more chaos of the good kind. In desperation to get away from my house, I’ve finally moved my biz to a bona-fide workshop. It’s still not open to the public, but dedicated and outfitted for making some event magic. It’s in Lake City and I couldn’t be more excited about it. With some publicity from Floral Design Magazine and more in the works, we’re finally ready to give Lola Floral a loving kick in the ass it needs to make our moving and shaking less like spastic gyrations and more like a funky new groove. An updated business vision, a comfy new ‘thinking chair’, and some exciting new projects are all building up the excitement. AND my sister had a baby girl. So hooray! Wahoo for happy changes and wahoo for fall because isn’t that what fall is all about? Or was it about the hokie pokie? hmmmm….

And what better day for rebuilding/ restarting/ new beginnings than a crisp, sunny fall day. It is perfect here in Seattle. My favorite kind of day that would only be made better if I weren’t hacking drywall out of my lungs. And really, what better flower arrangement to celebrate all this than this one here. Local and organic through and through. So textural and welcoming you could scoop it up and give it a nose nudge…. or strap a collar on it and take it for a walk….. or dab some silky, frothy, steamed milk foam on top and slurp it off…. Maybe my respirator is also restricting oxygen intake.

Purple kale, by the way, is a rockstar for floral arranging. I also used it in wedding flowers last night. Of course, before using, trials were run. After leaving a leaf out in my warm workshop for 24 hours – no water, the kale was still as turgid as ever. No wiring needed.

This hanging amaranth is so amazing. Thank you to the local flower farmer’s coop for bringing us such wonderful, unusual plants. And for the asian pears. I swear I ate two! And for the brownies on Wednesday.

That is pink snowberry back there… (eeeeeee!) I love it. I also love it in your yard so you should plant it. Then you can invite me over and we can admire it together. I will bring warm cornbread….

All right, time to spiff this place up. This fantastic arrangement is available for groping at Brown’s Coffee. The coffee will inspire you too.

Tags: asian pears, black, celosia, concrete container, dusty miller, eucalyptus, fall, floral arrangement, fruit in flower arrangement, green, grey, kale, limelight hydrangea, magenta, pink, purple, ranunculus, snowberry, symphoricarpos, table centerpiece, wedding flowers, yellow

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Categories Brown's Coffee Flowers, Floral Design, Green Weddings, Weddings

Botanic Garden Part II: Garden Party Table Arrangement.

6 Sep

I fell in love with plaster during my anxious days as a sculpture and landscape architecture student. Besides the obvious uses to cast things, I love using it as a medium for paints and pigments, a crusty glue, and my go-to material to give my hands that 25 years-older dried out look. Lovely. This table top was inspired by some plaster fabric botanical forms I made for something else (that didn’t work out). We worked them into this rustic, table top piece with sculptural plants and vintage rentals (chairs, glasses, and plates) from Vintage Ambiance. This table, like the previous post: “Goodfellow’s Stylish Grey Lady” was part of the University of Washington’s First Annual Vendor Showcase for the Botanic Gardens.

And just like before, photos here are by Red Sparrow Photography.

Yay.