Justin & Amy - June 13, 2015

This summer I had the privilege of spending several days in Montreal to celebrate the union of Justin and Amy. They kept their guests busy with many fun events and lots of delicious food, and I kept myself busy creating more than 20 flower arrangements for their beautiful party. For their spring wedding, they wanted bright colors and a wildflower feel and they found some beautiful vintage green glass vases that really made the flowers pop.

Justin and Amy - thank you for letting me be a part of your happy day!

Photo Credit: Taran Matharu Photography

Sarah Winward Class at Christopher David

Look at these beautiful pictures that Jon Upchurch took at Sarah Winward's floral arranging class here in Portland. Cosmin at Christopher David was a great host and we all such a good time! If I could participate in learning like this every week, I definitely would!

For those of you who don't know, Sarah Winward is a destination wedding florist based in Salt Lake City, Utah. She works with local, in-season materials and taught me the art of foraging, which I tested out for the wedding I did this month in Montreal. Sarah is beautiful and so is her work.

sarahwinward.com/

Jon Upchurch is a film photographer based here in Oregon. He was fun to have around all day... quick with a smile and a camera, he captured some great details.

jonupchurchphotography.com/

Here is a peek at the project I did during class...

Waste Not, Want Not

One of the things I worried about when I started learning the art of flower arranging was all the waste. Don't misunderstand, I'm conscious of my environmental footprint, but I'm not a crazy person about it. At a recent party hosted by my husband and I, my poor partner spent half the evening trapped in the kitchen being lectured by a guest on the ins and outs of composting. I won't ever do that to you. I promise. I just don't want to discard all those beautiful bits and pieces leftover in my flower work!

When prepping your flowers, you remove a lot of leaves and short blooms before you even begin the work of making your composition. Some of those clippings will be so small that they go straight into the yard debris bin - there's nothing you can do about that - but don't throw away everything. Set the longer stems aside and save them to make a little hand-tied bouquet for yourself when you're done with your work. It's the perfect little keepsake reward after you're finished creating something beautiful for others.