color palette: green, gold and dusty blue

I was inspired by a friend's wedding ring search to create an inspiration board for an event based on the soft glint of gold and dusty blue-green. Click on the image to see full-size.

Invitation: Bella Bella Co.
Venue Image: Love, Luck and Angels
Succulent favor: Pollen Floral Art
Layered jacket image: {frolic}
Ring: Jane Diaz at Eliza Page
Drink: White Sangria from Donna Hay
Bouquet: Pollen Floral Art

heather balliet of amorology

If you read Style Me Pretty, you'll be familiar with Heather Balliet's beautiful work. I was immediately drawn to the details and flowers in this hot pink and orange wedding that's featured on her website. Heather started out her career in a non-profit organization counseling and assisting clients through crisis intervention, which seems like the perfect precursor to starting Amorology, her company in wedding design and event planning.

What an unexpected tie for a wedding, I love it!

"When my daughter Heather decided to turn her passion for wedding design into a full-fledged business and encouraged me to not only do what I love but turn it into a business with her, Amorology Weddings, and respectively Twigg Botanicals were born," says Robin Mathis, who did all the floral design for this wedding.


Don't forget to check out Heather's blog First Comes Love...Amorology. It's filled with behind-the-scenes tips and more Amorology weddings. I'm always curious why people start blogging and when I asked Heather she said, "I decided to start blogging to keep my brides in the loop with what I was doing and also as a type of journal for myself and place to gather ideas. I was really concerned in the beginning that it would be too time consuming to keep up with, amid all of the other planning and things that keep me busy from appointments to being a mommy of two! Any extra effort that it has taken though has definitely been worth it! It has been a wonderful avenue for making connections in the bridal industry and for exposing more of my work as well as that of my vendors too. It has been my best source of advertising so far! I love it!"

Thanks for all the inspiration Heather! All images by Jamie Hammond Photography.

real wedding: purple, white, green and orange

The setting for this wedding was a relocated and renovated chapel in a quaint events center on the outskirts of Austin. Very authentic and Texasy. The bride chose greens, purples and white accented with orange, with the odd bird's nest thrown in. I had such a blast creating all the unique personal flowers and arrangements...

Ceremony image shots by YiMay Yang, a great Austin-based photographer.

The arrangements flanking the ceremony are filled with globe allium, green hydrangea, fresh lotus pods, white agapanthus, fern curls, branches, bells of Ireland, a maidenhair fern plant, white dendrobium orchids, and real birds nests (found on the ground after a storm - no birdlings were harmed in the scavanging of these nests).

The centerpieces feature white peonies, umbrella fern foliage, grape hyacinth and a few kumquats.

The bride's bouquet was a profusion of interesting materials - peonies, grape hyacinth, hellebores, scabiosa pods, fresh poppy pods, fern curls, kiwi vine, umbrella fern foliage, and cut and whole kumquats.

The bouts and bridesmaids bouquets included some of the same elements, but each piece was unique to the person carrying or wearing it.

I was trying not to break down laughing when YiMay snapped this shot. "Ok, look like you're adding something to the arrangement..." when I was actually standing a few feet behind it. Ah, the tricks of the camera!

color palette: lemon, aqua, coral

Ooo, I'm so excited - there are a ton of great color palettes over on Style Me Pretty, including this one I put together. I had a heck of a good time going through all of the other entries! Click on below image to see it larger.

Inspiration image: Rebecca Thuss name cards
Bouquet: Brooke Howsley/Pollen Floral Art, with coral peonies, lemons, double yellow tulips and roses
Soup appetizer: The Knot, photo by Red Gallery Photography
Dress: The Knot, photo by Kimberley White Photography
Dog Collar: Etsy, Lily May Dog Ware
Tent: The Knot, Flashes Photography
Fabric Buttons: Etsy, Odannysgirl

aia event: black and white

Here's another one from the archives... I did an event for the Austin chapter of The American Institute of Architects a while back. The opening party for that year's Homes Tour was held at The Austin City Lofts, a building where I designed flowers for the lobby (last photo). The theme of the evening was 'black and white', so it was a fun challenge to make the arrangements interesting and appropriate, but also with an authentic Austin feel.


The above shots are inside two different lofts - two of the featured architects live in the building, and their homes were open for the evening.


The exterior pool area is beautifully landscaped by one of my favorite landscape artists, Big Red Sun, and the building itself is a stunning backdrop, with it's copper and limestone sheathing.


The floral elements included painted curly willow and bamboo, white eremurus, white mums, white orchids and lilies, cotinus foliage (smoke tree) and Purple Majesty millet.



I've never seen a bigger collection of Eames wooden leg splints - love how they are displayed as art. And below is a shot of the lobby of the lofts... I usually did succulents potted in glass cubes with moss and lichen under the photograph. The unique metal and stone table is by Fisterra Studio, a great husband and wife team that live in East Austin. Don't miss their open studio at the East Austin Studio Tour.

color palette: plum, burgundy and brown

It's squally with wind and rain here in Auckland, so today's inspiration board came out moody and richly colored. Though you could still throw an after-dark soiree with this theme in the Northern Hemisphere...


Place setting: Rebecca Thuss, photo by Lisa Hubbard
Lanterns, bouquet, glasses and cake: Love, Luck and Angels, event design by Jo Gartin
Boutonniere: Pollen Floral Art

color inspiration: kris's color stripes blog

Have you ever wanted to plan an event but didn't know how to choose the color scheme? Or needed inspiration to decorate a room with a unique and complex palette? Well, fear not, I've got just the blog for you... kris's color stripes is a riot of color inspiration! This talented Italian lady snaps images of beautiful Italian architecture, vintage children's illustrations and much more, then extracts the pure colors and puts together an easy-on-the-eyes swatch palette. I love the juicy colors in this shot of anemones.



The color palette below would be a great starting point for a baby shower. As a floral designer I'd love to have a client bring in these images, so I could put together a unique arrangement... Maybe pink peonies with dusty blue tweedia and yellow craspedia balls, green sage leaves, blue-gray succulents, and fluffy dusty miller in a vintage brown stump vase like this one. I'd use brown kraft paper instead of a table cloth, and let guests leave wishes for the baby in (color-coordinated) crayon! These votive candles would look great dotted around the table. Sophisticated but soft.


You can also see Kris's color palettes without the photographs at kris's color dots. Enjoy! And thanks Kris for such a well executed idea.

color palette: blue, white and black

Abby's running a great contest over at Style Me Pretty, which inspired me to compile a few images and submit an entry. She'll post the best inspiration boards the week of Monday June 30th - go check it out and vote for your favorite. I'll post my colorful entry here after the contest!

The collage below was inspired by the image of the couple getting married beside the sea in Italy...


Ceremony photo: Brides
Bouquet and Boutonniere: Pollen Floral Art
Invitations: MS Weddings, styling by Rebecca Thuss, photo by James Worrell
Candy favors: The Knot, photo by Under Grace Photo

welcome!

For this first post, I thought I'd share a few images from an event I did the flowers for about 3 years ago - my wedding. While it was exhausting to do it all (I had help), it was also incredibly gratifying to see everything turn out beautifully. All images by YiMay Yang, a wonderful Austin-based wedding photographer and graphic designer.

I had started my floral design business, Pollen Floral Art, the year before, and I was part of a group of crafty ladies who are involved in everything from architecture to fine arts. I am inspired by that community and the ones emerging on Etsy, Flickr and the blogosphere. The future is bright with that kind of talent finding it's voice.

So, crosspollination is a way to share what I find particularly stylish and beautiful in the world of floral design, and hopefully it will inspire and inform. There will be interviews, peeks into floral shops and homes that use flowers well, product and book reviews, inspiration boards, coverage of floral trends and much more...