Flower Power!

Flowers designed for novelest John Irving.

I was very excited to be able to design the flowers at a reception for one of America's most popular and respected authors—John Irving.  His novels include The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules. Irving was on Willamette University's campus on Wednesday, February 24, 2010, to deliver the spring Atkinson Lecture in that evening. 

Shades of blue & green featured flowers including green & ivory roses, Bells of Ireland, white Oriental lilies and delphiniums. Oh, and peacock feathers. I love working with the clear cylinders for elevated florals such as these, as you can use that "negative space" to create a bit of a terrarium. FUN! Can't wait for the next event! 

Click here to see the full article on Irving's visit to WU.

Donations to the 2010 Governor's Food Drive

The week before Valentine's Day, we donated several arrangements in support of an annual event:
the  2010 Governor’s State Employees Food Drive.

Different divisions within the State hold various raffles, sales and drives to raise money and gather food donations. We provided Valentine's themed designs that were raffled off that Friday before Valentine's Day.

Their drive ends this week, and thus far, they've collected the equivalent of 3,832 pounds of food to help feed our fellow Oregonians—and donations are still coming in. WOW!

Paper Zone wedding show today!

Here's a sweet little bouquet that goes with the citrus-themed table setting (see previous post) we did at the Salem Paper Zone's wedding show today. The show runs from 11am - 3pm, so stop by!

Paper Zone wedding show today! 11am - 3pm at the Salem Store

Wedding Ideas at Paper Zone-Salem -- this Saturday, Feb. 20

The PAPER ZONE is hosting a WEDDING IDEA SHOWCASE this Saturday, Feb. 20th, 11am - 3pm, inside their Salem store.

This is a great place to find inspiration for the invitation do-it-yourselfer, or anyone looking to add a personal flair to their programs, place cards, favors, thank-you's and MORE!

We'll have a little display with information & handouts, along with a wedding bouquet and a featured table (citrus, anyone?!).

For more information, be sure to call the Salem Store at (503) 364-9826 and ask for Tara.

Link to Paper Zone's site at:
http://www.paperzone.com/index.cfm

The recent Salem bridal show

I'm a little slow getting these up — the 2010 Oregon Wedding Showcase was January 23-34 at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem. But better late than never, right?

Anyhow, here are a few shots from the recent bridal show at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. The show ran two days, with two fashion shows per day, and over 400 brides in attendance—WOW! I didn't have much of a voice left on Sunday.

We showed 10 different bouquets this year, and featured five of them in the daily fashion shows. The bouquets get a little beat up being in the shows, but I think it's important. The dresses show better with a bouquet and it also gives brides an accurate look at what their bouquet will look like at the end of the wedding day!

Below is a shot of one of the favorite bouquets from the show: a short cascade of purple, lavender & white flowers (bride on left).

Here's a better shot of it on the workbench in the studio—you can actually see the little crystal dragonfly in this shot! 

(FYI—I've had a couple emails on this: the gowns in the photos are from Bridal Exclusives in Salem, www.bridalexclusives.com)

Do you love those reveals on makeover shows, where they show you the "before" and "after" on a person/house/car? I do, so I'll try and do that a bit of that here. For me, it's one of the most satisfying parts of floral design: starting with buckets of flowers & ending with a beautiful bouquet!

For starters, here's an easy one as an example:
a clutch of orange spray roses and bicolor tulips, before... and after!

 

We'll have shots of all the wedding show bouquets on our website (www.ImageFloral.com) in a featured gallery (Jan 2010 Salem Bridal Show) in a day or so. Be sure to check it all out!

~ Michelle

Here we go...my first blog post!

Greetings, all! Not really sure what to expect from this, but at least at this point, what I hope to do here is give you some more casual, fun and informative info than you'll find on our website, plus the occasional little peek at some behind-the-scenes activities.

Having said that, I'll try to post fairly regularly about events, tips, trends and things of interest (to me, at least!) in the wide, wonderful world of flowers. Please feel free to comment, ask questions and share with your friends—the more, the merrier!

~ Michelle

PS: if you found the blog before my website, be sure to visit us at www.ImageFloral.com