My Brother's Backyard Wedding

This past summer both of my brother's got married a month apart from each other and both married girls who they met through my sister and I, which meant that we pretty much got the best sisters-in-law on the planet. It was such a fun summer as every weekend Kyle and I would drive down to Orange County from our LA apartment and stay with the rest of our family in the house my older sister rented out for the summer in Corona Del Mar. There was a lot of swimming, hot tubbing, eating, card playing, laughing, and of course wedding planning going on - all top on my list of favorite things to do. I love helping with weddings of friends and family, but it's especially fun when they have as much style as my new sisters-in-law.

Here are some beautiful shots by Eliza J. Photography of my older brother's backyard wedding. All of the designing and planning was done by the bride, Ali Brinkerhoff (now Stiles), and I took care of the floral design and overall placement and styling of the wedding on the day of (with the help of a whole bunch of other awesome people). Ali is one of the most giving and caring people I know and it was such an honor to help her out on her big day.

Ali & Garrett hand wrote personal notes to each of their 200 guests. Yep, they're pretty awesome.

My Dad is the handiest person I know. He made boxes similar to the ones used at my wedding. Ali wanted them left raw and branded with an "S." 

My sister Melissa is known for her mini lemon bundts. I believe they also made an appearance at her own wedding as favors. 

I loved these table numbers that Ali found at Bhldn. Cakes by Susie Cakes.

All photos taken by Eliza J. Photography and found here.

Redondo Beach Wedding Flowers

This past Friday I had the pleasure of designing wedding flowers for a couple who held their reception at the Redondo Beach Historic Library. It's a pretty cool venue, complete with ocean views from both the first and second floor. The wedding colors were yellow and blue. I created the arrangements using yellow China mums, dark blue hydrangea, white peonies, and yellow billy buttons.

Guest table centerpieces:





Head table arrangement:




Funny story when I went to pick up the flowers Friday morning. The woman who runs the flower warehouse asked for my company name, so I said "Stiles Fischer" (my old design company that I shared with a partner, Nathan Fischer, which is the name that my account at the flower warehouse is still under). Then the woman yells out, "Styles For Sure!!!" to the men pulling the orders. I thought she was kidding at first, just trying to be clever, but when I got the flowers and saw the label, I realized she wasn't joking and had misunderstood me when I placed the order and also when I was picking it up. Note to self, the wholesale flower warehouse doesn't double check account names...

Succulent Update

These are much better photos of Bethany's wedding and the succulent bouquets that I made, taken by their photographer John Klewer. I didn't expect to see the professional photos so soon...isn't facebook grand?!

Above is Bethany's bouquet, below is a group photo. Nice looking bunch, eh? And the girls don't look so bad either. I'm kidding. Although I love the succulent bouquets, they pale in comparison to the beautiful bridal party.



I loved this picture of Taylor and Bethany...



Happy marriage T & B!

Succulent Wedding Bouquets

I love weddings! My good friend Bethany got married today and I was so happy to make her bridal bouquets for her. Bethany and her groom, Taylor, have a funky/vintage/hipster style so I wasn't too surprised when she requested succulent bouquets instead of traditional flowers. I wasn't super familiar with succulents or how exactly I was going to make them into bouquets, but I was up to the challenge. Here are my potted succulents, pre-bouquet construction...



It took me a minute to play around with the thick stems and see how the different types of succulents worked together, but my favorite part was that the succulents weren't perfect or symetrical, which created kind of wild-looking bouquets. Soon enough, I had the bride's bouquet finished along with 6 bridesmaids' bouquets. Here are some quick photos I took today, but I can't wait to see and share the professional photos from their big day.





I loved making these bouquets for darling Bethany. She's such an amazing girl and I am so happy for her and Taylor, not to mention they throw a killer wedding, I had so much fun! Thanks for letting me share this day with you two! xoxo