adventures in design

Jamie & Chris...it's love!

This February, I had a gorgeous wedding with planner extraordinaire Kristin Carolan of Simply Stunning Events, and the oh-so-talented photographer Brian Kaplan. The theme: rustic glam meets modern contemporary. The colors: jewel tones of deep rich red, lucious purple, sage green, gold, and oranges, with a pop of brilliant reds and vivid green. The result: a gorgeous wedding for an equally gorgeous bride & groom.

All pics courtesy of Brian Kaplan Photography.

The bouquet featured white mini callas, bicolored coffee break & leonidas roses, vendela roses, and seeded eucalyptus


red hypericum & waxflower acted as a bit of embellishment, and the bouquet handle was dressed in antique gold midori


The cake was embellished with open black magic roses & coffee break roses


The bridesmaids bouquets were a vignette of colors, with deep black magics (they were so open and gorgeous!), white callas, coffee break roses, and mango callas-- and then wrapped with chocolate midori

 
The  reception tables were 42 inches. We created small, focal-point conversation-style pieces: This arrangement features a leaf wrapped vase with red anthurium, fern curls, dendrobium orchids and roses.


White milk glass mint-julep style cups were filled with pussy willow, white dendrobium, and white stock


A sweet arrangement of coffee break roses, black callas, and white tulips



Congrats, Jamie & Chris!
 

Country Music Marathon Day-- and a gift basket

Today is the Country Music Marathon where over 30,000 runners are jogging it out in the full or half marathon-- what a feat! Along the route, bands play music for the spectators, and Nashville is filled with locals and out of towners that have come to run this fabulous race.

One of these runners is a Team in Training Member that has raised a lot of money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She deserves mention for two reasons-- one, her selfless devotion to such a wonderful cause, and secondly that her good friends in Texas called to have us design a special gift basket to await her in her room after the big run.

The basket was tucked with lots of foot-loving remedies and some Nashville keepsakes. We tucked in comfy and fuzzy leopard print sandals (because we hope she ran super fast) some luxury foot soak & lotion, a specially-formulated bath soak for sore muscles that's all natural & organic, a fluffy bath scrubby, some organic cucumber eye soothers, and a first aid kit inside a hand-painted basket with music notes & a few inspirational messages. We included some soothing aloe foot socks for extra repair, a pumice stone for long after the race is through, and made her a pair of fun flip flops to wear post-race embellished with spring flowers & ribbon. To savor her trip to Nashville, we included some Nashville originals-- RC cola, a mixed bag of nuts from the peanut shop, a Nashville Guidebook, and a disposable camera to capture the moments.

We hope the race was a success for ALL the runners!

As Wedding Season Begins...

Spring is in full bloom, the weather's gotten warmer, and love is in the air! It's the start of wedding season, a glorious series of weekends that leads to months and stretches across Spring to Summer to Fall-- yay!

I just wanted to wish all the brides, grooms, families, and planners embarking on the very special journey of getting married (hurrah!) every best wish in the coming months. Your day will be fab and you deserve it-- enjoy every second!

More from me this week :)

Springtime is in the air

Ahh, Spring. Rain. Sun. Some more rain. Crazy temperatures. Tennessee in springtime is an event all of its own: and I can't help it, I love every single minute of it!

At the studio, I've been blessed to have a ton of gorgeous flowers come in for me to play with. I added a new photo gallery-- Everyday flowers--- that showcases some pretty spring arrangements with the flowers I currently have available. Things like gorgeous lilac, daffodils, iris... such pretty things. A few of my favorite creations:

Pink Gerbera daisy, sunny yellow daffodils, a bright green spider mum, and iris in a low vase: how sweet spring is!


Miss Saigon Iris, rannunculus, yellow lilies, and snapdragons: it's just so bright & cheerful

Easter & Spring at Brocade

We have so much fun stuff for the holiday this weekend at Brocade-- and we'll be open tomorrow from 9-4 so that you can "hop" in and see all that we have to offer. From custom-designed, hand painted Easter baskets to the freshest spring flowers, we have a little bit of everything beautiful and fresh. Stop in & say hello!

Brocade's Open House

This past weekend, we held our open house at our new studio in downtown Nashville. I had such a great time mixing & mingling and showing off our space! I have so many "thank yous" that I'll intersperse throughout and save some for the end. All photos are by the wonderful & talented Donald Yeager Photography.

First off-- everyone raved about the wonderful and delicious food-- all lovingly (and tirelessly) prepared by Jamie & Peggy-- who are both angels on earth. Everyone loved the delicousness that was out on display. I added to it by making some deliciously lovely arrangements

Pretty sunshiny yellow calla lillies with green & white parrot French tulips. How sweet!

Favors by Opulent Favors -- donated by Latrice of Opulent Favors. We filled them with assorted pastel treats that were melt in your mouth yummy!

Assorted Garnishes for our cocktails: the signature drink: a red wine sangria

This arrangement features fresh seasonal and local dogwood, paired with peach garden roses & cream spray roses

Partygoers enjoy a cocktail toast to celebrate the open house

A front walk view of our lovely blossoms and a seasonal seating area: how pretty!

Glitter Truffles from Chef's Market: melt in your mouth yummy! I love how you get a bit of glitter on your lips

Everyone loved the beautiful icelandic poppies... so fresh and lovely and screaming out a celebration of Spring

Kristin Carolan of Simply Stunning + Brian Kaplan of Brian Kaplan photography (they're more than just colleagues-- they're engaged! Kristin was a wonderful help in orchestrating the party!

Latrice of Opulent Favors taking a second to Tweet about the Open House...love that yellow shirt!

Noelle & Mark of McCoy studios-- they came out with cameras to photograph the event-- and my grandmother fell in love with Mark, "He looks just like Donny Osmond" -- a fact I am STILL hearing about!

Totally yummy cupcakes by Cakes by Shara

Fern curls, galax leaves, and magenta parrot tulips-- a centerpiece for the upstairs cocktail lounge tables. We dressed the tabletops in Green Pea Bengaldine.

Shakolad provided yummy truffles decorated with pretty little pink hearts -- so great!

A Pic of Jamie (far left) and Peggy (right next to her)-- the two ladies behind the curtain in whipping up the delicious treats at the party. I couldn't have done it without them; they were an amazing help and their food was divine-- people kept asking " do they cater?"!

Garlic Cheese bites.. yum

Left to right: My grandma (in love with McCoy), Me, and my mom. The ladies of my life

Supercouple Rach & Ben pose for a sweet picture together-- they helped in all the painting at the studio

A full view of the busy Brocade crowd--- everyone had a great time!

I can't thank all that helped the event enough-- from the delicious food by Peggy & Jamie, the stellar bartending by my sister and ABC-Card-Toting Goddess Chloe, The myraid of help by my super talented mom, draping by Ashley, jill-of-all trades Claire, party planning and implementation WHIZ Kristin Carolan and her assistant Rashida, the favors by Opulent Favors, the truffles, the display cakes & sheet cake by Maples Cakes-- truffles by Schakolad, the cupcakes by Cakes by Shara, photography by Donald Yeager, -- all of our wonderful partners, friends, and passerby that came out to support us: THANK YOU!!!