I met Stephanie and Rob at the first bridal show I participated early this year. They are very nice and sweet. ^_^
Stephanie and Rob bought most of the materials themselves, which is great in terms cost control.

Stephanie wanted something different for her centerpiece and in our first meeting, she showed me pictures of a branch centerpiece idea.
So after doing some research, we've settled on using manzanita branches. Since this wedding has many crafty ideas, I've listed few tips and tricks for those of you who are interested to recycle this idea for your own event.

But before that...Check out the pictures from the wedding! ^_^ 














Click here to see the full photo album


@@ Tips and Tricks @@

Materials for the branch centerpiece:
Clear cylinder glass vase
Ribbon (1.5-2" width)
Manzanita Branch (www.nettletonhollow.com)
Beaded garlands
Silk maple leaves
Glue dots (1/2" diameter; can be found in scrapbooking aisle of your local arts and crafts stores)
Glue dots (3/8" diameter)
Pruning scissors
Hacksaw and table top vice (to hold the branch while you cut it off with the hacksaw)
Colored mini pebbles for vase fillers (that somewhat double as the branch stabilizer)








When you purchase the branch, they don't come trimmed. So you would have to trim off the weak, small branches while trying to shape them aesthetically. Some of the branch branches out and that means you can't fit them easily into vase opening, so that means you would need to shorten the bottom of the branch using the hacksaw and vice.

Place and attach ribbons around the vase using the smaller glue dots (3/8" diameter), trim the excess.

Place beaded garlands on the branch - the key is to create an illusion that the branch is full without using excessive amount of garlands.

Randomly place the silk maple leaves using the bigger glue dots (1/2" diameter).
You can choose to give the centerpiece a fuller look by placing more leaves on the branch.

Hang the tealight lanterns on the branches. Make sure you pick a stable, sturdy branches to hang these.


Materials for the tealight candle lantern:
Clear "planter-shaped" tealight candle holder
Wire (I believe I used the 22 gauge flower wire - just make sure it's thick enough but still flexible)
Hot glue gun
Ribbon (1/4-3/8" width)
Glue dots (3/8" diameter; can be found in scrapbooking aisle of your local arts and crafts stores)





The first thing we need to do is to create the wire hanger.
What I did was:
- Encircle the wire on the bottom of the top part of the holder (on the above picture: it's the are right underneath the ribbon)
- Secure the "circle" by twisting the wire
- Repeat the process for the second hanger
- Place the two hangers and twist the top part together as to create the "hanger"

Using hot glue gun, apply hot glue on wire that touches both sides of the top part of the holder to secure them.

Place ribbon around the top part of the holder and try your best to cover the hot glue.
Attach the ribbon using glue dots, trim the excess.

Turn on the LED tealight candle and place it in the holder BEFORE you hang it.


I hope I explained this process well and that you find it useful.
Please feel free to email me if you have any questions in regards to this idea. ^_^


Before I close this entry, I would like to give a SPECIAL THANKS to my "new assistant" ^_^ : Rosalind a.k.a Rosie! Thank you very much for your hard work! I really appreciate it! 


Many happy wishes to you, Stephanie and Rob!

Thank you so much for this opportunity. It was an honor to be a part of your special day.
I really appreciate it. ^_^

That is right, my friends. There is absolutely nothing wrong with carnations. 

I believe that they get "picked on" because they are affordable and for getting a bad rep such as "supermarket flowers", etc...etc... First of all, in the era that we're currently living in (a.k.a recession), why would someone dislike a flower because it is actually affordable? Secondly...if getting stamped as a typical "supermarket flower" is a bad rep, then more flowers should be on the "black list" too including roses, tulips, lilies, gladiolas, alstroemerias, mums, etc (thanks to Costco, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Walmart, and your local grocery stores). 

So today, my friends, I am making a plea for carnations.
Every flower deserves a second chance, wouldn't you think so (unless, of course, you're allergic to it. ^_^)?

Why do I think we should give carnations a second chance? Well...here are their advantages:
1. Personally, I think they are one of the sturdiest and most versatile flowers out there.
2. They are easy to clean (no pokey thorns, no big thick stem) and they have long vase life. 
3. They are also available in a lot of colors and bi-colors. 
4. Size wise, they come in regular and mini varieties.
5. They are affordable!

They look prettiest when bunched up together for a bouquet or used to fill up various shapes of floral foam.
They work well against plain vases and their ruffled texture brings a lot of depth to a design.

Just like roses, you can also jazz them up with jeweled pins - OR - you can have a little more fun by breaking the petals to add more colors and texture to your say, aisle spread. They work great as both main flowers and fillers.

 

I hope by reading this short article a.k.a plea, you would be inspired to give these lovely flowers a second chance!
They are absolutely worth it! ^_^

If you need more ideas or have awesome ideas of your own, please feel free to shoot me an email! I'll put it up on my blog! Whenever possible, do attach a picture of your work with carnations, too! ^_^


Thanks so much for reading today! ^_^

Seems like blue is the color of the year, once again. ^_^ For her wedding, Cynthia opted to have smokey blue as the base color and we mixed in dark blue and white as accents.

For her bouquet she choose biedermier style consisted of ivory mini calla lilies, ivory roses ("Vendella") and light blue hydrangeas. Her bridesmaids' bouquets had ivory roses ("Vendella"), dark blue delphiniums and steel grass that were criss-crossed over the bouquets.

One of my favorite things from this wedding was that we mixed dark blue delphinium and the ivory rose petals for the aisle spread. The blue really added such nice touch to the aisle that would have been plain concrete otherwise. We lined up the aisle with hurricane candle holders filled with blue marbles and blue silk rose petals.

I think they looked great!

The cake made it to my favorite works. I really had a lot of fun decorating this cake. The baker had "drawn" the branches on the cake and I added the fresh dark blue delphinium, white dendrobium orchid blooms and top branches. I like how it looks as if the flowers are blossoming on the cake. ^_^ So pretty! ^_^

The only thing that I kinda regretted is the fact that I didn't get any good pictures from her centerpieces... :_( But I'll tell you what I did for her centerpieces so you can do them for your wedding (they're DIY friendly projects).

We did 2 styles of centerpieces - one used birch branches mixed in with silk wax flower blooms and the other one used french tulips.

For the branch centerpiece, the materials needed are as follows:
Birch Branches - 1-2 bunches
Magdalena Ting Ting - 1/3 bunch
Silk Wax Flowers - OR - Cherry/Peach Blossoms
(approx. 1/2 bunch per vase, depending on how many florets given in a bunch)
Hot Glue and glue gun

5 birds' nests (3" diameter)
5 LED tealights
1/4" width Ribbon of your color

1 1/2" width Ribbon of your color
Zots(tm) a.k.a glue dots 1/2" diameter, the FLAT
Scotch tape

12"h x 5"d clear, glass vase

How to make the centerpiece:
1. First, assemble all the bird nests:
a. Place the 1/4" ribbon around the LED tealight, make a bow and cut the tail to a desired length.
b. Adhere scotch tape on TOP of the ribbon so it secures the ribbon against the LED tealight.
c. Place the ribboned LED tealight in the bird nest and press down a bit to secure it. You can always use the DIMENSIONAL ZOTS(tm) / glue dots to secure it if necessary.

2. Assemble the "Flowering Branches"
Follow this wonderful instruction from Nettleton Hollow to make the "Flowering Branches"

3. Assemble the vase:
Using FLAT ZOTS(tm), adhere the 1 1/2" ribbon around the bottom of the vase

4. Assemble the centerpiece:
a. Adhere bird nests onto the birch branches using DIMENSIONAL ZOTS(tm).
You need to use 2 ZOTS(tm) per bird nest to fully secure it onto the branch. Pick the branches that shape like "fork" so it can hold the nest better.
b. Place the birch branches (with the bird nests attached on them) and mix in the magdalena ting ting.
c. Turn on the LED tealights and you're all set!


For the other centerpiece, we did a simple but elegant French Tulips design. This is also a DIY friendly project, however, please keep in mind that tulips are VERY RARE in summer. So this idea would work better and safer (availibility and price wise) for spring weddings.

The method is very simple, after you clean and condition the tulips, cut them at different length and place them aesthetically in the vase.

Project Supply List:
Bird Nest Supplier 1
Bird Nest Supplier 2
Bird Nest Supplier 3

Birch Branches and Magdalena Ting Ting Supplier

Ribbon Supplier

Vases, LED tealights

Silk flowers, glue dots, hot glue, glue gun - Available at your local craft store (like Michael's Art and Crafts or AC Moore)


It was indeed a beautiful Sunday wedding and Cynthia made such a gorgeous bride! The princess style gown and hairdo worked so well for her!  ^_^

Vendors List:
Venue: Celebrations, Bensalem, PA
Photographer/Videographer: Coohaus, NYC, NY (via Celebrations Entertainment)

Congratulations Cynthia and Eitan!!
Many happy wishes for you two!!

Thank you so much for the honor!
I really appreciate it! ^_^