It’s official! Favourite colour palette of the season. There is something so exquisite about purple, green, and white. This wedding had it in spades. What a beautiful day it was on so many levels. Beautiful sunny skies, beautiful flowers, beautiful venue and a beautiful bride and her dapper captain. Kelli is my friend and I guess that makes Duke my friend now to. I was thrilled to be able to create the florals for this wedding. The other thing that was thrilling was being able to work with Stephanie Rae Hull of Centric Photo. I have been watching her work for years and, yearning for the day we might meet up.

My pictures capture some of my favourite bits and pieces of the weddings I get to be a part of.Here is a sweet sequence of photos documenting the two of them seeing each other for the first time.

Now let’s talk details… Bouquets,

The ceremony and reception took place at the beautiful Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse. It was a beautiful ceremony made even more spectacular by Duke’s kilt and his beautiful niece in her quilt as well. Kelli’s number one man Tucker, her sweet, sweet labradoodle walked her down the aisle and waiting paitently till they were finished.

Laura Taylor is a very talented wedding photographer here in Victoria, so given her exposure to some of many talented floral designers here in Victoria, I was so flattered when she came to me for her bridal party flowers. What a treat it was working with her, and her bouquet was by far one of the most beautiful we have made this season. Many shades of pinks, creams, and peaches. So lovely just like her. There was a collection of some the best photographers around, both attending and shooting the wedding. Eunice Montenegro even flew out from Nova Scotia and teamed up with Christina Craft to capture this beautiful wedding. Can’t wait to see the many photos…..

We finished the stems off the bouquets off with a beautiful dusty pink satin ribbon and added beautiful braided details in grosgrain and chiffon.

This wedding was an ode to the daisy! Daisies were used everywhere. This was one of the neatest bridal bouquets I have made all summer long. What treat to make a mass of white daisies into a beautiful and whimsical bouquet. The smile on Kathryn’s face when I dropped it off said it all. Her girls carried fabulous, bright and bold bouquets of gerbera daisies in 3 different colours.

The tables at Church & State were dotted with cheerful arrangements of the same daisies. The tables were marked and named by different photographs of Kathryn & Alex on their world travels. Jenna & Tristan were the photographers on this wedding and no one is more excited then me to see their version of this great couple and their wedding.

Some more “overall look shots” before we show you the beautiful bride and her groom…..

The brides bouquet was a gorgeous, hand-tied filled with amazing blooms of whites and greens. Roses, ranunculus, lisianthus, mini calla’s little buds of echevarria, lady slippers, and the best part little fronds of boston and maidenhair ferns.

Sarah was a vision! What a stunning bride she made. She has an elegance about her that is breathtaking. Mel Baird and Elena from Concious Hair did a fantastic job with hair and make up for Sarah and all her family. Just look at how beautiful she is!

Ashton wasn’t too bad either. He looked very dapper in his suit. and we pinned him with a lady slipper to match Sarah. What a pair these two are. Can you see why we all fell in love with them?

Some beautiful shots of Sarah and her soon to be mother in law watching the guests arrive for the ceremony. Even Piper the couples sweet dog got some flowers for her collar.

The ceremony was bathed in the gorgeous light from the setting sun. So incredibly beautiful. We were thrilled to be there and thrilled to be a part of such a wonderful day filled with so much love, laughter and joy.

The fresh comes with the use of freesia, maiden hair ferns, lilies and sedum.

The magic happens when we incorporate these little beauties….some stunning white phanlenopsis orchids and some rare lady slipped orchids.

It didn’t just rain a little bit, it poured, and poured and poured some more. Here in Victoria, you can usually count on at least one weekend of the summer wedding season getting rained on, and this was the weekend. The upside to this was that Lindsey was a great sport about it. The wedding took place in the beautiful, lush gardens of The Villa Marco Polo. The beautiful green foliage was a perfect backdrop to the rich colours of deep velvety reds, sandy shades of cream and hits of silver.

Lindsey and Sina were a dream to work with, and we were able to follow the palette of black, white, pewter and rich reds with and amazing combination of textural blooms like, berzillia, scabiosa and poppy pods, dusty miller and a combination of red and black roses and cream tan roses.

We finished Lindsey’s bouquet off with a fantastic wide Italian taffeta ribbon and a large structured bow.

The bridesmaids carried an equally textural and rich hued bouquet which was set off perfectly by their floor length black gowns.

The tables were set with square glass vases wrapped in black a cream stripped fabric and a beautiful pewter satin ribbon and topped with a fantastic mix of colour and texture. The centrepieces were surrounded by mercury glass votives and each table had a carved black number mounted on a black and white pattern and surrounded in black frame.

Each guest recieved a set of 4 handmade ceramic coasters. Made by the bride and her mother. Every single set was different.

The ceremony took place in the shelter of the wrought iron gazebo, which we finished with a crystal chandelier, some glass orb votive holders, a rich red carpet of rose petals and some swags finished with a fantastic black and white stripped bow.

The cake by Patisserie Daniel was finished with strips of black and white ribbon, and a cluster of of blooms.

The bouts were a sophisticated cluster of dusty miller, poppy pods and a few black and white blooms. Lindsey’s Dad wore a sand coloured rose finished with the same hint of silver dusty miller.

See Lindsey and her bridesmaids in Part 2…..

Lindsey was absolutely STUNNING! We knew it would be so, with her dark hair and vibrant blue eyes. Sharon Rai, accented her beauty and created her beautiful bridal look and Lindsey was an absolute vision.

Lindsey’s bridesmaids were equally as beautiful in their long black chiffon dresses, Sharon did the make up and hair for all 5 of them. Each one carried an umbrella to shelter them from the rain.

The rain could not dampen the love and beauty surrounding this wedding, it was so special to be a part of and we were thrilled with the finished product. The incredibly talented Michael Norwood was the photographer, and we will share his images as soon as we get them. Lindsey and her family were some of the most lovely people I have ever met ,I was touched by how much love and joy there was. You can see it very clearly on her Dad’s face as he sees her for the first time.

Lindsey’s face said it all, her smile was electric.

Congratulations Lindsey & Sina, you both get an “A” in my books and it was a pleasure working with you both.

If I had to be working on my birthday, then there could not be a better couple too work for then Kim and Matt, owners of Still Life Boutique. What a beautiful crowd of beautiful people in a beautiful spot surrounded by beautiful flowers and beautiful vintage details, and beautiful wooden accents created by Matt himself.

Gorgeous little place card holders on antique crocheted table runners.

Beautiful antique bottles filled with incredible peonies and soft ladies mantle, and asters on carved cedar planks

Hand carved walnut table numbers surrounded by more vintage loveliness. The fantastic vintage finery was rented from the lovely Josephine at Victoria Vintage Rentals. There is a treasure trove of vintage goodness there and we are so lucky to have her here on the Island.

Beautiful and bountiful peonies and hydrangeas spill out of an old suitcase…

Sweet, sentimental details everywhere and the masterpiece, piece de resistance, the INCREDIBLE cake from the amazingly talented Corrina Ludwig of Passion for Cakes.

And to finish this post some beautiful shots of the bouquets, that were filled with all manner of soft, romantic and fluffy blooms. Peonies, garden roses, sweet peas, and lisianthus. Heaven!

Still Life and Still Love…..

What a truly lovely afternoon. An early summer day in the spectacular gardens of the beautiful English Inn and Resort was spent by myself and fantastic team of talent. This shoot was the inspiration of Adrienne from Pink Sugar Cupcakes. The theme was literature, antique paper and was coloured with a beautiful palette of soft creams, pale yellows, and golds, the tones added to the late afternoon sun light and cast a beautiful romantic glow over the whole scene.

The containers were wrapped with pages from antique books.

The stunning model and her lovely husband were prepped with the expert hands of Sharon Rai and the result was a stunning. She wore a beautiful headpieces made especially for the shoot by Tetrik Apparel and again incorporated pages from old books. The best part is that soon we will see how the magic of Karen McNeil and her beautiful eye captured the day and all the details. See Karen’s blog post here.

Eva is not only an accomplished photographer she is also the coordinator of the Thrifty Food’s Demonstration Kitchen, so her appreciation of using things like herbs and blackberries in her bouquet thrilled us.

We created simple yet stunning arrangements of white asters and white lisianthus for the ceremony and lovely little bud vases filled with white lisianthus for the tables. We are eagerly awaiting the images from the uber-talented Helene Cyr. For now check out a sneek peak on her blog. Here are a few on Helen’s images of Eva’s beautiful bouquet.

Love the herb’s and berries….

And finally the tables