Cochrane Ranche House

I have known my childhood friend, Hilda for almost three decades. (We were young when we met, not that we are old!) When she told me that she got engaged, I was so happy for her. Hilda and I, both have over ten years of art education. We are almost polar opposites when it comes to art and design. I love bright colors and over the top designs, while Hilda loves subtle colors and understated designs. When designing her wedding, I had to keep in mind of what she loves.

The design process took longer than usual. Mostly because of long distance communications and we kept finding better ideas for her wedding. Hilda’s wedding ceremony and reception was held at the Cochrane Ranche House. The venue was very open, bright, with lots of warm tones and wooden elements. Her colors were yellow, white, and light green. She wanted a relaxed, simple, and pretty wedding.

Hilda’s wedding has been the most stressful wedding for me to date. It was stressful not because of all the different elements to her wedding or the size of the wedding, but because I wanted to provide her the perfect wedding. Two elements that made Hilda’s wedding extra special was the fresh greenery ceremony arch and the custom silk leaf head table backdrop. (I hand-pined over 120 leaves on this backdrop!)

At the end of the night, Hilda and her new husband, Kevin told me that their wedding was absolutely beautiful. I was happy to hear they loved how their wedding looked. I was most happy that my childhood friend is now happily married. I wish them both a wonderful future together.

Custom Project: Casino Themed Sign

Being in the wedding industry I really don’t hope for repeat business. However, I love hearing from my past brides. I know brides and grooms are clients of mine but after the wedding, I really hope to have made them my friends. I love to hear how they are doing and if babies are on the way.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my past brides called me. I haven’t heard from her for 1.5 years. I often think of her because she truly touched my heart. She had a wonderful supportive family and lots of girlfriends that was excited for her wedding. The day after her wedding, she was moving to Surrey, BC to start her new life as a wife. When she called me, I was surprised and then worried about her. (Honestly, I was prepared to buy her a plane ticket to come back to Calgary.) She told me that she hasn’t contacted me because she had a death in the family and had to take some time to get back into things. She had contacted me because one of her closest girlfriends was getting married, and she needed some help as maid of honor.

She told me that she was tasked with making a sign for the bride’s bridal shower. They were having a casino themed shower. She said she didn’t really know where to start and asked me to do this custom project for her. I immediately took on this fun project.

Having been to Las Vegas a couple of times myself, I had some ideas of what to do. I ended up making a sign in the shape of a casino blackjack table. The table shape was then covered with green felt. The bridal theme “Lucky in Love” was placed on the top of sign. Of course, the bride’s name was front and center. Five floral shapes were made to resemble each of the seats at the table. The bride and groom’s engagement pictures were also placed on some of the “seats.” You can’t have casino without some bling. Embellishments were added at the end around the theme and bride’s name.

I could have added more accessories but the sign was also for guests to sign on, so I had to stop where I did. I think the project turned out very well. It wasn’t cheesy, reflected the theme, and was pretty and girly.

Of note to potential clients: If you have a project you would like for your wedding, please email me to discuss. I am totally up for whatever project you throw at me, even if it is an eighteen wheeler themed wedding/project.

DIY Flower Arrangements

Two weeks ago, I blogged about setting up a booth at the Sun and Salsa Festival to promote Wishahmon – Wedding Creations. I had a wonderful time speaking to over 50 brides about their upcoming weddings. Like I told all of them, I am “the girlfriend that never gets tired of talking about their wedding.” A couple of non-brides also came into my booth to check out my décor. They all raved about my decorated booth and floral arrangements. A couple of people asked to purchase my floral arrangements but I couldn’t sell them because my booth would be really bare. All in all, I had a great time and would consider doing it all over again!

When making floral arrangements for my client’s weddings, I usually purchase my flowers from a floral wholesaler because I have to buy them in bulk quantities. For the floral arrangements for Sun and Salsa Festival, I decided to make this into another one of my small projects. My goal was to make beautiful arrangements from flowers bought from grocery stores. (Don’t cringe just yet. Let me finish…)

The day before the festival, I went to Costco and Superstore to purchase inexpensive bunches of flowers. I got to these stores right when it opened to get the freshest flowers possible. I ended up buying a mixed spring bunch, two dozen of red and white roses, some white hydrangeas, two stems of curly willow, and a couple of birds of paradise. The goal was to create four different themed floral arrangements: romantic, fresh, trendy, and traditional.

I strongly believe that you don’t have to be a Certified Floral Designer to make beautiful arrangements. (Although, I am certified.) Here are some tips on making your own floral arrangements from (grocery) store bought flowers:

1.Get inspiration from magazines on the floral arrangement you want to make.

2.Study the design and think about how to make it. A lot of people say that can’t do something, but honestly so much can be achieved if you just take the time to think about the project itself. Think about the shape of the arrangement and in what order the flowers should go into the vase. There is (almost) no wrong way of doing this. If the arrangement doesn’t look pleasing, take it out and do it all over again. Just make sure your flowers aren’t out of water for too long.

3.Don’t cut your stems too short. You can always trim all the stems later to get the correct height. Remember that although flowers grow, they cannot grow inches overnight.

4.Have a positive attitude. If you think you can rock it, you will.

5.If your arrangement still looks less than par, get a great vase for it. For one of my arrangements, I had an “OMG” moment. What did I do? I put the arrangement in a cute rectangular vase with a grass print on it. In the end, it looked like these flowers were growing out of the grass. Too cute!

Here are some pictures of the floral arrangements I made for the Sun and Salsa Festival.