Flowers Uncut

Yes, I had it programmed into my tivo before the premiere. Most of you know that at any given time, if you were to walk in on us watching tv, it would be about a 50/50 chance that you'd see wedding dresses, flowers, or wedding cakes on the screen. We really do live weddings in our house! My new favorite thing, thanks to the TLC station, is Jeff Leatham and his team. They create the most amazing flower designs for events in New York City. He's worked all over the world, and I now have a huge case of flower envy for the events at Versaille as well as the MoMA...who gets to do flowers for an event sitting at tables surrounded by original Monets?! After the first episode, I wanted to work for him. After the third, I realized that he needed to come up with a couple of new ideas because some of the arrangements are the same from event to event...but it made me smile to see that he re-uses vases. I do that too! It also made me nod knowingly to hear him drop costs on some of the episodes...yes...for something that beautiful, you're talking $4,500 just in flowers...add in supplies, labor, and his name to the deal, and you can just imagine how high his invoices soar.



I am so much of a flower geek at this point, that it made me giggle to see how many times he used hydrangea (I recommend it all the time as a money saver...and here he is using it as a major design piece in every single event!) as well as that he hired someone else to come in and build bouquets and boutonnieres for him on a wedding. He does events...locations...full rooms of flowers...not personal bouquets. Hmm. Maybe I can call and suggest myself. ;) The final smile is that Jeff is actually from Ogden, Utah! Yes, you heard me! This funny man in cut-off tees and leather pants, with the mouth of a sailor when riled, and who sports a questionable accent because of all the locations he's lived, is a home-town boy made famous! How fun is that?!

Ahh...share the flower love and joy with me, people! Thank you TLC for combining so many of the things that I love most!

Mariana and Carlos

We definitely work with some of the most fun and wonderful people! And, as many wonderful couples as we've worked with, Mariana and Carlos are probably in our top five when it comes to the weddings we've done this summer! Talk about the cream of the crop! Mariana is from Brazil and Carlos is from Spain, so the cultural flare and style that they brought to every meeting we had was like a breath of fresh air!

Not many couples could pull off dancing through their engagement session or kissing at the top of the Capitol. Heavens, so few people could pull off those white shoes! Good thing Carlos is gorgeous, sweet, and a salsa dancer! And Mariana matched him every step of the way!...she's just as sweet, just as gorgeous, and check out those fantastic toe points when they dance! Preow! You go, girl!



Mariana had some amazing flare for her wedding flowers too! It was so much fun to bring in flowers like blue iris and hydrangea. And, despite some reservations from Carlos about a little bit of drama possibly going over the top (he requested a single white rose for his boutonniere), we all compromised and came up with some gorgeous arrangements that brought in ostrich feathers, architectural aspadistra leaves, and ribbon sprays!

Thanks so much to the staff at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for their awesome support and their go-to attitudes! And thanks to Mariana and Carlos for dancing so colorfully into our lives!