I love getting to share this!

I've said it before, and I'll happily say it again and again...My husband is a fantastic photographer! This morning he posted a new video he's created about his top ten reasons why everyone should consider photography to capture not only major events in their lives like a wedding, but for EVERY reason that changes them. We've had amazing clients ask for photos for all kinds of reasons...to document their classic car passion, the birth of a child, Senior pictures and Quincinieras, even to capturing how beautifully someone stands in the sun before begining chemotherapy treatments for a tumor.

Share the beautiful images with me, and just a tip...grab a tissue first! I have watched it so many times, and still cry through every one.

For more flower fun visit my Florilista website and for more from my hubby see more at www.jonwoodbury.com

Attack of the Three Foot Tulips!

I am well known for being a loyal and consistent person. When I found my favorite wholesaler years ago, I honestly stopped looking for any competing information and just purchased everything I needed through them. As far as I was concerned, if they didn't have it, it wasn't to be had. Their prices are quite fair. Their staff, phenomenal. Why WOULD I look elsewhere?

Answer: A bride.

Amy wanted tulips. Easy enough. I get tulips all the time and they're lovely. But, no. Amy wanted LONG tulips. She had a grand vision of three foot long stems supporting lovely bulbs of white all throughout her reception. It was her only request. I called my wholesaler, and for the first time in about five years, they had to tell me, "No." Tulips they could get, but the longest stems they could promise were 12 inches, and they just had no other alternative to that. I was stumped. It was my brilliant husband who looked at my confused face and asked if I couldn't just call around to some other wholesalers and see what they might be able to do for me. Huh? Call someone else? That's crazy, right?

Well, for the most part, every other wholesaler I called either tried to tell me that tulips didn't exist at lengths of three feet, or that, more honestly, they just couldn't get them in that length. I did finally find one wholesaler who took a pause. She asked if she could call her grower directly and get back to me. Sure. When Nikole called me back, she said that that they still couldn't PROMISE three foot stems, but she had secured a section of the garden for me, had the farmer put my name on that square of tulips, and that he had promised not to cut them when they would normally be cut...he'd just let them keep growing for another few weeks to the date that I would need them, and then at least I could have them be as long as his corner square would allow. SOLD!



I'm still a loyal person...I just happen to be loyal to two wholesalers now. They both have limitations, and they both have amazing strengths...which usually overlap so that my needs are met by visiting both of them consistently. Amy's wedding was the first of many combinations of supplies from both wholesalers to my own little neck of the industry, and it was a smashingly beautiful start to a polygamous relationship. Thank you, Amy for expanding my horizons, abilities, and connections. Your beautiful tulips stand for so much to me. And we both enjoyed being told that your wedding made the top five of favorites for the staff at the Old Meeting House!

For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!

Sonia and Anthony - Rock on Rockabilly!

Sonia and Anthony moved back to Utah from Washington, and spent months looking for a photographer and florist that they liked. My hubby and I were lucky enough to win the place of honor for this totally unique wedding! Between the antique cars, costume changes, and touches Americana, it was way too much fun. I hear that the band (flown in from California to perform at the reception) even lit their instruments on fire! Yeehaw, baby!

The flowers included gerbera daisies, freesia, hypericum berries, all in bold red and white with a bit of greenery from seeded eucalyptus. The challenge was balancing the iconic Coke bottles in the center of the folded paper classic cars without anything falling over and without getting anything wet. All 30 centerpieces ended up being so fun, and the daisy bouquets and boutonnieres simple and fresh! Thanks again to Sonia and Anthony for the unique fun and style!



For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!

Proud, Proud!

I know what an amazing photographer my husband is, and I tell people all the time about how much talent he has, but it's still great to see professionals agree with me!



Jon Woodbury Photography is being featured today on the Utah Bride Blog! Two of his favorite weddings from last year (or ever) are front and center on one of Utah's premiere bridal blogs. Jon's also started a giveaway...Leave a comment (preferably about how much you love it;) on their blog after the post and he will review them and pick a random comment out of a hat (...I know, pretty low-tech.) and give that person a $50 Jon Woodbury Photography gift certificate to be used towards a photo session, prints, or even a fine art print from my soon-to-launch Fine Art Photography Gallery!

Thanks so much to the great people at Utah Bride Blog as well as to Brittnie, Alex, Blayr, and Brock for the amazing fun with the Holmgren family for including us in their amazing weddings!



ALSO!

Another favorite wedding of Jon's is being featured in the Utah Valley Bride Magazine for 2010, and they just posted info on that feature on their blog! Colleen and Derek had one of the most stylish events of our year, and the custom gown and top hats created some awesome opportunities for Jon to get some stellar photos throughout the entire event. Thanks to Utah Valley Bride and Colleen and Derek for all the fun!



That's my honey! Congrats for the praise, babe! I knew it...but it's still a kick to see you getting noticed! Love you!

Katie and William

Heaven knows that I love it when a bride makes choices that are different from the norm. So when Katie approached me with a couple of REALLY different ideas, I was hooked. Katie had very little flower knowledge, but she knew that she wanted something that had never been done before, her colors were bright and vivid, and she had some stone and wood accents created by her father that she wanted to incorporate into the centerpieces. I can work with that! The only other restriction that she had was a hard-rocking fiance named William who was sporting waist-length hair, multiple piercings and tats including sleeves, and a very small desire to deal with flowers even on his wedding day. Hmm. So we need to 'man up' the flowers, so to speak? Challange accepted!

We used bright red and yellow sunflowers, violet orchids, blue thistle, spiney protea pins, and celocia...it's the one that looks like brains! I even included a small yellow sphere called a billy ball in honor of the groom. Weeds, tropicals, brains and balls?...add in some silver metal wrapping around the flower fun, and we ended up with some truly different, unique and incredibly cool arrangements! Thanks again, Katie for the awesome experience, and you too, William, for enjoying the manliness with us!



For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!

Credit where due...

My husband was the initial photographer on the Vegas shoot, but was really magnanimus enough to share the time with a couple of other photographers attending the same convention who had a workshop that they needed to fill. Julie Parker and her cute crew joined along for a couple of our first locations and then got Andrea and John to go back out later on (John had ditched the suit by then, but Andrea took every opportunity to flash the eyes, hair, shoes and glam!) and they got some more great photos. Julie is so great in her fashion focus photography, and I'm so flattered that she mentioned my flowers in her blog of the fun.

More of my hubby's great photos to come, but enjoy a different look at the fashion side of Vegas Bling!

For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!

Peacock Bling in Vegas

John and Andrea were married in a quick Vegas ceremony 14 years ago. This weekend found them in Vegas again, but this time they had a designer dress, custom suit, fashionable flowers, and a fantastic photographer!

I was lucky enough to get to put together the flowers for the shoots, and the only requests Andrea gave me were peacock feathers and bling! YAY! I couldn't narrow down the design ideas, so I built one bouquet of simple dark purple lilies and aspadistra leaves, with golden brown trailing beads and feathers tied in purple and green ribbons. The other bouquet utilized a silver holder and had cybidium orchids, cream lilies tinged in purple/pink, orange spray roses, plum freesia, and antique green hydrangea. There were silver and clear beaded leaves, more peacock feathers, and tiny diamond butterflies that I made to hover over some of the roses. I had way too much fun!

You know it's good when the bride can't decide which one to carry and so shoots with both bouquets! Great fun!

Thanks so much to John and Andrea for all of the Vegas fun, and for being such great fun to shoot!

For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!

I Scoured The Valley!

My wholesaler is awesome. Anytime I order flowers, and run the six blocks over to their location to pick them up, I can rest assured that anything else I may possibly need will also be there waiting for me. Ribbons, pins, floral tape, vases, foam...ANYTHING. They have a perfectly appointed and fully stocked bunch of shelves that carry everything from fake flowers to feathers, and baubles to butterflies. Well, for the first time in four years, today they didn't have what I needed. Ack! Apparently, the feather supplier had come in that week at a crazy busy moment for the shop, and in the press, the peacock feathers were forgotten. Not a single turqouise eye peering at me from any corner of the store. Curses!!! What to do?

I'm heading to Las Vegas tomorrow for a fashion shoot on Saturday, followed by a bridal shoot on Monday. My bride for Monday had only two requests...Peacock Feathers and Sparkles! I have several options on the sparkles, but I only had four peacock feathers in hand, so the search began. Even if my wholesaler didn't have them this time, I had to find them somewhere.

Several stores that I tried had no feathers, and the ones that did carry them were hugely overpriced. I finally found exactly what I needed at a Michael's craft store of all places, out in the midst of West Valley, Utah. (West Side...Represent!) Now my bags are packed, my floral sheers are sharpened, and I'm confident that this new wholesaler (recommended for freshness by my current wholesaler) in Vegas will have lovely flowers for me bright at early on Monday morning. Ahh. My drive tomorrow will be so much more enjoyable now, and I can't wait to post the pics of the peacock fun!

For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!

Name That Flower

For those of you still pondering, the answers about the flower names are below!



Upper left is Hyacinth, upper right is a Dahlia, lower left is a freesia, and lower right is Agapanthus. Aren't they lovely?! Such fun flowers to work with too. Enjoy knowing the names of a few more flowers that you can ask your florist about!


For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!

What Flowers Come In My Color?

Every bride considers flowers for her wedding day...who doesn't want to have some gorgeous flower confection in her hand for all of those photos?! Bouquets are great for so may reasons...it gives such a great color splash, it nods to the style of the rest of your event, and, in the end, it's just something for you to do with your hands! But, what flowers to use?

Can you name any of these?


Most people can pick out a rose, a lily, a tulip and a daisy when you ask them, but there are hundreds of flowers out there and thousands of combinations that you can choose for a simple bouquet, and that can get overwhelming! Google Images is a great way to look up flowers...but you have to already know a name that you can type in before a picture will pop up. So, how does a normal person find fun flowers for their wedding?

Flowers.Org, of course! Flowers.Org is a British site dedicated to everything flowers! Link to their page and you can look up flowers by season, style, and even by color. As you're looking at a list of names that fall within the purple category, you can even click on the name and take a look at a picture of that flower! It's a fantastic site to help the flower fundamentals in putting together some ideas for a unique and beautiful bouquet using more than just roses and daisies.

For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!