La Petite Fleur Blog

These first six photos are compliments from Happily Ever After  http://www.happilyeverafterphoto.com/ -Thank you!

These photos are ones I took:

Mmmmmmmmmmm…I Love Indian weddings!!!! Claire and Dan’s wedding a the Burl Oaks Golf Course http://www.burloaksgolfclub.com/ was so great- every detail was covered and executed flawlessly with the help of wedding planner Sherri Cosentino www.aalonproductions.com.  In the meantime, take a look at my shotty pictures and try to imagine how great it all looked- I wish I could have seen it with the candles lit- I’m such a candle freak!!

I was asked to donate an arrangement for a silent auction for Children’s Heart Link http://www.childrensheartlink.org/ Fundraising Gala this Friday.  Children’s HeartLink is an international medical non-profit working to build sustainable programs to prevent, treat, and cure heart disease among needy children in developing countries. 1 in every 100 children is born with congenital heart disease, and it remains the third leading cause of death in kids world-wide! To show my support for the global community, and kids with congenital heart disease I happily obliged.

Instead of having hundreds of random items for guests to bid on, CHL put together 15 culinary focused packages. The winner of the table where my flowers were used gets a Moroccan themed dinner for 20 that will be hosted at Children’s HeartLinks President’s house and catered by chef David Fhima.  Custom invitations by Epitome Papers, wine from Solo Vino, a freshly prepared dinner by David Fhima (former owner of Louis XII, Fhima’s and Lo-To), and flowers by La Petite really helped raise the value of this package!

 I just so happened to be doing an Indian wedding the next day so I had flowers I could easly incorporate into the design I was thinking of.  I put long Curly Willow with hanging glass votives, Tiger Tail Dendrobium, Celiosa, Black Dahlias, Montbresia, Marigolds, Monstera Leaves, and a submerged, orange LED light in the bottom of the tall pilsner case. Viola! Instant Morocco!

A past bride, Amber (see http://lapetitefleurmn.com/news/?p=522) just emailed me to show me what she did with her bridal bouquet. Take a look: 

Hi Carra, I just wanted to share with you what I did with my dried wedding flowers… I made a wreath! Of course I didn’t use some of them because they didn’t dry well. I’m really happy with the result (of course it doesn’t hurt that my flowers were quite Christmasy). Just thought I’d share Hope all is well with you. I’ve told a few people about you so hopefully they’ll be contacting you.Take care,
Amber

Great job reusing, being creative, and keeping in touch. Thanks!

Photos above by Ben at www.benjaminportraits.com- Thanks Ben and Deanna!

Meredith was one of the most relaxed, funny, down to earth, and fun brides ever. Every time we met we ended up talking too much and having too good of a time.  It was far more pleasure than business for me. 

The ceremony took place in the very cozy and historic Prospect Park United Methodist Church http://www.prospectparkchurch.org/.  The pews were decorated with gold mint julep cups that doubled as some centerpieces at the reception. They were brimming with the most beautiful, wonderfully fragrant ivory Roses I’ve ever seen, white Lilies, Coffee and variegated Pittisporum greens, and finished with gold sheer ribbon bows. The Altar was flanked by two stately arrangements of Curly Willow, white Roses and Spray Roses, and hanging votives. 

Setting up was made quite enjoyable as my husband and co-worker, Kyle, was there as well as Meredith’s awesome photographer, Ben Saefke www.benjaminportraits.com. It was nice to catch up as we haven’t seen Ben in some time.  Kyle actually went to high school with Ben and his wife and co-photographer, Deanna. See more of his super work at his site as well as the other couple weddings we’ve worked together, Michele and Steve http://lapetitefleurmn.com/news/?p=510 and Tara and Steve http://lapetitefleurmn.com/news/?p=151 . I can’t wait to see these pictures and post them!

The bride carried a bouquet of white Roses, Lilies, gold pearl filled Stephanotis, white Hydrangea, white Fugi Mums, Euphorbia, ivory Spray Roses, sprays of clear crystals, a collar of variegated Pittisporum, a handle treatment of her dress fabric, and a special, last minute request for an addition of “something blue” was filled with a collar of sapphire blue emerald cut crystals that only the bride could see. She also had a gorgeous bloom of Gardenia in her stunning hair.

The reception took place at the North Star Ballroom at the U of M Saint Paul campus http://www.sua.umn.edu/reservations/spsc/spaces/northstar.php.  The head table sat upon a huge stage which looked over the 32 guest tables.  They were adorned with either Spray Rose topiaries, the mint julep Rose pew decorations, a trio of vases with shimmery gold glass marbles, rose shaped floating candles, and a very open white Rose, or a beautiful ‘Sausalito’ mosaic hurricane (from Mari at Mbellish www.mbellish.com, who has a ton of wonderful rental pieces) surrounded by small square vases holding very open ivory Roses.  All tables were accented by votives and Rose petals that pulled the whole venue together wonderfully.

The food was supplied by my neighbors who own Burrito Mercado in the District Del Sol area of the West Side of Saint Paul  http://www.elburritomercado.com/home.htm. Their food is so authentic and delicious, you HAVE to try it!

  The first picture I asked Meredith to give me sassy- I think she has that one down! Take a look at how darn muy bonita she is!

Katie Jean loved and wanted to use a combination of green, blue, and white for her wedding colors. For her bouquet I used white and purple Hydrangea, green pearl filled Stephanotis, White mini Calla Lilies, bright green Button Mums, purple Freesia and Caspia, Bluperum, a collar of delicate and fragrant Maidenhair Fern, and a last minute addition of something I never can seem to pass up in the flower cooler because I just love the texture, Crocosmia Pods- I just want to nibble on them!

The attendants carried bouquets of purple Hydrangea, bunched white Carnations, green Button Mums and Bluperbum, accented with purple Caspia, a collar of Coffee greens, and finished off with a handle treatment of smooth satin ribbon and a simple yet impactful line of green pearl headed pins that were also used in all the bouts and corsages.

A week before Susy’s wedding I got an email from her asking me to do some wedding flowers for her.  It was a blast from the past for me as Susy and I worked together at Billy’s on Grand over 10 years ago and I haven’t heard from her since.  I just happened to not have a wedding this week so I was more than happy to help her by creating her boutonnieres and corsages.  She told me that they were going to the farmer’s market for the rest of the bouquets and that the attendant’s dressed were going to be brown, so I pretty much had free reign to do as I pleased with these bad boys. Yippee! I used Vanda and Dendrobium orchids, Hypericum berries, Sedum, Yarrow greens, Freesia, Love-In-a-Mist, and Seeded Eucalyptus in these arrangements and accented the groom’s bout with loops of decorative wire.

Susy and Brent were married and had their reception at Crystal Lake Golf Club http://www.crystallakegolfcourse.com/specialoccasions.htm , where both my dad and husband once worked. Susy told me that the staff was super excited to do their wedding and were decorating like crazy.

When we were dropping off their flowers, we bumped into a familiar face, their photographer, Peter Danio (super funny)  http://www.peterdanio.com/ and his lovely wife.  They do wonderful work and have a photo booth available for rent as well!  See his photo above…the first one of Susy and Brent.  He did the photos for Shannon and Robert’s wedding too, http://lapetitefleurmn.com/news/?p=1050.  I’ll definitely have to get some images from both weddings from him and post them for you all to see.

My wonderful in-laws, Denny and Joy (Or Mema and Papa, as Anja calls them), celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in May.  As a surprise gift, I recreated their wedding alter pieces- topiaries of red Carnations, white Spider Mums, and Myrtle.  We had a delicious brunch and relived their day and long lasting and very happy marriage.  Check out the picture of Kyle’s grandma, Jean (or GiGi) , and her squeeze, Maury. They couldn’t be a cuter couple!

My husband and I love to entertain. My husband has taken some cooking classes and is turning into quite the gourmet chef.  He loves to try his new dished to our family and friends and we love to let him.  Recently he made a grilled Tuna Steak with a fresh Cilantro Salsa- delish! Oh, and last night he made BBQ Pork Kabobs with a Thai Peanut dipping (guzzling) sauce, rosemary mashed potatoes, pinapple coleslaw, and Ciabatta bread - (this is where I make the dueling gargle noise like Homer Simpson when he thinks of a food he loves).

While he does this, I set the table up all pretty and arrange some flowers. The first arrangement is white and purple Hydrangea, Love-in-a-Mist, Montbresia Pods, green Button Poms, and purple and yellow Freesia in a square vase based with a band of Raffia.

The second one I tried to make as masculine as possible using very little flowers. Curly Willow, mini Myrtle, a single stem of green Button Poms, Bluperbum, and Craspedia arranged in sections and inside the vase, a blanket of Rainbow Ti leaves hide the stems. I think it looks guy-y, how about you?

Anja and her little friends, AJ, Mason, and Matea enjoy some Popsicles on my back stairs- too cute!

Check out how great of a little photographer Anja is turning out to be- she took this picture of her two favorite stuffed animals, Duke and Owie Bear.  Great composition!