La Petite Fleur Blog

Lisa and Dustin are a fabulous couple who were super easy to work with. I did the flowers for Lisa’s sister, Julie, last year- see http://lapetitefleurmn.com/news/?p=153, and Lisa loved the flowers so much she decided to use me as well:)

We decided to use deep red and burgundy in all the arrangements using premium blooms of Cymbidium Orchids, James Story Orchids, black Calla Lilies, deep red and black Roses, red Hypericum Berries, and Myrtle greens. Each of the boutonnieres and corsages were different for each person, which I love to do!

The ceremony took place at the Cowles Conservatory at the Walker Sculpture Garden http://garden.walkerart.org/artwork.wac.  My 4 year old daughter, Anja, took the second picture of the “big fish.” Pretty good, huh? Here they let me do some tall, nummy arrangements of James Story Orchids, Bear Grass, Myrtle, Asparagus Fern, and Curly Willow with hanging votives in tall pilsner vases based with black river rock. For information on booking here and other great venues in Minneapolis parks visit this site:  http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=24.

My favorite part was the arrangements for the pond; 5 floating “lily pads” I got to create that were to be removed and used as centerpieces later at the reception at the swanky AZIA restaurant http://www.aziarestaurant.com/index.htm.  

Thanks for a great time and best of luck to you.  You better keep in touch!

A note from the bride’s mother:

Hello Carra, This is Shelly (Lisa’s Mom), and I just wanted to let you know what a beautiful job you did on Lisa’s flowers.  I’ve never seen anything like what you created.  I am so impressed with your talent.  You certainly have a gift. Linda (Lisa’s little sister) is only 19, but if and when the time comes that she needs flowers for her wedding, you can be sure we’ll be calling you! Thank you again for the love and attention to detail.  You made my little red headed bride very happy. Sincerely,

 Shelly

A note from Lisa’s sister: 

Hello Carra,

I don’t have a lot of time but I wanted to say how great you made the flower arrangements look for my sister Lisa’s wedding!  I loved the red of course, because it is my favorite color, but as always, you made the arrangements extraordinary! 

Thanks again and take care, Carra!

-Julie

A note from the bride:

Thank you for kickin’ ass!  Seriuosly, everything you created was fwawless. Stunning. Phenomenal.  With the exception of the actual marriage part of the day, the flowers, hands down, were totally my most favorite part.  I don’t lie. Thank you-so freakin’ much!!!

(Heart) Lisa and Dustin

Kyre Austin called me and said, “Hi, this is Kyre Austin and I’m looking for wedding flowers.”  I was super confused initially as it sounded like she was saying my name, Carra Otten. It took a couple seconds and for her to repeat what she said for me to figure it all out.  Kyre told me that her fiance, Fred, had actually found me and liked my blog-Thanks Fred! He said he especially the pictures from Lara and Rob’s wedding http://lapetitefleurmn.com/news/?p=1076) because Lara and Rob had a subtle bird theme as well as the use of branches that Kyle and Fred also wanted to incorporate into their wedding decor.  They had gone to some other florists who kind of poo-pooed their ideas of branch centerpieces before he found my site and guessed I would like to help (understatement of the year since I even kid that I’m going to divorce my husband for my love of Curly Willow!).     

The bouquets go into my top ten favorite bouquets of all times.  I used creamy Dahlias, white, rice papery Ranunculus, white Hydrangea, white Freesia, Fiddle-head Uhule Ferns (my favorite), Brasilia, green Hypericum berries, Pittosporum greens, velvety Lamb’s Ear, and accented the scrumptious bouquets with loops of Pheasant feathers!

The ceremony and reception took place at one of my favorite venues, the Landmark Center http://www.landmarkcenter.org/rental.html. Here we came up with an idea of branches covered with Gypsophila with little brown birds attached with hanging votives. The other centerpieces were to be a simple, elegant Dahlia bloom resting on a nest of moss and twigs.  A couple days before the wedding, my kids, Anja and Magnus, were on a walk down by the Mississippi and found a ton of beaver-gnawed branches on the beach.  They were gorgeous, almost Zebra striped. We collected a bunch and brought them home to find that they were the perfect size for the short centerpieces!

Weird coincidence, Kyre and Fred chose the same photographer as Lara and Rob did, Kris Drake, http://www.krisdrakephotography.com/.  Look at the super-sweet images she captured.  Also, her assistant just happened to be a guy I knew from working with Bastian+Skoog- Small world! I can’t wait to post the pictures she sends from both weddings.

Thanks Kyre and Fred- it was so wonderful to meet you- you are a lovely, sweet couple!

A note from the bride as noted on Wedding Wire www.weddingwire.com :

I had a spectacular experience with La Petite Fleur. The owner, Carra Otten, was amazingly flexible, communicated promptly and often by email, sent pictures, and checked in several times by phone. I was planning a wedding from out of town, so this was invaluable. She was flexible about our budget, and offered ideas about how to save money and also how to reuse our decor after the wedding.

One weekend while I was home visiting my family, I called Carra out of the blue to see if she would be able to meet to discuss flowers. She sent a questionnaire to determine some particulars, and we set up a time to meet. When I arrived, she had lemonade ready for us on the porch, and several books of various floral elements that we went through to determine preferences about flower types and texture. She asked excellent questions and was able to quickly determine our style. My fiance and I had a specific idea of the look we were going for, and some of the elements, but Carra took this to the nth degree. Her enthusiasm and creativity communicate a true love for what she does, and she has the talent to translate this into truly remarkable results.

I was floored when we arrived at the wedding–the centerpieces were creative, detailed, gorgeous, and better than I had hoped, and our bouquets and bouts were just amazing–fragrant, beautiful, elegant. She even brought an extra corsage and bout in case someone needed one–great! Carra was there when we arrived setting up, and came up to say hi and check in, then she was off again working her magic. Everything was completed on time and professionally.

At the end of the night, my mom and dad discovered they did not have space in the car to take the vases and centerpieces home (as originally planned), and they were able to arrange a pickup with Carra for a very reasonable fee. This was a totally last minute change, and they were so thankful she was able to accommodate it.

I could not be more satisfied with my experience.

-Kyre

Oh was I so excited to be chosen to assist Bastian+Skoog! Thanks to a recommendation by the best ever, Ardith Beveridge, I got in contact with these wonderfully talented florists.  I’ve admired their floral work as well as their exquisitely funk-d-fied taste in fashion for some time now, and it was a joy to finally meet them.  Check out their site www.bastianskoog.com to see what I’m talking about, if you don’t already know. Here are some delicious pieces of their work from this crazy, 3 day wedding extravaganza at 4 different venues, the Walker, James J. Hill Library, the Landmark Center, and the Saint Paul Hotel.