La Petite Fleur Blog

Ahhhh, Mendakota, how I love setting up (and even better, tearing down) there.  The staff is so extremely helpful! Jessica and Tate were fabulous to work with! 

Wow!  That pretty much sums up this gorgeous bride and groom.  I’ll never forget the first time Jaci’s mom, Lois, called me.  The first thing she said was, “What are those purple things?”  So cute! I had no idea what she was talking about. After thinking about it for awhile and asking her a few questions, I learned she was paging through my blog and came across some purple peacock feathers that I used on a wow! wedding the year before, the wedding of Gretchen and Tom. 

The wedding ceremony took place at one of my favorite churches, Assumption.  We covered the front railings with beautiful garlands of Salal and Seeded Eucalyptus weaved with gold organza fabric that was tied in with the pew decorations that almost hung to the floor.  All ceremony decorations was re-used at the reception at the prestigious Town and Country Club; the garland arching over the doorway into the ballroom and on the head table and the pew decorations on the front doors and on the mirrors in the ladies bathroom.

Jaci had 4 different centerpieces; 1 using Lois’ fantastic hurricane vases set upon gold plates, 1 long, rectangular arrangement, sparkly Venice pieces from M-Bellish, and a large centerpiece we titled, the “wow” centerpieces using those awesome purple peacock feathers.

Take a look at the artistic first 5 photos I stole from the bride’s Facebook page done by Studio Blue Photography:

A note from the bride:

Hi Cara
Everything you did was absolutely fantastic! But, I knew it would be. You were so easy to work with and I was confident that everything was going to look awesome, and it did. I’m sure my mom told you how many compliments we received. There were guests at the wedding that have worked as florists at both bachmans and fleur de lis, who agreed everything was over the top amazing and creative. My cousin is using you and so is my new sister in law, so you have 2 referrals that I know of.
Thank you so much for everything and I can’t wait to use you again for an event (just not a wedding of mine:)!!
Jaci

A review as posted on Wedding Wire from Lois:

Carra is absolutely amazing and I would recommend her to any bride. She is so creative and listens to everything you say to her in regard to your likes and dislikes. She will adhere to any budget that you have in mind and is very attentive to your every need and she is not hard to reach by phone or email. I am still getting comments on her centerpieces for my daughters wedding and that was 6 weeks ago. Am so happy with everything she did and would not change a thing. You will not regret giving her a call and she makes you so comfortable right from the start. Thank you Carra!!!!!

And from Jaci:

Carra with La Petite Fleur is so easy to work with and she truly listens to your ideas and visions for your event. After that her creativity and talent takes over for flowers and decor that is absolutly stunning! I would recomend Cara for any event (I used her for a wedding), she takes care of everything!!

I loved this bride…

This lovely bride coined my style, Earthy Elegance- Thanks!  I found out the groom was an avid fisherman so I added one of my uncle, Tod’s, hand made flys to his boutonniere. I especially loved the centerpieces we made on the wood rounds from a tree felled on Margot’s grandfather’s land.  We came up with these fantastic centerpieces together in my studio days before her wedding.  Once I can figure out how to get her professional pictures by Barbara Pickens uploaded I will post them, they are gorgeous! In the meantime, you’ll have to deal with mine…

A review from the bride on Wedding Wire:

Carra is OUTSTANDING.
During our first meeting, we sat down together and created a list of everything I wanted to include in my wedding flowers. We looked through books and past work she had done. She had fresh fruit and other refreshments waiting for me and my mom when we arrived and she had an estimate e-mailed to me the very next day! That was impressive. I had already visited two other florists who said they would send estimates but they never did. Her estimate was extremely detailed. She was open to letting me provide what I could such as candles for the centerpieces if it would save me some money. When I delivered the candles to her place a week before the wedding, we hung out in her studio for a bit re-working the centerpiece arrangement so it would be perfect. It was fun because I felt like I was a part of the process rather than simply hiring someone else to do it and waiting nervously to see the product. I had to eliminate some items from the estimate and though it may have been disappointing to her, it did not affect the quality and service she provided with the rest. My wedding flowers were more beautiful and more spectacular than I ever imagined they would be. I will be giving Carra’s contact info to everyone I know!

More photos of Jinu and Ajay’s wedding, compliments of Priceless Photo Memories:

She wanted something “different” in her bouquet; I gave her peppers and beaded jewels. I love these colors!

Wedding Chicks blogged about Valerie and Kieran’s wedding- thanks to the fabulous photos by Erin Johnson, cake by Gateaux, and flowers by Me.  Yeah, they’re big-time! Check it out! here’s what they wrote:

We love Valerie, Kieran, and their families! We have blogged about them a couple of times, but finally we are posting the big day. It was stunning, and everyone was saying “It’s so Valerie” which even after having knowing her for a short period of time, was very evident to us. Even the {amazing} cake by Gateaux Inc. had an exact replica of her elephant tattoo! The flowers and bouquet were stunning, done by La Petite Fleur. Despite all of the detail and sparkle that went into the day, the best part was their loving, open, and very funny personalities. Thanks to you and your family for giving a glimpse at your beautiful culture and allowing us to be a part of such a special day. {enjoy}

I’ve been practicing with my new camera and I LOVE it!!!! Here are pictures of my sweet dog, Magnus, my handsome husband, Kyle, my sassy daughter, Anja, her cousin and best friend, Abby, and some recent flower arrangments from birthdays, funerals, and one from a son to his mom on her first day back to work after maternity leave. Enjoy!

See the awesome new pics on Ben and Valerie’s post….

and on Megan and Joe’s…..

Kate and I met and came up with a fabulous plan for her wedding flowers.  At our meeting I discovered that she had hired the great Sherri Cosentino of Aalon Productions to coordinate her day-yeah! We worked very well together at Claire and Dan’s wedding and I was looking forward to working with her again.

The next morning I was walking with my friend, Dirty Rara, who said, “So you met with Kate last night, huh?”  I had no idea that they were friends and neither did the bride. So weird- small world!

Check out what we came up with- I just LOVED that she let me add the black feathers for a little bit of drama…

A review from the bride as posted on Wedding Wire:

Carra is an extremely talented florist. She was able to take the rough ideas that I had and create really awesome original arrangements. I don’t know much about flowers so I wasn’t able to estimate how much different flowers would cost so she worked with me to get what I was looking for in a price range that was do-able.

A week before the wedding I had a little freak out because we hadn’t planned on having ceremony arrangements (we got married on a golf course) but I thought, at the last minute, that the area would look very stark without anything. I called Carra up the week before the wedding, told her how many pieces I was looking for and she totally took it from there, I didn’t really know what she was going to do. When the big day came and I saw all of the arrangements I was totally blown away. She totally took the stress out of the situation. Flowers make such a huge difference and every one of the guests that I talked to mentioned how gorgeous the all of the arrangements were.