Romantic Garden Wedding at the Royal Palms Resort

Melissa and Andrew were looking to have a romantic garden-style wedding in Scottsdale, AZ. They chose to get married at the Royal Palms Resort & Spa, which couldn’t have been a better choice since it would be guaranteed they would be surrounded by lush greenery in every direction. When it came to floral and color choices, Melissa simply shared that they really wanted to incorporate mauve tones. We suggested to add a pop of a gold or mustard to really make the arrangements and bouquets pop against all of the greenery.

When it came to her ceremony decor, Melissa didn’t have much of a vision except that she really wanted to see twinkle lights and geo lanterns used. So we constructed a suspended design filled with bay laurel and tree fern, a variety of florals, and of course, twinkle lights and custom-made paper geo lanterns. It definitely added to that romantic, garden vibe that they wanted to see.

I have to say that Melissa and Andrew were such a pleasure to work with and the ideal client to have. When someone has so much trust in a florist, it truly helps us thrive and deliver the best quality designs!

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Boho-chic in the Desert Botanical Garden

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Photography: Kaylee Chelsea Photography ❖  Venue: Desert Botanical Garden

Planner: BTS Event Management ❖ Florals: 1209 Creative ❖ Catering: Atlasta Catering

Makeup: Kendra Steele Beauty ❖ Dress: Monique Lhuillier ❖ Suit: Carter’s Mens Clothing

Bridesmaid Dresses: Jenny Yoo ❖ Rings: Robert C. Wesley Jewelers ❖ Stationery: Minted

El Chorro Reception | Hai + Shawn

This was a very special 2016 wedding for us. It signified the start of our very first spring-season. As time continues to pass by, and as we continue to learn and grow, we want to sincerely thank each and every bride and groom we have been able to work with, along with all of the amazing vendors. It's been way cool spreading our floral and design love all over these events and weddings! It's what we obsess over everyday, and it's what we are good at. We will continuing serving our 2017 bookings with so much heart, while staying true to the 1209 quality and style.

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Photography: Kym Ventola Photography ❖  Venue + Rentals: El Chorro ❖ Florals: 1209 Creative

The True Cost of Wedding Flowers

Simon Nickell wrote the following post on his blog, and he took the words right out of our mouths. He touched base on topics that we have experienced several times, and it's super important that clients realize the amount of time that goes into design (on top of the actual cost of the flowers). Simon has been in the floral industry for 26 years, so his experience and knowledge of the business is something we look up to. Location also plays a big part in flower cost. I would like to add that we live in the middle of the desert. Flowers are sent here from all of the country (and the world), so extra care goes into obtaining them, as well as taking care of them as we're working to ensure they look their best come wedding day!

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UK Wedding Floristry Advice - The True Cost Of Wedding Flowers

by Simon Nickell

"This is a headline that I’d like to see splashed across the pages of a national newspaper! It is a subject that is very close to my heart, and one I don’t believe is addressed enough in the wedding industry. A lack of truthfulness about what wedding flowers actually cost can and does lead to a huge amount of frustration and misunderstanding for florists and clients alike.

The bridal press, blogs and social media are saturated with images of “luxury” flowers, flower walls and sumptuous hanging installations, which all makes great copy. They hunger for beautiful images of celebrity weddings and flower heavy photoshoots to fill their pages, which is perfectly understandable. A serious lack of information however for the client, about the work involved for a wedding florist to create these amazing displays, is not helped by the media and bridal press constantly telling couples that they can have it all on a budget of £500.

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When I first started as a florist 26 years ago there were no social media or blogs to inspire. Brides went to their local florist and chose arrangements from a catalogue of commercially produced styles. The designs and flowers available were very limited, and I would often hear a bride say “I’ll have that one, in peach”. Today everything has changed, and it is rare now for me to meet a bride who hasn’t found her inspiration on social media. Pinterest and Instagram seem to be taking over the world and brides bring THEIR Pinterest boards to ME!

I must admit I have a love, hate relationship with Pinterest! While it can be an incredibly useful tool it can also be very misleading. Much of its imagery features incredibly flower heavy American weddings which have been photographed in Californian vineyards or New England gardens and  this can lead to an enormous amount of confusion and disappointment when I tell couples that the flower heavy look they want will cost thousands rather than hundreds.

Let's face facts, apart from the cost of buying a home, the cost of a wedding is probably the biggest expense at one time that a couple will have in their lives. It is also a fact that American couples tend to spend more on wedding flowers than couples in this country, and photo shoots tend to focus on the lavish rather than the average.

There are many reasons why florists charge what they charge for providing wedding flowers. Firstly, flowers do cost money. We have all become so accustomed to seeing flowers in supermarkets at discount prices that we expect flowers to be cheap. Supermarket flowers are a completely different ball game and bear no resemblance to the industry I work in. Produced in colossal quantities for the mass market, they are sold with the marketing strategy of "pile it high, sell it cheap".

The vast majority of the flowers that wedding and event florists use are imported from Holland, with only 15% being grown in the UK. In Holland flowers are traded in euros, the exchange rate with the pound is against us, and fuel and transportation costs have rocketed in recent years. Inevitably this has seen an increase in wholesale costs, and florists have to pass these costs on to their customers. Unlike Asda, who can sell a bunch of spray carnations for £2.00 (which is what I used to sell them for in the flower shop where I first worked 26 years ago) we can't!

Of course being British, we’re often brought up to believe that it’s bad form to talk about money. Florists can become their own worst enemies when asking a prospective client about their floral budget, and I know from personal experience that there really is no shame asking a direct question. It can save a lot of time and embarrassment later on, believe me.

Any good wedding planner will advise their clients on how much money to allow for each element of their wedding. A rule of thumb for flowers is 10%. of the overall budget, depending on guest numbers, flowers used, the number of arrangements and work involved. For some couples this might seem an exorbitant amount of money to spend on flowers, to others no. It is however a useful figure to bear in mind.

Bear in mind that certain flowers of course are always more expensive, more elaborate designs are more labour intensive and additional costs such as hire items, transport, petrol and staff wages, and the dreaded VAT have to be factored in, and can increase the final cost dramatically. 

I spend many months preparing for a wedding, sometimes more than a year. The run up to a wedding can involve months of site visits, design meetings, quotes, re quotes, adjustments and mock ups of final designs. A wedding day for me can have a 4 a.m. start to prepare the bridal flowers, and a 1 a.m. clearance because the venue insists on everything being taken away at the end of the night. All this work has to be included into the final fee.

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To the uninitiated many people think that my work finishes when I deliver the bridal bouquet. If truth be told many people think that mine isn’t a proper job at all. Over the past 26 years I’ve come to realise that the people who do think that don’t respect my work, attach no value to it and therefore think they have the right to negotiate my prices down. I have also come to realise that I have the right to say no. 

Like everyone else, florists are in business to make money; so why should we feel embarrassed about charging what we charge? We work to earn a decent living, pay our bills and provide employment for the myriad of people involved in keeping our industry going. 

Every year I take on a limited number of weddings. I don’t work every weekend because enquiries, like buses tend to come along all at once. I often have to turn down work because I’m already booked, and when I’m not I don’t get anything! Such is the nature of the business.

Choosing the flowers for a wedding should be one of the most enjoyable parts of the planning process. Professional florists are highly experienced, skilled and creative individuals who deserve respect for what they do. We work incredibly hard (often behind the scenes) to make a couple’s day look amazing, and what we do is reflected as the true cost of wedding flowers."

photos by Nicolas Alexander

Easter Tablescaping + Williams-Sonoma

Sherry and I were invited back to Williams-Sonoma for another tablescaping afternoon. Being that it's the beginning of Spring, we created an Easter-inspired table setting filled with fresh flowers, jellybeans and a buttercream cake! The store always has beautiful brands and designers to choose from, so it's never easy going in knowing exactly what we're going to create. We eventually settled on a charming Spring collection that was 100% fitting to our style and perfect for the Spring season.

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The Spring Garden Table:

April is the time of year when everything comes out of hibernation and flowers begin to bloom. It's the season for bright colors and sunshine. In our last post, we shared the meanings behind tulips and their association with Easter, but there are a ton of other flowers that come into play this time of year. It's peony season, everybody! People go crazy for peonies; it's cool, we're right there with them. We wanted to tie in one of our favorite colors (pink) to make our arrangements and table-setting really pop. We had a lot of pastel going on, which is fitting for Easter, but we wanted to have a flower that was a show-stopper, so the Sarah Bernhardt Peony was the way to go. We added some boronia, peach roses, stock, pink delphinium, and yellow tulips to the mix. We also wanted to add some height to the table, so we placed one of the arrangements on top of the Spring Garden cake stand in the center of the table, and then filled a tall white vase with pussy willow and off-set it on the table. The wicker basket, wooden Easter eggs, and sprig of boronia on each plate added the finishing touches to this charming, springtime table. 

To shop the Spring Garden Collection, CLICK HERE.

Items used for this tablescape: Spring Garden dinner plates, Pillivuyt Couple Porcelain dinner plates (white), Spring Garden cake stand, La Porcellana Bianca Plate Stand, Aerin Place Mats, Arezzo silverware, Everyday Napkins (yellow), Vintage Etched flutes, Vintage Etched goblets, Williams-Sonoma easter basket, Williams-Sonoma Jelly Beans

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Thank you to our partner-in-crime, Nicolas, for hanging out with us and putting together a quick video of our afternoon inside the store! We are taking the last of our Easter orders, so if you have a party that needs decorating or would like an arrangement delivered for the holiday, please CONTACT US and we'll make that happen. Xo.

photos and video by Nicolas Alexander