Robin & Craig : Autumn Jewel tones

 My beautiful cousin, Robin married Craig last October and I was so honored to be able to design the flowers for their special day. Robin is an Edmonton- based wedding photographer  (view her work here), so she has seen her fair share of weddings! I love that she chose jewel tones for her fall affair, the deep colours are a welcome departure from the more popular soft tones.

While Robin and I came up with the concept for the flowers, Green Petal's lovely manager Sarah, executed them so beautifully (as my sweet babe was only two weeks old at this wedding!)

PS: Doesn't Fernie offer such an amazing photo backdrop in the fall? Photo Credit:  Kirsten Buyer .

- Carmen

Garden Winter Wonderland

Sarah & Adrian  January 2014
Venue: Elk View Lodge  Fernie, BC
Photo Credit: 6:8 Photography

Often I see bride's trying to fit their wedding decor around a seasonal look. Here in Fernie, we really only have two months of the year that are summer-wedding friendly (and about five that are winter!) People often feel winter weddings should be soft whites and blues, and a fall affair should stay within the yellows, and oranges. But I love how this wedding proves those thoughts wrong.
Even though she was saying "I do" in a winter wonderland, Sarah wanted her wedding to have a garden feel. She came to the consult prepared with a great inspiration book, and together we arrived at these lovely arrangements to include, Garden Roses, Ranunculus, Queen Annes Lace, hypericum berries,  plenty of greenery and some nice dark red/purple branches to add some contrast for the bridesmaids.  (I love this picture of  Sarah- she just looks so excited and happy!)

 And check out these bridesmaids, the mismatch lace dresses are just perfect!

Every table had a different arrangement, Sarah collected mason jars of different sizes and handmade the table number tags, which turned out great!

I love the contrast of the bright, summery florals against snowy white! What do you think, should the season of the wedding dictate the colors?

Carmen

Succulents- BC Style

Oh hi. Wow it's been a while and I've been busy these past couple months (relaxing & working), with lots of pictures to show for it! I promised Thailand photos, and I will do a post on that, just waiting for the pics :) 
This past Saturday I was in the shop alone and was researching air plants- which I love! During my research I took a little rabbit trail and ended up finding this super cute succulent planters and decided to try my hand at them- they are so BC (especially Fernie!).

Baby First:

 My Favorite:

 The whole Family : )

 

They are so cute & yet wild, and maybe even manly...?  They'd be perfect on a desk, coffee table, bathroom counter OR wedding centerpiece! And the best part is they are ridiculously low maintenance (did I mention manly?). Right now they are the stars of our shop window, but hopefully they will find loving homes soon!

Dennis loves Caitlyn

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides
~David Viscott, Author

 

Well this past weekend was my first Kimberley Wedding. Caitlyn called me about a month ago we talked for a few minutes about her wedding, and emailed once. So quick, she knew what she wanted but was willing to give me creative control, which made the process such a breeze! And I think what we came up with, together, is so springy and beautiful!

 Both bouquets had purple hydrangea, green dianthus, green hypericum, purple stock, purple lisianthus, green mini cymbidiums, and buplerum. For Caitlyn's we also added green roses. Both were finished with deep purple satin ribbon.

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The Bouts & Corsages were Green mini cymbidium orchids and hypericum berries, with purple buillion wire wrapped around the stems. The Corsages also had a loop of purple ribbon tucked in there.

Local Artist Prints Now Available!

We now have 13x19 prints of the painting "2nd Ave" by the talented Fernie Artist Morgan Dunnet . 

They make great gifts or keepsakes to remember your season here in Fernie. To see a picture of the original painting (which is also for sale!) check out Morgan's Blog

Inspiration Board: Earthy Romance

Tis' the season for Bridal Consults! We always ask brides to bring pictures of things that inspire them, often it comes in forms of ripped out pages of bridal magazines (which is fine!). Well today I stumbled across an amazing site that allows you to create your own design boards and it's so easy!!  It even allows you to simply email the board to your florist & wedding planner ~ giving everyone the same reference material, without the need for shady photocopies!
www.dessy.com/pantone/gallery/
Below is my board I made. "Daisy, Pewter, & Antique Gold"   I simply love the soft grey & rich yellow, with touches of brown makes me think ~ Earthy Romance~. I tried to pick a favorite photo or two, but the truth is that I find each one of these photos inspiring! (though be sure to check out the twig cake, and 'mr &mrs' pear cake toppers!!)

Photo Sources:
Ruffled
Ink & Peat
GFC
Cross Pollination
etsy shops: ~ Portobello
                  ~ faux kiss

Glass half full of warm fuzzies?

I'm not sure if I'm in denial or just going for the glass is half full approach... This is what it looks like outside:

 And this week is COLD, some reports are saying we could hit a record low of -42C (about -44F). Despite the fact that it is too cold to... well do anything; I've been trying to think warm thoughts (while sitting on my portable heater). There are plenty of Albertans who came here to ski, but are making their way downtown to find a warmer past time for their holiday- shopping. I decided to use lying as a marketing tactic (white lies!).

This is what I put in my window- it was meant as an encouraging statement, but now I'm wondering if maybe it's more of a mocking statement. I watch people bundled up and bending into the wind, stopping to read my little note. Does it give them hope and some warm fuzzies? or make them want to curb-stomp my sign... I choose to believe the warm fuzzy one.

We recently got our INDABA spring order in (which include the chalkboard-pots from the previous pic!) All this new merchandise has given us a chance to rearrange the front a bit. I've notice that this shelf in particular has been getting a lot of attention today. Not sure if it is all the bright colours, or that everyone has warm bath/showers on their minds... and I'm sure the all the amazing smells don't hurt either!




And last but not least here are a couple warm & tropical arrangements! (Sarah made these ones!)

The Crunchy Ryckman Bouquet!

Micheline of Ryckman Photography has been blogging a series on different colour palettes. One of our bouquets is featured in her Garden Pallette blog today- check out the blog- here!

With the echinacea, cymbidium orchids, mokara orchids,  lilies, berries, and ti leaves, and twigs; my favourite thing about this one is texture- it's so crunchy! But the deep pink/purple/reds combo meld together so well, it manages to keep a soft romantic feel.

Beauty in the land of Blog: FRESH Photography

This morning I was doing one of my favorite things... wandering through the land of blogs (floral and photography blogs to be more specific). I love the creativity that is out there, and I especially love it when you find someone from your neck of the woods, doing amazing work! (I also love that I can excuse it as "research" for work!) Well today I stumbled across the FRESH Photography blog and kinda got real excited- so creative! I was pouring through it post by post and stumbled across a Fernie wedding she had done this summer- it was one of mine and one I was wishing I had better images of. Well here they are- LOvE & LoVE!!

FRESH Photography: Fernie Wedding Photography; jeff . naomi - sew fabulous

FRESH Photography: Fernie Wedding; jeff . naomi sew fab II

And I'll leave you with a photo, because really what is a posting with out a picture?! This one was donated as a door prize for a local fundraiser last month. Kinda nice to see something not red and green!!

FRESH Photography: Fernie Wedding Photography; jeff . naomi - sew fabulous

Deck the halls with succulents!!!

Ok, I've got nothing clever to write... 

But I just think these are super cute & a great Christmas or Hostess Gift!

Succulents come in so many different sizes, shapes, & textures, I love it!

I'm Back!!

Ok, now it really has been a long time. I don't have any good excuses, life just gets in the way. But I'm back and will be blogging through December and into the New Year. Fernie is no longer a summer paradise it has change into a Winter Wonderland and I am so thankful for my heated sidewalks!
With this winter wonderland comes the opening of the ski hill (Dec 4th) as well as staff Christmas Parties, my own Holiday Open House & The Good as Gold Gala in support of the Salvation Army. Here are some photos  from these events:

First is The Good as Gold Gala.

 The theme colors of the evening were black & gold. I brought in the black with ostrich feathers, black ti leaves & black willow euc. And the Gold by painting lily grass & poppy pods as well as spraying the arrangements with gold glitter (and obviously using the gold pot!)

I chose deep purples & reds to give it a "rich" feel. Using red mokara orchids, mini callas, & tulips. To add the purple I used the seeded euch & privet berry.

The next is from my Holiday Open House:

I wanted to do something Christmas-ey but unique to give people some ideas of stepping outside of what is typically done.

I used a mix of Christmas greens as well as artifical ferns with a bit of green sparkle. The flowers were protea, red mini callas, red roses, green roses, white dendrobium orchids, & green hypericum berries. I threw in a few pinecones as well.
The arrangement is set on a 2ft cylinder  vase which was filled with acrylic crystals lit up by submersible LED lights, halfway I threw in a few handfuls of cranberries to add some color.








And this final one was done by the newest member of our team, Sarah. I'm loving her style, it works well with what we are doing here at The Green Petal! If you are in the area, be sure to stop in and introduce yourself!

Fernie Wedding: Leah & Ben

"True love begins in heaven's bower,

Unfolds on earth a perfect flower".   -ARDELIA COTTON BARTON

 

Thanks to Kyle Hamilton for these great shots from Leah & Ben's wedding! This bouquet was so fun to make- so different from what people typically ask for! Gotta love the creative Fernie Brides!  

cotton pods, poppy pods, white carnations, feathers, dusty miller

Congrats Leah & Ben!!

Fernie Wedding: Carmen & Brock

Love is the greatest refreshment in life.
-Pablo Picasso  

I've been eagerly anticipating this week's wedding as it was my first opportunity to work with Picasso Calla Lilies.  Carmen was a dream to work with (and not just because we have the same name!) she was a bride who knew what she wanted and yet was open to suggestions. She was gracious and flexible with changes made, and planned a beautiful and intimate wedding.

Picasso Callas, Purple Dendrobium Orchids, Pittisporum, "something blue" satin handle

 

 Congrats Carmen & Brock!!

Take Two: Fernie Photo Shoot

This week I had a photo shoot with Fernie born & raised photographer Robin Hellewell (who also happens to be my cousin). We convinced a couple of photogenic friends to  play models for us. I came up with three fall designs ideas for a casual wedding in the Elk Valley. Enjoy!

Thanks to Jesse Aarsen & Faye Neufeld for being good sports!