We've been busy at Gorgeous and Green with weddings, so I apologize up front for being behind on my posts!  But, it does mean I have tons and tons of pics to share from events and designs we've been working on! Here's a few pictures from a wedding Gorgeous and Green provided floral decor for at Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma in May (we worked with the coordinator Vera of Va de Vie Events)  It was a wonderfully hot day. Luckily the flowers made it through the warm weather as we still had lots of late spring flowers and early summer flowers blooming in May. The colors were yellows and oranges with some pewter/grey accents, and lots of greens.  We used a lot of locally grown icelandic poppies, crespedia, ranunculus,  dusty miller and succulents.  Here's a pic of the tent and some of the tablescapes.

 We used a lot of my vintage silver and etched glass from the rental collection for the containers.  Very sweet.

A few weeks ago Gorgeous and Green provided the bright and lovely floral decor for a wedding at the Brazil Room at Tilden Park in Berkeley.  The building there is beautifully set amongst rolling green hills, and the building is made with a lot of dark wood, so I wanted to keep the floral decor bright and colorful. The flowers were locally grown in half moon bay and Petaluma, and many were organically grown in Oakland too!  We used a lot of spring flowers including anemones, ranunculus, leptopermum, vibernum, icelandic poppies, scabiosa, callas and sweet peas. Below are a few pictures of the table designs, all taken from my phone, so I apologize ahead of time.  Although they aren't the best pics, they show the lovely colors!  I hope to post some of the photographer's pics on my blog as some point in the future, there was a lovely decorate Chuppah too, and many other details.

And the Bridal Bouquet (via phone camera)

The bathroom arrangement

 

Table arrangements

While we were there setting up the decor, we ran into a few turkeys: Gobbles and Green, G&G

I wouldn't usually put cabbage and tropical in the same sentence. Here's a pic of a lush tropical arrangement Gorgeous and Green created for a local restaurant, featuring organic and local cabbage, local roses and local birds of paradise.  Very bright and  festive.

In local and sometimes edible fun, G&G

Here are a few sneak photos from a wedding Gorgeous and Green participated in at Flora Grubb in San Francisco on July 30th.  (A more recent blog post has photographer's photos, these are all old iphone photos)

We created the table centerpieces, bouquets and boutonnieres as well as a large 4 foot wide arrangement that hung above the wedding party table.  Lots of local succulents and dahlias!  It was a grand affair with the planning help of Vera Devera of  Va de Vie Events.  Beautiful.

Bubble cognac vase with gathered local blooms and succulents

Repurposed wood drawer with local dahlias, scabiosa pods and succulents.  No floral foam was used, I have a secret trick that included more reusing....

Planted terrariums (one borrowed from Vera) are so interesting to look at and classy.

A large arrangement of blooms and succulents in a footed glass vase.

And the amazing hanging box...........

Cheers to the newlyweds, G&G

So, there are a lot of ways to go green and to get gorgeous results, but one method that I recently used for a Gorgeous and Green Wedding was using actual fruit in the designs.  Not only did it make for a tight color scheme and fun atmosphere, it allowed the couple to creat a lot of splash with a smaller budget.  The fruit was also all local and pesticide free! Take a look at some of these gorgeous pics from Karen and Scott's wedding that took place at the Brazil Room in Berkeley.  Thanks to Greg of gregraphael.com photography for the pics! And here are some lovely pics of the bridal party and ceremony, all with the citrus themed colors:

Going Green at the University Club, San Francisco

First of all, I want to thank the bride: Kelly, for her openness to green and sustainable options and flexibility in finding options that would work for her wedding and color scheme. Second, I'd just like to say, orange, brown and white are a beautiful color combination, and even more so in local, organic and recycled tones!  Check out the orange recycled glass vases I used and biodegradable ribbons... all part of the magic! Here are a few teaser pics from the Photographer Lucie XYZ Photography, thanks for such wonderful shots!  She highlights a few more moments from the Gorgeous and Green event last saturday on her blog.

What a cool shot of the couple in the gold elevator at the University Club!

In green, classy style and health,

G&G

Local, Sustainable and Organic 

In November, we did a wedding for Heidi and Dave, who had chosen to do local and sustainable flower design for their wedding.  The wedding took place at the Chaminade, very close to their home in Santa Cruz.  I don't live in Santa Cruz, so I stayed at a local beach cabana with my husband under the guise of a surf weekend.  We brought our dog and all the materials I would need to craft 21 large table centerpieces of orchids, some cocktail arrangements, a table card arrangement and the wedding party's flowers.   Heidi originally wanted orange and purple flowers, but when we talked with Dave about his needs he asked that we not use very much purple, as in his Italian culture it was considered bad luck.  So out went the purple and in came the green, white and orange color scheme that I suggested.   I had seen some beautifully decorated rooms where the floral designer used potted orchids as the centerpiece, so I suggested we do the same because the plants could also be used as gifts for those who wanted to take one home with them.  I used willow branches, moss and glass vases with rocks to pot the orchids, and they looked beautiful in the room.  Around the centerpieces I added some moss and branches I had found from the sea and that had dropped from trees in the mountains.  We decided a slightly mountain-y feel would go well for where the Chaminade is located (in the Santa Cruz mountains).  The ceilings were bare and we needed some height in the design, so the tall orchid centerpieces did the job wonderfully. We also wanted to add some color to the tables but didn't want to have to buy tablecloths or order special cloth so I found some elephant dung paper (paper made from elephant poo, tree free, recycled and biodegradable) that came in a dark orange that Heidi was fond of.  We used the paper at each place setting and used if for the tablecards and table numbers. I snuck in a little purple with some of the green flowering kale for the cake table.  Throughout all of the tables we used floating candles and votive candles for ambiance.  The dinner was in the evening, so to create an atmospheric light without turning up the electrical lights made it feel very romantic.  There were a lot of windows in the room, so we also strung up some hanging glass votive holders in the windows, which also added a soft light and twinkling. For the Bridal party's flowers, I used what was in season from some local flower growers.  Heidi wanted Calla lilies and flowering kale matched the color scheme, so we used them for the bouquets.   I also used veriflora certified roses for some of the boutonnieres and for the Bridal Bouquet. Overall, the wedding looked beautiful and the atmosphere during dinner was very romantic.  Using local and fair trade flowers made the wedding a conscious wedding, that matched the lives of the bride and the groom. For more information about green wedding planning and floral design, visit us at www.gorgeousandgreenevents.com In Green and Health G&G