anastasiaehlers

sometimes, the best way to communicate is visually. i don’t sketch particularly often for folks, but in this case, the alternative was, “no, really! oranges and leaves in a box!” which just doesn’t cut it. i’m still bummed that i couldn’t get my hands on some kumquats, but such is life.

this was from serena and shaun’s wedding last august. everything to this whole celebration had layers upon layers of meaning and so much was lovingly constructed by the couple. there were two of these arrangements, mirrored, set up on the stage for the ceremony and repurposed for the reception too.

salal, stock, curly willow, and (of course) oranges. photo by cassy berry.

a moody black bouquet from the wayback archives. lazy blog post? yes. but there’s candy to be eaten!

black calla lilies, black baccara tea roses, burgundy dahlias, tinted seeded eucalytpus, ostrich and goose feathers, dusty miller. photo by anne nunn, and you can see more of this wedding, including the smokin’ hot couple on her blog.

get married at Mt. Pisgah and support the arboretum, k? if you cater your party entirely by food truck, even better. i’m pretty sure i’ve never wanted to stay and party more than for this wedding earlier this summer.

cosmos, hydrangeas, dahlias, roses, spray roses, nigella, pieris, zinnias, wax flower, scabiosa pods, and eucalyptus. the shiny silver mercury glass dresses up the rustic wood slices and loose shape of the arrangements. fun!

the lovely bride shared a few more pics from this wedding over on Facebook, if you’d like to take a gander.

there was just too much to share on tuesday, so thanks for coming back for more. this time, you get what you really want–the bouquet. seriously, everybody goes nuts over bouquets. i do. tables and accents are nice and all…but you don’t get to just bury your face in those all day. if you happen to stalk me on Facebook as well as my home turf here, you could have requested to have your dessert first.

actually, if i had it my way, i’d probably only ever have dessert. i digress…

sarah bernhardt peonies, red charm peonies, dahlias, cymbidium orchids, smokebush, hanging amaranthus, scabiosa, bleeding hearts, lisianthus, chocolate cosmos, and there’s a gardenia thrown in there for good measure. it’s at the back, strategically positioned for maximum scent enjoyment. if you think you’re not into the fragrance of gardenia, put away your lotion and candles and go find a real bloom. good lord. trimmed with gold satin, burgundy velvet, and vintage pearls and brooches.

cymbidium orchid, gardenia, hanging amaranthus, and pheasant feathers.

want an easy way to infuse some pattern into your decor? wallpaper, folks. it’s heavier than you think, so beware if you think you’re going to just to tape it up with painter’s tape. plan ahead and secure it to some plywood to make a real backdrop. ceremony, photobooth, behind the desserts–so many opportunities!

one of the coolest parts of this shoot was that there was a focus on the behind the scenes. (if you’re a geek like me, you might even say that we tore down the fourth wall). i totally knew about this in advance, and yet i still managed to show up in a batman t-shirt with no makeup and slouched the whole time.

and speaking of behind the scenes…brendan from happily ever after films was there to shoot this fantastic tidbit. enjoy! (there’s links below, if the embedded video won’t display for you. click through to watch!)

An Art Deco Inspired Film from Happily Ever After Wedding Films on Vimeo.

a lunch date with anne of anne nunn photographers a little while ago led to some biz chat and brainstorming…and eventually this goodness. i loved working with anne. she gave me a direction–art deco influenced, but updated–and let me run with the rest. i came back with luxe mixed metals and a moody palette of burgundy and ivory, with a little bit of pink for good measure. the concept for this shoot has been rattling around in her brain for literally years now, and i’m so glad i got to help bring it to life for her.

my goal was to marry classic, luxurious elements–peonies, orchids, vintage brooches, and pearl trim–reminiscent of the affluence of the time with just a dash of angsty romance communicated through the dramatic palette (gatsby, anyone?). an editorial photo shoot is the perfect way to play like this. nobody’s going to describe their wedding to me as angsty (how emo!), but there’s plenty here that’s beautiful enough to steal.

beautiful stationery from little arrow drove home the art deco influence. our tableware mixed old and new with modern china alongside vintage touches like champagne coupés and brass and silver containers for the centerpiece arrangements.

of all this though, i think my favorite part was the spectacular venue anne lined up for us. we were in junction city, just north of eugene. the space was a second-story loft, with great old wood floors, soaring ceilings, and exposed brick. in a past life, it was used as a meeting hall for some secret society a la the freemasons. they still had all this crazy furniture there–big upholstered chairs with crazy carved wooden backs. apparently, when the current owner took over the property they found a bunch of ceremonial masks and capes in the closet. spooky, right?

enough talk, show me those pictures!

come back again, and i’ll show you the beautiful couple who modeled for us and what i made for our “bride.” it gets even better: there’s also a video from happily ever after films.

i got these beauties a couple weeks ago and haven’t been able to stop petting them since. i’ve wanted letterpress cards since before i took on my first wedding. twin ravens press, based here in eugene, did a beautiful job with my logo, designed by doodle dog creative. i love that bright green! every time i hand one of these out, i feel all warm and fuzzy inside. with a little luck, i’m not grinning like a complete loon at the same time.

nicole and justin were married last year at ata vista farm in brownsville, oregon. erika johnson snapped her pics, and frankly, she positively knocked them out of the park. check out her work at www.erika-nicole.com, but only if you like fun. she’s really fun.

nicole’s bouquet featured millet, garden roses, succulents, veronica, crocosmia, with local dahlias, zinnias, ornamental grass and herbs.

the maids carried millet, succulents, veronica, snapdragons, and more of those spectacular local dahlias.

tables had a couple of different styles, either a grouping of vintage bud vases collected by the bride or one low arrangement.

cheers!

sunday was the annual wildflower festival at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum. the event is one of their biggest fundraisers each year, complete with plant sale, food carts, and my favorite part, a display of the willamette valley’s best wildflowers. i snapped some pics of my favorite native plants. i should have gone at the end or volunteered for tear down so i could take all these beauties and throw them in a giant wild arrangement. next year.

salal, sometimes called lemon leaf, is commonly used by florists all over the place for its foliage. this plant is truly one of the industry’s workhorses. i love its delicate little urn-shaped flowers. this stuff grows in giant mats, especially at the coast.

ferns, including this umbrella fern make the forest understory around here super lush.

viburnum. this is the native version, not the snowball that’s cultivated all over and just finished blooming. i just planted one of those myself, and can’t wait for it to grow up a little so i clip off all those blooms.

i love using snowberries in arrangements. they have the perfect blush or white tone to them. here’s the flower growing in those little clusters that make the berry so great later.

how sweet is this inside-out flower on its delicate stems?

anemone. i love seeing the wild counterparts to some of the flowers i use all the time.

delphinium.

california poppy. look at that fiery glowing center! prettiest roadside weed ever.

oregon iris.

rock penstemon. everything at the show is meticulously labeled and organized by family, so you can see the evolutionary relationships as you browse the aisles.

checkermallow.

nootka rose. yup, rose. this wild guy is in the same family as the roses we know and love. actually, that family is crazy huge, also including apples and stone fruit.

blue blossom. this is one that i wanted to design with the most. i think it’s the color that grabs me.

salmonberry. these guys are edible. nope, i’ve never tried one, but hopefully they’re called salmonberry for the color, not the taste.

and just for fun, poison oak (under glass). they harvest this guy with the aid of plastic garbage bags. some people are terribly allergic to this, some people are unaffected. i’m one of the lucky ones. fun fact: poison oak and mangoes are in the same family, and mangoes give some people the same sort of violent rash reaction as this guy.

all this really takes me back to my botany days in college. i remember more of it than i think sometimes, but i do confess that i cheated. i also snapped photos of all the labels so i wouldn’t get the names mixed up.

i’m so glad i live in a place where beautiful things grow. it’s positively inspiring.

every now and then, i get an itchy trigger finger and have to spray paint some leaves. this is controversial among my colleagues, and many will turn their noses up at this and lump painted leaves in with unnatural blue orchids. worth it.

cafe au lait dahlias, hydrangeas, roses, stock, and (of course) gilded leaves for a july wedding last year. with a matching boutonniere for the mister.

photos by erika nicole.

P.S. now you can hover over the pics here on my blog to pin them. try it, you’ll like it.~