To say that I’ve been excited to share this with y’all would be a serious understatement. Becky of Event Crush and Cat Dossett invited me to join them to bring this concept to life last April and of course my answer was, “Hell yes!” when Cat said they were shooting at the Hobbit Trail just north of Florence. If you haven’t been to this magical place, get yourself to the coast immediately! Faeries live there for sure. Style Me Pretty just featured this, so now I can too. Check out our full feature over on their blog and leave us some love, eh? Here’s a few more of my favorite shots.

We made an altar in the trees with big swaths of chiffon and these floral tie-backs. It was a big hit with the day’s beachcombers. 

It’s basically impossible to go to the Oregon coast in April without a little bit of rain. It turned into a lot of rain, but didn’t seem to faze anybody. Besides, Cat’s from Alaska, so she’s basically too BA for rain anyway. 

That table is a pallet hanging from the trees, styled to perfection by Becky of Event Crush fame with rentals from Parties To Go. The centerpiece featured roses, ranunculus, columbine, foxglove, anemones, snowberries, astilbe, eucalyptus, and ferns in a low brass vessel set atop a runner of asparagus fern garland. I made the garland on site and when I plopped down in the moss to put it together everybody thought I was using the ferns growing there for a second and their eyes got big and it made me smile. I didn’t forage anything here–I like to leave these sorts of places nice for everybody.

The red, white, and pink bouquet featured those crazy huge Japanese ranunculus along with roses, astilbe, snowberries, anemones, columbine, amaranthus, and three different kinds of fern. We went all out on the trim, naturally. 

Cat made that dress. The woman can do basically anything, I’m not kidding. 

Not pictured: my dad, husband, and kid playing on the beach in the rain while I played with flowers, our “bride” freezing half to death, packing a pallet, bistro furniture set, crate of dishes and accessories, and two boxes of flowers half a mile down a trail, about a bajillion more photos, random passers-by who wanted to know what we were up to, Cat’s super good sport of a boyfriend hauling All The Things, and LOTS more rain. It was a super fun day and I’m so glad to share it with you!

Not possible without the talents of these fine folks:

Cat Dossett

Event Crush

Stationery by Rachel Gregg

Make Up by Reina

Parties To Go

The Sassy Cupcake

welcome to bridal show season! if you’d love to see (and smell) some flowers in person, this is the perfect time of year. these shots by Cat Dossett are from Brides on Broadway, which is seriously going to be the quintessential wedding event in Eugene. there is a huge pool of talented folks and very savvy businesses behind this fun tour of downtown.

next up is the Luxe Bridal Event at the Hult Center on March 13th. i’ll be there with at least ten bouquets for you to bury your face in and swoon over.

the day after, i’ll be decking out some gorgeous gals in wearable flowers for Blush Bridal Boutique’s prom fashion show. Blush only sells one dress per girl per school, so you’re basically guaranteed not to show up with the same look. shouldn’t your corsage (or halo, or necklace, or whatever you can dream up) be custom-designed to match? we are taking prom flowers to the next level this year. this is jewelry made from flowers.

see you around eugene!

need a flower fix? not getting married? don’t fret. valentine’s day is your answer. you have a few different options.

sexy red with a hint of black and a few…provocative shapes.

soft and romantic, in classic pinks with feminine textures.

something a little less traditional, if all the pink and red makes you dizzy this time of year.

of course, a dozen reds, but with a twist.

and a little something extra…

all available at www.anastasiaehlers.bigcartel.com for your pleasure and the delight of your valentine.

the rest of the details:

• there are three sizes for the mixed arrangements.
• pickup orders available on February 13th, use code PICKUP at checkout to waive the delivery fee.
• delivery happens February 14th, for Eugene/Springfield, and i can probably make it to Junction City as well.
• like it says up top, this is a limited engagement. i’m not ordering a ton, so don’t dally.

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.

as promised, so begins the recap. this cheery celebration took place at mt. pisgah last spring. spring time is dodgy around here, but that day was glorious. as i was rounding the big bend in i-5 heading south, the sky just opened up into completely spectacular sunshine.

the bride’s grandfather built the arbor for the altar with wood he milled himself! i hung little bud vases and bottles gathered by the bride from it. the glass caught the light in a way i couldn’t photograph properly. altars are always hard for me to get good snaps of.

the bride’s bouquet had tulips, craspedia, muscari, ranunculus, leucadendron, veronica, and grasses, with the world’s most fun pompom ribbon. the maids carried live plants potted in terra cotta with more of those darling little poms.

centerpieces were groupings of found jars, bottles, and vases. each table had a box of fresh berries for guests to enjoy. the whole vibe was casual, a little rustic, and a lot of fun.

these are not those pretty butterflies that flit from flower to flower, happily drunk on nectar. they’re the kind in your tummy. in two days, i get to come together with an incredible group of women (and a couple very obliging men) to take some pictures and eat some ice cream. no big deal. so why am i so nervous about it?

everything is going to be great. the flowers are ordered. the vases are free of price stickers and dust (or will be right after i post this, i swear). the chandelier is pink. the invitations are adorable. the cupcakes will be delicious. and all my favorite blogs and magazines are going to fight over the right to publish it. in fact, they’re going to pay us for it (rrrriiiight).

in all seriousness, i am beyond excited. and even more grateful. thank you thank you thank you to the kind folks contributing time, goods, and creativity to this shoot. check out their stuff–these people do great work, yo.

photos by anne nunn photographers
cake and sweets by carla of honeycrumb cake studio
paper goods by suzanne of my sunflower expressions
dress from the fantastic blush bridal boutique
linens and rentals by parties to go, coordinated by the helpful elizabeth
jenn and michael for standing around looking lovely
and last but not least, the muffin mill, for letting me borrow the most perfect set of chairs

again, thanks a bundle.

on friday, i locked my keys in my car. this was made especially foolish by the fact that i was a thousand feet down a dirt road and most certainly alone. my car had no real business being locked. but it’s a habit. tuck keys in purse, exit car, push lock, close door. usually, my purse is with me.

but no, there it was on the seat, with my phone tucked inside as well. at least i had my (mom’s) camera. better yet, i was in paradise, stranded at wet rock gardens flower farm in springfield. it was only sort of raining as i radioed friendly mr. kelly for help from the check in table. i poked around and made myself at home while susan sped to my rescue in her vw camper, bearing a cell phone.

peony

peony buds

the deer wandered off, bored with me (or laughing), and i wandered off in search of what i came for, peonies. my timing is impeccable. i need them this weekend, and they should be damn near perfect. one red bloom was open already, a pretty preview of what’s to come. susan showed up as it started to rain in earnest, so she took me on the driving tour of the farm once i got a hold of the mister to bring the spare key to my car.

chives

foxtail lilies (eremerus)

“if no farmer is handy…”

wet rock is on twelve acres tucked away by the mckenzie river in springfield. it’s run largely by only two people, susan and kelly, who’ve acquired and developed the property piecemeal over years. it’s the sort of place that can only be understood as a labor of love. the farm offers u-pick flowers and provides arrangements for local festivals (country fair, anyone?) and concerts and the occasional free-thinking bride. they host their own events as well, make giant soap bubbles at dawn, and pull weeds by hand. it’s a lot of work for one couple, but all of it is beautiful, even the bits that fall lower on the priority list than tending the plants.

viburnum

allium

“sometimes you have to pull the weed to get to the flower,” susan said as she was telling me about their u-pick flowers, nestled in more beds than i could count. “we don’t mind.”

i don’t mind either. i’ll be back this friday for the peonies and all summer long for the other treasures.

i came to floral design in a roundabout sort of way. before i snipped stems and made bouquets, i trekked through the forests and wetlands around oregon staring wide-eyed at wildflowers. my major in college was biology, but only because the university didn’t have a botany program.

florists mostly use hybrids of a different species, ranunculus asiaticus, aka persian buttercup. they seem pretty wildly different from those sweet little buttercups until you peer inside and notice all those stamen.

photo by aviad2001 via wikimedia commons

photo by jerzy opiola via wikimedia commons

photo by haolrd supfle via wikimedia commons

after a bit of a blog drought, here’s a long drink of fresh water. sent over by the fabulous eugene wedding photographer, anne nunn (definitely hire her if you want amazing shots of your wedding!), here’s the bouquet that i was looking forward to making for months and have been beaming about ever since. seriously, my favorite to date. this little number includes black baccara roses, burgundy dahlias, and dark dark dark calla lilies. accented with two kinds of feathers, eucalyptus seeds, and dusty miller, it’s as close as you can get to naturally black flowers. stay tuned–there’ll be more beautiful photos soon!

so with the torrential downpours in eugene over the weekend, and um, right now, there’s no denying that we are in the thick of fall. better yet, i carved a pumpkin and made spiced cider to celebrate with wonderful friends on saturday. we even went to the pumpkin patch in the rain. i can’t remember the last time i carved a pumpkin.

thanks for the leaves, neighbor

so tempting just to leave them on the counter like this.

mmm…fall