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

Isn’t Emily’s dress fantastic? It’s SO her. When I met these two way back when (for beers at Cornucopia, naturally) I pretty much fell in love. They’re just super fun and key off one another so well. Their early July winery wedding was filled with lavender and other blooms–lilies, larkspur, scabiosa, sweet peas and herbs. Anne Nunn captured these shots and you can see the rest of the loveliness on her blog.

Other details worth mentioning: darn near every flower used was Oregon-grown, the chuppah is one of the items I have handy to rent, and I love love love the hand-dyed silk ribbon decorating Emily’s bouquet.

See you again soon. I’m playing catch-up around here and have oodles to share!

hello friends! i’m excited to announce i’m partnering with verily bride, a blog just for all the gorgeous weddings in oregon, to bring readers a new series. it’s called “in season,” and each month i’ll be giving verily bride’s readers step-by-step instructions on how to create beautiful arrangements for their homes and events using flowers that are currently blooming in out great state…at least west of the cascades. sorry, bend!

for the first installment, i’m showing you how to arrange with blooming branches and ranunculus. some of these flowers are almost done for the season, but there are lots of good tips on how to use whatever you have on hand. go check it out, and while you’re there spend some time browsing the rest of verily bride. i’m really excited that we have such a great local resource!

read how to re-create this arrangement on verily bride.

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!

you guys! i was just going through and trying to make sense of my completely disorganized folders of photos and i came across a wedding that i never shared here. forgive me! without further ado, here are some beautiful shots by Amy Rollo, who is currently gallivanting around southeast asia, but would probably love to snap photos of you when she gets back.

kellen, one of the sweetest brides ever, chose lavender, blush, ivory, and silver for her palette. i played with that by mixing and matching the colors for the bridesmaids’ hydrangea poufs as well as the centerpieces. the whole celebration was crafted with lots of really beautiful layers, like gorgeous handmade place cards and plenty of candles, so we went all out on trimming the bouquets with lace, ribbon, and fabric.

flower-wise, there’s a whole bunch of delightful goodies here. the hydrangeas really take on a starring role, but i think my favorites are the blushing bride protea and flowering oregano in the bridal bouquet. if i could get that protea year-round i would put it in everything. you’ll also spy amnesia and sahara roses, cafe au lait dahlias,  scabiosa, larkspur, dusty miller, and more. the centerpieces also pick up some veronica, wax flower, and lavender, and a whole bunch of farm-fresh things that i can’t actually name, believe it or not. about half of the flowers were sourced locally around here.

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.

serena and shaun did it right over labor day weekend last summer. here are a few snaps by cassy berry. i’ve blogged a bit about another part of their decor, oranges arranged with foliage, and here’s more that i did for them. their whole wedding concept was just…beyond. walking into their reception site was like entering a whole little fantasy world. it was great to do my little part of it!

the bouquet had dahlias, freesia, lavender veronica, lisianthus, and gold-tinted eucalyptus. i left a matching hanky with it when i delivered it, which turned out to be a good thing since serena had one for all her bridesmaids but forgot her own.

the accent there has hydrangea, scabiosa, larkspur, stock, veronica, scented geranium, eucalytpus, and more. serena found that great cut glass container on one of her many thrifting excursions.

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.

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!