Floral Fridays: Peonies are here!!

Yes, peonies are here! Here at Bella Signature Design we are always watching for when flowers come in to the season in various parts of the world. Many of our brides LOVE peonies, so it is always on our list of blooms to watch out for!

Although official US season for Peonies is last week of May into early June, other parts of the world are offering these luscious blooms already! Although not as inexpensive as the two week period when they can be purchased locally (when they tend to be $2-$3 a stem), these large, amazing blooms pack a lot of WOW factor, and are a great value for their size and impact in anything from bouquets to centerpieces. Their fluttery, lush feel looks great in nostalgic or deconstructed pieces that are so hot right now, as well as working fabulously in modern pave designs and garden-inspired arrangements. In colors from white and light pink, to stunning maroon and my favorite, coral, peonies are simply fabulous. And they are here! Want some? Contact us!

Coral Sunset

I can't wait to get my hands on some of those yummy "coral charms"

Want to keep up with all the floral fridays and other posts? Be sure to add our RSS Feed to your reader (see top right part of the blog page)

Daniela

Read more...

Floral Fridays

(picture via longbeach weddings)

We are starting a new series here at Bella Signature Design, called "Floral Fridays." Ever wonder what's hot right now in flowers? What flowers are in season right now? This series should help answer that, along with pictures, pricing, etc. First up, one of my favorite flowers, Ranunculus. (latin for "little frog")

Ranunculus are stunning, amazing flowers, shock-full of petals and available in a exquisite variety of flowers. They are romantic & lush, and at home with other petally blooms such as peonies and garden roses. They are part of the buttercup family.
Ranunculus are in season now (february) through May, and come in fabulous shades of reds, oranges, buttery yellows and every shade of pink, and white, as well as more exotic varieties like this lettuce-leafed green and picotee varieties, which have different colored edges, giving them a more shabby-chic look.

picture from gothicgardens.comGreen success

Picotee Ranculus

The nicest, fullest raunuclus come out of Italy.


Pricing varies, for the smaller, solid colors one bunch can range from $5 to $10, large hybrid specialties can demand twice that much. I prefer ranunculus in bouquets and other personal flowers where they truly stand out, their smaller size makes their expense more questionable as a centerpiece - although a centerpiece of all ranunculus WOULD be exquisite - perhaps for the headtable? MMM maybe in shades of raspberry, coral and tangerine...

Read more...

Project Red Dress Recap

On friday night I had the pleasure of participating in a fabulous event, Project Red Dress - read more details in our last post here. It was a blast! The event was sold out, and the Spanish ballroom at the Fairmont Hotel was brimming with people and excitement. I had a lot of fun coming up with the flowers: Yes, that's a model of a red dress on the left (well, a red and chartreuse dress) all out of kermit mums and carnations, which welcomed the 500 guests.

The runway show was fabulous, and our VIP tickets landed us right at the end of the runway, which allowed me to take some great shots (which otherwise would have been horrible shots since I'm not the best photographer). Speaking of photographers, Jeff Laplante, Barbie Hull and Mike Adams were all there to capture the evening with much more photographic talent than I, keep an eye out on their blogs for some photos of the evening! (Barbie has hers up already!)

The best part of the evening of course was the runway show, led by the super fun Brooke and Monti of the Ladies Room morning show on 92.5 FM. The fabulous judges included Laura Cassidy of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine and Nick Verreos of Project Runway fame. (He was a blast!)

I loved the variety of styles of the dresses, it's incredible what young design students can create in only four working sessions (the event was like a mini "Project Runway," each student only got four small sessions to work on their dress, with their work being locked away in between).

My favorite of all the dresses was this one:

(I really really WANT this dress!)

but many of the gowns had fabulous details!

The winner? This little number which was chosen by the judges not only for it's overall look but it's impeccable construction and little surprise details.

Our centerpiece...

Read more...

Project Red Dress

Here at Bella Signature Design we are so excited to be a sponsor at this year's "Project Red Dress"! This is the second annual Project Red Dress, following it's sold-out debut last year.

This year's event is being held at the beautiful Fairmont Hotel, and features a cocktail reception followed by the highly anticipated runway show of the hottest red dresses from some of Seattle's most innovative designers, students in the fashion industry Proceeds from the event benefit the student winner of Project Red Dress with a Fashion Group International-Seattle scholarship and the American Heart Association.

I am having a blast coming up with some creative ways to create a few sensational designs with a tiny budget, with a red theme near valentine's day(red flowers are triple their normal cost for the week preceding Valentines day...) I am seeing a miniature version of a red dress made out of flowers, some suspended orchids, trailing roses...how fun!

The runway contest will be judged by local design professionals and celebrity designer Nick Verreos, best known for his designs on the show Project Runway. Hmm, I'll have to come up with a really creative boutonierre for him!

If you don't have your tickets yet, click below to purchase some - they will be available at the door that night, but will be more expensive! (Hint: The VIP tickets are the best!)

Don't miss the chance to be a part of this fabulous event, full of fashion, glamour and fun - we could all use a little of that right now! See you there!

Daniela

Read more...

Special Event Furniture Rentals

While at The Special Event in San Diego (the national show/conference for Special Events, including weddings) a number of vendors introduced new lines - it was exciting to be one of the first to see all these new fabulous wedding decor items! Cort Furniture Rentals, who has an entire Special Events section, not only threw a fabulous party, but unvailed a ton of fantastic furniture that I can't wait to use at my events - here is a peek, straight from the convention showroom floor!

Read more...

Bella Signature Design In Grace Ormonde

The new issue of Grace Ormonde Wedding Style is on the newsstands, and as promised, here is our calla lilly bouquet that was featured. The bouquet was created with mini cream calla lillies and accented with black and white guinea feathers, and bound with a black and white grosgrain polka dot ribbon that perfectly accompanied the spots on the guinea feathers - simple, with a few unexpected twists!

Thanks, Grace Ormonde, for featuring my work, and thank you to the ever fabulous Bradley Hanson for capturing it all on film.

Read more...

Hottest Event trends

As I have said before, as a wedding planner and designer in Seattle, I feel it is my responsibility to keep up with the trends in the industry and make our clients aware of what is out there. While Seattle is a great source of new music and a certain kind of style, California, New York and of course Europe are often a few steps away in offering amazing decor and products to make any wedding or event even more fabulous. This last week we spend the week in San Diego checking out some fabulous new event ideas, trends, rental furniture, floral growers, etc. We attended a ton of fabulous seminars to learn more eco-conscious vendors, ways to save our clients money, etc - and we had a blast! We will be spending the next few weeks showcasing some of our finds on our blog, so for now, we send you to Sasha Souza's blog at www.Sparkliatti.com (she's been on our blog roll forever!) for her commentary on one of the great seminars we attended. I had the pleasure of meeting Sasha, and she is as sweet and hilarious in person as she is on her blog. (For those of you who don't know, Sasha Souza is a fabulous event designer to the stars). Her blog is full of fabulous finds, so keep reading if you haven't had a chance to add Sparkliatti to your own blog feed!

Keep tuned this week for all of our fabulous finds, such as wedding decor ideas, new wedding color palettes, fabulous favor ideas, and fabulous new wedding trends such as scenting your reception!

Daniela

Read more...