Point of Inspiration

As an event designer, I am always looking for inspiration. It comes from the craziest things: the color of the water as it ripples across the beach at my home, snow melting and dripping into a puddle, and even how my favorite chartreuse sweater looks when thrown onto my persimmon ottoman in my study. (yes, I've actually created designs from those inspirations!) I often ask my brides for a "point of inspiration," something that captures the essence of what they like, even if they do not know why. It can be a scrap of paper, a piece of clothing, a picture - anything! Last year, one of my brides came to me with these fabulous shoes:


what a perfect point of inspiration! She loved the colors together, the slight shine of the matte satin, the ornateness of the design without being overly fussy, and the asymmetry. Does that tell me about her sense of style and what she likes? You bet it does! Here were some of the results:
A posy - love how the color palette turned out!
Hanging Aranda orchids, from the 'orchid trees' we created at the altar.

Note the asymmetry both in the bride's bouquet above, and in the centerpieces.
The chocolate linens made the deep hues pop, and the magenta lighting we used later that evening create a romantic yet energetic feel. Do you think we captured the essence our bride wanted to create?

What could you use as your point of inspiration?

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Floral Fridays: The Scented bouquet

Ah, summer bouquets.  Often, when trying to get the perfect color combination, we floral designers use flowers created just for us in the floral trade - roses that last longer, orchids grown hydroponically (in water versus soil), etc.  In the summer, we have the opportunity to use flowers fresh from the garden, and what we gain is that amazing, intoxicating scent of romance.  This particular bouquet was the best smelling bouquet I have ever created! The bride, albeit in her 20's, wanted something old-fashioned, yet timeless; soft, gardeny, with gardenias, garden roses, sweet peas.  We were happy to oblige!  We called this our 'tea-stained' wedding, since she wanted everything with a just a hint of color; a blush of pink, a hint of beige, warm ivories and eggshell.

What stood out though, beyond the color palette, was that scent - the summery sweetness of the garden roses (that no standard rose can ever compare too!), the heady, rich perfume of the gardenias (my all-time favorite - hint to my husband!) the spiky scent of the sweetpeas and then that exotic tone of jasmine, which we wound through the edges of the bouquet, and which opened, bloom by bloom, throughout the wedding day.  I was worried that all these scents would compete, but mother nature knows best, and just like a perfectly layered perfume, this bouquet was complex and elegant in both hue and scent.  

We finished the bouquet off with our signature pleated ruffle, out of pink duppioni silk, since the brides gown had pleated ruffles on the bottom. Perfect!

Daniela

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Introducing "Swoon": the best in dessert and favor displays

Here at Bella Signature Design we have long created custom Cake stands, beautiful dessert and candy displays, and even custom favor displays.  One of our goals has been to create "Swoon," a stand alone company that can create these displays for any wedding or event!  We are so excited to add "Swoon" to our repertoire of services, and hope that you will enjoy what we have to offer! This last weekend we were super excited to work with the very talented Jessica Holt, who not only is an amazing calligrapher and stationery designer, but is fabulous at creating all sorts of custom items to brand an event, from custom water bottle labels 

to candy/dessert bar tags. (and much, much more!) Now, although candy bars have been around for a while and are often done halfway, this one turned out so fabulously that I had to show you all!  

The wedding's color palette was mainly light pink and grapefruit(yellow), with accents of feather gray.  The custom candy bar was built by Jessica's team, (and yes, it is available for rent through us) and the backdrop sewn to match the colors of this particular event - how fun!

So excited to have Jessica part of the Bella team!

Daniela

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