YWD Out Of The Box Bouquets photograph by Steven Lam

Yeah, YWD Fall/Winter 2011 issue is finally hitting the news stand this month. We had a great time shooting this beautiful story for Your Wedding Day magazine back in June with creative director Cathryn Vanbreene and Stylist Krista Jon at Seven-Degrees in Laguna Beach. We want to share these stunning non-floral fresh idea bouquet designs with brides to be. This is an amazing collection of unique bouquets showcasing so many wonderful concepts from vintage items to feathers and gemstones to seashells. We also have added additional out take detail photos featuring each bouquet to show the intricacies of these labors of true love. There were too many great photographs and we wanted to share it all with you. Lastly, we want to give a special thank you to Thea Hargrove, publisher of YWD for inviting us to be a part of the contributing team for this issue. We hope you will find these alternative modern bridal bouquet inspiring.

For more info, visit YWD Blog about this story and pick up a copy of YWD fall/winter 2011 for complete details.


Enjoy.

 

Our photograph featured on the table of content page.

Opening spread.

 

Vintage Flea Market Bouquet / $500 / Design by R. Jack Balthazar (previously featured on our blog Parker Palm Springs Bling.) Made with book pages, Scrabble pieces, crocheted details, fabric and button roses, vintage postcards, black and cream ticking ribbon, skeleton key.

What a Gem bouquet / $300 - $600 / Designed by Noaki Jewelry. Made with fabric hydrangea petals, rich pearl heirloom brooch, one-of-a-kind pearl and rhinestone estate pieces.

Handheld Harvest bouquet / $250 / Designed by Belle of the Ball Designs. Made with walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, cinnamon, curly willow, pheasant feathers, bird's net, chocolate ribbon.

La Boheme bouquet / $ (price upon request) / Designed by Dolce Designs Studio. Made with natural and white goose feathers, colorful brooches, delicate ostrich feathers.

Wild at Heart bouquet / $425 / Designed by Dandelion Ranch. Made with dried plants, feathers, kried king protea, pheasant feathers, dried loofah, rams head, kiwi branches, faded peacock feathers, lotus pods, dried rubrum luecadendron, dried mini safari sunset luecadendron, okra shells, pussy willow, grass bundles, dried pecans, eucalyptus pods, trumpet pods, palm cups, reindeer moss.

Succulent bouquet / $295 / Designed by Krista Jon, also the stylist for this fabulous story for YWD. No succulent description available.

This one is a bonus bouquet detail shot. Too bad this bouquet did not make it in the story but we also love this bouquet. Sorry we don't have the designer's info or materials. Still, a gorgeous creation with seashells, sand dollars, ribbons and gold buttons.

Embroidery Props!

Our studio just received a sweet and heartfelt compliment from Danielle + Derek and we wanted to share this with everyone:

"Steven & Carmen

Derek and I are loving the pictures from our July wedding - you guys did an exquisite job. I was actually inspired by one of the photos you took to embroider a cover for our album. I belong to the Southern California chapter of the Embroiderer's Guild of America (long name, I know) and we're putting some of our work in a display at the Pasadena library for the month of February."

How awesome is this? We always knew we have the best clients in the world but this totally proves how creative and talented our clients are. This embroidery master piece took Danielle twelve hours to create, no small feat folks. We have also included the original image captured by Carmen Lam. Mahalo!






























Album info:
Album made by Kolo available at Papersource and Amazon.com
Album style: Newport
Album color: Ocean (Blue)
Photo corner made by Kolo available at Papersource and Amazon.com

Wedding info:
Private resident, Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii

Exhibition info:
Souther California Chapter of the Embroiderer's Guild of America (SCCEGA)
Exhibition dates: February 1st - 28th, 2011
Location: Pasadena Central Library
Address: 285 East Walnut Street, Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: cityofpasadena.net/library

Honbachi - Growing Plants in Old Books

The creative media firm of Tokyo Pistol aka TP along with a local flower shop created Honbachi. Hobachi means growing plants in old books in Japanese. Exactly like the name implies, this wonderful conceptual organic juxtaposition was cleverly engineered for the "Hana to Hon" ("Flower and Book") exhibition at Saburo Miyamoto annex of the Setagaya Art Museum. This is a great idea to re-purpose those really old books that have gone through way too many uses that it can no longer be used for it's purpose. Rather than just tossing it in the recycling blue bin, the concept of Honbachi will help breathe new life and purpose into these old books by giving a new plant a place to grow. As the plant matures, the book itself starts to deteriorate giving all of it self back to the plant. what a wonderful way to witness how magnificent and precious the circle of life's energy that is being transcend from one to another right in front of your eyes. Ideal plants for the kit are simple house plants like pilea, wire vines, and kalanchoe. The process begins with finding books at old book store that are deemed unusable, the book then gets cut by hand creating a rectangular receptacle for the plant. The gutted paper is then used for wrapping the kit for shipping so nothing gets wasted in the process. Maybe one of these kit can be planted in the classic children's book titled The Giving Tree. Paying homage to the book's concept and it's deep meaning of love and life. Although the homage idea is a sweet suggestion, it might not be practical since Honbachi's success depends on thick books. We would love to see these Honbachi as a centerpiece at a green/DIY/botanical garden wedding theme. Or maybe just making your own kit to give them away as your alternative green DIY wedding favor. we are certain your guests will fancy these lovelies for months.

Unfortunately, Tokyo Pistol's Honbachi kit is only available exclusively in Japan due to it's content of live plant and soil, these kits can not be shipped internationally due to agriculture quarantine safety and hazard laws. But we hope this will help inspire the DIY in you to make your own Honbachi creation for your office and home the next time you come across a book that has past it's prime and deemed physically battered and unreadable. Give that book a second chance.

FYI - If you are planning to keep your Honbachi kit indoor, make sure to just water a few drops till the soil gets moist so the plant and the book do not get over watered leaving the book soggy. If you don't trust yourself to this duty, may we recommend using a plastic plant tray or liner on your Honbachi.

More info at tokyopistol.com/goods/honbachi.html

Basico

We wanted to congratulate our Aussie mates on their launch of Basico. Basico means "Basic" in Spanish and was founded on our friends love of travel to exotic places. After visiting so many places they always brought back mementos to remind them of the beautiful sunsets and sandy beaches, but knowing that we don't all have the luxury to travel around the globe. Our mates created Basico, bringing you the global sandy beach shopping experience right to your door step. So if you have missed your chance on picking up something locally on your last exotic trip, stop by Basico and explore their offerings. For the destination bride and bridesmaid to be, this is a fantastic shop to help you spice up your wedding day outfit. Even though summer is about to turn it's season here in the states, Basico will help keep you in style and your summer memories endless.

Shop at Basicoshop.com

Music For The Soul

Music plays such an important part in our lives that it would be unimaginable to live without it. When we hear a particular song, it usually brings up some special moment from our past. Music is so powerful that it can heal and touch your soul and emotions. Music can inspire change for a whole generation. In fact, Music is one of the few art form that does not require any special skill, intellect or the understanding of the inner workings of the masterpiece in order for you to appreciate it. The beauty of music is you don't need a high brow art enthusiast over intellectualizing it to death just to influence or dictate who, what and how you should listen to music. There are no wrongs or rights, we all experience and interpret music differently and that's the magic of this alluring work of art. Music can be felt directly in your heart. It can also tapped into your emotional senses evoking those warm and fuzzy feelings all over your body. Even a newborn loves music despite their lack of understanding the conceptual world that we live and play in. For the baby, there is no past or future, just the precious present momment is all that matters. With that said, we wanted to share a few tracks that we personally love and enjoy (not in any particular order). These songs would also work beautifully for a newlywed's first dance...a good chance you might just get goose bumps from listening to them or shed a few happy tears of joy. Cheers!



1. Magic by Colbie Caillat (Album version on Coco and Piano Version on Coco: Summer Sessions)

2.'Til Summer Comes Around by Keith Urban

3. Only You Can Love Me This Way by Keith Urban

4. She Thinks She Needs Me by Andy Griggs

5. I Need You (With Tim McGraw) by Faith Hill

6. You Do Something To Me by Paul Weller

7. This Is Love by Kelly Rowland

8. Love Is You by Chrisette Michele (bonus track)

9. Someone Like You by Dina Carroll

10. A Song For You by Donny Hathaway


We also wanted to share artists that help inspire us in or out of our studio.

Annie
Röyksopp
Phoenix
Electric Light Orchestra aka ELO
Michael Jackson
Beatles
John Lennon
Wax Poetic
Tracy Thorn
Roy Ayers
Kylie Minoque
Lady Gaga
Mariah Carey
MGMT
MFSB
DJ CAM
The Psychedelic Furs
Blondie
Colbie Caillat
Eagles
Marvin Gaye
Donny Hathaway
Akon
R. Kelly
Journey
Bobbi Humprey
America
Bill Wither
T-Pain
Sonic Youth
ABC
Kool & The Gang
Kaskade
Ben Watt
The English Beat
Air
Supertramp
The Clash
Dead Prez
John Coltrane
John Digweed
Jamiroquai
L.L.Cool.J
Hot Toddy
Hall and Oats
Groove Armada
Radiohead
Santigold
Pete Tong
Anything produced by Neptunes
Sade
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Michael Nyman
Steel Pulse
Weekend Players
Jazzanova

Bike Wedding

We have some exciting news to share with everyone. We have been asked to be the exclusive photographers for Rose Pedals Bike Weddings! We are thrilled to be a part of this amazing green wedding concept. What's not to love? Biking on the beach, the golden warm sun, the soothing sounds of the ocean! These are amongst the top reasons to have a bike wedding, not to mention the low impact carbon footprint associated with biking. So it was an obvious choice and a no brainer to accept Elizabeth Oakes invitation to join her pioneer bike wedding concept. Elizabeth is not a newbie to the wedding scene, in fact, she has conducted thousands of weddings: from celebrity nuptials to backyard and beach elopements, grand soirees to courthouse ceremonies. She has been dubbed "The Love Lady" by the locals. Is it legal? Absolutely. It is fun? Duh!!

Now, the fun part begins...Jason and Erica were our guinea pig bride and groom along with their super cute three-year-old son Winston who served as their witness, yippie! It was meant to be for the E+J to get married by the beach near their cruisers on the Venice Beach canals. They trek at least three times a week from the Inland Empire just to ride the bike trail that runs from Santa Monica to Manhattan beach! If this isn't love I don't know what is and they love each other as well!

After the ceremony, we all rode over to the Venice Beach boardwalk for some fun photos of the adventurous couple. The greatest thing was seeing people cheer as the entourage rode on Washington Blvd. We all had a blast and we could have not asked for a better couple to premier Rose Pedals Bike Weddings. Thanks to Jason Erica, little Winston and Elizabeth for sharing this fun, eco friendly wedding with us and keeping our planet green!!


Thank you Erica, Jason and Winston for an amazing bike wedding shoot. We love ya!

For more info, booking and availability visit: RosePedalsBikeWeddings.com

Pigeon Toe Ceramics

Pigeon Toe Ceramics is all about scandinavian aesthetic. Made with lots of TLC in Portland Oregon by Lisa Hough and her talented team. Each vessels are thrown on the wheel in porcelain, then embellished by hand to form their unique, organic shapes and designs. These works of art would make the perfect centerpiece in any wedding. Best part, they will be cherished by your guests filled with fond memories of your event for years to come. Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too...chic, sustainable and responsible. For more info visit pigeontoeceramics.com

Psst! Orders over $200 get a 35% off the retail cost, when at least 4 of a specific item is ordered!

Utterly Engaged Issue #002 Feature

Wow, wow, wow, what an exciting week. We just found out that one of our weddings was featured on Uttterly Engaged Issue #002 featuring Alisa + Scott's eco wedding in Santiago Oaks Reginal Park, California. We are totally enjoying the feeling of being on a big white puffy cloud right now since last week's amazing open house and then this morning come to find out that we were featured on Utterly Engaged feels so right. Read all about it at UtterlyEngaged.com

Happy Earth Day

While Carmen was searching on the inter-web for Bar Keepers Friend (her new found favorite cleanser) she stumbled upon the fantastic Yellow Owl Workshop after many cross reference searches. Yellow Owl Workshop is an amazingly creative site that has some really neat and whimsical creations from cards to paintings to limited edition silkscreen prints. And if you have a chance, check out their blog, we guarantee you will have a ton of fun. :) And of course on that blog, we've stumbled on a really nifty idea for Wedding Invites and Save the Date cards utilizing found linen postcards. So go wild, be that creative self that you are and have a blast experimenting and designing your very own unique wedding invites and save the date cards from that stack of old linen postcards, magazines or anything else that is just waiting for a second chance at life. Like Yellow Owl Workshop says, "Recycle is Beautiful." Happy Earth Day.