[this week design writer leilani labong will be joining us for a few guest posts on the main blog. welcome, leilani!]
i would like to take a quick poll of all grooms-to-be, tux-wearing prom dates and other men bound for black-tie events: which would you rather…a generic rose boutonniere with the tired spray of baby’s breath, or a bespoke fritts rosenow boutonniere by san francisco floral designer erin rosenow, which uses miniature toys in place of traditional blooms? (hint: if you have any sense of individuality, go with fritts.)
from croquet mallets to cuckoo clocks to musical instruments and even one very cute mini mounted deer head for the taxidermist in your life, erin designs the boutonnieres to be expressions of personality; inspired versions of the ubiquitous floral lapel pins; an imaginative variation on the “hello, my name is…” sticker.
due to their tiny proportions, each boutonniere is a labor of love, a much different experience compared to erin’s more organic, freestyle approach to floral arrangements. she explains, “the bouts are so teeny i have to wear my glasses when i make them.” (cue vision of gepetto.) “they make me wish i had teeny tiny hands.” that’s funny, they make me wish i lived in a dollhouse. -leilani labong
i’m a huge of jen altman’s photography (and cooking and city guides!) so i was thrilled to hear from her about a beautiful new shop she just opened for the summer- ‘la dolce luce‘ - the sweet light. jen just returned from an amazing two weeks and italy with a bag full of gorgeous polaroids that she will start selling online tomorrow! all prints of her polaroids will be professionally printed on archival paper and signed by jen, and available right here (starting tomorrow at 10am) for purchase. jen has such an amazing way with light and her photos really capture the mood and feeling of a place perfectly, i hope you’ll check them out.
good morning! this morning i’m thrilled to kick off the day with two of my favorite things: ice cream and southern designers.
designer virginia sin, who’s ceramic paper plates were a big hit last year, just introduced a playful new line of porcelain ice cream cones that are microwave and dishwasher safe. each cone is hand-cast and one-of-a-kind, and would be such a fun way to serve ice cream to guests at a summer dinner party. if you’d like to pick up a cone ($18) or two, click here to contact virginia for purchasing (click on sin>icecream cones>slide 3 for her email).
also, i’d like to welcome one of my favorite SCAD alumni, haylie waring, to the d*s guest blog. i first met haylie back in 2007 when i spoke at SCAD during style week, and have been following her work ever since. in addition to guest blogging this week, haylie will also be part of the “southern artists up north” show i’m curating at artstream studios, opening july 11th. stay tuned for more info and interviews with those artists, but in the meantime, click here to check out haylie’s first post! (images above and below from haylie’s first post today)
since we’re just coming down from a delicious sugar high with sarah magid, i thought i’d end the day on a sweet note, courtesy of d’auria groux-holt. she twittered me a link to these beautiful pieces of jewelry from yellow goat on etsy and i was instantly smitten. it’s not often that i want to wear a baked good on my hand, but if someone handed me the cake ring below i couldn’t refuse. and the golden headband above? i think it’s calling my short hair’s name. if you want to pick up a piece of this lovely jewelry, click here to browse yellow goat’s full collection. thanks to d’auria for the tip!
i’m heading out to fill my new terrarium (thanks julia!) with ferns and moss from sprout, so until monday, i hope you all have a wonderful weekend! below is a summary of this week’s highlights…
today i am thrilled to share a special in the kitchen with: sarah magid. i’ve been a fan of sarah’s work for a while now and have been dying to work with her on a cooking project. and thankfully, she agreed! so yesterday i visited sarah’s beautiful home in greenpoint, brooklyn (stay tuned for a sneak peek of sarah’s home in the coming weeks) and watched as she baked delicious dark chocolate cupcakes with espresso whipped buttercream and hand-sculpted sugar flowers (the cupcake is vegan-friendly!). normally i’m more of a cook than a baker, but sarah’s work really inspires me to get in the kitchen and try out a simple recipe like this. the steps take hardly any time at all, and produce incredibly tasty results (so tasty i ate them in the car on the way home) so i hope you’ll enjoy sarah’s recipe as much as i did. and if you’re looking for a bit more a baking challenge, sarah also teaches you how to make hand-sculpted sugar flowers in the video- so you can decorate your treats like a pro.
thank you to sarah and her adorable daughter ruby (you can meet ruby at the end of the video) for welcoming d*s into their home on such a dark and rainy day.
also, many congratulations are in order for sarah on the release of her new book: organic and chic: cakes, cookies, and other sweets that taste as good as they look- a wonderful, approachable guide to organic baking. i spent the last hour drooling over her recipes for cakes, cookies and updated junk food, so if you’re looking for more sarah magid in your life, or just a visual and baking treat (the book photos were shot at saipua, with flowers styled by weeder’s digest’s sarah ryhanen!) click here to pick up a copy- i guarantee you’ll find at least a recipe or two that make you want to drop what you’re doing and start baking (or at least eating).
CLICK HERE for the full cupcake and frosting recipe, and links for buying gumpaste and decorative baking powders online!
This week I thought we could focus on how to best manage your wedding flower table arrangements. Table decor is often the most expensive part of wedding floral budget, and in truth, you can save a lot of money by taking this beast on yourself….with a few simple guidelines.
FACT: your bridesmaids most likely don’t know how to arrange flowers
FACT: your bridesmaids probably would rather drink mimosas and fret over which groomsman they’ll be paired up with walking down the aisle
FACT: you’re not going to have time to hand-select flowers at the farmers market on the day of your wedding. really. you. will. not.
In light of these facts, if you are stuck on the idea of handling the flowers for your wedding yourself, you need to follow the two rules of DIY wedding floral decor: 1 - KEEP IT SIMPLE. 2 - CHOOSE ONE FLOWER. Believe me when I say these 2 rules makes the day of (or the day-before) prep work completely manageable.
To showcase these rules, my assistants Amy and Amanda helped to put together 2 different table scenarios. In the first we uses Delphinium, a gorgeous blue or lavender flower available locally in most areas of the US. In the second, we used Mountain Laurel, a woody-stemmed bush also available in most zones. Both of these flowers are available in June.
With simple flower arrangements it’s nice to embellish the table in other ways. Amy, a craft maven in her own right, brought two bolts of different cotton fabric which she fashioned into runners that complemented the colors of the Mountain Laurel and Delphinium. For the first table, we arranged the delphinium in some simple pint mason jars and old apothecary bottles. Any loyal, intoxicated bridesmaid can do this. Runner goes down, extra bits of delphinium are tied around the napkins with the place cards (printed on the computer). Some small glass bird ornaments are clipped right into the flowers. Now you’ve got a coordinated mess folks. And…onto the next.
With the Mountain Laurel table we used a pink runner on a muslin table cloth. The vases we picked up at Ikea for $1.99 a piece. If you’re setting long tables, plan to have one vase for every 3-4 people. If you’re using rounds, place 3 or 5 (always odd numbers with flowers) in the center of each table.
For the table numbers and place cards Amy played around with vintage postcards. Names can be hand-written on brown craft paper and just slipped under some twine that ties it all up with the napkin.
Lastly, I always stress the votives. The photos don’t do them justice, but you know they go a long way for ambiance at an evening wedding. You’ll want to have one votive for each guest.
Does this help, or am I leaving pertinent details out? Hit me up with questions in the comments, and I’ll do my best with answering. After I’m done with this weekend’s weddings, and have had my own mimosa of course.
