Winter Blues

It felt good to get back into the swing of things this weekend. Our first wedding of the season started at a new venue here in Brooklyn called Liberty Warehouse. It's located right on the pier in Red Hook with breathtaking views of the harbor. Lady Liberty was so close you could have reached out and grabbed hold of her dress. The call was for vibrant jewel tones - emerald green, sapphire blues and violets against wintery greens. Enjoy!

Smaller of the 2 centerpieces. This arrangement had an accompanying little vase of white peonies by its side.

Anemones, black baccara roses, tulips, white jasmine, paper whites, ceder, pod eucalyptus, dusty miller, and some green foliage with these waxy little white flowers. I just realized this is basically a red white and blue arrangement.  It's reading much more blue in the photo, actually it was a purple plum color.

I guess I did little to tame the wild this time around.

In place and ready to go

Ceremony set up. I loved the black industrial lights

Off to the side on the bar I finally had a chance to use my guy's shadow casting light, Lumen. Our first collaboration on a wedding job. It's sold at the MoMa design store. Read about it here. I could not think of a better wedding to debut it at.

A mouthful

I am very much at a loss for words lately. Even worse is that I have not picked up my camera in a long time. Soon that will end... I promise. I do want to say as I embark on year number 4, some things are gonna change. Last year I felt as though I barreled through without keeping a keen eye on my books. That is changing. This may be my passion but it is also my business, one I want to flourish both creatively and monetarily. I have been pouring over my numbers and I am prepped. Another thing is I am vowing to be more assertive with my wholesalers. There are some new sellers in the market and everyone should be on their toes. Last year I pulled at least 100 dahlias from one wholesaler, asking they hold until tomorrow for me, only to return to find some bigger hot shot scooped them up. They all play innocent. I mean how much money do you need to throw down to get some respect!? Also, no one better try to pass off old crappy ass flowers on me. Ain't happening. In fact while I'm at it - I will be more assertive with everyone in my life. You see, I suffered as many woman do of being too nice. I never wanted to offend, and I hate confrontation. Funny thing is I have no problem confronting my husband nor boyfriends from my past....hmm (misdirected frustration perhaps?) Anyway, I've finally learned  there is a difference between being aggressive and being assertive. So for 2012 I will be simply stating my needs and limits whether you are a wholesaler, client, planner, editor, PTA- chair-fundraising-committee-class-parent, family member or even my child. That is the rule.

As for design, I am looking towards a cleaner aesthetic. Still natural and lush but less wild. I want to love, love, LOVE everything that comes out the studio. I dream in neutrals but I crave the saturated. The only thing that keeps me waking at god forsaken hours is the desire to see my ideas come life. Therefore, in order to quality control and not burn out I have decided to do less events. A couple a weekend, no marathon deliveries, no craziness. It's not for me. I have a growing collection of ceramic flowers that threatens to take over my time and brain. Plus I really want to start a new blog on a completely meaningless project. I can't help thinking about art, again. But that's another story. Jeez, I guess I did have something to say.

As for pretty pictures today - I show you some of what I have been pinning. Lots of inspiration out in the world wide web. Click image for source.

How's that for a flower delivery?

 something about these funny little pots...I keep coming back to. Maybe it's that cactus plant that looks like a tongue? Photo by Nancy Neil

tree puddle. I like the idea of finding unintentional art.

Just in time....

Up on Brooklyn Bride today. See the full post here. Enjoy!

Concept and floral design: Denise Fasanello Floral Design
Coordination and planning: Bespoke Affairs

Photography: Tory Williams

Papergoods: Em & Bee

Textile: Lotta Jansdotter

HAPPY

Pure happiness and sheer joy. That was this couple. Super cute, fun and flirty design from last spring. Gosh, I loved them!! Congrats to Alex and Mike. A million thank yous for letting decorate your day.

More goings on and on and on

On Tuesday I woke at 5:30am and went to bed at the next day at 5:30am. Huh? So what day it it?  I was at Macy's doing another Valentine day promo for Ralph Lauren. I didn't take any pictures because basically it looked exactly like last year. Remember? No? See here. Anyway, it was grueling. Instead of having the day to condition and water pick 2000 roses, a hiccup in delivery snagged the plans and they arrived at midnight at the store and we stayed until 5am getting it done. Have you ever seen some crazy floral thingamagig and thought what crazy person did that? Hi...yeah, over here, its me. What can I say, it pays. In the midst all this I created these sweet little posies for the Thistle and Clover pop-up shop. Much more my speed. Flowers you kill me, you seduce me and you feed me. Literally.

For the Home

Last week I had the opportunity to design flowers for a client's home. This has been a goal of mine for some time and I was thrilled to get the chance. Now we all love wedding flowers with their pomp and glory but as a designer I'm not gonna lie - it's one thing to create a little masterpiece but to then face the task of having to recreate it - oh, say 20 times...well, it can become a bit draining to say the least.  It was a nice change of pace to think about placement, lighting and interior design. I especially yearned to design cleaner and more modern flowers. What I took away from the experience was when designing interior flowers, the vase consideration is just if not more important than the flower choice. What a treat to wake to a nice arrangement by your bedside. I do hope I get more opportunities like this in the future. I was in heaven.

To be still

We did a photo shoot here in the studio last week and I wanted to give you a sneak peak. My main motivation is to debut my little ceramic flower (I slipped some into the tablescape). I've been churning them out while trying not to get too precious. Some have already exploded in the kiln. Oops. But then like any art form, we practice and practice and practice some more. Clay is teaching me patience. Speaking of practice and patience. I have all but abandoned mine, that is meditating. I find it incredible hard to wake with weak sunlight and sit quietly. The dark makes me sleep. And if I must get up before dark, it's a groggy dash to throw on whatever and seek strong coffee. But it does seem my littlest pheasant has cultivated a nice practice of sitting still. I love this picture (caught while I was cleaning). Talk soon. xo

 

 photos by Tory Williams