I hope you caught the Modern Spring Decor Inspiration Shoot from earlier this week. Today I'm going to share with you the step by step DIY for creating this lovely ceremony arch (along with a video!). I partnered up with Afloral on this project, and had such a great time doing it. I wanted to create a design that was fresh, modern, and just a bit whimsical. So let's get started!
I'm a more is more kind of girl. Meaning I can definitely appreciate simple, un-cluttered design, but for the most part I thrive when I'm surrounded by color, texture, patterns, and lots of layers. I partnered up with afloral.com to create this lovely head table decor, along with some of my favorite local Kansas City wedding vendors. And for this post I'm not just sharing the finishing shots, but also some behind the scenes images of how the table came together.
I keep asking myself why it's taken me such a long time to write this post. I keep putting it off, and finding reasons not to do it. I guess the easiest answer would be that by putting it into words, it's all very real. 2015 was our last year doing wedding florals. There, I said it. Trust me, I am at peace with the decision, it was a long time coming. However it's hard to put the past 8 years into words. Doing wedding florals has brought me so much happiness and joy, some of the most stressful moments of my life, and really "tested my metal" so to speak.
My heart is so grateful for all the amazing couples who put their faith in us to make their day beautiful, to all the amazing vendors we've worked with over the years. To my mom who has been my design assistant and right hand woman from the beginning. To my husband who put up with the mess in our house, the crazy schedule, and hauling countless boxes. To my family who were there to lend extra hands whenever they were needed. To all of you I say thank you a million times over. Now here are a few of my favorite images from each of the weddings we did this year.
Much like everyone else in the midwest, I love fall. It's those few months of the year that we get a break from the blazing heat of summer, and bitter cold of winter. So obviously I absolutely had to plan a fall/halloween themed floral workshop. And what says fall more than making floral arrangements in pumpkins? Nothing that I can think of!
My blog has absolutely been packed with beautiful collaborations lately, and that's exactly the way I like it. Working with other creatives really fuels my fire, and my monthly collab with Nickel and Suede has been no exception. Fall is officially here (at least on the calendar), and it's my very favorite time of year. The rich colors, lots of layers, and crispness in the air. All of those things and the beautiful rose bronze* earrings inspired Septembers shoot.
I absolutely love a good collaboration, in fact it's what I'm all about, so I was thrilled when the lovely Caitlin, stylist and blogger extraordinaire, invited me to take part in the Fall Into Confidence workshop, coming up September 19th. I'll be presenting with four other women, and we'll be talking all about style and confidence building!
(images above by Becca Blake Photography)
I first met Caitlin in 2014 at the Pepperologie Brunch, put on by Style and Pepper. Jessie had asked me to speak about how to take a grocery store bouquet from boring to beautiful, and I was happy to oblige. It's one of my favorite topics! Caitlin also attended my Flowers 101 workshop this spring with The Bloom Academy. Needless to say she's now got some awesome floral knowledge under her belt., and she wanted me to share it with you all. The Fall Into Confidence workshop is an event where women could learn how to feel their best everyday, and do it all in once by learning about a six different topics related to style.
(image by Cornerstone Photography)
So how does floral design fit in with a workshop about style and confidence? Good question, and it's really the reason why I started The Bloom Academy. People would often say to me "I could never do what you do" or "When I arrange flowers they look awful". But here's the thing, everyone can create beautiful flowers, it's really not that hard. What people don't have is knowledge about floral design, and that's where I come in. I think that, much like anything in this world, armed with information and a little bit of practice anyone can have the confidence and style to create amazing things with blooms. Flowers are such an easy way to make any occasion special, give as a gift, or just to add a touch of lovely to everyday life. It's absolutely an essential tool that anyone should have in their style arsenal.
(photo by Cornerstone Photography)
I hope that you guys will join me, Caitlin, and a bevy of other awesome women for this beautiful workshop opportunity. Purchase your tickets here, or you can enter to win a free ticket to the workshop. How you ask? Pop on over to my Instagram @emmy-ray for more details. Good luck!*
I recently had the absolute pleasure of partnering up with The Coveted Home for a beautiful late summer floral design workshop. If you haven't been to The Coveted Home you are missing out. It's a gorgeously curated home decor store on the Country Club Plaza. Filled with amazing furniture, rugs, prints, lamps, and so, so much more, plus beautiful accessories like jewelry and bags. I love just going in and looking at all these amazing things. Owner Jaclyn is also an incredible interior designer. (Above is the awesome Coveted Home team with their flowers).
When Jaclyn said she'd love to host a workshop I was so thrilled. The night was full of gorgeous flowers of course, as well as a delicious summer sangria from The Garnish Co., bites by Moxie Catering, and Coveted Home provided all the attendees with a beautiful vessel from Convivial Production to arrange their flowers in. The talented Sarah Sweeney was on hand to capture all of it for us.
It was such a wonderful evening, and I have to say a huge thank you of course to all of my lovely vendors, but also to the ladies that attended and showed their support. I feel truly blessed and grateful to be able to share my love of flowers with others, and I hope that all of my students feel the same. So thanks guys for making it a success! Can't wait for the next one.
When I heard that Kilee, owner of Nickel & Suede was looking for bloggers to work with, I assumed she meant style bloggers. However I started formulating something unique in my head. I love her business, and the simple, beautifully hand made (not to mention feather weight) suede earrings they create. I wanted to work with her, even though Handmaker of Things is not about fashion. I brainstormed and came up with an idea. A series of blog posts and projects inspired by Nickel & Suede's earring of the month.
August's earring of the month was olive green, a total no brainer. Greenery has been a huge trend in floral design in the last few years, much the same as the color olive green has in fashion. This was the perfect opportunity to embrace all things lush and green. I had so much fun styling these images, and playing around with different combinations of succulents and greenery.
Also as a bonus each month I'll not only be sharing these styled images, but also a DIY project or floral recipe that I've created, each inspired by the Nickel & Suede earring of the month.
I hope you'll come back tomorrow to see part two of this lovely collaboration and check out the simple DIY I've got in store (it's one I think everyone should know how to do).
xo - Emily
(this post is created in collaboration with Nickel & Suede)
Floral crowns are the best. But for real, there's no simpler way to make an occasion feel extra special than to put on a beautiful crown made of fresh flowers. Whether it's for a bridal shower, a bachelorette or birthday party, or even a wedding, in my mind all of those occasions call for a floral crown. That's why I loved teaching the Summer Floral Crown Workshop with The Bloom Academy.
This technique is so simple, even for beginners. With delicious cocktails by River Market Event Place, and yummy appetizers by Moxie Catering the event was a perfect girls night out for all the ladies who attended.
Floral selections for the night included marigolds, safflower, gomphrena, garden roses, and beautiful eucalyptus and spray roses. I did some demonstration, and then the ladies got to pick their own flowers and create their floral crowns hands on.
A huge thank you to the lovely Morgan Miller Photography for the images, and to all of you ladies that attended the event. I hope that you had the best time, and learned a lot too! I've got a Fall Floral Crown Workshop coming up soon, so gather up your girlfriends and join me for some florally goodness!
This post has been moved. Please find it now on my new baby and kid focused blog, Hazel & Ollie. There I'll be sharing all kinds of inspiration from nursery decor, kids fashion, maternity and new born shoots and more!
