Nothing but Nature - Ahwahnee Hotel

This was such a refreshing wedding to plan and design. I would have never guessed how much fun I could have with only designing with foliage and some acorn branches. Lindsay and Santiago had a small, intimate wedding in Yosemite National Park at the Ahwahnee Hotel. The wedding party only consisted of the two of them and after the ceremony out in the meadow they gathered on the East Terrace to enjoy an outdoor luncheon. The rich greens and the natural wood vases and hints of acorns are so simple and so gorgeous to compliment the environment.

Hannah and John - Wawona Beauty

Now that we have such wonderful ways to scope out inspiration with blogs and pinterest, I am not sure I will ever get sick of eclectic styles. Hannah had such a vision with snippets of table setting accents, clusters of votives enhanced with hemp twine, specific flower choices in a PDF collection she emailed me and with combing through some notes we were able to take each piece and element and use it all in her décor. The setting was the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite, such a charming sweet backdrop with the ceremony facing the woods and the reception set on the lawn accompanied with activities and board games on picnic blankets. This all came together so beautifully, it certainly topped the list with an all time favorite! Farm wood tables, Russian Sage lining the aisle, random succulents, Olive foliage, rosemary place setting accents...ahhhh, Love!

Blush - Nude - Peach

This is probably my 4th blog entry on peach. A couple years ago it started coming around as an accent color, even a perfect pop in rich fall colors. Then paired with the grays and ivories was so gorgeous. Last year it was seen a ton with corals and now with the colorless world of nudes and blushes it is a great color to give some depth and contrast to the other tones. These photos were actually from two different weddings. The bouquets were from a recent July wedding at The Vista Ranch and Cellars. She worked in some vintage books and bud vases for her centerpieces and it was such a perfect style for a beautiful summer wedding. The rest of the photos were from a wedding this last September at The Evergreen Lodge. She had the same style flowers and it was just so refreshing to see them in a woodsy setting. There is just something about these peachy hues that just steal my heart!

Birch Logs and Herbs

It is always so fitting to represent elements that are a reflection and compliment to the surroundings of the venue. Kate and Tyson chose The Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite for their wedding in July and they had such terrific choices for decor that was so perfect for their day. Their colors were lavender and sage so we designed with dried lavender, scabiosa, olive branches, blushing bride, astilbe, ranunculus and moss. The centerpieces were designed from birch logs that were from a tree cut down at her parents house. The guest favors were my personal favorite, Nature's Leaf which are actual leaves dipped in silver to make the perfect ornament. They used vintage Yosemite post cards for their table names and we polished off designing the cake making olive/lavender wreaths along each tier base.

Yosemite in Full Bloom

When describing my natural style choice for my designs I would categorize it as "rustic elegance" long before the rustic world took the wedding industry by storm. Shannon and Mark's wedding is the perfect example as to why. When Yosemite is your backdrop but the more formal and elegant touches of the Ahwahnee are to be blended with the nature you can't help but to fit right in between the two worlds by creating anything less. The colors they had decided to showcase for their wedding were periwinkle, creams, navy blue, antique golds and a pop of a spring green. The peonies were the most gorgeous I had ever worked with, practically the size of melons. We went with a few style centerpieces to play in to the narrow crescent shaped room of the Solarium. The tall vases were best displayed by allowing some free stems to flow in the water with river rock at the base. Surrounding was three antique mercury gold sundae cups with florals and clusters of gold mercury votives. The second style was in the rustic wood box and then 3rd was in a gilded antique gold vase.