it’s a new record! adriele’s bright and happy last-minute bouquet

Posted on 25. Nov, 2011 by Princess Lasertron.

Does anyone else watch that Punkin Chunkin’ show on TLC every Thanksgiving? My family does, and I sat on the couch with them finishing some more colorful little Cyber Monday bouquets and refreshing the tracking page for a box I shipped overnight yesterday. While I was thinking about my packaging for the Cyber Monday orders we’ll get, I had an idea for a waxed paper book cover tutorial that I think I should post Tuesday.

A lot of stuff I do is a little tightly-scheduled–these extra Made-on-Thanksgiving Cyber Monday Bouquets (I’m staying overnight with my parents so I had to bring something to do), any tutorial ideas I get (I have to make it before I forget, or before it becomes uncool), and sometimes I accept work at the last minute and then a miracle happens to let me finish in time. I’m always in a rush. That doesn’t mean I do things poorly–I never do shoddy work–but sometimes I dress poorly and parent poorly and eat poorly and sleep poorly. I manage because I see this work as a piece that fits into a life of long-term balance–there is time later to slow down.

Tonight while matching buttons to blooms, Punkin Chunkin’ played in the background and visions of record-breaking danced in my head (“He just beat his own world record!” “And that’s a new record for trebuchets!”) and it was like hearing the subconscious mantra that has driven me through this whole season physically manifested–do it better, don’t waste time, make this the best ever. Things happen to me that push me to challenge what I thought I could do. Yesterday Adriele and Marcelo from Brazil contacted me to create a bouquet for their wedding–and they needed it Sunday.

I read the e-mail, worked out the details with Adriele, packed up Alice early in the morning and went to CAMP for a long day. Our mission: Create a bouquet for Adriele in Sao Paulo and take it to the post office by 4pm to ship overnight.

Mission accomplished!

The time constraints posed by this order gave me the opportunity to try a few new techniques that I thought might save time–they worked, and I learned something. Her color palette (“I just like purple and blue and red–you can do whatever you want, I trust you”) was open for me to have fun and use my imagination. And Alice and I had fun during our long day at the studio–she was perfect, she had two good snacks and lunch, a little nap, and drew a cat on her whiteboard (she said it was a cat). She is finally able to sort small things without putting them in her mouth, so she even picked out two of the red buttons I used in this bouquet, including the cute wooden heart on one of the center flowers.

I wanted something bright and pretty to top the bow in the box, so I made a quick matching boutonniere for Adriele’s fiance, Marcelo. Sometimes when brides don’t order something that, in my opinion, they need (like a boutonniere, or a little hair clip, or shoe clips), I just make one if I have extra time and include it as a little gift. For Adriele and Marcelo in Sao Paulo, I felt like making a little something extra.

Thank you Adriele and Marcelo for the opportunity to design something for you that truly came from my heart of creativity. I wish both of you all the best and a lifetime of happiness together!
xo
meg

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madi and guy’s flowers

Posted on 23. Nov, 2011 by Princess Lasertron.

Sometimes with international orders I run into issues with customs.
46% of my business in international and I have learned that in many countries, customs is pretty much a dice roll.
With Madi, her package was unfortunately seized and so that caused a little worry for both of us, but it wasn’t long before the square white box of handmade flowers was safe in her hands.

I had a lot of fun using an eclectic range of materials for Madi’s flowers–wool felt and vintage buttons, but also lace, seam binding, pearls, and glass. Her flexibility and beautiful, warm color palette allowed for a lot of experimentation with texture and pattern, and I’m so grateful that she gave me the license to create an order that we both really love!

With this lovely style and their free-spirited nature, I can’t wait to see the photos from the beautiful wedding of Madi and Guy! I recall Madi talking about folding 1000 origami paper cranes…

See more photos from Madi and Guy’s flower order here in their Flickr set.

xo

meg

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brittany’s bridal bouquet

Posted on 18. Nov, 2011 by Princess Lasertron.

Over the years doing Princess Lasertron, some of the most memorable weddings I’ve done have been for my friends! I think I’ve done about three or four weddings for people I know–not a ton–and it’s always such an honor and fun to make everything really personal for them. This bouquet is for my friend Brittany–she is a radio DJ and was one of Dave’s roommates a long time ago and later moved to Atlanta for work! She still comes back to visit once in a while and I love running into her.

Brittany sent me a ton of beautiful brooches from her great-grandmother which we integrated into her button flower bouquet. I love making these. You can’t imagine how heavy they get! On with the photos.

See more photos of Brittany’s bouquet here in her Flickr set!
xo
meg

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ngahuia’s flowers

Posted on 09. Nov, 2011 by Princess Lasertron.

Ngahuia is a customer from New Zealand marrying her fiance, Ian, from the United Kingdom, and she e-mailed me almost a year ago to create a beautiful red and green bouquet for their wedding back home in Wellington with their two children! She wanted to order her flowers from me so that she could share them with her daughter and have them as a keepsake for years to come, which I thought was really sweet. Ngahuia also had some special buttons made to represent her Maori heritage and sent me a pair of beautiful rings–one which belonged to Ian’s mother, and the other which was her mother’s engagement ring. What made me so excited to do this bouquet was filling it with the rich personal meaning from Ngahuia and Ian’s lives.

Here are some of my favorite photos we took of the flowers Ngahuia and Ian’s wedding. We did a bridal bouquet, a bridesmaid’s bouquet, several boutonnieres and a bunch of loose flowers for the flower girls. Look for the pretty rings in Ngahuia’s bouquet! I took these before we wrapped the stem, so it’s just bare. Before sending it I finished it with satin ribbon and pearl-headed pins.

See the rest of Ngahuia and Ian’s flowers here on Flickr. Congratulations again to Ian and Ngahuia and best wishes!

xo
meg

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Amanda’s flowers

Posted on 03. Nov, 2011 by Princess Lasertron.

Amanda and her fiance Chad are heading to Las Vegas this weekend to get married and they called on me to create a bouquet, corsages, and boutonnieres for the happy occasion inspired by the iconic Las Vegas sign! I admit it was a bit of a challenge for me–Amanda asked me to use a lot of blue and gold, and balancing it with the right amount of red and white was tough without making it look like “school colors.” I think I achieved a good balance and I love the finished result.

Consistently, my biggest challenge with bridal orders is avoiding “school color” themes. Purple and black? Go Blair Bears (my high school!). Red and white. Blue and orange. Green and yellow. Black and silver. I don’t want a bride to look like a Denver Broncos superfan going down the aisle and I don’t want her to look like she’s coming straight out of a post-prom party either. I know my designs are very nontraditional, and often whimsical, but I strive for a taste level that will leave wedding guests with an impression of style and elegance. So that’s a word on color.

Chad and Amanda are having a small ceremony with around 20 people in attendance, and she is wearing a cute little vintage-inspired dress from Dolly Couture (love them!). I can’t wait to hear more after this weekend about how they carried the Las Vegas theme into their reception!

Congratulations again, Chad and Amanda, and thank you for the honor of being a part of one of the biggest milestones in your lives. Enjoy Vegas!

See the rest of Chad and Amanda’s wedding flowers here in their Flickr set.

xo
meg

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