Wedding Photos - Gardenia Bouquet

Sometime back I had posted pictures of a beautiful Gardenia bouquet that I had created for a client. She sent me some pictures from her wedding day.  

Melissa was very nice to work with. No hassles at all. I have to say though, that when I hear stories of bridezillas I realize how lucky I have been! Most of my brides have been exceptionally nice.

 

You know what I saw when I saw this photo of hers? The lovely necklace she's wearing. Though I am not a person who wears jewelry, I fell in love with this piece!

See that blue ribbon? You'd better! :) The shade is called Cobalt Blue. I made trips to a lot of Michaels Craft Stores in the Phoenix-Tempe-Chandler area (since Michaels was where Melissa had bought her other Cobalt Blue ribbons from and I wanted to match hers exactly) before a kind customer service rep told me that she could look up in the system and tell me which store had it in stock. Finally, I found it. And what a beautiful color it is! Totally worth all the running around. Complemented the off-white of the Gardenias beautifully.
 

I can't put a finger on what it is about groom holding his bride's bouquet, but I always love these shots. I hope  you liked the photos :). So much better than what I click, right? :)
Please keep coming back to the KeepsakeBlossoms Blog because more photos from other weddings will be up soon. Also, please take a moment to 'Like' us on Facebook or 'Follow' us on Twitter

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Happy New Year !

Hi Everyone!

I have been notoriously out of touch blog-wise. Sorry about that. Just so many things to do. And it just seems that either me or my husband is falling sick by turns. Hopefully, we are over it by now :).
I hope you had a great Christmas! I am so looking forward to the New Year. I have been working and working to get some things in order. Hopefully, they will all fall into place soon.
This year, in January and June I participated in the Bridal Fashion Debut Show in Phoenix. It is the biggest bridal show in the country with thousands and thousands of brides attending it every year. It was such a pleasant surprise for me when Shannon from the Bridal Show contacted me first to do a custom arrangement for her newborn daughter's room and then for a photoshoot for the purpose of advertising the Wedding MBA which she also organizes. Of course, I said yes! :) And guess where I was when I got that call in a remote location in the Glacier National Park, Montana driving through the beautiful fall foliage of the Rockies. Lucky I had phone reception! :)

So anyway.... Shannon said she wanted a couple of bouquets and it could be anything I wanted. The design was upto me and it would be nice if one of the bouquets had fall colors - but didn't too autumn-y.

For that I created a Modern, Pageant Style Bouquet with Orange Dahlias, Succulents (for the Southwest Feel) and Off-White Chrysanthemums. The dried branches accentuated the modern feel and the brooch on the handle gave it a little bling and complemented it beautifully. 

The second bouquet I made was a more traditional all-white bouquet with Lily of the Valley, Ranunculus and Peonies. I gave it a platinum colored ribbon and again, added a brooch :). I so love this shot where it appears that the beautiful model can't resist smelling the flowers :).

The photos were shot by the fantastic Roy Bracamonte of Roy Bracamonte Photography. He was so easy to work with.... Not that I had much to contribute in the photography part of the photoshoot :), but he made us feel so much at ease with his effervescent personality! He even visited us at home and showed me a few tricks to get better photos. You can visit Roy's website here to look at some more shots that he took of my flowers.

Photo Credit: Roy Bracamonte Photography

Photoshoot for Wedding MBA, Bridal Fashion Debut

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KeepsakeBlossoms : Handcrafted Clay Flowers' Wedding MBA Experience

Photo Credit:Krystal Muellenberg Photography

I spent the past week absorbing all the knowledge I could absorb, at the Wedding MBA convention that was being held in Las Vegas. I have been in the wedding business for over 3 years now, with my alternative to fresh flowers - my CLAY flowers - but there's a lot of things I could learn about the business. My experience so far, had been try, miss, try, succeed :). The Wedding MBA convention gave me a lot of useful stuff to ponder and act upon. There were a lot of industry leaders as speakers. There were Timothy Chi and Sonny Ganguly - the CEO and CMO respectively of 'WeddingWire', there Carley Roney - the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of 'The Knot', Shannon Underwood and Will Hegarty (both of the 'Bridal Fashion Debut'), Erin Brukhard (of 'Be in Love Designs'),  Kathy Ireland (Kathy Ireland Worldwide), Susan Southerland, Sasha Souza, Julia Markel (Association of Wedding Professionals International), Andy Ebon (of the Wedding Marketing Network), Laura Cave (Director of Marketing Intelligence of 'The Knot') among a host of other wonderful and knowledgeable people. 

My New Clay Hair Flowers : Soon to be offered on my ETSY store (sorry for the bad pic. Blame my iPhone 3GS)

Being who I am - a very reticent person who wants to go hide somewhere when she sees a lot of people - I was planning on spending a lot of time by myself. But thanks to my friend Jo Ann Grant of Apropos Creations, that was not to be :). She made sure that I spoke with people and I was glad I did. I met so many wonderful wedding vendors - all experts in their fields. I hope to share their work with all of you on this platform. Coming back to Jo Ann, I have never met anyone like her. If you need something, she will most likely have it in her purse :). She is friendly, resourceful and extremely organized. No wonder she's a wedding planner! Here she is, with Kathy Ireland.

Photo: Jo Ann Grant and Kathy Ireland

(I wish I had a chance to show her my clay flowers :), that would have been fun right?) We had a fun time driving to Vegas together. At one point, we were so busy talking and laughing that we missed the exit and had to keep going for more than 20 miles before we could turn back :). If you are in the Phoenix area and looking for someone to take care of your Wedding Day, do check out Apropos Creations. I truly believe (and I don't say this because she's my friend) she will take all the stress out of your Wedding Day and put you at ease so you can enjoy your Wedding the way you are supposed to.

The simple floral arrangement that I made for Jo Ann's association's booth at the Wedding MBA  Convention

Coming back to the Wedding MBA experience, it was wonderful. I cannot wait to do it again :). People who saw my flowers there, could not believe that they were made out of clay. Clay Flowers, I realize is a still a very new concept for most people and I am glad that I am able to introduce people to the beautiful world of realistic, lightweight and longlasting DECO Clay Flowers :).

Gardenia Bouquet

I have been missing in action - again :). Sorry about that. But the good news is, that I am doing a lot of interesting things and you will see the results soon. There are so many things that I am doing right now, that posting photos sometimes becomes difficult. But this bouquet I totally fell in love with. So, I am taking time to post these pics for you :).

 Most of you folks know by now, that I am not a great photographer :), so please forgive the badly focused pics..... and please wait for the next post which only has pics by professionals. It was supposed to be before this, but then I got busy with the wedding season that 'apparently' ended in April! :) I am not complaining though... I am loving every bit of it.

Enjoy these photos and I'll see you soon :).

KeepsakeBlossoms featured in the 'Bridal Buzz' Blog of 'Bridal Guide Magazine'

Yesterday, I was going through my emails when I found one from the Bridal Guide Magazine. They said they would love to feature my work - my DECO Clay Flowers - on their 'Bridal Buzz' blog :). They had conducted a poll to see if brides thought that faux flowers were a 'DO' or 'DON'T'. One of my Facebook Fans told them about my clay wedding flowers (Thanks Becca! You rock!) :).
I sent in some photos and some information that they asked for and here's the blog :). I have been working at this DECO Clay flower art so hard for all these years. Finally, it seems, that recognition is trickling in. I am so honored and grateful (and may I also say, totally elated!Yippee!). This is the first time a National level major bridal publication has featured my work.

Click on the photos or click here to read what the blog says about the flowers that I handcraft from Claycraft by DECO.  I must thank the photographers who helped me get here. I was always doing good work, but my photos sucked and people maybe thought my flowers sucked too. LOL! Well, I was lucky to find these ladies who took lovely shots of my flowers and made them look as pretty as they are in real-life: Angela Simpson of Angelina Rose Photography, Amanda Fales of Amanda Fales Photography, Wendy Loped of Abstract Mind by WLo and Marnie McCown of Crescendo Photography. Thanks Ladies!

PS: While you take this in, also look out for my next post. Tons of EYE CANDY, I promise! :)

Krystal Muellenberg Photography

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In my line of business, I get to work with amazing photographers. Krystal Muellenberg is one of my absolute favourites. Her photos are beyond gorgeous! Just a few examples of her work..... The photos below are photos she took of my KeepsakeBlossoms Bouquets created out of clay.

Copyright: Krystal Muellenberg Photography

Everyone that I have shown her photos to, was awestruck by her work. I am not exaggerating one bit when I say that. Krystal is based out of La Crosse, Wisconsin but loves to travel the world. So no matter where you are having your wedding, Krystal Muellenberg Photography will be one of the best options you will ever have. I am not just saying this because she photographed my bouquets beautifully. Just take a look at her website and come back and tell me if those aren't some of the most gorgeous photos you've ever seen in your life!

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Bridal Bouquet - Subtle Elegance

Heather has been a breeze to work with. To start with she sent me a detailed email with all her wishes. That  helps a lot! :) She also showed me some pictures that served as her inspiration. 

 Well, this is what we came up with - Ivory Peonies, White Ranunculus, Stephanotis, Pink Roses, White Hydrangeas with Blue highlights. I then added a little foliage to it, and embellished it using Swarovski Pearls (They are expensive.... but I L-O-V-E them!).

Finally, I put on a hot pink sheer ribbon with pearls, over an ivory ribbon with a fine silver lining. So pretty! :) I am so shamelessly in love with this creation of mine. I hope Heather enjoys her wedding bouquet. Here's wishing her a blissful wedded life.

PS: These lovely photos are again, by Wendy Lopez of Abstract Mind by WLo . Stay tunes for some more great pictures we took the day she shot these pics for me. I feel so lucky to have found her in my little town :).