Happy Halloween!!!!

I thought I would leave you on this last day of October with this special trick or treat inspiration board from All Things Lovely. Have a fantastic Halloween!!

I'm off to Oregon!

Well I am off to Oregon to watch the Ducks kill the Trojans! I get to spend a fun filled Halloween weekend with my best friend. I hope everyone else has a great, candy filled, Halloween weekend! And did I mention, GO DUCKS!!!

Wedding Movie Madness

I don't know about you, but this cold fall weather makes me want to crawl under a big feather comforter and watch a movie. So I thought I would put together a list of the best wedding movies of all time. What is your favorite wedding movie?

Engaged: Victoria and Anthony

Hillary Maybery has done it again! I wanted to show off these engagement photos she took of Victoria and Anthony. If you know these two in person, you will know that she absolutely captured how much these two love each other and how much fun they have together.


Victoria and Anthony will be having a fantastic winter wedding here in Sun Valley, and I can't wait to see the finished product. The couple has really fun, modern taste so both the food and the decor will be fresh and super cool. And from what Victoria tells me, they have a group of friends who will be partying all night long! Be sure to look for their wedding pictures here and on Hillary's blog in January.

photos by Hillary Maybery

The picture that started it all....

About 16 years ago I saw this photo in a wedding magazine. It was an ad for Vera Wang's new season of dresses, and I fell in love with the dress and the photo. I have now been carrying this picture around for 16 years. I am pretty sure it is why I do what I do today......

Inspiration Board #1: Halloween Fun

click on image to enlarge

Here is my first attempt at an inspiration board of my own. Not bad for a first shot....

Top row: table setting by Martha Stewart, green fairytale
pumpkins by Martha Stewart, black chandelier via ilovesubstance.com,
candy apples by Country Living
2nd row: Halloween gingerbread house by Martha Stewart, black
wedding dress by Max Chaoul, cupcakes by Sprinkles, chocolate

finger party invitation by Martha Stewart

3rd row: dessert buffet by Amy Atlas, skull pumpkin by
Martha Stewart, Wicked Witch of the West, pumpkin patch

It's All Groovy Baby!

I thought it was about time I showed off some of the other things I do. In addition to planning weddings and arranging flowers, I also get to plan parties large and small. Last year one of my clients wanted to throw a surprise 5oth birthday for her husband. She wanted the party to be a disco themed party, and all her requirements were: super fun music, great food and drink, and a party like the guest have never seen here in Sun Valley. So here is what we came up with....

We started with an empty backyard, added a big white tent, and just went crazy with the draping, lights, and disco furniture inside. Once again I requested help from my good friends at Classic Party Rentals and King Dahl Event Designs, and as you can see we transformed that tent in to a groovy disco party.

We had t-shirts made for all of the waitstaff featuring a cartoon face of the birthday boy from the 70's. We also put them in afros and puka shell necklaces. An accessory the birthday boy was famous for wearing back in the day. The menu consisted of only fun food. The caterer's, the Rasberry's came up with all kinds of fun stuff from fruit shaped sushi, to mini corn dogs, to passed test tubes filled with Red Bull and Vodka.

The guests partied hard until 2am, to the unbelievable sounds of the Cheeseballs. The night finally ended when the police showed up thinking a bunch of teenagers were having a party. I'm of the opinion that is the best way to end a 50th birthday party!!

photos by: Kirsten Shultz
event by: Taylor'd Events

Flowers! Flowers! Flowers!

A good friend of mine pointed out to me the other day, that I needed more flower photos, of my own work, on my blog, and he is absolutely right! I started out just doing flowers, and it is something I really love to do. So I have gone through my photos and found a few photos of arrangements I have done in the past. It also made me realize that I need to take way more photos of my own work. So that is the goal from here on out! I hope you enjoy.....

Pink for Breast Cancer

I couldn't let the month go by without mentioning, as most of you already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. And this is a wonderful thing for two big reasons. One breast cancer awareness is a super important issue that every woman young and old should be aware of. And two, everything is PINK!! Have I mentioned this is my favorite color a hundred times before? So to do my part I thought I would put up a few pictures and links of my favorite accessories that donate proceeds to breast cancer research. I do have the pink KitchenAid mixer, and it is my favorite thing in my kitchen. I also have to give props to the NFL for showing its support by having all the players, coaches, and cheerleaders wear some kind of pink accessory. Love it!!

From top left: KitchenAid Mixer, Casio Camera, Relevant Products T-Shirt, Tomboy Tools

I Love Shoes!

I will admit it, I have a shoe problem, I simply love them. I also have a shoe problem of another kind, I live in a town that not only thinks jeans and a cute top is dressing up, but we are covered in snow 7 months of the year. However I simply could not resist showing off these amazing Christian Louboutin's! Hope you enjoy them as much as me!

Real Wedding: Elizabeth and Paul

This wedding of Elizabeth and Paul actually occurred July 7th, 2007, but decor wise it is one of my very favorites, so I thought I would share it with you all. I was very fortunate to have such great people like Paul and Elizabeth, allow me to design their wedding. They gave me very free reign to design everything, and I was allowed to create something I had wanted to do for years! The biggest challenge of this wedding was we started with an empty horse pasture with no power or water. But with the help of my good friends at Classic Party Rental and King Dahl Designs, we quickly got over that hurdle!

The layout of the wedding consisted of four main areas. The first was the welcome cocktail area.
Since we were in a pasture, we brought in a landscaper to lay grass down and put in a fire pit. We added bistro tables, umbrellas and two large bars. The second area was the ceremony tent. Elizabeth loves chandeliers, so we hung one in the center of the tent as well as under the arch.


Next we had the dinning tent. This tent was placed upon a sub floor, we had built to give a very even stable surface. We then laid navy and white carpet on the floor. Because Sun Valley has the best views ever, we decide to use a clear tent to take advantage of our surrounding. We suspended chandeliers and lit votive candles from the top of the tent to give the ceiling a sparkly look when the sun went down. For the tables Elizabeth wanted tall arrangements which did not impede on the views across the table. We achieved this with skinny fluted vases with 30 to 40 stems of phalaenopsis orchids in each.


The final tent was the dance tent. We draped the entrance to this tent with fabric so you could not see in. At the end of the meal we had the emcee announce the first dance, the fabric was pulled back to reveal the party tent, and the band Wonder Bread 5 launched into an evening of super fun music. Inside this tent you first encountered a giant round white dance floor. We had a ton of fun with the lights and made the dance floor look like a giant pool of water one minute and the next it looked like a giant ball of fire. We had a candy buffet for the kids, and a fully stocked bar for the adults.

This wedding was one of my most fun and challenging weddings I have ever had. But in the end it all paid off, the bride, groom and all of the guest had a fabulous time, and I was lucky enough to have the wedding published in Bride and Bloom.

photos: Kirsten Shultz
wedding planning and floral: Taylor'd Events
Rentals and decor: Classic Party Rentals and King Dahl Event Designs

Real Wedding: Ashley and Rob

Early this spring I got a call from the bride Ashley, who lives down in Southern California. She and her fiance Rob wanted to have a small intimate here in Sun Valley. They wanted their wedding to be in a beautiful outdoor setting in the mountains, and they asked me to design the flowers for the day. Here are the photos from the wedding, the very talented Kristin Cheatwood did an amazing job of capturing the day!

Ashley wanted to have one long table for everyone to gather around. The decor colors she chose were yellow, navy and white. When we talked about how the table should look she very much wanted different textures but still very clean lines. So we started with a yellow lamor tablecloth, and then her mother made white eyelet runners that we laid horizontally on the table. We topped off the linens with square white dishes and navy lamor napkins. The flowers were arranged in a square glass vases with a navy ribbon around them. The mound of flowers on top included roses, tulips, and stock.



Thank you Ashley and Rob for allowing me to be a part of your big day!!

photos by Kristin Cheatwood
Flowers by Taylor'd Events