On October 28 we hosted an open house at our new studio. The girls and I had a blast planning the event. Although, I think we all learned to appreciate event planners even more than before!
Above is an upclose photo of my corsage. Sarah made each of us a corsage of phaleonopsis, fern frond, wire treatment and a bit of glitzy gems.
These 6 tall vases were filled with water with floating rose petals and topped with floating candles. These vases were placed at the entrance to the studio. The candles looked great and were an inviting entrance after sunset.
Our guests were greated to our consultation room being decorated with lots of flowers. The window area was lined with burgundy, hot pink and lime green flowers. At the base of the vases was a thick layer of moss. In the background you can see one of our fountains on display. The base of the fountain was filled with floating candles and rose petals.
This is the view looking from the office into the consultation area. The front table is getting prepped for the dessert table. Flour provided us with an incredible selection of treats. Connie blew people away! She made the most adorable favor for our guests to take home. The favor was a flower shaped cookie and each cookie had frosting in a different color. In the center of the cookie flower she wrote "Bella Fiori", each of these were placed in a bag and tied with a lovely bow. We placed a little note on each cookie to thank those who helped us with our open house. Our neighbor, Lifestyles Catering provided a ton of my favorite treats - Chocolate dipped strawberries. They are "dressed" in tuxedos. I think our dessert bar was quite the hit with our guests.
Our sign-in table was decorated with a manzanita branch in a tall rectangular vase. The base of the vase is filled with red gems. Throughout the tree are strands of crystals, large round crystals and strands of red mokara orchids.
After mingling in the front office spaces our guests were brought into the backroom where on a daily basis our designing takes place. For the open house the girls and I decided that we'd like our floral designs to be showcased above everyone ... we draped the entire ceiling in white muslin fabric. Then made numerous pomanders of dahlias, hydrangea, carnations and roses. We also hung two of our different glass containers. The bubble bowl vase that holds gerbers or orchids and our teardrop vase that holds orchids. We also hung orchid strands and rose strands with pomanders on the end.
The highlight of the backroom decor was a flower chandelier. We designed it with antique green hydrangea, sumatra lilies, roses and burgundy snapdragons in the top part. Then strung rose petals and at the end of the rose petals strands we attached a red gem.
Underneath the chandelier was the food display, a HUGE hit at the open house. Footers Catering did an AMAZING job with the food and received tons of compliments. We added in garlands of flowers and martini glasses filled with California Crystals a LED light and a green cymbidium orchid. We also had 3 high-top tables with the martini glass centerpiece. Footers set-up a lovely bar where we served wine from my home region - Mendocino County, California.
Not seen in any of the photos but definitely appreciated by our guests was Jeff Donovan of DJ on Demand. Jeff set-up his equipment in the back corner of the design room. Jeff presented us with the coolest present! All the music he played at the open house had either "rose" or "flower" in the song title. Then at the end of the night he presented us with a CD of all the songs he played.
Thank you for making our Open House special:
Autumn Burke ~ Fabulous photos
Colorado Party Rental ~ chairs & tables
DJ on Demand ~ music
Flour ~ cookies & dessert bars
Footers Catering ~ hors d’oeuvres
Lifestyles Catering ~ tuxedo strawberries
