featured on DIY wedding blog

Thank you DIY Blog for featuring Jaimee and Diego's wedding! Such a great day with a lovely family and with my favorite vendors!

Photography: AudreyMichel Photography

Event Coordination: Bella Fiori

Caterer: Footers Catering

Cake: Intricate Icings Cake Design

A bouquet of clematis and lilacs

A bridal bouquet of clematis, lilacs, roses, jasmine and dahlias...

Featured on Elizabeth Anne Designs Blog

We were recently featured on one of my favorite blogs : Elizabeth Anne Designs - thank you, Ami!

Photographer – Autumn Burke Photography \ Catering – Footers Catering \ Wedding planning – Save the Date Events \ Event Design – Bella Fiori \ Venue – Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield \ Stationery – JS Design Custom \ Gown – Priscilla of Boston \ DJ – DJ RipM \ Hair Stylist - Affordable Wedding Hair \ Makeup Artist – Makeup by Janine \ Bakery – Living The Sweet Life

Photo shoot fun with RJ Kern & Kokoro Photography

Isn't it fun to get called in on a creative photoshoot? RJ Kern and Amanda Tipton asked if I would participate in a fun little project of theirs and I said sure!

This is my favorite photo from the shoot:

If you'd like to see more be sure to check out the blogs by RJ and Amanda!

RJ's blog post (technical stuff):

http://www.kern-photo.com/index.php/2012/04/flatland-a-wedding-deconstructed-phase-one-test-shoot-with-capture-pilot

Amanda's blog post (theory/approach):

http://www.kokorophotography.com/flatland-a-wedding-deconstructed

YouTube link:

http://youtu.be/24uQVfLEqe4

Plus, I got to hang out with Kelley of Kelley Kakes and catch up with her which was fun!

Spring Class Schedule!!

Alicia Schwede, owner of Bella Fiori and Chuck Graham, lead designer of Brown Palace Flower Shop are offering hands-on design classes at Bella Fiori Studio located at:
7711 West 6th Avenue #D, Lakewood, 80214

Classes can be paid for via Check prior to class date with no additional fees or with a credit card through Eventbrite, additional fees apply.

Please call Alicia at 303.233.5566 or email info@flirtyfleurs.com with questions about the classes.

Wedding Focus Workshop
Five Week Class Starting Tuesday, May 8, 2012; 6:30-8:30pm
Cost $850
Sign Up Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3375695797
Minimum 4 Students
This workshop is the is designed for for anyone who would like like to learn how to design flowers for a wedding. From ceremony to reception Alicia and Chuck will teach you the basics of wedding design. In the 5- 2 hour sessions you will learn how to: -wire and tape corsages & boutonnieres
-prep containers for centerpieces
-create a hand tied bouquet
-how to design a cascading bouquet
-how to care for and process flowers
-the fundamentals of designing for a church or outside ceremony
-how to decorate a reception space with centerpieces
Students will have the opportunity to take their beautiful designs home after each class.
Tuition includes a tool kit, class hand outs and a copy Alicia’s book “Bella Bouquets”

May 2, 2012
6:30pm-8:30pm
$100.00
The Grocery Store Bouquet
Sign Up Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3375904421
What do you do with that grocery store bouquet someone gives to you? Take this class and we'll show you how to take apart the bouquet and arrange it elegantly in a vase. We will take you through the steps of prepping your container, prepping your flowers and foliage and arranging. Then we cut you loose to create your arrangement. Each student will take home their arrangement.

May 9, 2012
6:30pm-8:30pm
$100.00
Tulips
Sign Up Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3375926487
Spring flowers is often synonymous with Tulips. We'll show you how to beautiful display these lovely blooms picked from your garden or picked up at the farmer's market. We will take you through the steps of prepping your container, prepping your flowers and foliage and arranging. Then we cut you loose to create your arrangement. Each student will take home their arrangement.

May 16, 2012
6:30pm-8:30pm
$100.00
Compote Class
Sign Up Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3375942535
Ever wonder how to design a loose, overflowing style arrangement? Sign up for the class to learn how to use a pin-frog. Great design for those with a lush garden with flowers to design at home. We will take you through the steps of prepping your container, prepping your flowers and foliage and arranging. Then we cut you loose to create your arrangement. Each student will take home their arrangement.

May 23, 2012
6:30pm-8:30pm
$100.00
For the love of roses!
Sign Up Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3375960589
The class with start with a demonstration by Alicia and Chuck on creating a beautiful low and lush rose arrangement. We will take you through the steps of prepping your container, prepping your flowers and foliage and arranging. Then we cut you loose to create your arrangement. Each student will take home their rose arrangement.

May 30, 2012
6:30pm-8:30pm
$100.00
The European Hand-Tied Bouquet
Sign Up Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3375974631
Displays of hand-tied bouquets are often seen on the street corners of European cities. Come learn how to construct these lovely bouquets, they make great gifts for friends. We will take you through the steps of prepping your flowers and foliage and arranging. Then we cut you loose to create your arrangement. Each student will take home their rose arrangement.

June 6, 2012
6:30pm-8:30pm
$100.00
The Edible Arrangement
Sign Up Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3375984661
As summer gardens start to burst into bloom we'll have plenty of herbs, berries and vegetables to design with! Come design with these interesting textures! We will take you through the steps of prepping your container, prepping your flowers and foliage and arranging. Then we cut you loose to create your arrangement. Each student will take home their rose arrangement.

June 12, 2012
6:30pm-8:30pm
$250.00 ($150.00 add-on charge for students taking the 5 week wedding workshop)
Arches & Chuppahs
Sign Up Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3376004721
Ever wonder how floral designers create amazing arches and chuppahs? First we'll cover the mechanics of building these structures and then we'll decorate them!

June 19, 2012
6:30pm-8:30pm
$100.00
Containers!
Sign Up Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3376024781
Containers are often as important as the flower arrangements they hold. Come find out how to structure the mechanics in various containers. We will take you through the steps of prepping your container, prepping your flowers and foliage and arranging. Then we cut you loose to create your arrangement. Each student will take home their arrangement.

June 26, 2012
6:30pm-8:30pm
$100.00
Crash course in Floral Design for the Professional Wedding Planner
Sign Up Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3376034811
Are you a professional wedding planner and would like to know what to do when a floral emergency happens at a wedding?? The florist has left the premises and suddenly a boutonniere breaks, someone forgot to order a corsage for Aunt Mae, the bride doesn’t want to toss her own bouquet, etc. etc.!! What do you do??
In this class you will be instructed on how to:
- wire & tape boutonnieres
- wire & tape corsages
- how to create a toss bouquet
- how to design a small centerpiece
- proper way to pin-on a boutonniere

Today on Style Me Pretty

The wedding I just posted last week on the blog is featured today on Style Me Pretty! It's funny, the day I wrote up that blog post I thought to myself - Emily's wedding really should be on Style Me Pretty, about five hours later Emily emailed to tell me that it would be featured soon! Crazy-Cool!

I love the photos by Jenna Walker that are included on the post.

Wedding Inspiration :: White wedding at Beano's Cabin

Another beautiful wedding at my favorite location, Beano's Cabin! For Emily & Pat's wedding I designed with all white and green flowers, aspen bark containers, copper lanterns, aspen candles to keep with the rustic mountain feel. Emily desired an organic, natural feel for her flowers and decor, you'll notice I left the stems of the bouquets long and untrimmed. This was new for me, I always trim the stems of bouquets very short. I really liked how these bouquets turned out, very soft with the poppies and anemones with queen anne's lace. The arch was beautiful, filled with various textured greeneries and a plethora of flowers.
Photographs are by the always awesome & amazing Jenna Walker Photographers. Thank you, Jenna, for sharing these photos.

what's new at Bella Fiori..

This week I'm off to an east coast flower bonanza trip! On Thursday and Friday I'll be attending the Philadelphia Flower Show for the first time ever!! Can't believe I've never been to this show before, I hear it is huge and I figure it'll take two full days to see everything..
My mom will be joining me in Philly, along with my friend, Chuck, lead floral designer at Brown Palace Flower Shop in downtown Denver.

Sunday we'll head to NYC! I love spending time in NYC! Sunday thru Thursday will be spent in the city with ~30 other floral designers from across the country and I think a few Canadians. We have 5 days packed full of floral education. One of the parts I am most excited about is taking a class with Ariella Chezar!
Lately I've been on this path of design exploration, trying for a looser & more garden style. Here are a few of my explorations so far:

After the flower fun comes to an end on Thursday I will catch a train up to Massachusetts to spend time with my brother, his kids and our mom for the weekend.
On Friday I will visit with Cathy of Sprout Flowers in Worcester, MA. Looking forward to seeing Cathy again!!
The following Monday will be time to head back to Colorado!
We'll be blogging about our flower filled adventure on the Flirty Fleurs blog.

Ode to the Clematis

One of my major flower crushes is the Clematis & I'm thrilled to pieces that one of our local suppliers is now offering them .. woo-hoo!

Wedding Inspiration :: The Sanctuary

When the bride, Cara, came to meet me she told me about her look of fresh green & white mixed with the damask black and white pattern - so fun & fresh! Right away I asked Cara if we could use green and white lady slipper orchids in her bouquet, I've wanted to use these orchids for quite awhile and needed the right wedding for them. I love how their stripped green and white blooms add such an interesting accent:

Thank you to Jamee Photography for these photographs! I love working with Jamee, she is one of my favorite people & photographers in Denver! Visit Jamee's blog to see more photos of Cara & Andrew's wedding at The Sanctuary Golf Club.