A Blooming Opportunity

My Wedding

2009-11-21T19:31:00.000-08:00

So.....Big news, I got married! My husband and I were married in the Idaho Falls Temple on July 30, 2009 and I had the pleasure (if you can call it that) of doing my own flowers for my wedding. It was a a great experience and I sure did learn a lot....one thing being that it is very difficult to be the bride and the floral designer at the same time, but it can be done. Luckily, I had my sister (who received a degree in horticulture) to do the work with my.

My colors were Tiffany Blue and Cantaloupe aka orange :) I used a wide variety of my favorite flowers consisting of Orchids, Calla Lilies, Tulips, Hydrangea, Roses, and Freesia to name only a few with greens such as green Hypericum berries and Scented Geranium leaves. I have to say everything turned out just the way I wanted it to!

Although this blog is about designing real flowers I had to include a picture of my beautiful cakes! The flowers on the first aren't real but it sure was a stunning cake!

Ren's very talented Aunt made out other cake for us...I topped it with a small cake topper and a few orchids and it sat on top of the biggest hit of the night...our cake table courtesy of Cindy Guthrie :) And the cake topper was done by my talented sister!

For the bouts I wanted something simple. Just a small hand wrapped bout to go right on the lapel. It consisted of orange orchids, hypericum berry and snake grass.

My centerpieces had to be one of my favorite things. We had some tall and some short,they were cute roundy moundys with curly willow coming out the top, that sat on top of beautiful tall square vases full of oranges! Thanks Lauren, you did such a greta job!

Another angle of the centerpieces!

And lastly....my absolute most favorite part of my wedding flowers....my bouquet. It was all I wanted it to be. It consisted of tulips, hydragea, callas, roses, hypericum berry and freesia. I collared it with scented geranium foliage that finished it off beautifully!

Overall....although it was stressful but things turned out perfect and I will always look back on my wedding day with a smile.

Thanks again to my wonderful Sister who in reality made everything possible. In reality, I don't know if I would have had flowers without her! :)

From Russia With Love

2009-05-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

So its been almost a year since my last post and oh so much in my life has changed! I just returned from the most amazing trip of my life! I had the pleasure of going to Russia on tour with my dance team! We spent 2 1/2 weeks there and had some of the most life changing experiences....Russia is a beautiful places with amazing people and so much history. We were able to visit and perform in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Saratov, Voldograd (sp?) and Rostov! Our concert was well accepted and we were basically celebrities there, it was so much fun! Not only were we dancing our hearts out but had the opportunity to tour and learn so much about Russia. They have many beautiful museums and monuments everywhere....my favortie is definitely St. Basils in Moscw, amazing! So over all Russia was so great and the best part is....I got engaged there! Thats right....I am engaged and it happened in Russia! His name is Ren Guthrie and he is so wonderful! So, I not only left Russia with so many memories, new friends and a stronger testimony but a fiance too! (don't worry he's not some stranger I met in Russia...he was on the team with me :)) There are so many details and stories I would love to tell but it would take all day to type it all out so to my family who I'm sure wants all the details....call me! :) For pictures....visit my facebook page! :)

My first offcial wedding :)

2008-08-24T14:36:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Ashley and Mark I was able to further my experience in wedding flowers. They took a big chance and asked a beginner to do their wedding flowers and after a few glitches we had to overcome I think that they turned out great! The bride loved them and that it was matters right? We did all white lilies, roses, and freesia. Along with a few other accents here and there! It was a great learning experience and I can't wait to do another wedding. Thanks Mark and Ashley for trusting my designing I had so much fun :)

the Bride holding her bouquet

A top view

The happy couple

The center pieces

The wonderful bride and I :)

The end of a wonderful journey....

2008-08-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

So my internship officially ended and it was very bitter sweet! I was done August 8th but I just haven't had time to post until now. Over all it was one of the most amazing opportunities I have ever had! It was an eye opening experience and I learned so so so much! I am not going to comment about each of these pictures because that would be ridiculous. But an important thing to be noted is they aren't all my designs....many of them are simple things done by a fellow designer that I either loved or was ablet o be a part of. The Bellagio does beautiful flowers and the designers there are a inspiration. I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with all of them at the Bellagio. So many memories were made and so many friends! Tata for now :)

Out on my own...

2008-07-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

This week on my intership nothing too exciting happened...but I was depended on for some pretty important things which meant a lot to me. It meant that I was now trusted. My designing is dependable and I am good enough to be alone. It was kind of interesting actually because I was sent to the Mirage to do an area by myself because I was the only one who knew what was going on there and how to do the rounds. Although it was a lot of responsibility it enjoyed it....after I got over the nerves of course :) There wasn't a lot to take pictures of that you haven't already seen but I got to do a few arrangements that were challenging and I am pretty proud of.

This is just lilies and curly willow but I think that it is beautiful. I had to change that water daily meaning that I had to redo it each time...the first time wasn't great but by Friday I was a pro.

This one is nothin special but it is something that I did none the less so I thought that I would include it.

This arrangement is what we do for the spa now...instead of the white callas and it is a headache to deal with. Phaleonopsis orchids are one of the prettiest flowers but they are also so so very fragile and don't last very long when they are cut unless they are taken very good care of and even than it doesn't take long for them to die. I also had to change the water daily with this one and make sure to cut the stems eachday. Because of the flimsyness of the stems it is a very intricate process to get them to look like an arrangement and it was definitely a challenge everyday.

And this one was my biggest feat of the week. It has to be one of the hardest arrangements I have ever done although it may not look that way. To make it look that way it does the stems have to be intertwined with one another to keep them from falling out or down too far into the vase. Like the lilie arrangement it didn't look great the first time I tried and it still isn't perfect but I have definitely made progress. :)

Overall it was a great week. I enjoyed the responsibility I was given and I think that I was able to learn alot.

Two steps forward...

2008-07-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

Just like with any other job....there are definitely good weeks vs bad weeks and good days vs bad days with my internship. This last week was an inbetween week with a mixture of good and bad days. Bad is a little harsh....but a few of the days definitely left something to be desired. This week I was in the room most of the time which usually equals complete and udder boredom....but that didn't seem to be the case this week. 2 out of the 5 days I went on rounds as usual (no pictures included because there was nothing new or exciting designed) and the other 3 days I was left in the room to help in retail...and the best part was that 2 out of the 3 days I was actually able to help...YAHOO! Which leads me to the pictures below. This week I got to design and the best part was that I got to design m0re than dozen after dozen roses!

This arrangment was an actual order. It is one of the largest arrangements I have ever done...worth $150. It was so much fun :)

This is one of my favorites! Sometimes the creative juices really get going and you end up with something that you really love and this is one of those pieces. There really isn't enything special about is but I just like it :)

Overall none of the designing was anything spectacular but it felt great to be trusted enough to be allowed to design for customers. They always say that trial and error is the best way to learn and that definitely rings true with floral design. Although it can be very intimidating you just have to step out on a limb and give it a shot....and you are often surprised by what you can do. I know I was and I sure had fun with the creative freedom I was given! At the end of the week I am still just the intern but I definitely feel like I am slowly but surely making progress...and thats what counts. :)

Another week gone by....

2008-07-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

So these last two weeks or so I have been designing less but still learning a lot. I haven't been in any specific place inparticular, but instead have been jumping around to where ever I am needed that day. I have done everything from Bellagio rounds to retail to functions and even spent my first day helping with a wedding. Although I have been keeping busy, like I said none of the things I have been doing have been my own individual design. The things I have been doing have consisted more of imitating others designs or simply replacing flowers in something that has already been designed but needs up keep. Although designing is what teaches me the most there has still been a lot to learn and it has been great.

This is a simple design that goes in a night club at the Bellagio call Caramel. It is placed new every few days and that was one of the many jobs that I did this week.

This is at the Spa in the Bellagio. They calls these the "Niches" and there are 10 of them as you walk down the beautiful dimly lit hall. Everything in the Spa is kept simple to make sure it doesn't take away from the guests relaxing visit.

The two picutres above are in the Wedding Chapel at the Bellagio. They have two small chapels where people can be married and these are the flowers that are done regularly for them. These, along with some larger designs I don't have picutres of are always there in the chapels. The bride can then chose her flowers and they will be placed in the chapel in addition to these flowers.

This is Terry and Jess...just two of the amazing people I have met during my internship :)

Now these are my favorite. This was what I did during my day in functions. These were the center pieces for the cocktail tables at a slot tournament held at the Bellagio last week. My friend Rose designed them and then I assisted in making 60 of them!!! It took us all day but between about 6 of us we got them done. My job was making the sweet palm trees make out of bamboo, zanadoo leaves and Italian rusckus! Aren't they so cute!? :)

And lastly on Friday I got to help with a huge wedding that we did for the Mirage. It was a shocker to see the amount of money that went into this wedding. For many this won't be relevant but to those who know and understand...they had 30 orchid lays!!!! and that was just a simple detail in the wedding...EXPENSIVE! It was so much fun to be a part of it. This is one of the bridesmaids bouquets that I got to make. It was quite the experience. :)

Over all this week was great. I learned again the great importance of mechanics. Not only is it so important to use good mechanices to make sure this don't fall apart but it is just as important to make sure that your mechanics are properly covered so it is not obvious what you have done. Lesson for the week...with weddings, functions and floral design in general good mechanincs are absolutely essential!

Picture Purge...

2008-06-30T16:55:00.000-07:00

SO MANY PICTURES! Sorry for the long break between posts. I visited good old Idaho last weekend and it kinda threw me off, but I am back to work and normal life so I thought I should update.

The first five pictures are actually from over a month ago when I lost the charger to my camera. Now that I have the chager and can download pictures I thought I should post these, more for my memory and documentation than anything else but none the less here they are.

This is what they call a purse. Just a small simple pave arrangement in a purse shaped vase.
Here is one referred to as a ginger jar. Most of the things mad ein retail have what they call a reciepe basically telling you the flowers to use and generally what the arrangement should look like. It was a great learning exercise but it didn't allow very much creativity.
Just a simple $65 arrangement for practice :)

The two pics above are "villa entries". They are the arrangements that greet the guests that stay in the most expensive rooms in the Bellagio....the villas. They are made in the ugly black containers you see and placed in beautiful vases in the entry of each villa the morning the guest arrives. After only a week or two at the Bellagio they challenged me with one of these and after I got over the fear of its size it was fun.

Now back to present. At the Mirage with Kim again I got to design a great deal these past two weeks. This is one I did for the villas at the mirage. Kim named in the Cyclone :)
The vase totally makes this arrangement. Isn't it cool?

Oh George! This is one of my favorite things to do. We have to cut over 50 things of grass for one of the resturaunts in Mirage. Its great because we just cut and laugh :)

Just a simple arrangement in Executive offices at the Mirage.

the two pictures above are of the bridge at the Mirage. I got the opportunity to help George on change out day with the Bridge and it sure was a lot of work. It was a great experince though. It is right in the middle of the hotel and people are always walking by, taking pics and asking questions but it sure was fun :)

Mirage lobby pieces. I did the tall one on the left. Lots of fun :)
This was yet another one of Kim and I's crazy ideas. And the arremaris was so great to work with again....not. I did what is called a "dutch spiral" (I think) trying to keep it in the center so it wouldn't squish the lilies. FYI a dutch spiral with 3-4 foot flowers is much different than 1 foot roses but it was great and in the end we loved it :)
Simple callas swirled in a cool vase. Callas are so much fun to work with!
Now this is one of my favorites. On Friday I was assigned to go by myself to the Mirage because we were short handed...so I took on all of Kim's rounds single handed. After getting over the fear of it, it was fun. This arrangement goes in the entrance to the Spa. After watching Kim do it so many times I used her amazing work as inspiration and let loose.
And last but not least this is yet another Kim inspired design that I loved doing. We have a fetish with wiring callas on to branches...can you tell :)

So anyway...there is an update for the last two weeks. Flowers are still beautiful and I still love my job...if only life was always so simple. Until next time. xo

So much to offer....

2008-06-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

So another week has passed and I can't believe it! You can always determine a good job or activity by how fast the time flies and this internship is zooming by. This week has been great. I got the opportunity to join the crew that goes to the Mirage everyday. MGM/Mirage company owns marjority of the strip so working at Bellagio Floriculture we not only take care of the Bellagio flowers but the Mirage and Treasure Island flowers as well. It has been a pleasure to see the Mirage and enjoy the company of the people that take care of it :) The main lady that I tagged along with is great. Her name is Kim and she really pushes my creativity and I love it. She challenges me with different designs and never doubts my abilities. Since I started there I have done everything from small simple designs to large inticate ones :) Here are a fews pics...

I have learned through working with Kim that in many cases the vase can make the arrangement. In this case it is simple white dendrobium orchids and curly willow but between the vase and the flowers it is beautiful :)

This is what Kim calls a dry enviorment...simply meaning what is sounds like. There is no water. The statment "you learn something new everyday" definitely applies to my internship. I learned that Callas can survive without water for up to a week and sometimes longer. In this arrangement we simply wired the callas to the pussy willow to make cool lines :)

This in one of the few designs that I was given a vase and told to do whatever I felt like...and I love it. I feel like watching some of the experienced designers I work with has taught me so much already and definitely inspired me a lot....and again how fun is that vase?

With Kim it is always an adventure! I love her because she isn't afraid of anything. She doesn't let vases, size or flowers intimidate her and she isn't afraid of letting her creativity run wild. Even when it doesn't turn out the way you expect it to it can certainly be a pleasant and interesting surprise :)

Designing with Kim is a pleasure. This is one of the tables that greets the VIP guests as they walk through the Villa hallways to their rooms. The two smaller designs are mine. I have learned that not only to vases make an arrangment but a simple design can but just as stunning as an intricate one.

Hydrangea and dendrobium orchids...simple and yet beautiful :)

There is Kim in all her glory...she has so much to offer :)

This is one of the first things that Kim challenged me with. And it was a challenge for sure. But she had faith in me and look what I came up with. This is in the womens spa at the Mirage for all the guests to enjoy.

This was my second challenge and a much smaller one at that. Callas have become one of my favorite flowers to design with because they will do whatever you tell them to do.

My contribution to Villa 2 table. Don't you love the vases character?

Well I think that is a pretty good over view of the week. I feel like I have grown leaps and bounds this week and I can't wait for the next. For those of you who love doing creative things whether it be floral design, photography, painting etc...don't be afraid of what you can do and where your creativity can take you. Simply let go and see where you end up...who knows it may be your best work ever :)

Another week in flower heaven...

2008-06-08T19:52:00.000-07:00

So another week has passed and I am still loving every second of my internship. This week I was sent on rounds again in all of the luxourious restaurants within Bellagio and on Friday I had the pleasure of going in rounds to Treasure Island which was beatiful as well. I have loved doing rounds and being out in the hotel. And I finally got my hands on a camera and got a few shots of some designs I have been a part of and the gorgeous restaurants I have been visiting each day.

This is the monkey arrangment that greets the guests who dine at Le Cirque...a five diamond restaurant...and I designed it :)

This is one of my favorite arrangements in a restaurant call Circo that I got the pleasure of designing as well.

And this is a restaurant called Jasmines. Isn't it beautiful, it is Japanese food and the theme in the restaurant is butterflies. Those windows look out over the lovely Bellagio Lake giving guests the pleasure of watching the famous water show while they dine. :)

I am still learning a lot and look forward to work each day. This has been an amazing experience so far and consider myself very lucky. Life is great :)

A florist dream....

2008-05-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

So I am sad to say that I lost my camera charger so I will not be able to post new pictures until I find it. but I have had lots going on so I thought that I should updated regardless.

Things have been going great with the Bellagio. They have been keeping me busy in retail doing basically the same things (dozens, 1/2 dozens, small mixed arrangemants etc.) until today. Today I got to expereince the joy of going on "rounds" and I actually really enjoyed it. Rounds basically consists of going around the hotel(s) and watering arrangements, changing out dead flowers etc. On my first day in rounds I joined the lady who does the rounds for all of the high end resturaunt at the Bellagio from Picaso to Olives. Since I will never be eating at these places that can cost anywhere between $200 and $1000 for two people to dine it was so great to get to see them, they are absolutely beautiful. We also visited Tiffany's and a few other shops around the hotel simply replacing and watering. Overall it was a great experience and I am excited to do it again :)

So as time has passed and I have talked a lot with the designers that I work with I have decided that working for the Bellagio is every designers dream job! Who wouldn't want to go to work everyday and get paid (a lot of money) to play with beautiful flowers. Not only do they get to play with flowers but they don't have to worry for one second about the money that they are wasting when they throw out a flower that isn't perfect. Where as if you own the shop that money comes straight out of your pocket....not to mention the fact that there isn't a carnation or daisy mum in sight. (Nothing against them) But they get to design with nothing but the most beautiful flowers from orchids and cala lilies to every variation of rose you can think of. They have freedom to design as they please for the most part and they have great benefits. When it all boils down I think that it is an amazing job that I wouldn't mind coming back to someday...We'll have to wait and see what a certain someone has to say about planting it in Vegas...:) well thats all for now. Until next time....remember to stop and smell the roses...literally.

Let the fun Begin...

2008-05-18T16:28:00.001-07:00

This week has been a bit crazy as I ventured out to start a new chapter in my life. I have been blessed enough to land an amazing internship doing flowers in the Horticulutre department at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. It was with much luck and the right contact information that I got this internship and I consider myself very lucky to have such an opportunity. :)

So after a long but very informative orientation I started work on Friday and I think that it is going to be a wonderful learning experience and a fun summer. During my orientation I learned some fun interesting facts about the resort that we all know...the Bellagio. So I thought I would share a few of them with you....

When did the Bellagio first open?

-October of 1998

How many rooms are in the Bellagio?

-3,421 Deluxe guest rooms and 512 Suites

How many properties does MGM/Mirage own on the Las Vegas Strip?

-10 properties on the strip including Bellagio, Circus Cirus, Luxor, Excalibur, Monte Carlo, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, New York New York, The Mirage and Treasure Island.

Here are some pics from my first official day...

Here is the ware house full of flowers for the beautiful conservatory at the Bellagio. If you haven't seen you are missing out :)

This is where I will be working the majority of my internsip. That huge rose arrangment on the right is mine...see picture below.

This was my first arrangent on the job. It was two dozen latin lady roses for a VIP guest at the Bellagio :) I don't know what happened to the bottom of the picture...sad day

This was a dozen rose arrangment that I did in one of the signature vases with a "B" engraved on the front.

And lastly...this was just part of a three part arragement that we made for a banquet at the Mirage. Pretty huh?

I learned a lot in my first day. These are only a few of the arrangements that I did....We will just say that by the end of the day I was pro at dozen rose arragements :) There is lots more to learn about the Bellagio and flowers so I will make sure to keep you posted as I venture on this exciting journey :)