Two weeks ago we got to be part of the monthly Thursday Therapy networking event in Chicago. This time it was taking place at Venue Six10 located t the Spertus Institute on Michigan Avenue. The venue is spectacular and boasts views of Grant Park, the lakefront, along with Michigan Avenue. Venue Six10 also has a small outdoor space! Perfect for any guests that would like to get some fresh air between dancing the night away.

Their space is a white canvas… perfect to do anything with it. Since it was April with lots of white space we decided to do a lot of bold colors. Hot pinks, hot oranges, corals and a touch of silver here and there.

I had a great time catching up with old friends from Wolfgang Puck. They provided quite the spread of delicious food for this event. Thank you to Kelly Marie from Fleur and Joan from Five Grain Events for letting us be part of this event and thank you to Bethany from Maypole Studios. Your pictures are amazing!  Thank you for sharing these amazing images with us.

We had to share this lovely peonies, lilacs and sweet peas bouquet from our wedding this past Saturday with Michelle Durpetti Events. We will share pictures soon from our first wedding of the season.

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of working with a wonderful bride. She wanted peonies. She was certainly in luck because the season for peonies is starting. Peonies have become THE most popular flower for brides thanks to Martha Stewart. If ten brides walk into my studio…. 8 of them will ask for peonies. Amazingly enough the growers around the world have known about this and started growing peonies. So when our season ends the season for another country starts. We are seeing peonies coming in from Alaska, Chile and even New Zealand. These peonies are beautiful, fluffy and soft, but it’s still not the same quality that we expect from a peony plant that is in OUR season. Today, I want to make a very important point about this with one picture and educate all of you out there.

A peony plant take years (I’m not joking) to produce a bud. Once the peony plant is about three to four years it begins to produce small flowers. Key word being small. So yes, the wholesaler is able to get peonies in the middle of August… but the stems that are grown are small in comparison to what has been in season.  Now lets get back to that bouquet that you really REALLY want but when the flowers you have your heart set on are not in season.

You see the peony on the right… thats a tree peony in season. Beautiful and truly majestic!  So big that both of my hands cupped around it are not big enough. You see the two buds on the left? Those are peonies that came from an immature plant. Not fully grown and I’m afraid to say so small they most likely will not even open; and even if they did it will not be the same size as the one to the right. So when I get asked for a peonies bouquet in the middle of August…. sure I can get it for you, but I will have to buy a lot of product. Most likely five times more the amount to account for the size of the stem to ensure the bouquet looks full enough to walk out of my studio and not embarrass me. Since I have to purchase five times the amount of product for something that is not in season I have to pass that cost along to you the consumer. Moral of this blog post? If you really  want it, I can get it for you, but I hope you’ve now understood why it will drive your cost higher with the picture below.

If you are looking for a great substitution to a peony when it’s not available in our season? Ask your designer about using garden roses. They are available year round and just as beautiful!

Last month the Chicago Opera Theatre had their annual fundraiser at Carnivale Restaurant. We were tapped by Michelle Durpetti Events to provide florals for the event.  If you’ve ever visited Carnivale it’s a latin fusion restaurant with a vibrant and fun mix of colors.  From the walls, to the artwork it is a blend of bright colors. With that in mind we created two tablescapes utilizing containers and vases within MDE’s in house collection.

Our first tablescape included a hurricane vase with a trio of pillar candles and loose mokara orchid blooms.

Our second tablescape included a monochromatic trio of deep purple stock, hot pink mokara orchids and red tulips.

Thank you to Carasco Photography for sharing these pictures and to Michelle Durpetti Events for letting us be part of the event.

Couldn’t resist to post this picture of a spring arrangement we created for your friend Colin Falco at Pulp & Ink. We purchase the vintage  jadeite vase recently and I will definitely try to get a couple more of them for our collection of antiques. The arrangement has pink peonies, hot pink garden roses called Baronesse, jasmine vine, ranunculus, wax flowers, veronicas and cherry blossoms.

As a floral designer I can say last week I met with my old flower sisters and got to connect with some new ones. One of the highlights of last week was getting to meet and take two floral classes with the fairy god mother of many floral designers, Ariella Chezar.  After a crazy cab ride to get to the Flower School of NYC on time I took my spot and afterwards we got to meet our lovely instructor for the day.

Ariella was everything that I expected and more. She was gracious, with a very calm personality and soft spoken. She was also willing to share all her sources and answer the group’s questions; and when I say questions she answered everything from “Where do you get the ribbons for your bouquets?” to… “How old are you?”

The first class I took was a hand tied bouquet class. We used light pink wax flowers, dusty miller, carnations, white freesia, white anemones with green centers, ranunculus, quicksand roses, passion vine, hellebores, jasmine vine, parrot tulips and dusty miller.

My lovely bouquet…. thank you Holly for holding it!

Ariella’s Bouquet, love the passion vine!

After an amazing lunch in the afternoon at La Grenouille (thanks to Eileen who got us a reservation at the last minute) we came back for an afternoon class on the art of the compote.

I have to finish by saying that Eileen Johnson who started the Flower School of NYC is a lovely lady. She had lots of great advice and made us feel welcome. In addition, I loved how she offered champagne, scones and macaroons while we designed away. I highly recommend the school to anyone looking to take a floral class.