Today began with me driving away from our little hilltop retreat this morning at 6 am to meet two great wedding coordinators, Mia and Rebecca from Red Letter Days at the Grand Del Mar for the installation of their custom designed booth! Their concept was to create an arbor with a dramatic sand ceremony table as the focal point. Our primary ingredients for the inspiration came from black brocade fabric from Velvet Relic, and a plethora of birch logs, branches and risers. I just love the way the black and white concept all came together…below are some "teaser" photos while I await the professional masterpieces from Cary of Cary Pennington Photography who was onsite to capture the day! Mia and Becca I am sure are having a blast meeting new Brides and Grooms and inspiring them with their humor, knowledge, and savvy wedding sensibilities!
Home for the Holidays
I love my home this Christmas. It is warm and cozy, simply decorated, reminiscent of my own humble childhood and full of my son's first tender steps, giggles, and screeches. I am spending the time with my family that I have so often devoted to my clients during past holidays. Although I miss the whirl of decorating for others during Christmas, I am so grateful for this opportunity to be with my little family and to savor these tender moments.
I thought I would post some photos of past centerpieces for those of you that may wonder what we are usually up to during this time of year. Check back in a couple of weeks to see the lovely New Year's Eve wedding we will be designing for Robin and Seth at Hotel Solamar. It is an elegant affair with white & black anemones, gardenias, hydrangea, birch, birch, birch, and a plethora of candles. Until then...
click on image to enlarge
Word of the Day…
You may think that i have been watching too much Sesame Street with my 18 month old son..but I feel compelled to shout out my word of the day...AUTHENTICITY! For me it is about being authentic online, in my life, creating real and lasting relationships both in my personal life and business; all of this is my number one priority for 2010.
I have been reluctant to write, (which is hilarious for any of you that know me well, since I have a secret passion for stringing words together), because my site is not revised, reinvented, representative of Adorations and LaVonne Crawford.
I embarked on a journey late last year to redesign my blog and website, to my chagrin it was a disaster. As a designer, it is my responsibility to "get" my client, I guess I expected the blog "professionals" to approach the design in the same manner. I did not want another template, I wanted the design to REPRESENT! Finding the process dissatisfying, I gave up and focused on photo shoots, advertising and business relationships, all of which have been extraordinary, yet here I am again, longing for a presence on the web that expresses what is uniquely Adorations AND uniquely LaVonne Crawford, (for any of you that have not been in touch, I finally changed from LaVonne Zamora to my married name of Crawford).
And so the latest news is that I am speaking with a graphic designer next Monday for my initial in depth consultation about the branding of Adorations and how to either separate and / or integrate my other creative endeavors in a manner that makes sense to the you...the client, serves the history of Adorations, and introduces aspects of my creativity that not only will be fulfilling to myself but will also be in service to each of you.
Therefore I MUST embark on this writing journey...sharing the process, letting everyone in, and welcoming even what feels frightening...
...more to come...
summerville and co.
a great thank you to esther summerville ramsey for this lovely photo of a bouquet i created for our mutual friends...watching her slideshow of the wedding had me weepy for all of the love that she captured...i am so grateful to have one of our bouquets as a small part of all that LOVE! thanks esther!
bride and bloom
{please click on the photo to enlarge}
for your viewing pleasure we were featured in the current issue of bride and bloom. the fabulous paula luna of
luna photo captured the tabletop beautifully, this was another collaboration with courtney toney of joyful weddings and events.
the rest of the tale...
okay this is it...a commitment to blog more often...ready set go...
in the newest issue of san diego style weddings magazine, we had the pleasure of working with two talented coordinators in furthering their tabletop vision by contributing flowers that coordinated with the concept they wished to portray. this first post, is the rest of the story of our work with courtney toney of
joyful weddings and events captured by john schnack. some of which you will not see published. many thanks to courtney it was a fun time as always!
Project Wedding Feature
Just a short shout out to lunaphoto and project wedding for featuring ali and david's wedding at the hyatt manchester grand, expertly coordinated with kelly aull of mintweddings...keep checking back as our new website will be up soon and this wedding will certainly be highlighted on our new site.
The US GRANT Wedding & Event Showcase
We are so excited to collaborate with Red Letter Days this Sunday at The US Grant Wedding and Event Showcase.
Stop by to see a fresh perspective to your tabletop at the featured table of Red Letter Days this Sunday, April 19th from 12:00p - 4:00p. We'll be rockin' the Celestial Ballroom with our unique table top presentation and as always a new look at traditional and typical wedding decor.
We hope to see you there, and most of all we hope to inspire you to try new and exciting things for your big day! The US GRANT 326 Broadway · San Diego, CA 92101 · Phone: (619) 232-3121
EXQUISITE WEDDINGS LAUNCH PARTY
With wedding season is in full swing already, we are seeking unique items that will set your wedding apart from the predictable, the published, and the usual! Getting ready for the Exquisite Weddings Magazine Launch, we were inspired by that which is handmade, hard to find, and memorable to the touch: Yes... texture! Texture, Texture, Texture! We brought the big T to the table... literally!
The Launch Party was at Anthology in Downtown San Diego’s Little Italy. This fitting display had a very organic approach to say the least; freeing up Brides that want something that they can't quite put their fingers on... but which they know somewhere must exist. Something they will know when they see it. May I be so bold to suggest that “IT” may just be THIS!
We had so much positive feedback, even Joshua Aull (photographer extraordinaire) came by to capture some shots...(seen here of course).
What inspires us most at Adorations is ideas beyond any preset norms or etiquettes that are set for us rather than by us. All the materials we personally sourced from local shops and artisans, such as The Shepardess: a little shop in old town that specializes in yarn, beads, etc.
Using organic and raw materials can be stunning, but also still elegant and luxurious. Torn organic linen fabric with mohair yarn repeats the unique feel of the lampshade that is surrounded with angel vine.
The paper products were created by Posh-Paperie and all these "exquisite" photos were taken by Joshua Aull.
In Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Adorations is trimming the costs of your pink wedding in honor of breast cancer awareness month. Any wedding booked prior to the end of 2008 that has any hue of pink as its primary colorway will receive a 20% discount on Bouquets and Boutonnieres for the Bridal Party. From now until December 31, 2008, Adorations is donating all collected funds from this discount promotion offer to Susan G Komen for the Cure. For more information about Breast Cancer Awareness please call the help line 1-877-GoKomen or visithttp://www.komen.org/ .
By now many of you have received our issue one newsletter. We are so excited here atAdorationsthat ideas and potential cannot all be contained within just one issue. Hence this blog and the mini newsletter that was sent out last week with this special offer in honor of breast cancer awareness month. All monies that have been discounted will be matched by Adorations and donated to theSusan G. Komen Foundation.
2007 highlights
2007 has come and gone, however it is not without incident. being that this is my first post, it seems most appropriate to share the small joys and triumphs along the way. it is going to be such a pleasure to be in communication with the wedding community and our clients throughout 2008 using this blog, what fun! since this is the first of several highlights to be posted over the next several weeks i'd like to share the some of the triumphs first...stay tuned for the joys!!!
one of our weddings from this past year was featured in the new san diego and los angelas ceremony magazine.
did their usual extraordinary take on capturing the essence of the day. kelly aull of
masterfully coordinated the 450 guest wedding at the hotel del coronado; what great partners to have in producing such remarkable results!
wedding details will be posted on our website within the week, check in the featured section for jaclyn & adrian
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kelly aull of mint weddings was approached by bride and bloom magazine to choose her favorite three floral designers to participate in a photo shoot that not only showcased our style as featured floral designers, but could also win one of us the wedding floral contract of the couple profiled. thanks courtney and bret for choosing us! we are also grateful to jennifer dery for shooting the astonishing photos! check back late summer for the actual wedding photos which will also appear in the winter edition of bride and bloom!
Welcome to the Adorations Photo Blog!
Keep posted on the most recent creations of botanical artist LaVonne Zamora!