Vendor Spotlight: LS Blooms, Wedding Floral Designers

LS Blooms is the creative collaboration of two best friends, Laura and Stephanie. With a love of entertaining and a passion for decorating, LS Blooms was born. After buying every floral design book there was and enrolling in floral classes, Laura headed to Los Angeles to train with the award-winning and highly-respected floral designer, Phil Rullada, at the Southern California School of Floral Design and then continued her floriculture education at the College of San Mateo. She also worked as an apprentice for a high-end wedding floral designer learning the ins-and-outs of the industry. Stephanie studied at the Floral Design Institute where she became an expert in all things flowers.

Laura says about weddings, “For most of us, our wedding is the biggest, most important party we’ll ever throw and we love that we can help create that special feeling. We enjoy meeting with the couple and learning how they met and about family traditions. However, the best part of doing flowers for a wedding is handing the bouquet to the bride and seeing her face.”

As for their inspirations, Laura tells us they’re inspired by things they encounter in their daily lives like a tropical summer drink, a beautiful throw blanket or a wonderful story of how a couple met and fell in love. They feel they are constantly evolving and growing as designers. Not only is it important to keep up with current trends, they also say it’s important to create them.

So besides their beautiful work, why LS Blooms? They have heart. They truly love what they do and have a deep desire to make people happy, and doesn’t it show? They give 100% and treat every wedding as if it was their own. They also feel that every bride can use a good girlfriend to talk “wedding stuff” with and you’ll get that with Laura and Stephanie. And of course, their flowers are fresh, creative and beautiful: they go to great lengths to make each event different and unique. Just the way Bridebound likes it. View more of their work and their blog at www.lsblooms.com

Julia's Fashion File: Anthropologie Going Bridal in '11

There are few boutiques on the face of this vast planet that have the ability to stop me dead in my tracks for an immediate and epic fit of drooling. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a shopping addict; I wouldn’t need convincing to drop a wad of cash at Office Max if it meant getting something pretty, shiny and new. A store that leaves you breathless, however, is hard to come by. A store like Anthropologie, is a diamond in the rough.

Speaking of diamonds, the newly engaged will now have an excuse to join in on my obsession. Anthropologie has just announced that they’re going to be launching wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses and accessories online in Spring 2011. A store that’s focused mainly on delicate and feminine inspired day-wear, it comes not only as a huge surprise but with explosive excitement to learn about such a revelation.

The gowns will cost anywhere from an affordable, $750, to a more extravagant, $5000. Bridesmaid dresses are being sold for as low as $200. Whether you’re looking to spend a prolific amount of money for the perfect dress or have a tighter budget in mind, it appears that there will be something for every variety of bride.

Brides, mark your calendars. Come Spring you’re going to have a whole new set of gorgeous bridal options to weigh in on. Find your very own diamond in the rough; you’ve got the perfect engagement ring, now it’s time for the dress.

Venue Spotlight: Servino Ristorante, Tiburon

As if the location isn’t enough for you (waterfront in Tiburon), Servino is perhaps one of our favorite spaces to hold a Bay Area wedding, engagement party or wedding shower. Servino offers breathtaking views of the San Francisco skyline, Angel Island and the Belvedere Marina. The menu reflects chef-owner Angelo Servino’s love for his homeland’s southern Italian cooking, specializing in homemade pastas, fresh seafood, and locally inspired traditional Italian favorites. We’ve eaten there and can vouch for it being one of the best restaurants in the area.

The second-floor Bellavista Room is a charming private event space with its own bar and lounge area, as well as a waterfront deck overlooking the bay. It can hold 25 to 135 for a sit-down or buffet meal and up to 200 for a cocktail reception. You may also have an intimate ceremony on their private patio and move the reception into their main banquet room. No wedding celebration is too small, too formal, too simple or too complicated for Servino to handle. The space is versatile, classic and absolutely quintessential Tiburon.
Photography courtesy of Gary Ferber Photography http://www.garyferberphotography.com/

Vendor Spotlight: Jere Visalli, Wedding Photographer

It was a chance experience 20 years ago. Jere Visalli accompanied his brother, a Huntington Beach based wedding photographer, along on a wedding shoot. Something clicked, not just the camera. So, Jere came back that weekend and made a bold move and began small: by charging a rate that would be impossible for clients to turn down. It worked. And still to this day, Jere promises an affordable rate for his quality product.

Of weddings, he tells us, “They’re a joy. People are looking their best and the locations are typically conducive to creating scenic backgrounds. One of the best compliments I can get is that they say they never knew I was there.” We agree. There’s nothing worse than a buzzing-bee photographer!To keep his creative juices flowing, Jere tells us he looks at all of the journalistic style magazines and photo books as well as collaborates with other wedding photographers. “It’s great to take an image you've seen or an idea you have thought of and then work it into your own creation.”
After 20 years in the business, Jere says he’s seen it all. He explains if the artistic shots can be incorporated into spontaneous images, then you have the ultimate shot, an image that is totally candid but artistically composed. 80% of his photography is the artistic, candid style—just the kind you wish for on your big day.

Scene & Heard: Gilt Wedding Shop starts today

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Gilt's Wedding Shop officially opened its wires today. Featuring a very impressive load of bridal must-haves like couture dresses at non-couture prices, high-end accessories, bridal lingerie, jewelry and more, there's also a section just for grooms.

Visit/Sign up at www.gilt.com and take a peek of their extraordinary collection.

Spotted: Pacific Puffs, San Francisco

Walking around the Marina and Cow Hollow, you’ll find a plethora of great wedding vendors and treat ideas. We spotted Pacific Puffs recently and couldn’t resist writing about them and their delicious and adorable cream puffs—a great idea for weddings or wedding showers. Brothers Trent and Rhys Carvolth were born and raised in Santa Rosa and developed a taste for desserts at an early age, which they attribute directly to their mother, Noreen. She had perfected her recipe for cream puffs before they were born. Growing up, those puffs were the favorite dessert and always the one that was requested for birthdays and special occasions. Over time, they had achieved a legendary status amongst family and friends. Everyone said she needed to open a shop and bring the puffs to the public. Pacific Puffs pays homage to this family dream and opened its doors on Union Street in October 2009.

About working with brides and grooms for their wedding day, they tell us, “We love doing cream puffs for weddings. Growing up, our Mom's cream puffs were always the sign of a special occasion. For us, serving puffs at a wedding is only natural! Cream puffs are great for weddings as they are a fabulous and decadent dessert, can be prominently displayed in a croquembouch or french wedding cake, and also because they are very unique. It is always fun to have someone come into the shop that has never had a puff before, and we see this happen quite a bit at weddings as well.”

Taking customer service to the next level, they tell us the most inspiring thing for them are their customers. Whether they are seeing someone for the first time, or greeting one of our regular customers, serving people the best possible puff we can make is their true inspiration. Another source of inspiration comes from their kitchen. Trying new things, experiencing new flavors and employing new techniques always keeps them fresh and inspired explaining, “Research and development is definitely our favorite part of the baking process!” If you step in to Pacific Puffs or meet with them about creating desserts for your Big Day, you can expect a friendly smile and a commitment to excellence both in service and product. Oh, and you can also expect that those little cream puffs will be the talk of your reception. Try their signature cream puff, The Classic, a freshly-baked pâte à choux pastry puff filled with a light and sweet mixture of vanilla custard and whipped cream, topped with a thick chocolate glaze. Are you drooling yet…?

Run, don’t walk:

Pacific Puffs

2201 Union Street

San Francisco CA

(415)440-PUFF

www.pacificpuffs.com

Vendor Spotlight: Spiral Hand, Floral Designers

Leah Gagne and Rafael Campos of Spiral Hand joined forces in 2004 and haven’t looked back since. It was their mutual love of events, design and flowers that brought them together and weddings seem to mesh these elements perfectly to a T. They enjoy working intimately with couples, finding out who they are, their favorite things, colors, music, hobbies, etc. and attempt to create a totally unique event for them. And they pride themselves in not being a "cookie cutter" florist and by taking this approach, they’re able to expand their creativity to come up with unique floral designs and settings for each wedding.

One look at their work, we had to ask them what their inspirations are. Their list is long and you can see it. “Inspirations come from nature, taking walks on the beach, in the woods, urban settings. Fashion, music, and friends are all inspirations to us,” Leah tells us. “I think staying fresh comes from even walking through the flower market on a regular basis and seeing all the new stuff that comes through. Succulents, branches, fruits + vegetables and mosses…we love texture!” We have the best flower market in the States!” Indeed. The beauty of the Bay Area…


Why Spiral Hand? Besides the visually obvious, Leah and Rafael have a different perspective to design approach, wanting to create floral designs and weddings that are an extension of their perspective clients. It’s not just about the flowers per say: they look at the overall design of an event and enhance it with their magic spiral hands. We think they're pretty fab.

Vendor Spotlight: Tiffany Schoepp, Wedding Photographer

Tiffany Schoepp became a photographer by doing coincidental groundwork before actually picking up a camera. “I was studying drawing and painting while working in a black and white dark room as printer for a portrait photographer before I ever learned how to shoot,” she tells us. Midway into her drawing studies, she delved deep into painting, becoming influenced by David Park and Elmer Bischoff. It was during this time she picked up a camera with the intention of using it as a tool to create images to paint from and discovered the immediacy the camera gave her. Her love of photography was born. And her love of art and painting is evident in her work, as they are clear inspirations for the way she shoots and records moments.

“People endlessly fascinate me,” she tells us when we ask what she enjoys about shooting weddings. “I have always been in tune with people’s emotions and body language and after ten years of being a professional photographer, the camera has become an extension of my body for recording these observations. To be a good wedding photographer you have to expend huge amounts of energy opening yourself up to what everyone around you is experiencing and capture these expressions as they are happening. When I put myself in this emotionally–visually reactive state, I find myself framing and composing images whose narratives I can only comprehend when I take them home and study them as still photographs. It’s a very personal process for which I am committed to.” And that pretty much sums up why we think Tiffany is worth sharing with the Bridebound world.

To view more of her beautiful work, visit http://www.tiffphoto.com/

Newsflash: 10/10/10

Newsflash: We've been hearing for weeks now about the impending nuptuals scheduled for today. CNN, The Wedding Channel and The Knot have reported that anywhere from 32,000 and 33,000 weddings are occurring today. That makes these couples extremely lucky but not especially unique in their choice of day. Would you want to have your wedding day on a day with the most scheduled weddings?! That's a lot of anniversary dinners ahead. We see a fun marketing idea for OpenTable...

Spotted: Red Tulip Jewelry, Wedding Jewelry

While cruising down Union Street one day, we stumbled in to Mingle and discovered Red Tulip Jewelry and found it hard not to inquire about the artists behind the line. Friends Yvonne Henry and Claudia Lee began designing jewelry as a creative outlet, designing pieces for the friends and family (lucky!). Encouragement came left and right about them starting a business and without looking back, Red Tulip Jewelry was born.

Soon later, friends began getting married and asking the duo to create unique pieces for their wedding day. Yvonne tells us she was overwhelmed with joy at these offers and now finds herself doing more and more wedding day pieces. “Knowing that the jewelry is providing beauty and joy for the lucky bride’s special day is like I am part of the wedding, a great honor,” she says. Just by looking at her work you can see her inspirations shine through: music, fashion, nature and of course, her loved ones. Yvonne is a designer who truly stands behind her work, custom-designing and creating each piece by hand with her heart chock full of love. Just the way it’s supposed to be, especially for your Big Day. Visit Mingle at 1815 Union Street in San Francisco for a peek of their versatile, every-day pieces or their website at http://www.redtulipjewelry.com/.

Scene & Heard: Gilt Wedding Shop

Just in today, the high fashion discount website, Gilt Groupe, has announced yet another plan for their ingenious website. You can read all about it here. Ladies, set your e-calendars for October 20 and surf this wave like there’s tomorrow. Who knows what you’ll find? We can only imagine as the baubles, denim and accessories we've found there just can't be beat.