Brightly colored bud vases, hanging floral installations and a ceremony arbor that’s a pink lovers dream – this right here is a Valentine’s Day wedding done oh so right. All thanks to the planning genius of Callista & Company and floral magic from Gather Design Company. Trust us, you’re going to want to spend a little extra time on today’s full gallery to see every last detail – all captured to perfection by The Ganeys!
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From Callista of Callista & Company… Our floral color palette and nod to Valentine’s Day was bold, so we kept the rest of the design elegantly minimalistic. We played with ivory, nude, and oatmeal in layered textures for tonal neutrality without feeling stark. Velvet chair cushions softened the sleek ghost chairs, and velvet linens felt appropriate for the February wedding date. Nude menus with white text read “Will you be our dinner date” with the guests’ names and their personalized menu selections. Each place setting featured ivory ceramic chargers, specialty silver flatware, and a crescent of stemmed crystal glassware. Hundreds of discrete clear acrylic hearts on individual strands of fishing line subtly accented the thousands of blooms hanging overhead.
The seating chart was one of my favorite designs with personalized wood lettering reading: “Will You Be Our Valentine?” Each guest opened their own acrylic box to find custom conversation hearts with their table number. To continue the theme, our bar menus read “Will You Be Our Drinking Buddy?” and our dinner menus read “Will You Be Our Dinner Date?” We led guests to their seats, where they found their names scripted on the front of the dinner menus, and the back of each menu was thoughtfully printed with each guest’s specific meal selections.
From Amy of Gather Design Company… The reception centerpieces were composed of dozens of brightly colored bud vases, each with a single variety of flowers arranged in it. The bud vases were grouped down long tables to create a full tablescape, while leaving plenty of negative space. Taupe candles in three different sizes of pleated glass votive holders finished the design. Evelyn’s bouquet was a modern design composed only of flowers, without any foliage, in a soft oval shape with depth and movement. The bouquet contained garden roses, ranunculus tulips, butterfly ranunculus, muscari, and poppies. Each bridesmaid carried a posy bouquet composed of a different type of flower: coral ranunculus, coral tulips, soft blue muscari, deep blue muscari, blush garden roses, and coral garden roses.
From Evelyn, the Bride… One thing we personalized was to have a booklet for ceremony scripts, vows, and speech in Chinese, so that Evelyn’s parents can follow along. I think this reflects who we are — we want all our guests to have fun on that day. Since most of our guests speak English, we decided to have the translation booklet for Evelyn’s parents so we do not need to translate the ceremony one sentence by one sentence.
Three Special Memories from The Bride:
1. Cake cutting moment — First of all it was harder than we expected to cut the cake. Bryan even accidentally poured the champagne on our officiant Shin, who held the cake stand steady for us. After we successfully took out a slice, Bryan decided that he wanted to put some cream on Evelyn’s face. Evelyn, thinking how much effort spent to get that makeup, decided to fight back, so eventually Bryan was the one with cream on the face. 2. The speeches given by our parents were definitely the special memories. Evelyn’s mom gave the speech in Chinese and Chloe (maid of honor) translated it into English. A lot of our English-speaking guests told us afterwards that they could feel the sincerity even though they don’t understand Chinese. Bryan’s father sang “father and son” in his speech, which made Bryan cry out loud :p
3. Ceremony moment — I (Evelyn) normally cry at every wedding when the father gives the bride to the groom. When it’s my turn, I almost cried but used every ounce of my concentration to hold the tears.
Photography: The Ganeys | Event Planning and Design: Callista & Company | Floral Design: Gather Design Company | Wedding Dress: Watters | Cake: Flour and Bloom Cakes | Invitations: Papel & Co. | Shoes: Badgley Mischka | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Azazie | Hair and Makeup: Blush Makeup Artistry | DJ: Boutique DJs | Favors: Sunny Hills Pineapple Cake | Wedding Venue: Solage Calistoga | Paper Goods / Stationery: Callista & Company | Rentals: Theoni Collection | Rentals: BBJ La Tavola
Start by creating shape with your fuller leaves such as oak. It is important to use larger, thick, woody stems first as they will provide a base for other elements. All you have to do is stick the stem into the grapevine wreath, between the existing branches until it’s firmly in place. Very simple!
Once you have your shape and leafy elements in place, add more decorative, structural elements such as bittersweet vine and branches.
Next, you can add your focal pieces like dried banksia, preserved mushrooms, and pepper berry. It is most impactful to cluster these things in one area of the wreath, as it will draw your eye here. Remember things look best in odd numbers!
Lastly you want to add your pieces with the most delicate of stems. Since these items are dried, they tend to be fragile and will get crushed if you try to place them first. It’s a good time for the golden ferns, dried hops, and bleached italian ruscus. Don’t forget to stand back and look at your wreath from time to time. I often instruct my students to hang the wreath up on a wall and stand back to observe and adjust. You can add a ribbon accent once you are complete and know exactly how you want the wreath to hang. Use the grapevines at the back of the wreath as a place to tie the ribbon. Viola!
