A little info about Kelli and Blooms and Blossoms

For those of you who do not read or follow Utah Bride Blog, here is a feature they did on my business and me. This will help you get to know a little bit more about me and where my business began.

From Utah Bride Blog: "Remember last month we started the introductions on our five 2012 preferred florists? Well today we continue that series with a fun post on Kelli with Blooms and Blossoms. I love that Kelli herself was very recently a bride! This means she really can relate and has a unique perspective as a vendor. Read on...  "              

        

What brought you into a floral design career? I was working in the wedding industry as an on-site wedding coordinator for a reception site. I absolutely loved watching all the beautiful flowers brought in for different weddings. I realized how much I loved flowers and decided one day that I would try my hand in the profession. I was really lucky and had a few clients put their trust in me. I've now been designing flowers for weddings and special events for 8 years. It's been a fun and exciting journey so far!

What inspires you and where do you find inspiration when it's lacking? My mom loves gardening and has done some amazing landscaping in her own yard. Sitting in her backyard summer after summer and seeing how beautiful her flowers are inspires me. Anything in nature inspires me. It could be rich colors in the fall or the blooming trees in the spring. If I'm lacking inspiration not only do I turn to nature but I love keeping up on trends by turning to magazines, websites and the designs of some amazing florists.

What do you love most about wedding floral design? I love how each wedding brings new ideas and challenges. I get so excited when a bride comes to me with something I've never done before. Even if two brides have similar styles their flowers and over all design end up looking different because of their personalities. Being in the floral design industry allows me to challenge myself and to continue being creative every single day.

If you could tell bride's one piece of advice in regards to wedding florals what would it be? My one piece of advice would be to choose flowers and designs that reflect your style and personality. When someone walks into the room the flowers you have chosen really help define the theme and style of your wedding and it also shows a piece of your personality.

Tell us a little about yourself: I just got married last September to my best friend, Jared. I loved planning my own wedding... it was such a happy day! I was born and raised in Providence, Utah along with 5 siblings and moved to Salt Lake City 9 years ago to pursue my career. Some of my favorite things to do in my free time would be running, playing softball, hiking, reading, traveling and creating new things for my home. I also love spending time with family and friends.

What would you call your own floral style and why? It's hard to define my floral style. I love designing flowers for classic weddings but I also love it when brides come to me with new and unique ideas. I feel I'm able to design flowers to match the personality and vision of the bride. My floral portfolio shows many different styles of weddings but if I had to describe my style in a few words I would say it's refined but not too structured.

What is your favorite up and coming trend? My favorite trend right now for 2012 is the royal wedding. I love the look of a glamorous black tie event. It's a very romantic and elegant look and I love that. I'm excited this year to use a lot of the neutral tones like gold, champagne, ivory, white and even soft pink. It's going to be a great year!

"Thanks Kelli your an amazing artist and we are delighted to have you on board here at UBB, as I am sure our readers are too!

Utah Bride Blog features Blooms and Blossoms

Today Utah Bride Blog did a feature on Blooms and Blossoms! I feel so honored and I'm so excited to be a preferred vendor on their blog. To see their blog post go here.

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Dessert Bar Inspiration!

 Dessert Bars have become all the hype with weddings and parties these days. 

When planning my own wedding last fall I knew that I had to have a dessert bar. My favorite foods are basically anything with sugar in them so having a dessert bar was ESSENTIAL!

I found a lot of inspiration from the marvelous Amy Atlas. She has created some of the most beautiful dessert bars I've seen.

Since I'm a floral designer adding flowers to the dessert table was a must! In fact, I wanted the flowers to be a big part of the look. We used hydrangea, roses and sprayed branches with hanging ribbons and crystals which finished the look. My sister in law, Heidi, is super talented and made the desserts for this table (which lasted maybe 20 seconds... I learned that I wasn't the only sugar lover at our wedding dinner!!!). Thankfully we had A TON of wedding cake to go around. I was so in love with my wedding cake (thank you Granite Bakery and Bridal)! It had to be the center of the table. The lace details of the cake were unbelievable.

When designing a dessert table I think it's very important to label your desserts, plus labels can be really cute and can add a lot to the table. We chose to go with all white plates and dishes as well as white linens and a white lace overlay. I wanted the candy and desserts to pop a little which I think they did. When choosing the candy I wanted a variety of shapes and sizes and textures. We chose pina colada licorice, orange rock candy suckers, tangerine sour balls, pina colada sour balls and peach taffy. We did the same thing with the desserts. We served mini cupcakes, macarons, cake balls and white chocolate dipped oreos. We had little cellophane bags for the guests who opted to take their treats home. And for the finishing touch, Heidi made little sticker labels with our initials on them to seal the bags (I love to personalize things!).

The most important thing to remember when designing a dessert bar is to make sure to add your personality to it. Have fun with it and let it reflect a little piece of you!

 I made the cupcake papers our of lace doilies. So cute!

 The rest of these dessert bar pictures are from the Ruffled Blog. They had a great write up on dessert bars and how to properly put them together. To read the post click here.

Navy Stripes; Backyard Reception! Real wedding feature.

I am loving the sunshine outside and so I decided to feature a summer backyard wedding. This might only make my spring fever worse! Maddie was a total delight to work with! She and her sisters are extremely detail oriented which made working with them even more fun! One of my favorite details of the reception was the homemade arch... so cute!

Here's a little info on the bride (Maddie) and groom (Braiden).

How did you meet?

I first met Braiden when I was 14 years old and he was 18. He is my brother's best friend and I had a crush on him right from the start.

How did he propose?

After my senior cotillion, he surprised me by getting a bunch of friends together and taking me on a scavenger hunt that he said his Mom set up. We went to a lot of different places but the last place he took me to was my Mother's grave. My blanket was set up along with candles, rose petals and a teddy bear dressed up as a bride. He then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!

 So in love with that bouquet!

 I absolutely love the homemade fabric flowers on this arch!

More wedding details! 

Where was the location of the wedding and reception? The ceremony was at the Salt Lake temple and the reception was in the backyard of my parent's house.

Where did you get your rings? Braiden gave me my Mother's ring, I got Braiden's from Nancy G. Diamonds LLC. She has amazing prices and meets everyone personally.

Where did you buy your dress? I bought my dress from Gateway Bridal in Salt Lake City.

Where did you get the Groom's apparel? Braiden's suit came from Cleaner Image in Centerville, their prices were awesome and they have a huge selection. The dove gray suits were perfect for our wedding.

Who did your hair and makeup? Melanie Ray did my hair and makeup for my bridals as well as my wedding day and she did it perfectly. She even let me take some makeup with me all day to be able to fix things up. Styleseat.com/melanieray.

Where did you get your cake? Braiden's cousin has a small business you can find at www.sweetandflowers.com. Her name is Brittany and she can do anything you want!

Who designed your flowers? Blooms and Blossoms. Seriously amazing prices and she is so creative and has incredible ideas. She can also make anything possible.

Who did your catering? Jenny Ross did all of our cupcakes that weren't included in the cupcake tower, she has a huge variety as well. Kim Stoker, my stepmother, provided frozen yogurt and toppings from her business Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt.

Who was your photographer? My sister Shannon Garber took my engagements and my bridals and she is absolutely incredible. We were also very lucky to get Jessica Kettle to do my wedding at the Salt Lake Temple and my reception as well. She was so talented and easy to work with!

Who was your DJ? A family friend Joey Hansen, was the DJ at our wedding. He played all the songs we picked as well as added his own awesome taste. Later on, my father and my brother sang to me and I sang to Braiden.

Where did you get your rentals from? Our white chairs were rented from Diamond Rental.

Extra details: The flower arch, the table clothes and the theme of our wedding were made possible by my 4 sisters and some close family friends. All the lights and the tennis court set up was done by my family as well as Braiden's family. My Dad prepped the beautiful backyard all summer and everything turned out great!