last thanksgiving

Last year, my husband and I flew to Cleveland, Ohio, to be with my maternal side of the family for the Thanksgiving holiday. My uncle/godfather hosted Thanksgiving Dinner at his elegant condominium home in a high-rise overlooking Lake Erie. Everything my Uncle puts his hand to is successful, and Thanksgiving Dinner was no exception.

As I posted yesterday about the Thanksgiving Dinner that I hosted at my new home in Denver, I realized that I never posted pictures from Thanksgiving Dinner last year, even though I was recruited to design the floral decor. Better late than never, right? ;-)

I created one very large mixed floral arrangement for the table, using assorted holiday greens, multi-colored roses, alstroemeria and wheat in a stunning silver and glass pedestal vessel.

I also added mini bud-vases down the center of the table with assorted roses and greenery. My uncle and his wife have very classic, sophisticated taste, and my designs were suited to the style of their home and the way they set the dinner table.

As is usual with family gatherings, my mother lent her hand to penning the place cards.

My cousin announced his engagement to his long-time girlfriend over this Thanksgiving dinner, and in September, we all joined them back in Cleveland for the wedding. Holidays and weddings: definitely a few of my favorite things!

Images | Floral Design | Styling by Lauryl Lane.

giving thanks

Whew! Has it really been a week since Thanksgiving? I had three visiting family members staying with me for nearly a week, so I'm still trying to get caught up on all the cleaning/laundry that ensues with houseguests. It was really wonderful though, to spend time with my mother and grandparents, and we had such a wonderful, relaxing time together.

We were joined by additional family members, for a total of eleven people around our Thanksgiving Dinner table. They came from Cleveland, Ohio; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Grand Junction and Colorado Springs, Colorado, and we were truly blessed that our family traveled from near and far to be with us on our first holiday in our new home city!

Although we are currently renting a small house, we didn't really have the space for eleven people. So we decided to get creative, and we actually served Thanksgiving dinner in our basement. The biggest room in our basement is long and narrow, and we have it divided into a den on one side and my office on the other, with a wall of curtains separating the spaces. So for Thanksgiving dinner, we moved the furniture to the edges of the room, pulled back the curtain, patched two tables together and covered them with a big tablecloth. We nabbed chairs from all over the house, not to mention the patio, so that we could provide a seat for every bottom. I was a little concerned that it would be too cold in the basement, or too unconventional, but nobody seemed to mind.

When you set a pretty table and ply people with good food and good booze... people tend to be very, very happy. ;-)

There wasn't much space on the table for decor, so I kept things simple with gold glittered trees, arrangements of holiday greens and gold roses, gold pinecone candlestick holders, and some assorted mini pumpkins.

My mother penned some placecards in her gorgeous handwriting, and provided her beautiful pressed-cookies as favors for each of our guests.

It was a lovely holiday. I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely, too. I think I should go eat some leftover pumpkin pie, now.

Images | Floral Design | Styling by Lauryl Lane.

a favorite

I've been going through images lately, preparing for an update to the website, and I keep coming across gorgeous pictures that just take my breath away with their loveliness. I get SO many images from the photographers I work with, not to mention all the pictures that I take myself, and hundreds get passed over because they aren't "right" for the feature or the portfolio or whatever else I'm culling for. I'm going to start sharing some of those here on the blog. This, for example, is one of my favorite bouquets ever... for my little sister Olivia.

Image by Alec Vanderboom | Floral Design by Lauryl Lane.

serene setting

Calligraphy, Victoria Hoke Lane, spider mums, tulips, green, orange, pink, luncheon, tablescape, candles My Mum (Calligrapher Victoria Hoke Lane, designer of my logo!) has a new website coming soon (get excited!) and I've been sending over images of her work to her designer (Josh Berman, who designed my site- he's the best!). I came across this little luncheon that we designed together and realized that I never blogged it. Oops. Coming soon!

Calligraphy | Hand-painted Cookies by Victoria Hoke Lane. Image | Florals | Styling by Lauryl Lane.

latest obsession :: passion vine

Passion vine. Where has it been my whole life??? I've used it before, but not in a great while. I happened across it at the flower market when I was picking up my floral order for a recent wedding, and made a snap decision to incorporate it into that wedding's design. Now I'm obsessed. I literally cannot get enough.

If you've been following my design work for any length of time, you've probably figured out that I am drawn to the unpredictability of flowers. I'm a spontaneous person by nature, so part of the excitement I derive from using a perishable good as my artistic medium is just that-- it's ephemeral quality. The life-span of a cut flower or plant is fleeting, so, in effect, my job is creating temporary art installations! Of course I know how best to treat and condition each and every botanical element that I work with- any good designer is going to know everything they can about the technical aspects of their chosen medium. But the fun part of the design process is the fact that no two cut flowers are ever exactly the same. That each stem has a personality and mind of it's own. A different bend, a different quirk, whatever it is... flowers are individuals.

And passion vine? Well, passion vine is über quirky. It bends and curves and droops and straightens...it has rumply leaves and corkscrew tendrils that are simply fascinating. The movement of this vine is beautiful and inspiring. It is delicate and ethereal but also dark and passionate. When the buds open....ah....magic. They are bold, sexy, elegant, intricate... and utterly mesmerizing. But enough of my descriptions... see for yourself!

Passion vine, you complete me. Or at least, you complete my arrangements. I adore you.

Images | Florals | Styling by Lauryl Lane.

woodland nymph

Good morning! Today I'm working away in the studio on a wedding, but I thought I'd share some photos of a prototype tablescape that I created for one of my brides earlier this spring. This bride was working with me long-distance from her home in Michigan, but her mother came to meet with me and we sent photos to the bride while we discussed the prototype with her on the phone. I rarely do prototypes for my clients. I hate being tied down to something, which is essentially what happens when a sample is created and agreed upon. As an artist, I prefer having the artistic freedom of creating the design AS I'm designing it-- i.e., during the actual build of the wedding.

But in this case, the prototype was a very good thing. The bride had booked me quite far in advance, and so the vision for her wedding had evolved over time. This prototype viewing was important for figuring out if we were on the same page after all of the changes and tweaks to the overall vision. The bride's mother kept telling the bride that she felt that "woodland nymphs" might come scampering out of the tablescape at any time. While I loved that description, it wasn't the feel we were going for. In the end, this tablescape changed dramatically. Eventually, I'll show you pictures of the final tablescapes at the wedding. But for now, enjoy some "woodland nymph." ;-)

Images | Florals | Styling by Lauryl Lane.

rose crown

I was flipping through photos on my computer yesterday, and came across these precious shots of my baby niece. She's a rollicking two year old these days, but when she was five months old she came to visit me in L.A., and I took her to a graveyard to photograph her (of course). I made her a crown of pink spray roses, which she wore with one of MY ancient baby dresses. My Mum saves stuff like that.

Totally angelic, right?

Images | Florals | Styling by Lauryl Lane.