Image | Floral Design | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
punchy colors and happy flowers
When I had a few extra flowers after a recent shoot that I styled, I decided to make a small arrangement for my dining room table in an old Irish oatmeal tin. The tin would have rusted with water inside, so I dropped a clear water glass into the tin first, filled it with water, and then created the bouquet in my hand before placing it inside the doubled container. I love the bright, punchy colors and the mix of the refined, traditional roses with the textural berries, ruffled ranunculus, sexy anemones and cheerful poppies!
Images | Floral Design | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
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Botanical Elements for the Home
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I recently had the opportunity to design and style some florals for a photo shoot at my friend John Michel's home in Los Angeles. John's Silver Lake apartment is beautifully decorated, and it was such a pleasure to choose flowers and textures that worked with his heirloom vessels and highlighted the special decor pieces throughout his living spaces. I think there is nothing better than bringing fresh flowers into the home. It's a touch of luxury, and that is something that every well-loved home deserves!
Images | Floral Design | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
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Language of Flowers, Part 2
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With Father's Day looming ahead, you might be wondering what to get to express your love and appreciation for your dad. Unlike mothers, fathers don't usually inspire gifts of flowers. But even macho dads might welcome such a gift if you could explain to them the message that you've endeavored to convey through your strategic choice of the individual flowers making up the bouquet. And if your dad is in a creative field, like mine is, he may appreciate the ephemeral beauty of a gift of flowers, too! As the old saying goes, it's the thought that counts: and a bouquet of flowers filled with traditional meanings is more than just a thought.
When looking at meanings for flowers, don't forget about the foliage! Foliage doesn't always have a separate meaning from it's flower, but if the flower meaning is apropos, than you can apply it to the foliage as well. Gardenias, for example, have amongst their many meanings one that is specifically geared towards men, "good luck to a man." To give your dad that masculine "good luck" message, as well as letting him know that he is splendid, that you esteem him, that you are grateful for his lasting friendship with you and to recognize the strong bond of affection between you, choose gardenia foliage, freesia, sunflowers, bupleurum and stock. Sunflowers also stand for power, and even as adults, many children still think of their fathers as the most powerful men on earth!
There are a wide range of flowers that would be appropriate for an arrangement for dad, such as ginger, which can stand for strength, or gladiolus, which can mean "strength of character." Whatever you choose for your father, don't forget to tell him about the message behind the flowers- because that's where the true meaning of the gift lies!
CREDITS | Photography by Bonnie Tsang | Floral Styling + Text by Lauryl Lane | Graphic Design by MaeMae Paperie| Location at Palihouse, West Hollywood | Floral meaning resources: Victoria’s Dictionary of Flowers, Wikipedia Language of Flowers, FlowerMeaning.org.
bouquet roundup
Choosing favorite bouquets is hard. Each bouquet I design is one of my "babies," and I adore each and every one of them. But I made myself choose forty of my very favorite bouquets from the past few years to share with you in this little "bouquet roundup." I've arranged them in color-order (of sorts), because I love seeing how different the bouquets can be despite having similar color schemes! Enjoy...
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Bouquet & Photo by Lauryl Lane.
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Bouquet & Photo by Lauryl Lane.
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Bouquet & Photo by Lauryl Lane.
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Bouquet & Photo by Lauryl Lane.
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Bouquet & Photo by Lauryl Lane.
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Bouquet & Photo by Lauryl Lane.
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Bouquet & Photo by Lauryl Lane.
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Bouquet by Lauryl Lane | Photo by
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Bouquet by Lauryl Lane | Photo by
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Bouquet & Photo by Lauryl Lane.
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weekend wishes
Image | Floral Design | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
Bouquet by Season | Summer
Last year, ombre was all the rage! Although the trend seems to be dying down a bit, I'm still loving it, even six months after designing this pink ombre bouquet and it's sweet accompanying boutonnière. This punchy bouquet was my personal nod to a seasonal summer look. I keep trying to do an ombre effect with my hair, but red is already the hardest color to maintain, and my short tresses don't seem too keen on holding the color the way I want them to. Ah well, I've got an ombre-themed wedding to look forward to this summer, so there's no shortage of ombre-inspiration in my world!
Floral Design by Lauryl Lane | Images by Sara Hasstedt. Seasonal bouquet series | Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.
Fragrance Bar Editorial Shoot in Malibu
I recently had the opportunity to design and style the florals for a product shoot at a stunning private residence in Malibu. The star of the show was the custom fragrance bar created by Courtney of Ka-Mil-Yin. After our shoot wrapped, Courtney demonstrated how she conducts private parties providing custom fragrances for the guests, by designing fragrances for each of the ladies on set. I ended up with a scent that I just can't get enough of- my own "signature" fragrance of orange, fig, sandalwood and white tea. I can hardly wait until I have the opportunity to hire Courtney for my own fête! As always, it was a pleasure to work with Summer Watkins, my favorite fellow-stylist by far, and I cannot rave enough about Jen Huang, who creates total magic with her camera. I don't know that my floral designs have ever looked more ethereal!
CREDITS | Photography: Jen Huang | Custom Perfume Bar: Ka-Mil-Yin | Styling: Summer Watkins | Botanical Styling: Lauryl Lane | Hair & Makeup: Amy Clarke | Calligraphy Labels: Cherish Paperie.
natural mood enhancers
More cold, rainy days here in Colorado. I won't lie- the weather here depresses me. Locals like to talk about how sunny it is, but they are clearly not from Southern California! I never thought of myself as a sun-worshipper since I'm fair-skinned and have always had to make a concerted effort to shield myself from the sun's rays. Yet after only five months of living in Denver, my doctor informed me that I was Vitamin D deficient! Who knew? I'm looking forward to lots of travel in sunny regions in the days ahead, but for now I'm trying to use bright flowers as mood-enhancers in lieu of sunshine. You've heard of pet therapy, right? Well, how about some flower-therapy instead? I've heard it can cure a multitude of woes!
Images | Floral Design | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
Bouquet by Season | Spring
I recently designed four bouquets, each representative of a different season. As spring is now upon us in my part of the world, I thought it would be appropriate to share the bouquet that stands for spring! I used some quintessentially "springy" flowers, along with succulents, which are heavily indicative of spring to me. In Southern California, succulents begin to show their offspring in the spring- a single succulent can "birth" nearly a dozen little babies! I love seeing the little succulent babies growing, and when they are big enough, detaching them and moving them to their own little plots of land where they can mature and then reproduce themselves!
Although spring here in Denver is not what I am used to, and it brings with it weird fuzz in the air that makes me sneeze, moody weather changes, and more bugs than I've ever seen in my life... there is still promise in the air- promise of grass greening, flowers blooming, sunnier skies and warmer days ahead. After the seemingly endless days of winter, this promise of new life, this burst of color, cannot help but bring a smile to my face. And hopefully, to your face as well!
Floral Design by Lauryl Lane | Images by Sara Hasstedt. Seasonal bouquet series | Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.
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Language of Flowers, Part 1
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Flowers are one of the first gifts that come to mind when we think of our mothers on Mother's Day, just as we know to give flowers to our lovers on Valentine's Day or to smooth things over after an argument. The giving of flowers is ingrained into modern culture, and we know that flowers can say "I love you" or "I'm sorry," but did you know that there is a long tradition of individual flowers holding very specific meanings? Red roses are widely known to say "I love you," but they can also stand for respect, courage and even embarrassment! Different flowers can have a variety of meanings, both positive and negative, so it's important to know which flowers to pair together in order to get your true message across.
First published in Paris in 1818, Charlotte de La Tour's classic Le langage des fleurs first brought floral meanings to the masses. Although meanings had long been associated with different floral specimens, the Victorians, in particular their poets and artists, used the meanings of flowers to convey messages in art, literature, and even in day-to-day settings. de La Tour's book gathered known floral meanings rooted in ancient history and laid those meanings out, creating a reference guide that we still draw from today. While we no longer attend balls carrying nosegays that can indicate if we are unattached or not, we can definitely use the lost language of flowers to convey meaning through a simple gift.
There are many resources online for discovering the meanings behind various flowers, so next time you're shopping for a floral gift, do some research first! Choose a color scheme (colors matter- in many cases, different colored flowers even of the same variety can have vastly different connotations!), find out what various flowers in that color scheme mean, and then visit your local flower shop and ask the floral designer if you can choose individual flowers to have made up into a special bouquet.
For a mother's day gift, you could choose lavender, for devotion. Alstroemeria stands for prosperity- and who doesn't wish prosperity for their loved ones? Ivy stands for dependance and endurance, both qualities that mothers have in plenty. The pink pixie (or mini) carnation reveals the meaning of a mother's love, and gratitude, again very apt for such an occasion. And the ranunculus demonstrates radiant charm. While your mother probably won't know these meanings outright, you can include the meanings on your enclosure card, and it's a given that she'll be delighted by the thought and detail you put into such a heartfelt, personalized gift.
Let's bring back the lost art of using the language of flowers!
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clean slate
I love Mondays. I know that many people consider Monday their least favorite day of the week, because they have to go back to work after a few days of "personal" time. But for me, Mondays are the start of something fresh and new. They are a clean slate. I often work weekends since I'm in the event business, so perhaps my schedule is a bit skewed... But I love the fact that Monday restarts each new week, full of new ideas, new discoveries, new potential.
It's a little warmer out this morning, and the sun is shining. I know winter isn't over yet, but the warmer days every once in a while remind me that we're on the cusp of spring. Spring-- the season when everything springs back to life. I cannot wait for it to arrive! In the meantime, I have some exciting styling jobs on my plate this week and a best friend coming to town for a visit! Hope your week looms ahead with many things to look forward to, as well!
Larkspur, rosemary and monkeytail... promising that Spring is just around the corner!