Glamorous Glamelias!
We are always up to a challenge here at In Bloom so when a recent bride asked us to make her a gorgeous glamelia as her bridal bouquet we were happy to channel the classic, throw back look. Glamelias were highly popular in the 1940's and 1950's and in the last few years have started to come back into fashion for brides seeking a simple, classic and unique look. These composite bouquets are made by gluing, sewing or wiring each individual petal onto the base of a rose to create one large bloom that makes a statement and is still delicate enough for a bride to carry. Our lovely bride wanted a simple and classic look to compliment her beautiful day which I believe we achieved with this simple bouquet.
We used two different types of freeze dried roses when making this glamelia to make sure it would last beyond the wedding day for our bride and still retain the texture of a fresh cut rose. Back in 2008 Katherine Heigl carried a beautiful glamelia made of a composite of white roses, a very elegant look.
Glamelias, while often time consuming to make, can be a great DYI for a bride or her bridal party to set out and do themselves for that personal touch. For those brides embracing a vintage style wedding this is a great way to pull the best out the 40's and 50's and will bring a certain nostalgia to your wedding.
So, if your hearts desire is for a delicate and beautiful single flower for a bouquet, consider a glamelia and all the tradition they hold.
Enjoy!
10th Annual Tulips & Pansies – The Headdress Affair
Last Thursday saw a major spectacle at Gotham Hall for the 10th Annual Tulips and Pansies: The Headdress Affair. Hosted by VillageCare to benefit its network of AIDS services in Manhattan, the runway show showcases the design of 19 floral design companies paired with clothing designers. As a first-time participant armed with Betsey Johnson as our supporting designer, we gladly took the challenge to build something big, beautiful, and beyond.
And thus, a punk-inspired Marie Antoinette was born. 
Our queen captured the electric spirit of Betsey Johnson with the luxe-glam of roses and peonies. The brainstorm process evolved from a peek at the Betsey Johnson S/S 2011 runway collection. Once decided on a custom, spray-painted petticoat dress, we set our imagination on a headpiece fit for an 18th century European court. Additional references included Carnival, La Catrina, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
The pink cabbage roses, peonies and baby's breath that recalled a powdered wig became a veritable garden for 6” silver glitter butterflies. Details below.
While we succeeded in concealing the water tubes necessary to keep the peonies (queen of all flowers) looking their best, our incredible model Stephanie withstood the substantial weight with elegance and grace. Many kudos to her for making the look appear both natural and effortless.
Ultimately, the runway walk – though only lasting a minute – was the shining moment for our design. It’s always enchanting for a designer to witness their work being brought to life. The feeling can be so surreal or unimagined that it becomes easy to forget how such a creation came to be. 
It was a true pleasure working on this project for such a charitable cause, and to see where our minds and flowers could lead us given a little inspiration. Looking forward to next year’s show already… Meanwhile, thanks to VillageCare, Betsey Johson and to Stephanie for stealing the runway!
Photo Credits: Andrew Werner, LINDSEYBELLE
-Parker Voss
Rouge Arrangements
A week before Valentine’s Day, In Bloom executed the centerpieces for an annual hospital fundraiser held by The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center here in New York City. Hosted at Rouge Tomate and sponsored by the fashion brand Milly, the luncheon featured an upstairs area where guests enjoyed a showcase of the Milly collection in addition to a downstairs seated lunch for 160 people including an honorary Pediatric specialist.
The florals provided for the upstairs “World of Milly” made use of the brand’s signature pink using roses, spray roses, and ranunculus.
The design for the banquet table arrangements evolved from an anemone motif found in a fabric sample from the season’s collection. The final red arrangements incorporated open roses, spray roses, hypericum berries, alstromeria and anemones in black glass cubes.
The overall tablescape combined not only well with the Milly aesthetic but also with the restaurant interior.
We very much enjoyed the planning process for this special event, and give our thanks to the MSKCC event chairs & coordinators for their thoughtful compliments.
-Parker
The Hispanic Society Gala 2010
The Hispanic Society held their annual Fall Gala this past October 5, 2010 at 583 Park Avenue. Since its founding in 1904, the Hispanic Society has promoted the study of the rich arts and culture of Spain and its areas of influence throughout the world and Latin America.
MF Productions seamlessly organized the event, honoring the following individuals and institutions for their exceptional contribution to the Hispanic arts:
Fundación Vallelongo, Fundación Juntos Actuando por la Superación, A.C & Javier Godo, Count of Godo
The gala kicked off with cocktails in the arcade of 583 Park Avenue. The color palette for the evening revolved around the soft greens of antique hydrangeas along with dusty tones of orange & creams. In Bloom decorated the music-filled arcade with two large bar arrangements consisting of camellia leaves, green hanging amaranthus, rust-colored dahlias as well as touches of orange ranunculus and mint roses.
The eight cocktail tables each glowed with three mercury tea lights positioned around a small julep cup arrangement of dark greens, orange dahlias and ranuclus with sprigs of lisianthus.
In Bloom found inspiration for the centerpieces in a floral motif painted on an antique dish from the Hispanic Society's art collection. Our designers aimed to translate a painterly quality to the combination of antique hydrangeas, orange ranunculus, yellow alstromeria, rust colored dahlias, mint & buttercup roses as well as delicate, scented geranium leaves.
We were pleased to achieve our stylistic goals without obstructing the guest and patrons' views of fellow attendees across the table. Like all things fun, the mingling and conversation lasted until the music stopped and the candles burned low.
-Parker Voss
Skintimate Studios Event
Another night in NYC and another amazing event honoring the winner of the first Skintimate Studios all-girl film program. Skintmate, the #1 women’s shave prep brand, provided teenage girls with an opportunity to work alongside Director Gail Mancuso to see what it really takes to make a movie. The winning group of ladies, Team S.O.S. saw their 12 minute short film “Save our School” premiered at Skylight West followed by a true NYC after party. DJ Mia Moretti and electronic violist Caitlin Moe played while celebrity guests Molly Simms and Jessica Lowndes enjoyed popcorn and signature cocktails.
Inspired by the New York City skyline, the barscape adeptly showcased the new Skintimate line of shave gel. Vases of contrasting shapes and sizes incorporated florals in varying shades of pink. Roses, daisies, lisianthus and antique pink hydrangeas are just some of the blooms used.
To view more photos of the event, click here!
Enjoy!
Campari 150th Anniversary Party: Event Photos
Campari 150th Anniversary Party - May 16th, 2010
Due to the various, intricated design elements of this event, we split this posting into two parts. Part 1 focuses on our our design proposal and pre-event planning while Part 2 here focuses on the event production and final outcome. Below you will find full descriptions of each of the flower installations as well as images from the actual event. Enjoy!
Framed Vintage Campari Advertisements
For the anniversary party, Camparihad asked us to come up withan interesting way to frame their vintage advertisements. In keeping withthe theme of the evening, we thought it would be brilliant to frame each ad with ivy and grape vines. We placed the ads climbing up the entryway stairs and throughout the event space. The result looked extremely rich and inviting.
Main Design Element: Birdcage & Mannequin Display
Having prepped the mannequin in advance along with the wisteria vine framework over the birdcage, we needed to assemble the table as cohesive whole. We draped the 8' x 32" table with black linen from Party Rental Ltd, positioned the mannequin & birdcage and added the decorative elements. Additional wisteria and branches were added to the table.
Next, we covered the entire table and interior of the birdcage with fresh green moss. We used freshly cut rose bushes to drape the table and place as if climbing up the birdcage. The interior of the cage featured a large anniversary magnum bottle of Campari. For extra detail, we added fresh red roses to the moss, suspended red-painted birds gripping mini Campari bottles. We even added small touches of butterflies, which added a sigificant amount to essence to the display narrative. Beauty lies in the details! 
We added rose petal straps to the mannequin's bodice and formed her "hair" using butterflies, an homage to the late creative genius Alexander McQueen. In effect, we adeptly created the look of a woman lusting after this jewel-toned liquor. It was a pleasant challenge to incite "desire" without being to literal.
Bar Displays
For the two bars, we had envisioned displays consisting of the special edition bottles, a magnum bottle, gold candelabras, deep red candle sticks with tons of moss and red roses. We created a tight grouping on each corner which added to the ambiance of the evening event. Additionally, we mossed the back shelves of both bars to keep in line with our vision for the event design.
Stage Logo
The event found its focal point as the main stage, always packed with world renown mixologists and celebrity acts including the World Famous Bob, Miss Tickle, Kalup Linzy and a special guest performance by James Franco.
Since we knew the guests would be focused on the stage for the majority of the night, we wanted to do something extra special with the logo. Our friends at Coloredge Visual printed the anniversary logo on a 4'x4' gatorboard with pieces of cut vinyl that added a luxe quality to the signage. Adding our signature touches of floral to the logo, we created a 5' border using 500 stems of open red roses. The result looked stunningly beautiful and was extremely well received.
Photo Booth
The photo booth became a fun element of the evening where guests could dress up and take their photo against against a set we created. Guests decked themselves out all night in feathers, masks, hats and cigars. We thought it appropriate to incorporate the garden element into the photo booth set, so we designed an arrangement using thick wisteria branches, moss, fresh roses, and Campari bottles in a substantial black urn. It was important to make the elements - especially the Campari bottles - look as if growing naturally out of the urn.
Hope you enjoyed our recap! We had such a great time working on this project, it was very inspiring and we hope to work with Campari again! One last photo before you go... small centerpieces for the cocktail tables consisting of garden roses, Italian Ruscus and mini Campari Bottles.
Ciao a tutti!!
