everytime i walk in the club they hatin on me cuz they know i look good

found my summer jam.

flower update

oh! sugar moppet heads i have so much to show you!!
even though it's been so hot which i hate, i love summer flowers!
they are just too much i almost can't stand it! Look at this arrangement Amy made last week!

This last week of June has been a crazy one...we did 4 weddings again*...I did a little photo shoot with all the leftovers at the studio last night - i have a gorgeous peachy bouquet to tell you about but let me start with some of the hot colors we've been using the last two weeks...

Friday we were at Frankies 457 for a little wedding...one of my favorite places to work...

We were lucky this week to snag some of the last peonies of the season - these magenta ones are my favorite this year - I wish I knew the varietal name of them...do you?



Astrantia finally looking really good - that's the little lacey white flower above...and one of my favorite trees: Nine Bark "Diablo" it has brownish red foliage with small pink flowers. We've been ordering a lot of material direct from California lately. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Blushing Bride Protea's are really coming this week...you're going to love them.

*The four weddings in a weekend thing is over now. About 3 months ago we decided to only book one wedding per day. This wedding/events business has been a big wild learning experience for us. I have a hard time saying no to people. I also tend to enjoy inordinate amounts of stress and chaos. The four wedding day on June 12th was AMAZING. We pulled it off with such suave and attention to detail. I havn't mentioned much about it but it will go down as one of the best days in Saipua history. But one can only function at that level of intensity for so long before one starts noticing more and more grey hairs and strange numbing in the finger pads. So we're slowing it down a bit. Starting in August we're booked only one event per day. Which means that I might have a chance to photograph everything for once. Which is good news for you.

mid summer night's dream

If I could, I would make that big urn arrangement every day, it was so much fun.
5:59 as I type this, heading to the flower market this morning, tomorrow we head upstate for a wedding at Cole Hill Farm. I'm getting tired, June has given us a lot of work, a lot of laughs and before this gets all "live laugh love" I'm just going to close the computer and walk out the door

dream team

I mean, oh snap! Look at this brilliant team of tough nutz! An intimidating marlon brando-esq maitre' d named "J-Z" took this photo of us after a 12 hour day installing a great big wedding at Cipriani 42nd Street we knicknamed "Dances with Branches."

We've never attempted such a large, complicated job. I can't begin to describe the process. I can tell you that it included a color coded schedule broken down in 1/2 hour segments and that when I woke up this morning I couldn't feel my arms. Because they fell off in the night.

I mean we had walkie-talkies, folks. Staging areas. Coffee and coconut water. (I've mastered the balance of simultaneously de-hydrating and hydrating.) At some point in the afternoon, overwhelmed with the transformation of the ballroom, I looked around and felt immense gratitude for the beautiful women working with me to make this happen. I CRIED.

So somehow armlessly I'm typing here - to tell you how thankful I am to have the toughest, smartest crew a florist could ask for. I also want to tell you that when you ask you're friends to come assist at a wedding they may tell embarrassing stories about your college days to your employees.

I'll post photos of the flowers later in the week, and ladies at our next dinner I promise to make sure all the wine is cold.


Postscript
___

...As I type this up in our lofted office, a 100+ degrees up here, I am secretly eating italian cookies from a delivery to Union Street gone awry. In between attempts to deliver to a woman named Edwina (what a name!) I did a little toodle-ing at a fancy grocery on Court Street (Union Market for those of you familiar with overpriced brooklyn epicurian enterprises) and came across a pretty basket of radiccio and proceeded to handle each and every one until I found two that suited me for dinner. Glancing sideways at a woman glaring at me I was reminded of my father, who used to complain that I had to touch every piece of bread in the basket before making my selection. I'm fussy. And happy father's day, Dad.

And for the record, when I say toodle-ing what I meant was I walked directly to the meat counter, elbowed an indecisive man with a baby to order the biggest rib-eye in the case. Continuing the well-deserved tradition of steak eating after a big wedding. I need iron.

poppies for jen

who gives the best advice and is a brilliant editor and makes me dinner on the eve of the largest wedding we've ever attempted at Saipua

see you other side

too much is never enough.

I'm overwhelmed by the season. By the time it gets hot enough to complain, it seems I'm distracted by the sumptuous offerings of summer gardens. Lillies, lamium, digitalis, chamomile. FINE.

I wanted to tell you how happy I am.

[Flowers from my mother's beautiful garden, a Parisian door painted with Mimosa (bonjour, David!), chamomile in Union Square.]

the wedding march continues

Remember, in the end there is always BED.

[photos of p's wedding flowers from april and my new pillows from enhabiten]

flowers, fresh culinary musings, gonads, cat house

We did back to back weddings at Ici in Brooklyn last weekend. Best food, best flowers, best bridezzzz

Tons more photos from these events here.







And some other things you should know...

1. Artichoke tapenade. Thanks one of Jezzey's recent posts mentioning artichoke paste I've been gorging on this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

2. ...and also this dope asparagus pizza also from Smitten

3. For reasons unbeknownst, I have been repeating the word gonads to myself. Drop hairband in the toilet? "Gonads!" Wake up with a headache? "Gonads!" Get stuck between a parked car and a recycling truck on Lincoln street at 7:30 am on Saturday before you've had your first cup of coffee and have to have the garbage men talk you out of the jam, only to sardine-can your rear left quarter panel requiring $1000+ worth of body work and a new tire?? "GONADS!!" This prompted a brief google search; and wouldn't you know it - there is a newly discovered jellyfish called the medeopolis, latin for 'city of gonads'. Great name for a band.


4. and speaking of bands, I am newly obsessed with Danielle Dax's Cathouse.