Vanishing of the Bees

I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with the current crisis surrounding the disappearance of honey bees. The actual term for this phenomenon is Colony Collapse Disorder. The rate at which bees are disappearing is alarming and has left people scratching their heads.

The first time I was made aware of this issue was through an animated film called The Bee Movie.

I watched it with my son and thought it was cute since the main characters were a florist and a talking bee. I did find it a bit awkward that the woman and bee fall in love....but that's besides the point. The storyline sheds light on the fact that human behavior causes flowers to disappear because bees are no longer pollinating the flowers. And without the pollination of flowers, we have no fruits and vegetables. Of course, the movie has a happily-ever-after ending. Unfortunately, current reality reflects otherwise.

I watched that movie about 3 years ago and in those last three years I've noticed the bees making headlines...repeatedly. Here are just a few. If you google search, you can easily find more:
http://www.startribune.com/business/11222981.html
http://news.discovery.com/animals/the-case-of-the-disappearing-bees.html
http://www.usforacle.com/disappearing-bees-deserve-attention-1.2273479

Do we have a major problem? I think so. Recently, Chrissy Gray from Green Events sent me information on this documentary - Vanishing of the Bees. So, I ordered it and have yet to watch it. I'll let you know what my thoughts are. I just wonder if there is anything that can be done at this point.


Why do disappearing bees even perk my interest? Aside from the fact that I may lose job security if flowers no longer bloom? (I understand that statement is a bit oversimplified, but roll with me.) Well, if bees don't pollinate, we are facing a much bigger problem. I had no idea how large of an impact bees have on our food source. We're talking 1/3 of our produce! That's right. ONE-THIRD of our produce is dependent on honeybees...and that's just on commercial beekeeping. Scary.

Off to a little research. Any thoughts? I would love to hear them!

Chanel-inspired Tablescape

As promised, this post is dedicated to the thought process behind choosing design details to a tablescape, specifically the Chanel-inspired photoshoot. With any design scheme, you want to have a starting point with your inspiration. Although a specific brand like Chanel might appeal to you, the word alone can only get you so far. Choose just a few of your favorite elements that you want your design to embrace. For me, I was drawn to the pearls and signature color palette of Chanel. And, I'm naturally a fan of varied textures. That was a great stepping stone to creating the non-floral bouquets....which in turn created a wave of inspiration for the rest. So, let me walk you through some of the detail of the table and give you a glimpse of the method behind the madness.

Colors: Generally speaking, this is the second thing I consider after I choose a theme. The blush pink is so iconic of Chanel, it only made sense to throw it in the mix. How you distribute the color is a completely different issue for a different post.

Textures: Personally, I am a huge fan of keeping color palettes simple and playing up the textures as much as possible. Let's take the color black for example. Although this particular spread of pictures from the shoot don't show all the textures within the color, I'm going to explain them.The tablebloth is a button taffeta with hundreds of mini bunches throughout the fabric. The chair sashes give off a raw silk feel. Even the napkins are a different material in black tweed. Don't be afraid to use fun textures because they will add so much elegance to your table.

Accents and Details: Pearls played a huge part as the accenting item that was woven throughout the shoot...loose pearls on the table, strung pearls on the arrangements, pearl necklaces draped on the chairs, single pearls in the lotus pods and even pearls as napkin rings.

Another thing to consider is how the accents are applied. I wanted the chair sash and pearl necklace to reflect how a woman might accessorize herself. The napkins were folded in a way to reflect a woman's silhouette and the pearls/rose napkin ring served as a stylish belt. Be thinking about your table in terms of your theme in all the details. Trust me, those details will bring magic to a table!

I hope this was helpful to you. And I hope that you were inspired to be inspired! Happy designing!

And FYI, this shoot was also published in Singapore and Russia. Check them out!

Chanel Inspired Photoshoot Featured in Style Unveiled

OMG! This is, by far, my favorite design concept that I've worked on to date! Here's the story to how this FAB photoshoot came about. Vivian from All Made Up Team brought our core team (including D Park Photography and Floral Sense) together with this great idea for a Chanel inspired shoot bringing in all the signature design elements. I was in!

Rewind a few months before our meeting, I agreed to make a few bouquets for Vivian's studio photoshoots with her brides...ones that she could keep at the studio permanently. But I didn't want to use silk flowers and create a traditional bouquet. So, I looked to Chanel for a bit of inspiration and fell in love with the gunmetal, pearls and play on textures. And viola! These are the two bouquets I came up with:



We played around with a mini photoshoot session with me:


Naturally, we decided to marry the bouquets into the photoshoot.
So, the one with the dried lotus pods and pearls transpired into this amazing, full-blown tablescape!


Go to Style Unveiled's link here to experience all the labor intensive details. I'll post more on why I chose the details I did for my tablescape. In the meantime, enjoy all the great eye candy!

Thank you to all the amazing vendors who participated in this shoot!
And thank you Style Unveiled for showcasing our work on your site!

Reasons to Celebrate Bridal Show and Floral Sense Tablescape

Last Thursday night, I had the wonderful opportunity to be a part of this FAB bridal show at S Fine Dining in Westminster, CA. Generally, I don't to bridal shows for a variety of reasons (I'll post about that later). But I was invited by some of the industry's best including Ngoc from Sky Box Events, Stephanie from S Fine Dining and Huey from Platinum Peaks Entertainment. How could I say no? I loved that the set up was intimate with a lot of punch! And I was lucky enough to hang out with some great vendors and brides!

All photos were generously shared by Vivian Tran.
(Yeah, she's a bit of a renaissance woman with an unbelievable number of talents.)


Here's Floral Sense's tablescape in Modern Elegance.

Did you notice those awesome chairs? Fusion Linens just designed these and recently added them to their line of products.
I HAD to showcase them here!


And a few modern pieces for the patio seating area.



David and Drexelle from D Park Photography had this awesome mini-photoshoot session for brides. See those bouquets on the table? I'll have an exciting post about those soon too!


This is Kat from All Made Up Team. I have to say that she was the life of the party!


Genie from Petit Plume - She makes some kick-ass bridal accessories!


Veronica from Fusion Linens - Not only is she gorgeous, she's got a heart of gold!


From the left: David and Drexelle (D. Park Photography), Vivian (All Made Up Team), Me (Joanna) and Genie (Petit Plume).


Thanks for visiting!

Practical Solution for Resuable Grocery Bags

How often do you go to the store and forget to pull your reusable bags out of your car? Its the worst when you're checking out and you finally realize that your bags are still in the car. As a designer, I am constantly shopping for products for my clients. It didn't take me too long to get tired of running into this issue and getting stuck with a plastic bag that I really didn't want. Sometimes, I would just throw whatever I could in my purse to avoid wasting more non-compostable, bad-for-the-environment plastic bags. And during my personal runs to the grocery store....ugh!...that's the worst! The solution?

Isn't she cute? These reusable bags fold up right into themselves! I keep 2 in my purse at all times and they have saved me from the death grip of taking home plastic bags. I open my purse to pull out my wallet and inevitably see these puppies. I am good to go!

You can order them here but I am certain Google can hit you up with a few other sites that sell similar products.

Happy Sustainability!

Mayesh's Inagural National Floral Design Contest

Mayesh, the world's largest wholesale floral supplier, hosted their first national design contest yesterday at each of their locations. With over 200 designers across the USA, each location voted yesterday for the favorite local design. Designers were given a box of pre-selected flowers and were challenged to create their interpretation and vision of Valentine's Day. So naturally, I entered and here's what I came up with.

I named this one "Shut Up and Kiss Me". Appropriate? And moving along the lines of sustainability, I wanted to decorate with as many organic materials as possible. The ribboning is actually created with black ti leaves. The only non-compostable ingredient was floral foam. Yeah, I know...damn that foam.

I'm not sure who won at our Santa Ana location. But the local winner will then go on to compete on a national level via online voting. Kinda fun, eh?

Thanks for stopping by!

Floral Design Classes at The Wedding Pantry

By special request, I (Joanna) will be offering three different floral design classes at The Wedding Pantry in the month of February. If you have a small wedding and want to DIY the florals yourself, this may be a great time to come and learn the techniques behind the designs! Below is a snapshot of the dates and costs. Go to The Wedding Pantry's website here and sign up! Can't wait to see you there!



PS - If you attend the class and decide to book Floral Sense for your event, we'll have a little something special just for you.

Chic Peppermint Photoshoot Press

Wow! When we shot this Chic Peppermint photoshoot we had no idea how hot it would become!
So, here's a list of the places our shoot has been featured so far...and still counting.


Utterly Engaged


Wed Savvy


Fabulously Wed


Brenda's Wedding Blog


What a great way to start the year off!

Thank you to all the editorials featuring our work!
We are thrilled you love it as much as we do!

Happy New Year! Bring on 2011!

Happy New Year! And with a new year come a few forward momentum changes in 2011!

To start, we are going on a blog schedule with two weekly posts - one on Monday and the other on Thursday. With so many amazing things happening around Floral Sense, we'll be dedicating time to those projects.

Part of that change includes Ecofficiency.org. I (Joanna) have been asked to be on the board of this amazing organization and I am TRULY honored! There are so many exciting things happening over there which you will definitely get to read more about. I stand behind their mission and, more importantly, I stand behind the people behind the mission. Please feel free to follow the link here to learn more in the meantime.

And yes, Floral Sense continues to make baby steps towards sustainability...but not without the help of my friends at Ecofficiency.

Onward to another great year!