2014 Pantone Color of the Year is Radiant Orchid

by Flower Duet

Pan­tone’s Radi­ant Orchid

Pan­tone® is a com­pa­ny that pro­vides the col­or stan­dards for graph­ic design­ers, inte­ri­or design­ers and the fash­ion indus­try. As wed­ding florists, we take cues from all these dif­fer­ent cre­ative out­lets and see how the trends will be incor­po­rat­ed into wed­ding cer­e­mo­ny and recep­tion col­or themes.

This year, Pan­tone® announced that Radi­ant Orchid will be the col­or of 2014. Here’s a lit­tle from their press release on Decem­ber 5, 2013:

“While the 2013 col­or of the year, PANTONE 17–5641 Emer­ald, served as a sym­bol of growth, renew­al, and pros­per­i­ty, Radi­ant Orchid reach­es across the col­or wheel to intrigue the eye and spark the imag­i­na­tion,” said Leatrice Eise­man, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Pan­tone Col­or Insti­tute®. “An invi­ta­tion to inno­va­tion, Radi­ant Orchid encour­ages expand­ed cre­ativ­i­ty and orig­i­nal­i­ty, which is increas­ing­ly val­ued in today’s soci­ety. An enchant­i­ng har­mo­ny of fuch­sia, pur­ple and pink under­tones, Radi­ant Orchid inspires con­fi­dence and emanates great joy, love, and health. It is a cap­ti­vat­ing pur­ple, one that draws you in with its beguil­ing charm.”

Uplift­ing and bold with­out being over­pow­er­ing, Radi­ant Orchid tones are per­fect­ly cap­tured in this beau­ti­ful Ranun­cu­lus bloom pic­tured at left. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

We feel this col­or is in tune with many of our brides right now. We’ve cre­at­ed wed­ding flow­ers fea­tur­ing this col­or in Decem­ber of 2013 and have anoth­er wed­ding with this col­or on Jan­u­ary 4th. It pairs well with minty green, anoth­er pop­u­lar col­or for wed­dings in 2014 and would liv­en up neu­trals includ­ing gray, beige and taupe.

These bridal and brides­maids bou­quets reflect the tones and moods of Radi­ant Orchid. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

2014 Wedding Trends: Flowers, Food and Glamorous Fun

by Kit Wertz

Each year we look for­ward to the new wed­ding sea­son and as we book new brides and grooms for their big day, we can get a feel for what is hot for wed­ding cel­e­bra­tions. We’d like to share with you some of the trends we are see­ing for wed­ding recep­tions and cer­e­monies and tell you a lit­tle about a few fan­tas­tic wed­ding ven­dors we love to work with here in the South Bay of Los Ange­les. Want to learn more about 2014 wed­ding flower trends? Attend our two wed­ding flower work­shops on Jan­u­ary 25, 2013 at our Tor­rance Design Stu­dio to learn about all the flower trends and how to cre­ate a hand-tied bridal bou­quet, bou­ton­nière, cor­sage and hair wreath.

Pic­tured above is the suc­cu­lent grape­wood cen­ter­piece we cre­at­ed for a recent wed­ding. Suc­cu­lents con­tin­ue to be fea­tured for wed­dings in 2014. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

2014 Wedding Themes

Wed­ding themes for 2014 con­tin­ue on the glam­orous side with a nod to last year’s movie block­buster, The Great Gats­by and a trip down nos­tal­gic lanes with clas­sic elegance.

Vintage Glamour

Great Gats­by inspired bling accents, old books, old suit­cas­es and trav­el trunks along with vin­tage type­writ­ers will all make appear­ances as recep­tion dec­o­ra­tion themes in the next year.

Vin­tage trucks and cars will be fea­tured in wed­dings in 2014. Pho­to by Rachel McCauley.

Pic­tured above are bling accents in a bou­quet. Just one rhine­stone brooch can go a long way to adding a lit­tle glitz to flow­ers. Learn how to add bling to wed­ding flow­ers at our wed­ding flower arrang­ing class­es this month on Jan­u­ary 25, 2014 at our Tor­rance Flo­ral Design Stu­dio. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Metal­lic Gold Accents

The metal­lic trend of the last few years con­tin­ues. We expect to see gold foil invi­ta­tions and more requests for gold vas­es in 2014.

Gold metal­lic vas­es will be fea­tured this year.
Wed­ding Flower Col­ors — 2014 wed­ding flower col­ors will include blush tones and shades of pink, neu­trals like beige and taupe, pur­ples, navy blue, corals, grays, aqua and minty cool greens. We’ll also con­tin­ue to see pas­tel brides­maids dress­es (grey, beige, blush, mint green, light pink) in mul­ti­ple col­ors with­in the same bridal party.

Large flow­ers — Bridal bou­quets made with large full flow­ers like peonies and gar­den ros­es are huge­ly pop­u­lar as well as wed­ding arch dec­o­ra­tions and wed­ding cen­ter­pieces fea­tur­ing large mop-head­ed hydrangeas.

Mul­ti­ple vas­es — Clients con­tin­ue to ask for more than one vase on a table to cre­ate a clus­tered look instead of one large cen­ter­piece arrangement.

Hiring a Professional Wedding Planner

With cou­ples both work­ing full-time and the pop­u­lar­i­ty of get­ting mar­ried away from home, many are opt­ing to hire a pro­fes­sion­al wed­ding plan­ner. There are at least five rea­sons to hire a wed­ding planner:

1. Saves Time
2. Saves Mon­ey
3. Orga­nizes Everything
4. Acts as a Mediator
5. Relieves Stress and offers “Day Of Wed­ding” Management

All-in-One Wed­ding Venues and Des­ti­na­tion Weddings

When the wed­ding guests and the cou­ple can all stay in the same place where the wed­ding and recep­tion take place, it makes for an easy and pop­u­lar event. Our flo­ral design stu­dio is very close to Ter­ranea Resort where there are many options for cou­ples get­ting mar­ried includ­ing a view of the beau­ti­ful blue Pacif­ic Ocean.

2014 Wed­ding Hair and Makeup

Caren Lazarus of Design Vis­age, one of the nation’s most pub­lished hair and make­up stu­dios in the coun­try, believes every bride deserves a “good hair day.” Her team of hair and make­up artists works with “Maids, Moms and Brides” who are all pam­pered on the big wed­ding day.

For 2014, we’ll see more hair embell­ish­ments instead of veils on brides and hair wreaths made of flow­ers or greenery.

Wed­ding Pho­tog­ra­phy Trends

Cou­ples are request­ing trendy pho­to treat­ments with tech­ni­cal terms like “enhanced col­or” pho­tos, “vin­tage pro­cess­ing”, and “tilt-shift lens­es.” Intrigued? The hus­band and wife wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy team of Miki & Son­ja cap­ture the best moments and more and can guide a cou­ple through these new pho­to trends that are made so pop­u­lar by social media sites like Tum­blr and Pinterest.

Wed­ding Recep­tion Food Trends for 2014

As wed­ding recep­tions go late into the evening, savory snacks pro­vid­ed either by the cater­ing com­pa­ny or from a pop­u­lar gourmet food truck are pop­u­lar. For cock­tail recep­tions, we’ve noticed peo­ple opt­ing for child­hood favorite foods such as an appe­tiz­er made from mac ‘n cheese in a lit­tle ramekin. After­noon wed­dings offer nos­tal­gic tea par­ties for the food options and the hip­ster crowd likes craft beer flights to craft soda bars dur­ing recep­tions. Our tal­ent­ed friend, Chef Meg Hall can help a cou­ple nav­i­gate the food­ie trends and cre­ate a won­der­ful food expe­ri­ence for them, too! Learn more from Made by Meg Cater­ing based in Redon­do Beach.

Wedding Music Trends

Live Wed­ding Band vs. Wed­ding DJ/MC

Some venues don’t allow a live band so a good wed­ding DJ or MC is a good move for any cou­ple. It’s best to choose a com­pa­ny who lis­tens to the cou­ple’s playlist ideas and fits the cou­ple’s per­son­al­i­ties. We love work­ing with KC Camp­bell of VOX DJs. They set the desired tone for the new­ly­weds through favorite song requests, while keep­ing the wed­ding activ­i­ties flowing.

Per­son­al Cus­tom Wed­ding Song

Per­son­al­iz­ing a wed­ding with pho­tos of the bride and groom’s baby pho­tos and par­ents’ and grand­par­ents’ wed­ding pho­tos goes a step fur­ther with a cus­tom per­son­al song. Pro­fes­sion­al Nashville-bred song­writer Eliz­a­beth (with lots of heart and soul) from Our Sto­ry Our Song cre­ates per­son­al cus­tom wed­ding songs whether they are for walk­ing down the aisle or the cou­ple’s first dance. The words and music reflect the new­ly­weds’ style, taste and love story.

Can­dy Dis­plays and Con­fec­tion Buffets

It’s impor­tant to get the right per­son to per­form the most impor­tant part of the wed­ding cer­e­mo­ny. We met Elysia Skye from LA Wed­ding Woman this past fall and know she would be a fan­tas­tic fit for many cou­ples who want a warm and friend­ly per­son to help them tie the knot.

Present and Beyond 2014 Wedding Trends

Mar­riage Equal­i­ty — In June of 2013, the Supreme Court of the Unit­ed States court struck down the fed­er­al Defense of Mar­riage Act and said the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment must rec­og­nize same-sex mar­riages per­formed in those states where it was legal. As of Decem­ber 2013, eigh­teen states and the Dis­trict of Colum­bia rec­og­nize same-sex mar­riage as a legal right. Legal experts agree that more states and coun­tries will con­tin­ue to rec­og­nize same-sex mar­riage in the next year and years to come.

Rose Parade turns 125 Years Old

by Flower Duet

This year marks the 125th anniver­sary for the Rose Parade in Pasade­na, Cal­i­for­nia. We thought we should let you know in case you for­got to watch the parade on TV today (Jan­u­ary 1st) that you can go view the floats in per­son Jan­u­ary 1st and 2nd. The won­der­ful thing about see­ing the floats up close is you can actu­al­ly smell the flow­ers. It’s a won­der­ful par­ty for all your sens­es. There is music, won­der­ful scents and sites and you get your exer­cise walk­ing around all the floats. Here is a link to all the Rose Parade Floats on Dis­play Details.

Book Review Too Many Blooms (Petal Pushers Book One)

Cather­ine Daly has a fresh series of books for this age range, called The Petal Push­ers. Four sis­ters, Del­phini­um, Aster, Pop­py and Rose Bloom help out at their grand­par­en­t’s Flower Shop. Start with num­ber 1, Too Many Blooms to find out how it all begins. Get the whole series for your favorite flower girl.

Floral Design Tool:
Bouquet Holders and Bouquet Hold

Wed­ding flow­ers for 2014 will include large thirsty blooms like hydrangeas.

Sce­nario: A bride wants to have hydrangea as her bou­quet flower and she requests to have the bou­quet deliv­ered eight hours before the cer­e­mo­ny for photos.

Solu­tion: Bou­quet Hold­er & Bou­quet Hold Adhesive!

Where to Purchase:
These can be pur­chased online or at your local whole­sale flo­ral sup­ply depot like our favorite San Diego Flo­ral Sup­ply.