Slow Flowers SUMMIT — June 29th, 2018!

Coincides with American Flower Week!

This month in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., on June 29th, 2018 Flower Duet will join fab­u­lous flo­ral design­ers and farm­ers to edu­cate, inspire and help con­nect each oth­er through the love of local­ly grown flowers!

One way you can par­tic­i­pate in Amer­i­can Flow­ers Week is to attend The Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit in D. C. with us! But if you can­not attend, here are 9 ways you can cel­e­brate flow­ers grown in your own back­yard! 

TO BE PRESENTED AT THE SLOW FLOWERS SUMMIT 2018!

For our por­tion of the day’s events, we will cov­er how we expand­ed our busi­ness from a small bou­tique oper­a­tion to a full-ser­vice wed­ding and event design stu­dio which offers in-per­son flo­ral work­shops and online flower class­es, too! We will offer our five ways to expand your flo­ral busi­ness and how we approach teach­ing stu­dents whether they are begin­ners or advanced flo­ral designers.

Time is short! Buy your tick­ets today!

We are very excit­ed about our appear­ance and pre­sen­ta­tion at The 2nd Annu­al Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit on June 29, 2018, in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. — our old stomp­ing grounds.

Casey and Kit will be talk­ing about our diver­si­fied busi­ness mod­el. We’ll edu­cate flo­ral design­ers and florists on how to expand their busi­ness to include education.

There is a fan­tas­tic line­up of speak­ers for this event including a keynote by Christi­na Stem­bel of Far­m­girl Flow­ers and a pan­el with our fel­low LA flower guru,  Mud Baron and Mary­land urban flower farmer, Walk­er Marsh of Tha Flower Fac­to­ry.  Oth­er fea­tured speak­ers will be Mary Kate Kin­nae of The Local Bou­quet, Kel­ly Shore of Petals by the Shore,  Jonathan Weber of greensin­ner and our host­ess with the mostest, founder of the Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit and Slow Flow­ers move­ment, Debra Prinz­ing, of SLOW Flow­ers.

Join us for Amer­i­can Flow­ers Week in our Nation’s Cap­i­tal! Casey and I grew up there. We know where to go and what to see. Reach out and ask our advice and we hope to see you there!!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/slow-flow­ers-sum­mit-2018-tickets-41606721825

5th Annual Event by the WEHEROES at Terranea Resort

May 8, 2018 Featured “How to Be & Stay #onthelist!”

All Pho­tos by Miki & Son­ja Photography

We love being part of this fan­tas­tic group of ven­dors who meets once a month to dis­cuss how to grow our busi­ness­es and be the best we can be in our indus­try. So hap­py to share what we learn togeth­er to ven­dor peers in our 5th annu­al spring edu­ca­tion­al event at Ter­ranea Resort. Here’s a high­light of this year’s brunch and pre­sen­ta­tion we held on May 8, 2018 at the award-win­ning and won­der­ful sea­side venue.

Video from #OnThe­List by Bof­fo Video on Vimeo.

We have a won­der­ful team of mem­bers in our Wed­ding and Event Hero group. And this year, we all worked togeth­er to cre­ate anoth­er infor­ma­tion-filled pre­sen­ta­tion for our ven­dor peers. Here is our team:

Jen­nifer Messer­li – Ter­ranea Resort

Meg Walk­er – Made by Meg

KC Camp­bell – Vox DJs

Jack­ie Han­son – Design Visage

Miki & Son­ja Rakice­vic – Miki & Son­ja Photography

Casey Schwartz & Kit Wertz – Flower Duet

Lisa Oler – Smile Lounge Pho­to Booth

Alis­tair Tober – The VIPs Enter­tain­ment Inc.

Amy and Jere­my Berman – Vanil­la Bake Shop

Lau­ra Clausen – Dish Wish

Court­ney Lipthay – Cecile’s Paper Company

Stel­la & Paul San­ti­a­go – Bof­fo Video

This year’s event also fea­tured beau­ti­ful donat­ed linens from Wild­flower Linen and La Tavola Fine Linen.

Casey Schwartz and Kit Wertz of Flower Duet at the #onthe­list event at Ter­ranea Resort on May 8, 2018.

Each invit­ed guest received a bag of help­ful swag from the Wed­ding and Event Heroes group!

Guests were encour­aged to write down what they sought to get ven­dors on their own lists for a chance to win a stay at Ter­ranea or this fab­u­lous place set­ting from Dish Wish.

Here is one of our cock­tail designs fea­tur­ing flow­ers in the on-trend col­or theme of Cham­bray and Ter­ra­cot­ta! Flow­ers by Flower Duet.

One Hope wines spon­sored the cock­tail for the event.

Rishi Teas was on hand wow­ing guests with col­or fun!

Here is one of the many flo­ral designs on the tables for the event by Flower Duet.

Ter­ranea cater­ing pro­vid­ed a scrump­tious brunch includ­ing this fab­u­lous French Toast.

Guests were hands-on for a “Flat Lay” flo­ral demon­stra­tion dur­ing the social hour with Cecile’s Paper Com­pa­ny, Court­ney Lipthay.

VIPs Enter­tain­ment pro­vid­ed a won­der­ful live trio for the brunch hour at Ter­rranea for our #onthe­list event.

Guests min­gled, net­worked and brunched before the pre­sen­ta­tion on the Palos Verdes Ball­room Ter­race at Terranea.

These par­faits tast­ed even bet­ter than they looked. Amaz­ing brunch items by Terranea.

Guests enjoyed the sun­shine, wine and com­pa­ny dur­ing the brunch hour for #onthe­list.

Flower Duet added two types of peachy ros­es to com­ple­ment the Ter­ra­cot­ta roof and patio of the Palos Verdes Ball­room Terrace.

The morn­ing brunch fea­tured an olive and cheese selec­tion along with fresh fruit.

Guests learned the ins and outs of “Flat Lay” design with Cecile’s Paper Com­pa­ny and Flower Duet’s flow­ers. Here is a sample.

Kit Wertz (left) and Casey Schwartz of Flower Duet gave a pre­sen­ta­tion about how to “Get on the list” of a lux­u­ry venue with the Guests using humor­ous anec­dotes to help guests remem­ber key tips.

Guests lis­ten to one of the #onthe­list pre­sen­ters, Meg Walk­er, own­er of Made by Meg Catering.

Each guest received swag items includ­ing Emer­gency Bou­ton­niere Pins from Flower Duet!

California Wedding Day #Bestof2018 Awards Gala at Vibiana

Arti­cle and Pho­tos by Kit Wertz

Here are some pho­tos and high­lights of our sec­tion for which we designed flow­ers of the Cal­i­for­nia Wed­ding Day Best of 2018 gala held at down­town Los Angeles’s his­toric Vibiana.

That event “cel­e­brat­ed the Gold­en State’s chic and eclec­tic style, from San Diego to Sil­i­con Val­ley,” says its spon­sor on its website.

Cal­i­for­nia Wed­ding Day host­ed more than 500 of South­ern Cal­i­for­ni­a’s top wed­ding indus­try pro­fes­sion­als to cel­e­brate the final­ists for Best of 2018—and announce the win­ners. Flower Duet was pleased to be nom­i­nat­ed for the 2nd year in a row for “Best Wed­ding Florist in Los Ange­les” and con­grat­u­la­tion Lotus and Lily for her win in our category.

Under the direc­tion of Lisa Khan of Lisa Khan Events and Jason Rhee of Rhee­fined Events, with sup­port from Rayce Pr, we joined forces with a tal­ent­ed team of ven­dors (see list below) to cre­ate a few fab­u­lous vignettes of LA area life.

Kit Wertz and Casey Schwartz of Flower Duet pose in front of their graf­fi­ti flower wall they designed and installed for the Los Ange­les sec­tion of the #CWDbestof 2018 Award gala. We designed it to look like flow­ers were paint­ed on a cor­ru­gat­ed wall in LA and after all … to quote Randy New­man: “We love LA.”

Inspired by the city of stars, Bob Gail Events pro­vid­ed a 6’ Hol­ly­wood sign and an over­sized Director’s Chair to com­pli­ment a cus­tomized “Walk of Fame.”

Flower Duet added an over­sized “Girl Boss” flower design with callas and anemones for the over­sized desk in Hollwyoodland!

Casey is the boss!

Peonies look at home in grit­ty black accent table top vas­es for the LA Sec­tion of the display.

Flower Duet’s flower graf­fi­ti wall com­ple­ments the real-life graf­fi­ti art that was part of the LA dis­play at #CWDbestof2108 at Vibiana.

Flower Duet’s pink flow­ers add dra­ma to the table before its place set­ting is com­plete for the LA Gala.

Here is a couch per­spec­tive of the Palm Springs sec­tion of our dis­play. We cre­at­ed a flower wall treat­ment with gold hoops, palms and flowers.

Pro­tea is King in this Palm Springs-inspired flo­ral design by Flower Duet!

Palm Springs cock­tail bar cart flo­rals by Flower Duet for #cwdBestof2018.

Palm seed pod filled with suc­cu­lents and washed out ros­es to cre­ate an ethe­re­al desert feel for the Palm Springs sec­tion of the Cal­i­for­nia Wed­ding Day Best of 2018 Awards Gala at Vibiana!

Credits:

This Month’s Free Online Flower Class

Each week, we offer a new flower les­son as part of our Flower Arrang­ing Fri­days series call­ing it “A Full Bou­quet of Lessons one Stem-At-A-Time.”

Our Flower Arrang­ing Fri­days series is a per­fect­ly-sized approach to learn­ing the art of flo­ral design. With each mini-class, we’ll show you a tru­ly use­ful flo­ral design tech­nique in a cur­rent event flo­ral design style. This class series will keep you won­der­ing what we’ll show you next!

As part of each class, you’ll receive: 
1. A down­load­able PDF list of sup­plies includ­ing the flower recipe.

2. Easy-to-fol­low mini video lessons so you’ll nev­er have to rewind the video to see a step again.

3. Tips and florist secrets to help you be a suc­cess­ful flo­ral arranger!

June 2018 Free Online Flower Class

Each month, we’ll make a flower class from this series FREE for any­one to test out for a month. For our 2018 June selec­tion,  Casey shows you how to cre­ate a soft pas­tel-inspired design that is great for an out­door event from a wed­ding to a brunch to a sum­mer gar­den party

What you’ll receive for this class:

• Down­load­able sup­plies list
• All About Ros­es Lec­ture you can download
• All About Hydrangeas
• 8 videos
• Tips on how to group flow­ers for max­i­mum impact!

Join this class for free this month!

Book Recommendation for Succulent Lovers!

By Kit Wertz

Kit Wertz (left) with Debra Lee Bald­win (right) author and suc­cu­lent gar­den expert.

Last month, I was final­ly able to meet Debra Lee Bald­win in per­son after years of emails and mes­sages. She fea­tured one of our suc­cu­lent bou­quets in her book, Suc­cu­lents Sim­pli­fied (see page 209!).

My friend Lau­rie, is a mem­ber of the Palos Verdes Gar­den Club and invit­ed me to attend a talk by Debra giv­en to the club in Palos Verdes.

It was so fun to catch up with Debra and I real­ly enjoyed her talk. One of the take­aways I had was a phrase she used to describe good design prin­ci­ples whether it be for a yard or a con­tain­er. The phrase is “con­trast and rep­e­ti­tion = good design.” I think this is a great guide for flo­ral design, too!

Each cus­tomer who pur­chased a book at the event received them in a love­ly water­col­or shop­ping bag.

Debra’s sign­ing table set up in the back­yard of one of the PV Gar­den Club members.

Kit’s friend Lau­rie (low­er right) chats with a fel­low PV Gar­den club mem­ber dur­ing the event for Debra Lee Baldwin.

This caught Kit’s eye — a cre­ation by one of the Gar­den club mem­bers — used as dec­o­ra­tion for the event!

DESIGNING WITH SUCCULENTS

Illus­trat­ed with 400 beau­ti­ful pho­tos, this is a com­plete­ly revised sec­ond edi­tion which includes the essen­tials of the first along with ten years of new ideas from the Doyenne of Suc­cu­lent Design!