HFNA's Wedding Celebrations 2019

The Hawaii Floriculture and Nursery Association began their four island Wedding Celebrations tour on Oahu in June.  Hitomi Gilliam and Sue Tabbal-Yamaguchi AIFDs were to present a show and demonstration at Floradec Sales in Honolulu.  Unfortunately, Sue was unable to attend due to an illness so at the last minute, Lois Hiranaga AIFD and I filled in as designers.

Sample of some of the temperate flowers and foliage used in the designs.

Locally sourced tropical product used in combination with the temperate product to produce a winning combination which Hitomi calls "Tropical Nouveau."

Hitomi's cascade bouquet

Hitomi's bouquet.

Lois Hiranaga's bouquet.

Lois Hiranaga's bouquet.

Hitomi discussing my "wildflower" bouquet.

Hitomi's compote arrangements using Holly Chapple's "pillow."

Lois' compote design.

Tall arrangement by Hitomi

Tower arrangement by Hitomi.

My arrangement demonstrating the armature underneath for all to see the construction.

We also constructed 2 arches.  This is Hitomi's in pastel pinks, lavenders, whites, and peaches.

Lois and I constructed a vibrant colored arch in yellow, red, orange, peach and bronze.  Our construction utilized foam and chickenwire.

One last piece was an asymmetrical floral headband.

A lovely writeup by CTAHR about the Oahu "Wedding Celebration."

Ariella Chezar Workshop on Maui Feb. 23 - 25, 2016

I have been a fan of Ariella Chezar's work for quite sometime.  I think she was living in California at the time that I "discovered" her beautiful creations and attending one of her workshops has been on my bucket list for some time.  So I am very pleased to share photos of my recent experience on Maui.

Day one begins under the giant mango tree with white crown flower leis.  Some of the ladies began telling their floral stories.

More ladies.

After our introductions, we walked to our work space.  This incredible site is where we got to do our designing for three days!

The Haiku Mill is a an old sugar mill which has been restored to incredible beauty.  It's hard to take a bad photograph here.

Some of the gorgeous flowers and foliages that we used for our workshop.

Our first project was a "small" arrangement in a footed container.

Ariella demonstrating her technique.

We broke for lunch which was a feast for the eyes too.

Super healthy!

Day 2 began with a demonstration of a "medium" size arrangement in a cut glass compote.

Ariella's finished arrangement.

Sachi's finished arrangement.

After lunch we began work on wedding bouquets.  These are Ariella's choices for her "pink" bouquet.  We had a choice of pink or yellow flowers to work with.

Ariella beginning her demo on a hand-tied bouquet.

The class working on their pink bouquets...

...and yellow bouquets.

The amazing Jose Villa shooting our bouquets with professional models in beautiful gowns.

Day three and final day began with a demo on designing in a large urn.

My finished urn.

After we finished our urns, we began  to prepare for the final night dinner.  Ariella explained her inspiration for the entire final night "look."

Her inspiration came from this gorgeous wallpaper.  Photo by Ariella.

Jason Murakawa of Small Masterpiece set the most beautiful tables for us.

Our chairs had name cards with the wallpaper design and were decorated with Lantern Ilima and fern.

Our final night group shot.  It was a pleasure to have experienced this magical time with these ladies.