Nie Nie Dialogues

Today a departure from weddings...

Just stumbled upon this blog again. I remember back in August when I read about her in the New York Times; a tragic story of a couple (one of them Stephanie Nielson, mommy blogger/author of the Nie Nie Dialogues) fighting for their lives after a plane crash which burned both she and her husband badly.

Well she's on the mend. I didn't know she was blogging again, but spent the last hour reading all her posts since the accident. Wow... she's amazing! Keep fighting Stephanie! I , for one, am pulling for you! You so courageous and inspiring.

Helping Tami - Bone Marrow Drive

I only recently met Stacie Tamaki of The Flirty Bride but I wanted to help Stacie get the word out because I also learned that she is feverishly working on a drive to find a bone marrow match for her cousin Tami. Tami was diagnosed with a bone marrow disease/blood cancer very similar to Leukemia called Myelodysplasia and needs a stem cell transplant. Her possibility of finding a match is best among the Asian community, and apparently, there are very few Asians in the National Bone Marrow Registry.

I hope that I never am faced with such a situation, but if I was, I would sure want someone to spread the word for my loved one. Please check out this website www.HelpingTami.org to learn more about Tami and how to register for the National Marrow Donor Program.

New Blog: The Decorated Letter - XYZ Ink

I'm reluctantly letting you in on a little secret... and hope that when she gets even busier than she already is, she will still leave a little room in her schedule for my wedding clients.

Xandra Zamora of XYZInk is simply the best calligrapher that I've come across... Her work is truly exquisite. She's located in L.A. but despite the miles, I will happily send lettering work to her from San Francisco... she's that good! I've included a few shots of work she did for an event I produced at a Santa Barbara hilltop estate. For the escort cards shown below, Xandra watercolored table numbers in moss green and finished each card with the guests name in chocolate brown ink. She also hand lettered the menu shown for letterpress. Everything she graces with her lettering is a little work of art.

Xandra has just started a brand new blog The Decorated Letter which I'm sure will be packed with gorgeous work she's done for many high profile wedding planners and invitation designers out there. Check it out!

Photos by Elizabeth Messina

"Elemental" by Waterlily Pond Studioat Bouquets to Art

Back in mid-March, I went to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park for a little floral inspiration at the Bouquets to Art. The Bouquets to Art is an annual celebration of floral design where noted floral designers are invited to create a floral art piece inspired by a particular work of art within the museum. The floral works are displayed next to their inspired art works.

I haven't been before, but I had been looking forward to it since I heard from my friend Natasha Lisitsa of Waterlily Pond Studio that she had been chosen to create the feature installation in Wilsey Court. At that point, she was waiting for that "lightbulb moment" and hadn't completed the final design. She must have had one bright shining moment because her extraordinary installation, "Elemental", a 20 ft x 15 ft, 800 lb masterpiece made of Manzanita Branches, Forsythia, Curly Willow and Anthuriums made my jaw drop as I entered the Wilsey Court... just absolutely breathtaking.

Natasha is a fabulous floral and event designer, a true artist and a lovely person! She has a very interesting background... she originally came to this country to work as an engineer and during the Dot.com bust, found a new direction in life... design. I am completely in awe of her creativity and so happy for her and all the attention she's getting for this creation.

The most exciting part? You can hire her to create your wedding florals or to design your entire event. Check out these photos of her installation below. They were taken by the talented Erin Beach, a wedding documentary style wedding photographer from San Francisco.




Here's the official description from the de Young.

Elemental, by Waterlily Pond Studio
Natasha Lisitsa, Daniel Schultz, Carla D’Agostino

Materials Used:
500 blossoming branches of Forsythia
30 Manzanita trees
200 trunks of Curly Willow
500 stems of Anthuriums
100 feet of copper tubing, inspired by the De Young architecture

Dedicated to the Grand Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Bouquets to Art.

Suspended within the austere, angular space of the Wilsey Court, a vibrant infusion of color and dynamic form initiates a celebration of life and all things Elemental. A radiant central composition of yellow forsythia and red Manzanita branches alludes to the sun and earth, the combined vital energy common to us all. Orbiting this form is an ascending spiral, which presents allusions to the building blocks of nature: the earth orbiting the sun, the atom, DNA, and to the continuous path of life along which we travel.