Winston & Main 2019 Year in Review: Foam Free Floral Installations

Bright and foam free floral clouds of dyed baby's breathe hanging over table of ombre floral arrangements.
 
In 2019 we had the opportunity to design more foam-free installations than ever before, and I really enjoyed figuring out the best mechanics for each project to ensure that they were stable (don’t want our sh*t falling on peoples heads) beautiful, and long-lasting, without a single brick of floral foam.

If you’re not familiar, floral foam is essentially the single use plastic bag of the floral industry AND along with the utter waste inherent in anything you use once and throw away, it breaks down into microplastics and is gonna sit in our oceans and/or landfills for a bazillion years. Oh, and it’s also not the healthiest for florists. Win, win.

You can read a little more here. BUT I’m truly not here to judge- I just wanna do my best to make my business more sustainable with every project and I want to encourage my fellow designers to do the same.

To that end, here are some truly epic installations that I’m damn proud are #nofloralfoam. I’m happy to answer questions/show the mechanics for any of them, so if you’re struggling to reduce the amount of foam your studio uses or need ideas, don’t hesitate to reach out- email me or drop into my DM’s on IG.

Now let’s talk clouds. We created over 20 feet of them for our pal David’s birthday and LOVED how they turned out. We were able to keep ALL of the product (stay tuned, dreaming up something good for it) and we reclaimed the internal structure/mechanics too.

Photo: Julie Shuford Photography / Rentals: La Pinata Party Rentals
 
A brilliant foam-free floral installation climbs up a tree in the center of the reception space.
 
When Holly of Anything But Gray Events asked what I’d like to do in the space (a DTLA bar!) this was my answer.

photo: Aurelia D’Amore Photography planning: Anything But Grey Events
 
Large scale lush, colorful, and foam free floral installation on giant tree.
 
It was clearly a year of epic + colorful trees around here! 🙂

photo: Julie Shuford Photography
 
Piano with lush foam free floral installation spilling onto floor.
 
And pianos. aka. A Piano Moment

photo: Villa Visuals / planning: Anything But Gray Events
 
Large scale foam free neutral centerpiece featuring dried and fresh florals.
 
photo: Julie Shuford Photography / rentals: La Pinata Party Rentals & Collective Rentals
 
Foam free floral installation for Ketel One Botanical.
 
Fresh & fun for our pals at Ketel One Botanical.
 
Lush foam free moon gate arch.
 
An epic + moody moon gate arch in the sky.

photo: Brian Macstay / planning: The Rheefined / rentals: La Pinata Party Rentals
 
Bougainvillea wedding arch (foam free) that looks like it's always been at Houdini Estate.
 
The bougainvillea arch that looks like it grew there (but really was totally bare when we started!)

photo: J Wiley Photography / planning: Thread Events
 
Foam free growing or planted looking aisle flowers featuring myrtle, bells of ireland, queen anne's lace and dahlias.
 
Growing aisle flowers- totally possible without the plastic!

photo: J Wiley Photography / planning: Thread Events

Dutch Masters inspired foam free floral installation detail.
 
A quick iphone snap of a corner of the Chuppah from one of our last few events of the year. This transferred beautifully to the sweetheart table after the ceremony too!

planning: Moxie Bright Events

Light and airy foam free floral arch featuring blush, nude, and neutral flowers, fall leaves, baby's breath, and burgundy dahlias.
 
THE fall + fluff dream arch for these cuties!

photo: Michelle Roller
 
Lush and elegant fall flowers and foliage cascading from a vintage wheelbarrow.
 
And I couldn’t resist a little throwback to 2018. BECAUSE.

photo: Evangeline Lane / planning: Art & Soul Events
 
Fall floral installation, foam free, surrounding elegant outdoor fireplace.
 
And this one too, because COZY.

photo: Heidi Ryder
 

 
Photography (clockwise): Julie Shuford Photography / Aurelia D’Amore Photography / Victoria Gold Photography / Rad + in Love / Jenny Smith & Co. / J Wiley Photography / Julie Shuford Photography / Evangeline Lane / Villa Visuals