Enchanted Al Fresco Dinner Party

A lush and textural Spring centerpiece by Los Angeles Florist Winston & Main, created with sophisticated of yellow and moody burgundies.
 
You might not think of January as the time of year to indulge in a decadent al fresco dinner party. But in Los Angeles? We’re spoiled and the weather is *almost* always perfect. 
 
An outdoor tablescape overflowing with wild & whimsical floral centerpieces.
 
So after multiple years pandemic-ing, it was a joy to gather with fellow vendors and friends to bring this beautiful day to life. And then to really ENJOY it, together.
 
A moody, lush, and abundant table scape featuring local blooms in shades of lemon yellow, blush and burgundy with blue accents and taper candles.

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and trying to be really intentional around, is treating myself (and my team) to the same beauty we create for our clients.

It’s a wonderful thing creating and curating beautiful experiences for other people, but it’s also A LOT of work. Effortless takes SO much effort, and without intention, it’s easy to get exhausted and have nothing left for our own celebrations.

I always want to create for my clients from a place of inspiration, abundance, and ease, and this means being mindful to create beautiful experiences for myself too. Even if it’s just the perfect cup of coffee!

So this year, sign me up for all the opportunities to connect, uplift, and encourage my fellow creatives, as we celebrate our unique talents and enjoy the beauty we create in community.

A lush bar arrangement featuring garden roses, sweet pea, and lisianthus sits on a vintage bar cart.
 
A unique floral centerpiece made for an outdoor al fresco dinner party by Los Angeles Florist Tabitha Abercrombie, and the outdoor tablescape.

It’s always such a pleasure to collaborate with Jessica from Art & Soul Events because she is so intentional, generous, and creative. I really enjoy collaborating with planners who appreciate my styling background and let me lean into the styling aspect of floral design. More is more, and I loved bringing the flower magic to everything from the bar cart to the cake.

Two photos, one showing a bar cart featuring a romantic arrangement, and the other featuring Tabitha Abercrombie holding a cheery mug of flowers.

I brought plenty of lush local flowers from our neighboring flower farms & the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market, as well as some beautiful Japanese Sweet Peas from Mayesh at the LA Flower Market. Fun fact: our studio is located just upstairs from Mayesh!
Sweet peas on speed dial FTW.

A bird's eye view of a bold floral centerpiece with a unique color palette that includes sweet peas, anemones, and garden roses and a delicious shot of beautiful tray passed appetizers by Fundamental LA styled with fresh blooms by W&M.

Gotta love a bird’s eye view of some epic blooms! And it goes without saying that all of the food from Fundamental LA was both delicious AND beautiful, but I’m saying it anyhow.

A whimsical/romantic cocktail arrangement by Los Angeles Florist Winston & Main in shades of burgundy, cream, and butter yellow.
 
This time of year brings out the best of the winter/spring florals for Los Angeles Florists, and so our table featured plenty of sweet peas, anemones, even garden roses! I loved creating this unique palette- both pastel AND moody, and used lots of shades and textures to add depth & drama to the design.

A romantic garden-style bar arrangement in shades of peach and soft yellow with accents of burgundy anemones.
 
Sliced citrus, persimmons and crystals brought even more visual interest to the table and bar, and really help reflect the winter (and witchy!) season.

In the first image our moody cocktail arrangement accentuates a beautiful place setting featuring a custom menu by Roseville Designs and a winter citrus accent. The second image is a tablescape detail featuring our unique palette of cream, yellow, peach & burgundy with blue taper candle accents.

A candlelit family-style dinner featuring lots of small cocktail arrangements scattered among the platters.

I’m honored to have had the opportunity to collaborate with my fellow creatives to create + enjoy this beautiful dinner party!

A candlelit family-style dinner featuring taper candles and close up of the centerpiece created by Tabitha Abercrombie from Winston & Main.

There’s nothing I love more than a good dinner party (or marathon recipe) and so I’m looking forward to many more enchanted evenings cultivating community with my fave event pros, while we enjoy our own creations.

A chocolate naked cake by Nicole Bakes Cakes is adorned with fresh florals, chamomile blooms, and citrus accents.
 
Can we have a moment for this perfect creation by my cake bestie Nicole Bakes Cakes?
It was a pleasure to flower, fruit, and crystal another one of her beautiful cakes, and even more fun to eat it!

If you’ve ever heard/thought/read that wedding cake can’t be both a work of art AND ridiculously delicious, you need to get a cake from Nicole immediately.

Two pictures of a slice of a chocolate naked cake by Nicole Bakes Cakes. Adorned with fresh florals, citrus accents and an extinguished candle.

And finally, a little editorial cake styling FTW.

Event pros enjoy a candlelit dinner party, toasting with wine over a table full of family style dinner.
 
Here’s to a beautiful 2023: More dinner parties. More connection. More flowers. More cake.

Planning + Design: Art & Soul Events // Photography: Amber Gress // Catering & Cocktails: Fundamental Events // Floral Design: Winston & Main // Pastry Chef: Nicole Bakes Cakes //  Tabletop Rentals: Casa de Perrin // Menus: Roseville Designs // Natural Wine: Buvons // Napkins: World Market

To see more of our floral designs, head to our portfolio.

 



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