Floral Immersion: Basic I and II, Part 2

I mentioned in my first post about my class at Longwood Gardens, that my first instructor was Jane Godshalk.  My second instructor was Nancy Gingrich Shenk, who is also an amazingly driven world-class florist, with a seriously amazing history of floral design for high-end, high profile events.

Here they are!  Please excuse the iPhone quality images.  (iPhone 4, I might add.)

Jane Godshalk and me, with my market bouquet arrangement.

She gave me a great contact for a wholesaler in the area.

Nancy Gingrich Shenk - she pulls no punches in her teaching and advice.

She had an impressive legacy in the wedding industry.

In the class, we focused heavily on learning about the elements and principals of floral design, within the model of education that Longwood has created.  

The elements of design are physical characteristics in a design.  They can be observed with the eye.  Elements of design include texture, line, pattern, and color, among many more.  

On the other side, we studied the principals of design.  This is how the elements work together in the organization of the design itself.  Harmony, unity, scale, proportion, and contrast are examples of principals.  Want to learn more?  Enroll in a class!  The instruction is world-class and the information is invaluable.  They treat their students well.  You will want for nothing while spending time at Longwood in their courses.

Since I don't want to spill all of the secrets of the class, I'll just share some photos of my work from the class instead.  

Large arrangement in a silver bowl.  Perfect for a dining room table!

Possibly my favorite design of the four days.  

The wreath had tons of greens, asters, and variegated red roses.

Delphinium, freesia, scabiosa, geranium leaves, lilies, parthenium, and much more.

Sand based arrangement on a silver tray.  

Pompom mums, spider mums, thistle, roses, statice, and green apples!

Wire based corsage.  This was also really fun to work on. 

 I wore mine to lunch that day and strolled around the greenhouse, too.

Drop bouquet with willow branches, hydrangea, carnations, and roses.

Making this was a challenge, but I love how it turned out.

Hand tied rose bouquet with fern and lemon leaf.  

I wish I had known a bride to give it to that weekend.

I am eagerly awaiting the time that I can take another class at Longwood and continue my progress in their floral design certificate program.  I hope that this is an opportunity that happens sooner rather than later!

Love and light,

Alyssa

Style Concept Part 1: Mood Board

This is Part 1 of a seven part series from Into-Mind, where we explore how to craft a style concept.

After following Caroline for months on her style journey with capsule wardrobes, I looked through her list of recommended reading regarding fashion and wardrobe.  Within her list of recommendations was the blog Into-Mind, written by Anushka Rees.  Immediately, I was hooked on her blog, with its concise and relatable writing and simple instructions for crafting a more authentic wardrobe.  

As a mini blog series, I'll be working through her seven part style concept.  What is a style concept?  Regarding the importance of a style concept, Anushka states

A good style concept represents your individual personal style and your aesthetic preferences. It is a summary of all of the different elements you want to base your style on, woven into one coherent story line. Creating a style concept is the best way to really become aware of your exact likes and turn a mish mash of individual ideas into a refined personal style that expresses your aesthetic ideals 100%.

There you have it.  And I love it.

Part 1: Mini Mood Board

"Mini" as in "not the entire Pinterest board that you've pinned images to for the past two years of cute clothes."  We're talking about the only three pictures type of mini.  Refining and being deliberate about what you are choosing forces you to think harder about how you wish to be represented.  And the beauty is that it can change!  For now, my mini mood board is represented by the three images below.  If you'd like to see the entire pool of images I chose from, you can find my personal style board here.

Image credit here.

Image credit here.

Image credit here.

Link in the comments to your own journey in this series!  I'd love to see what you all are thinking and doing.  

Love and light,

Alyssa

Trouvaille Workshop Photo Recap 2

I think I can just let most of these images by Bradley James Photography speak for themselves.  Again, major props to Rhi of Hey Gorgeous Events for such a spectacular experience.

Eating a delicious breakfast with one of my roomies, Xiomara of A Styled Fête...

...and the lovely Alicia Rico of Bows and Arrows!  

Her floral expertise was invaluable to hear about.

Michelle Loretta of Sage Wedding Pros was also a fantastic speaker.  She spent a lot of time with the attendees at dinners and during downtime, and I really respect her approachable and down-to-earth personality.

And how cute are Brad and Sam?!  They were seriously the kindest and loveliest couple to talk to - about the wedding industry, about photography, and other things, too.  I felt so at ease talking to them, and the way that they interact with others just shows how big their hearts truly are.

And the last recap will be coming up soon!  Check back here for the first photo recap of the Trouvaille experience!

Love and light,

Alyssa

Encapsulate

As I proceeded to work on my capsule wardrobe (more details here and here), I did some math.  The basic gist of the capsule wardrobe is a certain number of items, all working together in the same vein of style, to be easily mixed for a season of time of year.  There are various sources on the internet that do not align with the count of items - I've seen anywhere from 33 to 38 items per capsule.  Let's say that I want to be conservative and go with 33 items in each capsule.  And let's say that I had four different capsule wardrobes; one for each season.

4 seasons x 33 items per capsule = 132 total items

And this is just the conservative estimate of items that would be my closet!  I looked at that number and immediately thought "There's no way I can have that much clothing."  I don't have a ton of clothing already, and I wasn't interested in accumulating more of it for no real reason other than to fulfill an arbitrary quota.

The other issue I had with creating my capsule wardrobe was that, at least in Pennsylvania, it does not seem like we have four seasons of equal length.  I do realize that having four seasons, three months each, is not possible in other parts of the world either.  It just seems like we only get about a month or two of autumn (if there's not a hurricane) and a month or less of spring (especially when there is a Polar Vortex).  Needless to say, the seasonal breakdown was just not practical for me.  I'm always cold anyway, so my always-colder-than-everyone-else body temperature had to be taken into account, too.

Yet another issue I had was that I often wear layers.  Those layers can be pared down for the summer, and put on more heavily in the winter.  So I also had pieces that couldn't simply be put in a capsule for winter, and stashed away while I could still wear them during the spring or fall.

What I did was this: clothing that could be worn year round is in a separate category.  Then, I divided the rest of the clothing into an October - March capsule, and an April - September capsule.  This way, very heavy winter clothing (a wool skirt) would not be combined in a capsule with things such as sleeveless tops.

My final count of clothing items?

Year-Round: 22 pieces

April to September: 14 pieces

October to March: 12 pieces

Remember - this is not including things like accessories or loungewear, like pajamas, sweatshirts, or loungewear like tee-shirts and the like.

Total: 48 pieces

My advice with creating a capsule wardrobe?  Do what works for you!  Modify as needed, but stay true to the thesis of what a capsule wardrobe really is.  I'll be posting more about what each piece in my capsule wardrobe is soon, and starting a new wardrobe series as well.  If you're starting or already have a capsule wardrobe, I'd love to hear about what you're doing!  Did you need to modify it?  Change anything to better suit you?  Let's hear all about it in the comments.

Love and light,

Alyssa

Wade Through the Water

It is morning, and my name is confusion.

In the past week, working at my full-time job as a middle school teacher, I have been closing out for the year.  The last day with students is Tuesday, and so far, I've taken all of my classroom materials home, cleared off my work computer's desktop, and lots of other clerical tasks to be set for the end of the year.  The transitionary period at the end of the school year has always set me up to be reflective.  Change is coming, or at least it already was.  Change is, really, already here.

As I've attended several wonderful classes and workshops this year, I've been constantly pushed to think about my place in the event and design world.  Determining where I lie in that realm is a struggle.  I am a great planner and coordinator, due to my Type A nature with a lot of flexibility thrown into the mix.

I'm also a diligent student, learning how to become the best flower-wrangler I can be.  I love floral design.  I get so pumped up to see unprocessed blooms in buckets.  I love the tools, I love the smell of greens, and I feel rewarded by creating something beautiful and appealing.

How many hats can one girl wear?

Thinking about where to draw the lines, and where to settle myself in the wedding world is a real challenge, but I think I'm reluctant to make a decision that might limit me.  Putting yourself into a box as someone who strictly does calligraphy, or planning, or florals, or whatever seems scary to me mostly because I see many people out there doing it all.  At least, that's what their information says on their website, and that's what social media would have me believe.  How can anyone compete with someone who is doing it all?  Viewing such things through a lens of caution is important, and something I must remind myself to do daily.  I read somewhere out there, to not compare my life to someone's highlight reel.  There's a lot of truth in that.

I need to place myself where my passion is, and where my happiness is.  I want to settle comfortably in that place, growing and refining and absorbing as much from others as possible.  I am under construction but in this time of change, the construction crew can work faster, with one less distraction.

Where am I the happiest?

Photo credit to Bradley James Photography.

Love and light,

Alyssa

Piling it Up

I used to think that talking about fashion, clothing, and beauty was such a trivial thing.  That I would be viewed as someone who was vain, or otherwise incapable of an intelligent thought.  How times have changed.  First of all, who cares what anyone else thinks.  Seriously.

Second of all, it really is important for me to think of myself as someone who is attractive and worthy.  Worthy of what?  Well, I think I'm worthy of a positive self-image, and if that means reconsidering the items I wear and the style I have, then so be it.

Image found here.

Back to getting un-fancy.  I spoke briefly in this post about my discovery of capsule wardrobes, and my journey into simplification.  In beginning to think about my capsule wardrobe, I found that I pretty much already fell into a pitfall surrounding the "rules" of a capsule wardrobe before I really even started.  The issue was that many of my articles of clothing are multi-season items.  J.Crew tee shirts are a prime example of that.  As are my blue jeans, and several dresses and skirts.  Blouses can be layered underneath heavier items, so I was really in a bind when it came to being able to effectively separate my clothing into capsules for different seasons.

Another issue of living in Pennsylvania, especially in the past six months, is that seasonal temperatures can be wildly unpredictable, AND some seasons last for six months.  Especially for us gals who are always cold.

What was I to do?

I changed the rules!  They weren't working for me.  I can't have four different capsules, to change out every three months.  If each capsule had a maximum number of 33 items, that means that without any overlap at all, there would be about 132 items I'd have to think about.  That is way too many!  Personally, I didn't think that I could really handle that.  Too much to worry about.

So I cleaned out.  Anything that I hadn't worn in 4 months, anything I didn't love, and anything that was no longer my style, was donated or given away to a friend.

I'll be talking about what stayed in my wardrobe, and also how I've separated things into "capsules" that make more sense for my life.  Until then, check out this post for more inspiration.

Love and light,

Alyssa

Trouvaille Workshop Photo Recap 1

In my first recap of the Trouvaille Workshop, I shared a little bit about the loveliness that sweet Rhi of Hey Gorgeous Events prepared for the attendees.  There's really no true way to share how warm, thought-provoking, and just plain fun those days were - you have to actually attend to experience the greatness!  I tried my best to share a little bit, and also told you about some homework that Rhi gave all of us to think on.  I'm still thinking on it.

The Trouvaille Workshop guest speakers were not only wonderful, but also incredibly photogenic!  The hard work on that end was done by the kind and congenial Sam and Brad of Bradley James Photography.  During Trouvaille, Sam and Brad had an informative session regarding the collaborative relationships you can work to build with other vendors, especially photographers, to make events and weddings run as smoothly as possible.  They truly work as a team together, and are passionate about productive teamwork with others.

Take a look through their lens into some of the prettiness from Trouvaille!  ALL photo credit goes to Brad and Sam.  Wonderful job, you guys!

I am very serious about taking notes in the welcome session.

Pretty white chiavari chairs at the Amway Grand.

Swag for attendees at our place settings.  

And yes please to some sweets!  I had three of these and they were delicious.

Our beautifully styled welcome dinner at San Chez.

Ranunculus, stock, thistle and rose.

The signature sangria of San Chez.  Dangerously good!

I look pretty fancy here, but we all looked lovely in our black and white, 

with our pretty flower corsages made by Pixel and Hank.

And this is just the opening few hours!  Check back again for some more loveliness from Bradley James Photography very soon!

Love and light,

Alyssa