Friday, April 29, 2011

Royal Wedding Flowers!

The Wedding! How amazing was the couples selections? There was much thought put into there floral design. Prince William and Kate Middleton chose London-based floral designer Shane Connolly as their wedding florist because he's known for a sustainable approach to floristry, focusing on live plants and trees rather than cut ones, and using seasonal and organic flowers. The foilage will come from the royal estates as well as from British growers (wish you could grow flowers like this in your backyard?..me too!). Check out the English Field Maple trees that are in the church! Four tons of foliage, including eight, 20 foot high trees to recreate a lavish English country garden inside Westminster Abbey.

The red walkway was also an amazing way to simply call attention to the aisle without all the fussy business on the chairs or lining the aisle. It's classic and elegant..and the color selection, royal.

Don't assume this can be accomplished at your church! These tall trees need to have either a 4x4 X base or extra large container that simply won't fit between your pews! However, you can utilize these trees in a church that has removable pews or in a avenue such as the Vibianna, Los Angeles, where this historic cathedral has been "guted" wherein allowing your designer to select placements of chairs or rented pews. We've erected trees similiar to these (only ours were using stock trunks and composite branch filler) using local vendors..however, they are not cheap! You can expect to spend roughly $1800 a tree!


The bouquet flowers..much smaller than you expected? Have you been following European trends? Smaller, loose and slightly cascading and delicate (small) blooms are a necessity! Here Kate has all white and dark greens creating yet another classic choice.

What do I love the most about this wedding? I feel that we got to know Kate as an individual simply by viewing the wedding. She doesn't try to hard, she appears simple and direct. Classic. Thoughtful about the environment. I also think the fact that she didn't go "over-the-top" speaks to her level headedness and her ability to connect with the every day bride.

Are you wedding selections speaking to the true you? Let the team at Shawna Yamamoto Event Design help you find that inner vision!

We cannot wait to see what the flowers inside looked like! Stay posted!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Real Wedding: Shawna Yamamoto Event Design Featured on South Asian Bride Magazine Website

One of our recent weddings can be found on the blog for South Asian Magazine. We are always so thrilled to be featured on their blog!


Check us out and let us know what you think! We lovd the vibrant colors this bride selected for her wedding! These images are simply stunning!

Photographer: Lin and Jirsa
Wedding Planner: Ajita Chopra – 949.439.4754
Videographers: Lisa and Duc of Avec Lumiere
Priest: Sarla ben Gor: 951.505.3180 (C)
Caterer: Manohar – 626.437.4190
Décor: Shawna Yamamoto – 714.482.8702
Staging: (Outdoors): Utsav
Mandap Furniture Rental: Pradip – 562.228.8655
Makeup Artist: Beauty by Lishma – 714.721.8502
DJ/Lighting: 3D Sounds – Amit Kotecha: 909.319.4858
Cake: Beverly’s Best: 714.529.3989
Chiavari Chairs: Elegant Chiavari Chairs: Juanita: 562.714.2753
Linens: Persiano Events
Entertainment: Karamagraphy: Kavita Rao & Sapna Rohra – 832.687.9814

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Ecuador Floods Cause Issues in Floral Production

Severe rain fall and storms have caused Ecuador floral production to slow to harsh lows, especially within the rose category. Mother Nature has taken its course through this South America location, tearing apart businesses and homes. Damages from the floods are shocking.


Working with delicate products such as flowers, we are always concerned about the repercussions of Mother Nature. This flooding is just an example of how delicate the market is during specific times of the year and how much we rely on good weather to produce quality products. However, it is easy to lose sight on the real situation at hand. Homes are being swept away and lives are being severely impacted. There is an immediate need for help in these areas in order to get things running as it was before the tremendous floods. Until things can return to normal, in terms of receiving floral for an event you should remain confident in the professionals and experts to produce a quality product that you had hoped to get originally.


The impact in Ecuador has caused us to modify floral orders and work directly with our producers to come up alternative options for our clients. Producers in Holland, Asia and other areas are still producing as normal and although, they may not produce sufficient roses, they have comparable alternatives such as peonies, ranunculus, orchids and tulips. We can also get creative using elements such as ribbon, fabrics, and other non floral décor to make the event amazing nonetheless!









Tuesday, April 26, 2011

SYED at the 2011 Kia Classic

The SYED design team was given the opportunity to work on an amazing sporting event this year; the Kia Classic. We were so excited to be a part of this week long event this March which was held at Pacific Palms Resort. Check out some of the images, provided by Ayala Image of the decor for two dinners we did for Kia. Both looks prompted elegant designs which were simple yet dazzling for a corporate event like this one. It was important to keep the floral pieces low, clean, and tight, however still capturing an awe-inspiring attitude.



For the first look we were able to bring in color through the brown vases and orange spray roses. We divided the room to provide separate cocktail and dinner areas using tall white boxes filled with similar floral and a touch of branches for height. (Which I think transformed and differentiated the areas. I loved them!)








































The second look was challenging. It was important for our clients that this look remained predominately white, but how to do that without making it feel like wedding decor was the challenge. We came up with a rockin' color palette (white, champagne, brown and silver) that kept the sophistication of the event and also emphasized elegance. Perfect combination! We also provided room dividers for this event. The SYED design team custom made bamboo dividers which complemented the already existing venue decor. What an amazing week for Kia, the LPGA, and SYED!






To see more photos from these events, go to http://www.shawnayamamoto.com/

Monday, April 11, 2011

Love for Color


We have been searching for a while now, and finally an ANSWER! Here at SYED it is critical, no imperative that we have our eyes and mind always updated and reminded of beautiful colors and color trends. It’s important for us as designers and for our clients that we can provide them with the best color combinations out there! ColourLovers is a website that I have recently been dissecting and personally, I love it. Yesterday I got a chance to play with the site a bit. I came up with a color swatch based on a picture from our grand opening last year. Honestly, not more than a minute later I had comments from other color enthusiasts, it was exciting! Brides, ColourLovers has a special tool just for you! The site allows you to play with colors. Don’t be afraid to throw in interesting color combinations together, you might love it when you create and put it into a color swatch! Also, they showcase popular wedding trends. It’s great to see what other brides are coming up with. For the trendy brides, they also show trends in fashion around the world. Businesses, ColourLovers has something just for you as well. For businesses of all kinds, ColorLovers call it the “power of color”. A company can have amazingly strong brand recognition if a consumer can tell you apart by just your brand color. As I was searching through the site I came across an interesting posting session. ColourLovers were posting color swatches and you had to guess what brand it was just by the color. You can tell the companies with the strongest brand recognition, because people guessed correct almost immediately! Pretty interesting! Can not wait to play around with some more colors! Thanks ColourLovers.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Popular Wedding Songs for 2011


Bruno Mars song Marry You is steaming up to be one of the hottest songs for 2011. Incorporated on the popular TV show Glee recently we can for sure expect this song to pop up everywhere! Extremely catchy, we even featured it on our website!!! Brides, I don’t know if you have listened to the lyrics yet, not quite ideal. I’m still loving it!!

My personal favs for popular wedding songs for 2011 can been incorporated into the processional, first dance, or pretty much anywhere… don’t worry the lyrics are totally appropriate!

Keith Urban, Making Memories of Us

Train, Marry Me

Thompson Square, Are You Going to Kiss Me or Not


Check them out. I hope you enjoy my choices!