anastasiaehlers

To say that I’ve been excited to share this with y’all would be a serious understatement. Becky of Event Crush and Cat Dossett invited me to join them to bring this concept to life last April and of course my answer was, “Hell yes!” when Cat said they were shooting at the Hobbit Trail just north of Florence. If you haven’t been to this magical place, get yourself to the coast immediately! Faeries live there for sure. Style Me Pretty just featured this, so now I can too. Check out our full feature over on their blog and leave us some love, eh? Here’s a few more of my favorite shots.

We made an altar in the trees with big swaths of chiffon and these floral tie-backs. It was a big hit with the day’s beachcombers. 

It’s basically impossible to go to the Oregon coast in April without a little bit of rain. It turned into a lot of rain, but didn’t seem to faze anybody. Besides, Cat’s from Alaska, so she’s basically too BA for rain anyway. 

That table is a pallet hanging from the trees, styled to perfection by Becky of Event Crush fame with rentals from Parties To Go. The centerpiece featured roses, ranunculus, columbine, foxglove, anemones, snowberries, astilbe, eucalyptus, and ferns in a low brass vessel set atop a runner of asparagus fern garland. I made the garland on site and when I plopped down in the moss to put it together everybody thought I was using the ferns growing there for a second and their eyes got big and it made me smile. I didn’t forage anything here–I like to leave these sorts of places nice for everybody.

The red, white, and pink bouquet featured those crazy huge Japanese ranunculus along with roses, astilbe, snowberries, anemones, columbine, amaranthus, and three different kinds of fern. We went all out on the trim, naturally. 

Cat made that dress. The woman can do basically anything, I’m not kidding. 

Not pictured: my dad, husband, and kid playing on the beach in the rain while I played with flowers, our “bride” freezing half to death, packing a pallet, bistro furniture set, crate of dishes and accessories, and two boxes of flowers half a mile down a trail, about a bajillion more photos, random passers-by who wanted to know what we were up to, Cat’s super good sport of a boyfriend hauling All The Things, and LOTS more rain. It was a super fun day and I’m so glad to share it with you!

Not possible without the talents of these fine folks:

Cat Dossett

Event Crush

Stationery by Rachel Gregg

Make Up by Reina

Parties To Go

The Sassy Cupcake

Five years ago today I married my perfect match. Happy anniversary to us.

And if you’re curious, yes, I did all my own flowers. I made it as easy as possible and used nothing but orange dahlias and a little help from my friends.

Photos by Jayme and Russ Elsevier.

Isn’t Emily’s dress fantastic? It’s SO her. When I met these two way back when (for beers at Cornucopia, naturally) I pretty much fell in love. They’re just super fun and key off one another so well. Their early July winery wedding was filled with lavender and other blooms–lilies, larkspur, scabiosa, sweet peas and herbs. Anne Nunn captured these shots and you can see the rest of the loveliness on her blog.

Other details worth mentioning: darn near every flower used was Oregon-grown, the chuppah is one of the items I have handy to rent, and I love love love the hand-dyed silk ribbon decorating Emily’s bouquet.

See you again soon. I’m playing catch-up around here and have oodles to share!

I made this yesterday with some leftovers from the weekend’s weddings. Arrangements just for me are surprisingly rare, but putting this together was something of a meditation. I love love love these dahlias. The color was just a little too pink to use in my purple wedding, which was the perfect excuse for me to hoard them all to myself. This guy is all local: dahlias from Philomath, roses from Portland, and the rest (scabiosa, lysmachia, artemesia, oregano, and dusty miller) from right here in Eugene. I am so excited to be using more product from around here. With the occasional exception for carnations, baby’s breath, or out of season ranunculus, I’m able to find everything I could hope for from the small farms I love. Better yet, it feels like I’m discovering new ones every day.

It feels like I have been moving a million miles a second, and that’s actually pretty great. I just finished a triple wedding weekend–my first. Would not have even been remotely possible without the help of my fabulous new assistant, Maddie. All told, we made 25 centerpieces, 19 bouquets, 4 big altar sprays, 2 halos, a floral monogram, 20 chair bouquets, 5 wristlets, and a couple dozen boutonnieres. Oh…and 33 yards of baby’s breath garland. I’ll hopefully have some photos to share soon. I only snapped the bouquets from one of the weddings, but there will be lots to come from the others. If you’re curious, there’s a few happening on Instagram and Facebook.

I got a chance to catch my breath for a moment yesterday while I swept out the workspace and put together the arrangement, and now it’s time to dive back into the next events. This week brings cafe au lait dahlias, blush hydrangeas, and blueberries all accented with gold and navy. After that, a Friday-Saturday pair of weddings in brights: orange, coral, pink, yellow, and green. Full speed ahead!

Hello friends! It really feels like event season has kicked off in earnest now. I say event season instead of weddings this year, because my first orders have been non-weddings. Earlier this spring I got to decorate for the prom of my old high school–fun!–and over the weekend I hooked up a birthday celebration with some pretty arrangements. The staff at King Estate killed it as usual. I’m so sad that they aren’t booking new events. Please keep trying and maybe we can change their minds, eh? Anyway, flowers! These are from the birthday party. I only ever instagrammed the prom flowers. That happens to be easier to update than the blog. Weird.

The centerpieces turned out great! Garden roses, wired-in succulents, local herbs, two different varieties of local peonies, stock, local scabiosa, dianthus, and a whole mess of sweet peas arranged in a wood cube. The whole place just smelled amazing once I got these in the door. Those peonies with the yellow peeking out the center are called “cheddar surprise” which is just about the most appropriate name I can think of for them. King Estate has such great culinary tradition going that I was really excited about incorporating the fresh herbs. Sage and mint here kept the scent of all the flowers from being too cloying.

The cocktail tables outside were urns of succulents with string of pearls trailing down to the tabletops. Turns out these were super great since it got pretty windy. These things were not budging even in the stiffest of breezes as they weigh approximately half a ton each.

The buffet and appetizer tables got clusters of cool gnarled grape wood branches decorated with more succulents, loose peonies, and plenty of candles. Grape wood just seems so appropriate for a party at a vineyard.

This tall arrangement for the dessert table is one of my favorite and most fun things I’ve had the pleasure of putting together. This guys really ties together every element of this party–the succulents, grape wood, local blooms and adds some floofy hydrangeas. I’m just really happy with the end result. I tucked another little succulent cluster in the bottom of the vase with some polished stones.

I hope you enjoyed the peek! I’ll have a lot to share with you this summer! Make sure you don’t miss any of the pretty coming your way–you can subscribe and get it straight in your email. Just look over yonder at the sidebar —>

The second installment of my In Season series is live today on Verily Bride, a gorgeous wedding blog for all things Oregon. Check it out here, and if you have any requests for what to design with in July, leave a comment and let me know.

I am looking forward to my busiest summer yet this year! I’m finally faced with a realization–I can’t do it all myself. That’s where you come in. I am looking for a Floral Assistant to help me intake flowers, make arrangements, and deliver weddings on select weekends this summer. Maybe it’s you or somebody you know? Here’s my (probably too long) want ad:

Anastasia Floral Design LLC is a boutique custom floral design studio serving stylish weddings in Eugene, OR and the surrounding area. As the sole Eugene-area wedding professional listed in Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book vendor directory, I’m the only choice for discerning clients who prioritize having spectacular flowers for their events.

I’m seeking the right person to help deliver clients a beautiful floral experience and grow the business in leaps and bounds. The Floral Assistant position is part-time and temporary, and the successful candidate must be available for specific dates this summer. I am looking for somebody who is eager to learn and interested in working creatively as a career down the line.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you and I hope you’re the one! Learn more below and at www.anastasiaehlers.com.

Cheers,
–anastasia

You should be able to…
…provide excellent service and work as part of a team to execute an event.
…accept direction and follow floral “recipes.”
…lift heavy buckets & work on your feet.
…work on weekends.

You should have…
…knowledge of basic design principles—color relationships, negative space, focal hierarchy.
…enthusiasm for learning new skills and the willingness to make mistakes and problem solve along the way.
…interest in weddings, design, or related creative field as a career.
…a valid driver’s license and reliable car.

At work, you will…
…prep fresh flowers for design.
…wash lots of buckets.
…design floral arrangements specific to weddings as instructed.
…assist in delivery and on-site set up and/or tear-down.

To apply, send (hello-at-anastasiaehlers-dot-com) a resume and a cover letter that answers one of the following prompts:
* Tell me about your creative talents.
* Florists are famous MacGyvers. Tell me about a time you had to think fast in order to fix something that didn’t go exactly as planned.
* What would going above and beyond for a client mean to you?

So go forth! Tell your awesome friends to get paid to hang out with me and lug buckets around this summer.

P.S. Did you see I’m an LLC now? This little business has been registered as a sole proprietorship since 2010, but the imminent busy season, need to hire somebody, and me finally listening to the advice of my accountant friends added up to me making the switch. Here’s hoping those same accountant friends don’t smack me for doing it in the middle of the year…

hello friends! i’m excited to announce i’m partnering with verily bride, a blog just for all the gorgeous weddings in oregon, to bring readers a new series. it’s called “in season,” and each month i’ll be giving verily bride’s readers step-by-step instructions on how to create beautiful arrangements for their homes and events using flowers that are currently blooming in out great state…at least west of the cascades. sorry, bend!

for the first installment, i’m showing you how to arrange with blooming branches and ranunculus. some of these flowers are almost done for the season, but there are lots of good tips on how to use whatever you have on hand. go check it out, and while you’re there spend some time browsing the rest of verily bride. i’m really excited that we have such a great local resource!

read how to re-create this arrangement on verily bride.

it’s something of the calm before the wedding storm right now. since there was minimal tidying necessary for me to not be completely ashamed of the squalor, i figured i’d give you a sneak peek into my workspace. one day, i’ll have the light-filled floral studio of my dreams. for now, flowers share space in my garage with my christmas decorations. it’s not always pretty, and i really wish i had a sink, but i am always amazed at the beauty that i manage to crank out in this space.

this pegboard makes me happy and so much more efficient. i don’t know how to even describe how useful this is. when i graduate to my big kid space there will still be pegboard, and probably much, much more of it. the cork helps me keep track of receipts, design sketches, recipes, and checklists. i set up a freestanding table behind this workbench for 360 degrees of centerpiece production when i really get down to business.

i hoard a lot of little things like this. storage is an issue always, so lots of things get packed in boxes. i just can’t bear to wrap these pretty little gold-rimmed bits up and put them away though. confession: they’ve probably been tucked in this spot for the better part of a year, just because i like the way they shine. 

i picked up this cooler a few years ago from a designer who was retiring from doing weddings herself. it was actually a super emotional day for both of us, and i really wish i would have kept in touch with her. on the lighter side, moving a ridiculously heavy floral cooler in a pick-‘em-up truck with a couple of cargo straps is sketchy at best. i heartily recommend you find yourself a flatbed or a proper moving service, should you need to haul one of these beasts across town.

the tool belt is crucial for on-site installations, especially if i have to be up on a ladder.

all florists know that ribbon storage is a huge challenge. mine is stashed in this vintage bureau that belonged to my great-grandmother. i tend to rifle through and pull out whatever i need for an event and store it temporarily on the pegboard. these drawers desperately need organizing to untangle all the loose yards, but i’m pretty proud that they still mostly contain what the labels say. in this case, “pins + bits & bobs” and “spooled ribbon.” once upon a time, this dresser and its matching vanity were painted blue and lived in my bedroom growing up. i really want to put the original knobs back on, or at least some more appropriate glass ones, but for now function beats out form.

vase storage is another huge issue for me. there are boxes piled just outside the frame of all these pics. i tend to keep out the oddballs, vintage finds, and some basics that are easy to toss shorties into or store delicate blooms in the cooler instead of cramming them in buckets. the portland crates are for delivering bouquets–a 7 3/4 cylinder fits perfectly in the partitions–and i picked up that little blue ceramic guy at a thrift shop recently. my favorite milk glass gets the real place of prominence, right at eye level where i do most of my arranging. i hope you enjoyed being a voyeur. it’s nothing particularly attractive, but it’s honest, and it’s functional, and that makes it pretty special to me.