Gorgeous and Green

Hello!

It’s been a fun few months here at the new boutique, and as we settle into the new location, I have gotten back into blogging.  I’d like to just share a few pics from the new location of Gorgeous and Green at 2946 College Ave in Berkeley’s Elmwood.  In case you haven’t been there yet, we are smack dab in between Ici Ice Cream and Summer Kitchen, so come by for some unique local gifts/plant/flower bouquets and grab a snack at our neighbor’s.

Here’s our locally hand-painted sign:

And the shop from the front:

And the boutique inside, notice the reclaimed chandeliers and the G’s filled with airplants:

We hope to see you soon!

Pilar and the G&G team

ggboutique.com

This past fall we had quite a few lovely weddings, and that means many boutonnieres!

Here are a few pics of my favorite boutonnieres:

from a fun fall wedding in Sausalito

french garden bouts for a shoot with A&B Creative

20 Boutonnieres and every boutonniere was different!

mossy boutonnieres for a local wedding

spanish moss boutonnieres for a wedding in Moss Beach!

Boutonnieres are fun, and can be a creative way to add color and texture.

In Locally Grown and Green,

G&G

PS: If you are in the market for Wedding floral decor this year and still haven’t booked, please contact us ASAP!  We are doing a limited number of weddings this year, so don’t delay.  We are having a booking special for remaining dates in 2013.  No delivery fee on local wedding decor budgets over $3,000. (within a 75 mile radius)

Gorgeous and Green had a wedding this summer that featured bright mossy greens and dark reds, burgundy and crimson.  The brightness of that lichen green against the crimson and burgundy was so wonderful.  The bride requested a mossy feel for the boutonnieres, and so I used some sustainably grown mossy green dianthus.

The bridal bouquet

The bridesmaid bouquets

and the mossy boutonnieres

Very fun.

In sustainable beauty,

G&G

A few weeks ago Gorgeous and Green provided the bright and lovely floral decor for a wedding at the Brazil Room at Tilden Park in Berkeley.  The building there is beautifully set amongst rolling green hills, and the building is made with a lot of dark wood, so I wanted to keep the floral decor bright and colorful.

The flowers were locally grown in half moon bay and Petaluma, and many were organically grown in Oakland too!  We used a lot of spring flowers including anemones, ranunculus, leptopermum, vibernum, icelandic poppies, scabiosa, callas and sweet peas.

Below are a few pictures of the table designs, all taken from my phone, so I apologize ahead of time.  Although they aren’t the best pics, they show the lovely colors!  I hope to post some of the photographer’s pics on my blog as some point in the future, there was a lovely decorate Chuppah too, and many other details.

And the Bridal Bouquet (via phone camera):

The bathroom arrangement:

A large arrangement for the cake table:

you’ll have to excuse my phone photo

While we were there setting up the decor, we ran into a few turkeys:

Gobbles and Green,

G&G

I wouldn’t usually put cabbage and tropical in the same sentence.

Here’s a couple of pics of some lush tropical arrangements Gorgeous and Green created for a local restaurant, featuring organic and local cabbage, local roses and local birds of paradise.  Very bright and  festive.

In local and sometimes edible fun,

G&G

Here are a couple of pics of some arrangements Gorgeous and Green has done for local East Bay businesses who are committed to local and sustainable practices and materials.

A rustic and branchy arrangement for a local Berkeley Office

A long-lasting arrangement, this is what it looked like one week after drop-off!

In Green, local businesses and beauty,

G&G

I would like to continue sharing what Gorgeous and Green does at Origen restaurant in Berkeley, so here are a few more pics from my phone.  This week I tried to incorporate the local white calla lilies, that we’ve been getting from a local organic grower in Oakland, lovely local blooming camelia branches and some ornamental artichokes, since it is a restaurant!

Here are two arrangements, one for the bar and a larger more branchy one for the main dining room:

Sorry it’s a little fuzzy!

In Green and Local Beauty,

Gorgeous and Green

A few weeks ago, we were asked to provide a lovely arrangement for a local Terra Bella Client.  They have been a long-time sustainable florist in the Seattle area, and I have been well aware of their work for a while, as there are not many of us who offer similar services.

Here’s a lovely arrangement featuring local hydrangea (small because it’s only early spring) local ranunculus, Veriflora freesia, and other lovely greens and branches.  We attached a lovely hand printed and recycled card for the message.

In that vein, I’d like to just say that I love partnering with other sustainable florists.  I hope one day those of us who vow to stay local and sustainable will grow and we will be able to offer sustainable and local floral decor services that spread across the globe, much like the large corporations that offer mainstream and cheap flowers grown in countries far away, cut by workers who aren’t paid a fair wage and sprayed with large amounts of pesticides and who knows what else.  One day, maybe all florists will be local/sustainable and fair trade and we’ll go back to the small, healthy, community driven economies that was our story for so long.

For the time being, I vow that Gorgeous and Green will try to live that dream as best as we can and hope others will follow.

In Green, Fair Trade and Sustainability,

G&G