Manzanita Centerpiece

High Style Centerpieces with Manzanita

Published September 13, 2011 |

If you are looking to do something spectacular with your reception centerpieces, consider using Manzanita branches. The high style centerpiece to your left was created using silver painted Manzanita branches with hanging crystals in a glass vase with black aqua beads. Manzanita is native to the foothills where I live. It is naturally a dark reddish brown color with sage green foliage. In it’s natural state it looks lovely in a vase; however, when you paint it a different color, not only do you change the look, you change the style of the centerpiece. The painted Manzanita takes on a more modern feel, while the natural Manzanita is, well, earthy, organic, natural looking/feeling.

This versatile branch can be incorporated into any style reception you are considering. Doing a Rustic Chic or County style reception? The Manzantia is perfect just as it is as shown here to the right. This centerpiece is an example of natural Manzanita in a vase without any fillers.

In addition to adding crystals to the branches, you can use hanging votives, different sizes and shapes of crystals, cymbidium orchids, strands of dendrobium orchids (like a straight lei), ornaments…..use your imagination and come up with something unique that you will love.

Below is an example of natural Manzanita branches with green cymbidium orchids attached in various places among the branches. This was one of two pieces used for an outdoor ceremony site.

Posted in DIY, Do It Yourself Wedding Flowers, manzanita centerpiece |

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High Style Manzanita

Published July 5, 2011 |

By admin

I love working with Manzanita, this tall flowering branch can create some of the most spectacular and stately centerpieces imaginable. For instance the centerpiece to the left uses silver painted Manzanita branches with hanging crystals in a glass vase with black aqua beads which are similar to marbles in appearence.

Manzanita is native to the foothills where I live. It is naturally a dark reddish brown color with sage green foliage. In it’s natural state it looks lovely in a vase; however, when you paint it a different color, not only do you change the look, you change the style of the centerpiece. The painted Manzanita takes on a more modern feel, while the natural Manzanita is, well, earthy, organic, natural looking/feeling. The picture to the right is an example of natural Manzanita.

You can also use other flowers in conjunction with Manzanita. The lovely arrangement below shows natural Manzanita branches with green cymbidium orchids attached in various places.

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Destination Receptions – Winery Chic

Published June 17, 2011 |

By admin

Last time I talked about the lovely wedding I did in a winery in Somona California, this time I wanted to share with you some of the creative things that we did with the reception and the bridal favors.

Because this was a destination wedding, the bride chose to give luggage tags as her favor. So we displayed them on beds of wheat grass. It turned out the wheat grass was too tall and the luggage tags couldn’t be seen, so I trimmed the wheat grass…kind of like mowing the lawn, only I had to use scissors. I think they came out great, what do you think?

This couple had a cocktail hour in the courtyard and chose to decorate those tables with candles. So I used a 7 1/2″ tall cylinder vase and cut up 3 limes for each, added water and then a floating candle. For the votives, I wrapped a piece of brown ribbon around the base and glued a button mum to cover the ribbon seam. I used glue dots to fasten the ribbon and Oasis Floral Adhesive to attach the button mum.

Lastly, this couple chose to have half tall and half short centerpieces. The tall centerpieces were Manzanita Branches in a 28″ tall cylinder vase with green cymbidium orchids and hanging crystals. I also had some ice crystals in the base of the vase. The short centerpieces were 12″ tall cylinder vases with a stem of green cymbidium orchids in each and a little crystal ice at the bottom of the vase.

This was a gorgeous wedding…hope you get some ideas for your own wedding from this photos and descriptions.

Posted in Do It Yourself Wedding Flowers, how to wedding flowers, manzanita centerpiece, wedding flowers |

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Winery Chic Wedding Idea

Published August 24, 2010 |

By admin

Hi There,

So, last weekend I had a super cool winery wedding in Sonoma, California at Jacuzzi Winery. The brides color scheme was green, brown and ivory. Her bouquet was made using Polo roses (they open like an old fashioned rose), white lisianthus and green (called brocoli hydrangea-which is a NEW growth green in color and eventually turns white as it matures) and her bridesmaids carried white hydrangea with green button mums and hypericum berries.

It’s not super easy to see the bouquets displayed on a table this way. Here is a picture of the bride holding her bouquet.

The bride was from Newport Beach, which is in Southern California. So this was a destination wedding for them.

The ceremony was outside in front of the beautiful fountain. This bride elected to have pomanders hanging on the chair ends. The pomanders were made using floral foam 6″ balls, they were covered in moss and then green spider mums, green button mums and green cymbidium orchids were added and the balls were hung with brown satin ribbon.

Here is a close up of the pomanders…. Pomander made of moss, green spider and button mums and cymbidium orhcids

I used a moss table runner I found at the craft store and cut it into small squares and covered the floral foam ball using greening pins. Then I inserted 5 spider mums, 5 stems of button mums and 2 cymbidium orchids for each ball. These were very time consuming…I didn’t keep track, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I spend 1 hour on each ball.

Because this was a destination wedding, the bride chose to give luggage tags as her favor. So we displayed them on beds of wheat grass. It turned out the wheat grass was too tall and the luggage tags couldn’t be seen, so I trimmed the wheat grass…kind of like mowing the lawn, only I had to use scissors. LNIgazebo

I think they came out great, what do you think?

This couple had a cocktail hour in the courtyard and chose to decorate those tables with candles. So I used a 7 1/2″ tall cylinder vase and cut up 3 limes for each, added water and then a floating candle. For the votives, I wrapped a piece of brown ribbon around the base and glued a button mum to cover the ribbon seam. candle centerpieces

I used glue dots to fasten the ribbon and Oasis Floral Adhesive to attach the button mum.

Lastly, this couple chose to have half tall and half short centerpieces. The tall centerpieces were Manzanita Branches in a 28″ tall cylinder vase with green cymbidium orchids and hanging crystals. I also had some ice crystals in the base of the vase. Jacuzzi Winery Barrel Room

The short centerpieces were 12″ tall cylinder vases with a stem of green cymbidium orchids in each and a little crystal ice at the bottom of the vase.

Here are close up views of the centerpieces.

This was a gorgeous wedding…hope you get some ideas for your own wedding from this photos and descriptions.

Posted in Do It Yourself Wedding Flowers, how to wedding flowers, manzanita centerpiece, Sacramento Wedding Florist, wedding flowers, wedding planning, weddings |

Tagged bridal bouquet, candle centerpieces, cymbidium orchid centerpiece, DIY wedding flowers, Do It Yourself Wedding Flower Guide, Flowers, green flowers, Jacuzzi Family Vineyards, Jacuzzi Winery, manzanita centerpiece, outdoor wedding, Planning a Wedding, sacramento wedding florist, Sonoma California winery wedding, wedding flowers, wedding planning, wedding trends |

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Make a Centerpiece out of Manzanita Branches

Published October 22, 2009 |

By admin

Hi There,

This is a simple, yet dramatic centerpiece design using manzanita branches in a vase. Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z1INsrR6X4 Here are some pictures of Manzanita branches in vases.