I started the year with a handful of big goals – to work with couples I felt I really connected with, to collaborate with other vendors on some beautiful stylized shoots {here, here & here}, and to sneak in a couple destination weddings {one here and another one coming soon!}. My last (and loftiest?) goal was to get some work published in print. So you can imagine I was more than a wee bit excited when the girls of Southern Weddings Magazine contacted me asking for some bouquet shots for their upcoming issue! I sent over a handful of faves & they ended up including two of them in their latest fall edition. Southern Weddings is IMO one of the most stylish & creative wedding mags out there, each & every page is truly a work of art! It is an honor to be included in their visually stunning third issue!

Also a big thank you to the amaaazing florists who put together these beauties!

Linda’s bouquet of lush pink peonies & sweet peas just left of the shot with the black dress, created by Cindy of Floral Elements. I also noticed there was an editor’s note by Emily naming it as her fave! :)

And below, a whimsical red & black bouquet along the left from the Queen of Hearts shoot, created by Mai of Bunch Studio:

A big big thank you to Emily & all the girls at Southern Weddings for including my work in their amazing publication! Their V3 is seriously one of the most inspirational magazines I’ve perused in a long time… go out and get your copy now!

I’ve also been meaning to mention just a few of our recent blog features… I follow so many of these blogs religiously for daily inspiration & it’s an honor to be included within their posts. I believe wedding blogs are one of THE greatest planning tools out there and it’s such a treat to peek into the massively creative ideas couples come up with for their day, the unique ways they weave their story into the details, the way each wedding speaks directly to who the couple is. I am a firm believer that it does not take oodles of cash to make a visually stunning wedding – all it takes is a little brainstorming, style, imagination, & DIY goodness, and I love that these wedding blogs promote these ideas in each & every one of their posts!

Thank you so much to the following blogs for featuring a bit of my work!

Style Me Pretty

Grey Likes Weddings {newly redesigned & oh-so-beautiful!}

Ever Ours

Project Wedding

It is no big secret that I love blogs :) And while much of my blog-stalking in the past couple years has been devoted to wedding blogs, the super-close runner up has always been design blogs. I swear it happens everyday – that I stick my laptop violently in Scott’s face and proclaim that THIS! is my new favorite living room, or how we HAVE TO HAVE that solid ash vintagey mid-century rocker, and how that coffee table is the one thing that has been missing in my life all these years and I FINALLY FOUND IT.

I have a little secret fantasy (or not so secret, since I just professed it to the entire interwebs) that our humble abode can one day be featured on Design*Sponge, the mother of all design blogs. And though the bits and pieces are coming along very (very) slowly, it’s a sweet feeling to be building up a space that you love. Our most recent purchase was a teak-colored sideboard (which we’ve since cleverly{?} named “Cyborg the Sideboard”), that I promptly adorned with lots of random tidbits. So basically, I figured since I love peeking into everyone else’s homes oh so very much, I might as well share this tiny peek into mine :)

And yes, those are the same chinese lanterns from here – they’ve faded quite a bit but it’s almost fall which means I’ll be able to get a new batch any day now!

And yes, the wall is ridiculously stark. The plan is for the New York prints to soon (supposedly) spawn an entire wall full of awesome framed stuff.

10 girl photographers in the desert!

A quick break in the midst of wedding season, a chance to interact, to share stories poolside, to laugh over midday snacks of hummus & carrots, to have the sense of “coworkers”, when so much of our days are spent alone in front of a glowy computer screen. From the moment I entered the wedding industry, I was so amazed by the lack of “competition” and by the overabundance of sharing & love, and these girls embody that love in every ounce of their being {in addition to being smart, sweet & hilarious!} I feel blessed to call them friends!

We stayed at the uber hip & lovely Ace Hotel, pretty much splitting our time equally between the pool & the room since it was literally 427 degrees out. The Ace was the perfect place for both relaxation & for photos – seriously, gorgeous photo ops EVERYWHERE! YOU! LOOK! I’m including some of my favorite snaps from the trip here, as well as a fantastic stop-motion video the talented Mary created & put together!

All in all, an amazing trip that left me feeling inspired and refreshed! Can’t wait for Catalina 2011!

STOPtheMOTION Friday! Take:16 from Floataway Studios on Vimeo.

The light at the Ace Hotel was absolutely breathtaking – so soft & pretty!

Amanda made us all these FANTASTIC goodie bags filled with the most amazing goodies – a smores pack, a cupcake in a jar, a pop-of-color water bottle… it was such a treat to arrive in PS to find these!

The food at the Ace was just divine! On the left is the ALT (which I’m pretty sure stands for “ADRIENNE LOVES THIS”, and which I supplemented with lots & lots of bacon):

Thanks to Jordana for the 2nd pic!

Thank you Ashley, Heather, Heidi, Jackie, Jordana, Ala, Mary, Megan & Amanda for a wonderful trip! { image courtesy of Heather :) }