MountainGate Country Club Puts on a Show

Sunday evening, Petalos di Pauli was a featured vendor at MountainGate Country Club's Fall Bridal Show and Open House. We loved sharing the spotlight with our friends at Emily Rose Papers, a great company we always enjoy collaborating with. We welcomed a steady stream of exuberant brides, showing and telling them about our products and services.

Paula Estes with owner of  Emily Rose Papers

Wedding invitation--maroon with intricate gold detailing

Escort cards displaying the artistry of our calligrapher

Located in Los Angeles, MountainGate Country Club is an extremely beautiful location for weddings and receptions, combining elegant indoor and outdoor event spaces with a spectacular view of the Santa Monica Mountains. Paula noted, "Our flagship line of botanically embellished invitations definitely help set the tone for such a magnificent and lush garden-like setting."

MountainGate Country Club outdoor ceremony location

All in all, the show was a tremendous success--with enticing hors d'oeuvres prepared by the MountainGate chef, stunning decor, and so many other exciting details--made possible by the contributions of talented, top-shelf event companies we'll be highlighting in upcoming posts.

Thank you, MountainGate, for hosting a wonderful Fall Bridal Show event! We look forward to many happy returns.

~Jaimie

A Show For The Modern South Asian Bride

Recently, Petalos di Pauli participated in a magnificent and well-attended Summer Bridal Show, hosted by Wedding Store 24, located in the heart of Little India. The Westin South Coast Plaza was transformed into an exotic display of South Asian culture that included fashion shows, dancers, live music and delicious Indian food.

It was no coincidence that we presented our new “Jewel Collection” of invitations and matching table decor featuring the vibrant colors and motifs of South Asia.

It was a pleasure sharing the limelight with friends like Erin Holloway, owner of Sugar Sugar Candy Buffet, and Melissa Gruber of My Specialty Cakes. Not only because I have an insatiable sweet tooth but because these women, like myself, have a passion for what they do, and they do it well. I'm not a vegetarian but I did try the eggless versions of the chocolate raspberry and lemon cakes. . . over and over again! Phenomenal, who needs eggs?!

Capri Flowers, put the awe in awesome with their breathtakingly beautiful display of floral creativity.

Bridal Expos such as this one make for great one stop shopping for brides and grooms and it's also an opportunity for us vendors to make new acquaintances. I am a new fan of Diva Decor, as I was totally drawn to the sparkling collection of bridal accessories and decor. Looking for bling? Two words: luxurious and fabulous, darlings.

Congratulations and many thanks to Neema Lodhia, who had the vision and expertise to pull off such a wonderfully successful event that entire families came out to enjoy.

For professional photos, check out images captured by Duke Photography.

Creative Collaborations

The most successful special events are always a collaborative creative effort. We recently had the pleasure of working with Santa Barbara event planner Merryl Brown (www.merrylbrownevents.com) to support the elegance and charm of a Bohemian Chic wedding her firm designed for an open air venue.

Normally we work from our Orange County studio, but it was a special treat to work onsite for this occasion smack dab in the middle of the woods, so a lot of this design was done on the fly. The bride’s wedding dress and fondness for daisies inspired our use of this flower on the sweet heart table, crowning the menu cards, for the escort cards designed as miniature take-home daisy bouquets and the wedding invitation featuring a bright yellow gerbera daisy with metal embellishment. The results, as you can see from these photos, are magical, combining heirloom tradition with a little bit of 70s funk!

Natural wooden elements are used in chair signage.

Yellow, white and lime green hues centered around a daisy theme.

The daisy theme is carried out in the menu cards.

The wedding invitation sports vibrant colors to carry out the Bohemian Chic theme.

Burlap sacks provide an eco-friendly take-home daisy bouquet.

Fresh flowers accent the heirloom objects

Event design by Merryl Brown Events. Photography by Melissa Musgrove Photography. Floral design by Cody Floral Design. Lighting design by Bella Vista Designs. Creative Consultant Kimberly Anderson.

Five ways to make special event stationery eco-friendly

Image by Organized Light Photography

Kermit the Frog may think it’s not easy being green, but when it comes to designing eco-friendly special event stationery, we beg to disagree, dear Kermie! Here are five things to consider when designing your invitations, menus, reply cards, envelopes and other special event collateral that will make your efforts more earth friendly:

1. Less is more: using less paper is not only eco-friendly; it will prove more economical for you in the long-run. 
2. Double the pleasure: consider printing on both sides of insert cards instead of using two separate cards.
3. Tree-free doesn’t mean paperless: investigate the many wonderful paper options that don’t require tree kill.
4. Toxin-free papers and inks: vegetable dye-based papers and soy inks are the earth-friendly way to go. 
5. Choose local first: whether a local printer or using locally grown flowers, eliminate the environmental emissions caused by transporting or importing your design elements long-distance by choosing local whenever possible. 

Petalos di Pauli has lots of crafty ideas when it comes to designing good-looking and eco-friendly stationery products.  As purveyors of paper, we bring to you a range of post-consumer recycled paper sources and feature choices, including Saa (Mulberry tree) and  Lotka (Daphne bush), for sustainable style. Going green may be easier and more beautiful than you think, with our team of knowledgeable creatives ready to help.

Gracious Greening,

Paula Estes
Botanical Artist
Petalos di Pauli

Trends in Wedding Decor Revealed

We introduced The Seed Packet Escort Cards at The Most Anticipated Event of the Season, YWD Magazine's exclusive bridal event, designed to highlight the latest trends in wedding decor and styling. Multiple photo shoot sets were designed as platforms of inspiration for over 1,100 brides, grooms and industry professionals who attended this backstage pass into the making of the YWD Spring|Summer issue.

This project was so much fun for me as one of the hand-selected designers who got to carry out the "Vintage Glamour" theme. Good Gracious! Events lead our team, that included Mille Fiori Floral Design, Classic Party Rentals, Wildflower Linen and Bella Vista Designs.

Each packet of pansy seeds was inscribed with a guest name and table number, functioning not only as the escort card but also as a favor to enjoy after the event. These custom designed gems included the couple’s special wording and an a real pansy on the front, giving them the Petalos di Pauli unique signature botanical touch.

The corresponding invitation incorporated clusters of pansies, along with dramatic pearl and antique gold jewel embellishments. The ensemble was presented in a petal-lined, cushioned, silk box to create a timeless and beautiful keepsake.

Click here to enjoy stunning images captured by Brilliant Studios.LA of our Vintage Glamour photo shoot set.

The YWD Spring | Summer 2010 Issue is on newsstands now (available at Barnes & Noble, Borders and Target).

Call us to find out how custom seed packets can enhance your next special event.

Warn wishes,

Paula Estes
Botanical Artist
Petalos di Pauli

Love the LOVE Stamp

Postage stamps are an everyday necessity.  We need them to mail bills and such.  Buying stamps is not something that many of us give much thought to, but it could be!

A beautiful postage stamp can be a wonderful and thoughtful addition to a letter or card that you are mailing to a loved one. It is interesting how your eye gravitates towards a stamp that is not the "Forever Stamp." We are so accustom to seeing it, that when it is something different, we are immediately drawn to it.

Use a postage stamp as an opportunity to show the recipient that you were thinking of them, even as you put the stamp on the envelope. The right stamp can add a special touch. At Petalos di Pauli we love the new "Pansies in a Basket" LOVE stamp. Why? Just take a look:

We think the USPS will be selling quite a lot of these just in time for Mother's Day.

Pansies in a Basket stamp features the image of a white woven cart filled with deep and light purple pansies and green foliage. The floral design is a detail from a watercolor created by the late Dorothy Maienschein, an employee of Hallmark Cards, Inc. Introduced as a Mother’s Day card in 1939, Hallmark reissued the design as a friendship card in 1941. Since Hallmark began tracking sales in 1942, almost 30 million cards with this pansy cart design have been purchased; more than any card in history. The word “LOVE” adorns the left side of the stamp.
Source: shop.usps.com

Bloomin' News

We are thrilled to announce that Petalos di Pauli is featured as the cover story in the January-February 2010 issue of The Bloomin' News, a well know trade magazine published by the American Florists' Exchange/Los Angeles Flower Market.

The Bloomin' News featured Petalos di Pauli because of Paula Estes's unique use of botanicals in her stationery designs. Paula views the Los Angeles Flower District as an extension of her design "tool box," offering a wide assortment of flowers that translate into a rich color palette. The Flower Market provides Paula with the means to obtain botanicals that are difficult to grow in her personal gardens. When filling large orders for cards or complete wedding ensembles, the Los Angeles Flower District is an invaluable resource.

The Bloomin' News is published by the American Florists' Exchange / Los Angeles Flower Market every other month (January, March, May, July, September and November). The publication was started in October 1949 by the Southern California Floral Association, which operated the two major wholesale flower markets (Los Angeles Flower Market and Southern California Flower Market, the largest wholesale flower district in the United States) that, along with storefront vendors, today comprise the Los Angeles Flower District in the 700 block of Wall Street in Los Angeles.

To read the article go to www.BloominNews.com

Weaving a Floral Theme Into Your Wedding

Your wedding theme does not have to be limited to just a color... How about incorporating flowers or other botanicals throughout your wedding? Every part of your wedding, from the invitations to the programs to the cake, can be inspired by a floral choice. For example, if you love red roses, an arrangement of real dried roses on a handmade invitation can be something that your guests have never seen. Not only is this a beautiful invitation, but it conveys that you are elegant as well as unique, and your event will be nothing less. Your rose theme begins in the invitation and is carried to your ceremony in your wedding flowers. You can also present red roses to your and your fiancé’s mothers during the ceremony. At the reception, you can echo your theme in menus on the tables and your wedding cake. The invitations are just the beginning!

Petalos di Pauli Signature Invitation

 Tiffany and Chocolate Brown Cake

 Petalos di Pauli Signature Invitation

 Black, White and Red Cake

How to Make Grass Place Card Holders

Fountain Grass was a wonderful, sustainable, not to mention creative, choice for place card holders. We trimmed bundled blades to size then secured the ends with pairs of gold plated rhinestone beads, which were easily removed for reuse after the event.


These place card holders were part of the Elegant Tropical Rainforest tablescape featured in Special Events Magazine.

Other dried grasses or natural elements can be used to create a similar design. You'll need at least 2 stems or blades to form a slot for holding the place card, and the right sized bead to fit over the ends. Or jute or wire could be used to secure the ends; the possibilities are endless.

The Special Event 2009

The lush rainforest of Latin America and the colorful costumes of its indigenous people inspired this tabletop design—a conception of Nesly’s Floral Design & Events. When the company principal Nesly Palacios invited us to participate in the recent Special Events’ Tabletop Gallery, we couldn’t imagine a theme more suited to our area of expertise than “Elegant Tropical Rainforest.” All of the elements that were included in the design represented facets of nature!

From the centerpiece—a tall banana tree surrounded by orchids and other tropical favorites—to snakeskin chair covers and pebbled dishware on feather place mats there was no lack of jungle inspiration. We mounted our menu cards on tree bark and embellished them with blades of bejeweled fountain grass. As a finishing touch they were each topped with a beautifully beaded butterfly.

Nesly’s vision was to create a table to suit a themed event for a corporate client or a bridal couple “looking to celebrate their nontraditional nuptials.”

Nesly’s team included: Chameleon Chair Collection, chairs and chair covers; Designer Specialty Linens, linen; Events by JEM, design; Petalos di Pauli, place cards and menu cards

A Chocolate Lover's Anguish

I recently designed TABLE CARDS for a wedding where CHOCOLATE was the THEME for the event. I don’t mean chocolate as in the color brown. I’m referring to that creamy, cocoa confection that melts in your mouth and is tough to resist. I CONFESS, I’m a chocoholic and production of this job was extremely distracting. The couple named guest tables after their favorite treats.

The RECEPTION STATIONERY featured luxurious, textured, cream matte paper. The TABLE CARDS were mounted on a rich, textured chocolate cardstock. Don’t they look scrumptious?


What is the most creative theme for table names that you’ve heard of? You can enter your comment at the end of this post.

Fortunately, a beautiful and well-stocked candy bar was readily available to satisfy all cravings.

From PLACE CARDS, MENUS, TABLE CARDS and PROGRAMS, Petalos di Pauli can design matching stationery essentials to give your entire event a polished feel.