Ask A Professional Florist // Why Do Wedding Flowers Cost So Much?

Ask A Professional Florist // Why Do Wedding Flowers Cost So Much?

Q: Pricing for wedding flowers is often confusing to couples—sometimes even a shock. Often, couples budget a lot less than floral designers charge. Why do you think that is, and what do you wish couples knew about it? 

A: The two main components that impact price are the flowers themselves and the labor to design, transport, and deliver or install the flowers. 

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The Avowed Podcast // Episode 04: This Glorious Mess

The Avowed Podcast // Episode 04: This Glorious Mess

The wildly in love photographers behind Kindred Wedding Co., Elle Wildhagen and Zach Domes, open up about rejoicing in the dark, messy moments of love, gendered narratives, silent discos, the evolving language of “we” and how familial sagas of love and divorce help shape our contemporary perspectives on love.

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Out of the Box Challenge // Bay Area Creatives

Out of the Box Challenge // Bay Area Creatives

For me this photo challenge prompted a natural response to the current sociopolitical backlash to diversity, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community. I put out a casting call in my local model group looking for alternative and underrepresented women. I knew from the start I wanted to show a same sex wedding, so when Gigi and Nicole were among my applicants the choice was easy.

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Real Couples // A Genderqueer Vineyard Wedding: Liz + Braz

Real Couples // A Genderqueer Vineyard Wedding: Liz + Braz

I prefer 'they' or 'Braz.'...I would say it was a queer wedding because we are queer, although I would also acknowledge that it was a pretty traditional/normative wedding as far as 'queer weddings' go...I think it's important for queer people to know that they have options. They can have the kind of traditional wedding they've seen in the movies and magazines their entire lives or they can do something totally different that's whatever the hell they want it to be. 

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Real Couples // Dreamy Redwoods Engagement: Nausheen + Husam

Real Couples // Dreamy Redwoods Engagement: Nausheen + Husam

Nausheen, a marketer from San Jose, and Husam, a consultant from Chicago, were introduced to each other by a mutual friend. They first met in San Francisco and spent countless weekends exploring the city together — which is why they chose San Francisco staples for their engagement shoot locations. They wanted a rustic backdrop focusing on the natural beauty of San Francisco so they picked the redwoods of the Presidio.

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Wedding Inspiration // Lace and Quartz: A Vibrant Urban Elopement

Wedding Inspiration // Lace and Quartz: A Vibrant Urban Elopement

For this shoot, we sought a unique and unexplored space. The interior of the recently opened Cambria Gallery in the SoMa neighborhood just south of City Hall was an inspiring discovery. We fell in love with the combination of colors and textures and the urban, modern décor. Marble, quartz, and exposed brick give the showroom a very dramatic and industrial look, particularly when paired with a bold, graphic print. The space inspired an urban, yet feminine vibe and a chic, modern, yet approachable look for our shoot.

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Real Couples // High School Sweethearts: Sarah + Zack

Real Couples // High School Sweethearts: Sarah + Zack

Zack and I don't remember when we met for the first time, but it was probably sometime in the third grade. As freshmen, we were on a youth football/cheer team, and we won king and queen at the homecoming game. But it wasn't until our junior year of high school when we actually started dating. We grew up together, graduated together, had a two-year long distance relationship, and have been experiencing life's highs and lows together. One day before the two-year anniversary of my mom's passing, Zack proposed to me at AT&T park after a Giants game. The date and the place were both extremely close to my heart. We also chose to get married on my mom's birthday, May 7. We are best friends and are so happy we get to live life loving each other. 

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Real Couples // Two Humbly Extravagant Weddings: Julie + Christina

Real Couples // Two Humbly Extravagant Weddings: Julie + Christina

Julie and Christina are an interfaith, interracial lesbian couple who enhance, rather than diminish, each facet of their individual lives in their wedding(s!). The pair, who met playing roller derby in Ohio, hosted their first wedding at a gorgeous synagogue in San Francisco followed by an all-out reception at Fire House 8. Their follow-up wedding was held in their home state of Ohio with only their closest friends and family. This is a couple who really knows where their values lie and were able to create the best of all worlds: the extravagant, fun and exciting San Francisco wedding contrasted with a humble, family-oriented celebration in the majestic fall forest of Hocking Hills, Ohio. Their story is beautiful; the pictures speak for themselves. Julie & Christina’s magnetic energy truly comes through in this intoxicating series of photos.

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Keeping it Real with Vivian Chen Photography

Keeping it Real with Vivian Chen Photography

My mission as a wedding photographer is to capture and share authentic wedding day stories. Whether my couples are eloping at San Francisco City Hall or getting married on a rainy day in the middle of an Oregon forest, my job is to be there to photograph all the candid moments in between beyond the epic posed portraits. I want my wedding photos to feel true to my couples and the reality of their wedding day. I’m drawn to catching the tender glances my couples share throughout the day, the times when nervous anticipation gives way to liberating laughter, and the elation in their eyes when when it hits them that, "Yes! We’re getting married today!"

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4 Reasons Why Couples Should Embrace the Courthouse Wedding

4 Reasons Why Couples Should Embrace the Courthouse Wedding

Whether a couple chooses to have a courthouse wedding as a budget-friendly alternative to a large wedding or is celebrating their new legal right to be wed, courthouse weddings are not second rate; rather they are intimate, beautiful celebrations of love.

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