Anniversary Vow Update 2016

This year my husband and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. It isn't a special number by any traditional standards. But for us, it felt like a year of solid shifts as we reflected on our time together the past 7 years. We decided to plan something special for our anniversary celebration that revolved around updating our vows. 

I'm calling it an update, because it really wasn't a renewal. Neither of us broke our original vows. But we never wrote our first vows either, and in fact the person who married us made it a requirement that he wrote them for us and that we wouldn't know what they were until we said them to each other that day. We just didn't feel like our married life together really reflected the vows he originally wrote for us, so we wanted to write our own and make it a special reading of them to one another.

Something intimate, just for us. Something that reflects who we are now, where we evolved from, but included some of our favorite elements of our wedding too. I wanted it to feel real, vulnerable,  special, and captured on film like a fly on the wall. 

We asked Sara to photograph us and document it by entering into our space lightly. She captured it exactly as I'd hoped. And we are finally sharing these special images. 

The styling, realness, and beauty of vulnerability is exactly what I want to exude for the couples I/we work with. So much of what I want for 2017 work to evolve into, starts with moments like this. If we aren't sharing the realness of us with you, then how can we expect to have you invite us into moments of realness with you? 

And so we share these...

Vendors:

Florals + Styling: Pavan Floral 

Photos: Sara Weir 

Ceramic candlesticks: Notary Ceramics

Bag + Jewelry: Myers Collective 

Silks: Silk and Willow 

Dress: Heidi Merrick

Cake: The Good Cookies

Dishes: Crate and Barrel

Vow books: Refine Studio

Suit: H&M

Location: Downtown Los Angeles Library + Cafe Pinot 

Holiday Workshop

I live in my grandmother's old home. It was the first home she bought with her husband in 1950. She raised my mom in this home, and now my son lives in her old bedroom. Prior to living here, my husband and I lived in my grandmother's grandmother's old beach duplex, which was a little sand lot she originally bought for $10 in 1923. She only bought half the lot because that was what she could afford at the time, and she saved for several years before she could actually build on it. 

I share this because I like the history of my walls that breathe into my creativity. They breathe life and inspire me through the energy they may still carry into the future. 

My grandmother helped me pay for my first flower workshop years ago, and I think she would be so proud of her investment in me, knowing that not only do I run my little business out of her home, but I can welcome guests in and host flower workshops of my own in the living room she spend so many years entertaining as well.

This past fall I hosted my first workshop here, and I hope to offer more next year. Below, are a few shots taken by Sara Weir from set up and final results of attendees. Everyone's was so different, but I loved how they all turned out. And we dipped some taper candles in some natural beeswax from my hive to add to the table decor, and richness of color. 

Ceramics:

Vases + plates: Beanpole Pottery

Candlesticks: Notary Ceramics

Introducing PAVAN MUSIC

Music is a key trigger of memory and emotional connection to time. The perfect theme at a pivitol moment in time can make you forget all other thoughts other than what’s happening in the present. That imprint of music can transport you back to that time again and again.

We are strong believers in creating magic in the world through our art. As husband and wife, we vowed to one another to always support each other in our art fields, wherever that takes us. This past year, we noticed an overlap of our work. Tommy, a composer of music, came up with the name Pavan for my floral business, named after a favorite piece of music. With an accompanying playlist, it has set the tone for the movement and overall design for all my florals for my events. 

This year, we are excited to announce the melding of our fields. To further enhance the emotional experience of the ceremonies for our couples we are now offering customized contemporary classical ceremony music that becomes the playlist not just your wedding, but as a piece birthed with careful thought for your love and your marriage throughout the years. We want to create something that helps you revisit one of the best experiences of your lives together. 

Commissioned music used to be a norm for weddings, ceremonies, ballets, and even small dinner parties. We like revisiting those roots of how classic traditions became such a part of our cultures around the world.

Unique to each couple, we will sit down and get to know what mood you want to convey through your love and for your guests. Tommy will write and orchestrate a recording for your ceremony and we will bring in an ensemble of musicians to perform it on your wedding day for you. 

Both florals and music will set a tone for your memories, welcoming guests into a sacred space that is unique only to you. 

It is an honor to work with our couples, and we do not take lightly being trusted with such fine art details for helping make your wedding a magical, memorable experience.

Introducing PAVAN

Over the past year I’ve been honing exactly what I want my brand to represent, and I’ve been digging deep into my roots of who I am, and how to share my aesthetic in a cohesive way that represents the artist in me, while also setting a certain mood for client events. With all the changes and possibilities I want to bring forth, the transitions called for a renaming of my company. I wanted a name that truly represented not only what I’m doing currently, but also represents well what I want to grow it into.

The name PAVAN comes from a Spanish Renaissance dance. Pavane pour une infante défunte is a piece written by the French composer Maurice Ravel, and it encapsulates so much of the essence I want to create with my flowers. Every arrangement is slightly different, allowing the flowers to move in their natural state—a sort of dance of their own.

I’ve created, as a whole, something that resonates with other like-minded people. I hope it makes people feel either nostalgic for something, or it serves as an aspirational guide, or maybe you are just drawn to my work and don’t know why. Maybe it just totally gets who you are right now. 

I create a feeling; a tone for your room. People take in art and beauty, whether or not they even realize they are. My intention is to create a table spread or ceremony set up that is welcoming and warm, and allows guests and clients to enter into the space fully. They may not remember every detail, but they will remember the feeling when they sat down for dinner or exchanged their vows. Those are the magic moments, and I believe florals can transport us there. It is my job as an artist to notice the details many miss, and present them in a way that guides a guest's experience through those elements. That’s what inspires me to create. 

By using floral and candle vessels that have been handmade or hand carved just for me or even items that are vintage that have lived through a past memory, it starts my process honoring another artists’ work and craftsmanship that sets a tone for my design work. 

My work is highly inspired by European arts. As a reaction to what seems gaudy sometimes in our current age, I really try to infuse a genuine elegance that isn’t flashy, but isn’t too understated either by tapping into that inspiration from arts that have stood the test of time. Architecture, paintings, landscapes, music—they all play a role in my design techniques and aesthetic. This also serves as a template for my new workshops.  

Welcome to Pavan Floral.

I look forward to working together and creating beautiful art that goes beyond just a floral arrangement.