Ornamento is the creative masterpiece of the incomparable Orna Maymon. Whenever I think of Orna and her exquisite floral design work, words like opulent, luscious, elegant, exquisite, satisfying and spectacular come to mind.
Based in San Francisco, Orna and her team have been designing gorgeous weddings and events all over the Bay Area and beyond for almost twenty years. More than work, this is artistry, and Orna is a true artist, with a creative imagination that combines minimalist and lavish, vintage and modern, understated and bold in unconventional ways that will leave you open mouthed each time.
The front for all the work that she does is her exquisite flower and gift shop Ornamento, which I featured on the blog a few months ago, and is located inside one of San Francisco’s classic grand hotels, the Fairmont. But a lot goes on behind the scenes.
A few months ago, I had the chance of joining Orna and her team behind those scenes, and document the steps involved in creating one of her magical on-location wedding events. A lot of work by several people over several hours transformed a beautiful though empty space from nothing to spectacular.
The location was the elegant and modern Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel in Menlo Park, a stone’s throw away from Stanford University. Orna and team has just started setting up on the outdoor terrace when I arrived on that hot August afternoon. Gorgeous flower compositions in the chosen white and blue color theme were waiting in the air conditioned anteroom and props were everywhere. This is the stage when everyone wears comfortable clothing and gets down and dirty, even the artist. Especially the artist!
Glorious flower compositions keeping cool and fresh in the air-conditioned anteroom
The flowers in the above images were the first thing I saw. They had me oohing and aahing as I whipped out my camera and started shooting. Then I noticed what was going on outside. So follow me as I take you on this fascinating journey of how an event comes together.
Shall we?….
Center stage: setting up tables, chairs and light supports. It’s all hands to the pump!
It is really hot outside, so I will take you back into air conditioned space for a sneak peek at the bridal flowers. Aren’t they gorgeous?
In the meantime, further progress is being made under the sun.
At stage right, something interesting is happening….
Isn’t that wonderful? A spiraling seating area for the wedding reception, with glorious flowers, of course!
Back at center stage, the sun is lowering in the sky, and it is time to bring out the flowers.
The Children’s Table
Inside and under the porch, tall bar tables are also being decorated with some exquisite dahlia bouquets that had been kept hidden from my sight, meaning they had been kept somewhere cool.
A stunning display of candle light magic is happening inside.
Back outside it is time to light the candles and for final touches.
Everything is ready, even some refreshing color-themed lemonade.
Finally it is time to pin the groom and…. here comes the bride!
Marieme and John were married at sunset on August 8th, 2015.
As the bride headed towards her own wedding, I packed up my gear and prepared to leave. It had been a long day and I still had to drive back to Marin. I was told that, once the party was over, some of the team would return in the night to uninstall and pack up everything, and return the terrace to its original empty condition, ready for a possible new event on the following day.
I cannot show you, but I know that, after dark the whole event turned into a magical candle lit fairyland. If you would like to see some magic-after-dark images, you can check this Ornamento blog page.
I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peek at how wedding magic is created. I am sure you know that anything this beautiful and professional always means a lot, and I mean A LOT of work behind the scenes; usually a lot more than even the ones doing it expect. But it’s worth it, don’t you?
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You might also enjoy viewing Ornamento’s beautiful San Francisco boutique:
