BOCA EUROPEAN FLOWER MARKET

December 1, 2006

What a busy weekend it turned out to be! Definitely

more than i bargained for...  We started off at the 

Metropolitan Club of Washington. Members and their

friends only.  I heard it's almost impossible to get a

membership now. I found it very interesting - not

your high-tech trendy place, but rather one with an

old-fashioned charm and impecable service and

plenty of beautifully decorated rooms to wander.  

The centerpices for dinner tables were quite

remarkable. The designer chose low sitting cylinder

vases with wide bases; inside, walls of the vases

were lined with tropical leaves. Arrangements were

assembled loosely and airy, and multi-level style

but low with red and pink roses, sprayroses and

focus-pocus sweetheart roses.  I do enjoy

focus-pocus variety a lot: it has a much smaller

head than a regular rose, but it is so intensely 

deep burgundy, almost velvetly to touch with

tiny yellow strikes throughout. Very special.

To give support to yellow strikes in focus- pocus,

the designer used delicate flowers of gloriosa.

Very clever.

Gloriosa variety:

December 2, 2006

Saturday started off with the attendance of

Honors Luncheon at the Kennedy Center. 

Some 300 plus people were invited. All of them

are members of numerous committees and

boards for the Center. Embassadors, senators

and high profile business people were in

abundance. All the commitees and boards were

announced and acknowledged, and it was

quite humorous how long the list was: there

was a Board of Trustees and President's Advisory

Committee, the National Committee for the

Performing Arts, the Kennedy Center Washigton

Committee, the Kenedy Center Community Advisory

Board and... well, etc., etc. etc... I could

not help but think: how could anybody possibly come

up with so many board names with just slight

variations in names! Makes economic sense though

- the more committees, the more money to the

Center (this year they collected over $64 mil.)-

memberships cost money!

Centerpieces for tables are worth talking about. 

The linens were black and white, with lime

green chairs and same color napkins. Interesting.

Centerpices were arranged as a collective

group of smaller arrangements with the same

theme - lime green flowers: cymbidium orchids,

jade roses, green goddess callas, mostly.  The

hardware was different shapes and sizes clear

glass vases.  Now, the most interesting/creative

feature: inside of the vases were... thinly sliced

and stacked one on top another fresh green

apples. The structure was hold together by picks?

You could not see the support but something

was there. Definitely.  I could not help but wonder:

how much did Kennedy Center pay per table for

arrangements: approximate cost just for the

hardware should have been close to $100!

In the evening, we attended a wedding for 

a daughter of a well-known Washington family. 

Although the arrangements for the altar were

quite ordinary: from afar it looked like big

arrangements with not enough flowers.

Nevertheless, I know exactly what the designer was

trying to achive: an airy, English-garden look. 

But the distance from the viewer to the altar was

not taken into considiration - the result was that

the effect was lost. Beware not to make the

same mistake! However, at the entrance of the

church, where you can be so close to

arrangement, it looked nice and charming:

Above: Church entrance wedding arrangement

at Chevy Chase in English-garden style

Here's more arrangements from the reception

at Chevy Chase Country Club:

The designer used same English-garden look

using white high-end flowers like roses,

French tulips, white and green hydrengias

and oceana roses. One final note not related

to the wedding: Chevy Chase is such a nice

place, really, but I could not beleive how poorly

it was decorated for X-mas. Don't get me wrong,

there were plenty of money spent on christmassy

items, but the choice of them and placement....

could hardly be worse. A lesson to learn: it's not

about how much money was spent, it's about how

good your designer was...

December 3, 2006

And as a grand finale for the weekend... Sunday

was a night to remember: The Kenedy Center

Honors Gala. It was started off at the Four

Seasons Hotel with a private coctail party.

The gowns, the furs, the jewelry. A wonderful

treat to a people watch! We later proceeded to

a Kennedy Center, and really, that night there

were more limos in Washington D.C. than regular

cars! Amazing.  It was an A list party: President

Bush, First Lady, Vice President of the United

States, C. Rice, Dolly Parton, Andrew Webber,

Steven Spielberg, Smokey Robinson, Zubin Mehta,

Jessica Simpson, Tom Hanks, Reese Witherspoon

and many other stars and state people were in

attendence.  A usual Washington scene, I was

told.  This gala is going to be aired on CBS on

December 26, 2006. Watch it! Gala was followed

by a dinner at the Kennedy Center. For centerpices

for the Honors Gala, the designers used silver

covered natural branches that looked like miniature

trees with the branched covered with clear glass

whimsical beads. A base was a tight arrangement of

white hydrengias and white open roses that looked

like a fluffy snow base for the trees. Different. Not a

bad idea for non-denominational parties of our times...