Bellissima Floral Creations has been part of the Lake Tahoe, California community since 2002. They are a full service wedding and special event floral design company, creating distinctive arrangements with unique and personal touches for clients' most treasured occasions. Bellissima was founded by Sara Spurlock, who takes great pride in providing thorough, hands-on service for her clients. She is the lead designer and is involved in all aspects of the design and creation process. She considers her design style to be whimsical and resonate with updated elegance.
Bellissima has been featured in Modern Bride, Today's Bride, Destination I Do, brides.com, and San Francisco Bride Unveiled
What inspired you to become a florist and start your own business?
Artistic talents run in my family and I've always been drawn to creative and crafty activities. As friend's started to get married, I wanted to contribute to their special day. I decided to put my creative drive to work as "florist" for these engaged friends. All it took was one time and I was hooked! Considering all the different varieties of flowers, vessels, presentations, and each client's unique personality, I realized the possibilities are endless.
Do you have a unique style or specialty?
These are some catchphrases that characterize the Bellissima Floral style: unique, personalized, unexpected, whimsical, organic, festive. I love to think outside the box and to create something different each time. I spend hours researching and brainstorming for ideas that either might match a client's personality or may pose as interesting ideas that I can present to future clients. I also pride myself on getting to know my clients and the personality for their event so that their vision can be understood and translated into an amazing reality.
After working with hundreds of clients, I am sure you receive an eclectic variety of requests. What is the most interesting? What is the most common?
I've definitely had some interesting visions to translate: ostrich feathers in the centerpieces, enchanted elegance, black and white wedding, vintage Hollywood Glam, woodland chic, contemporary whimsical, "007" theme.
These nontraditional concepts have been some of the most fun to brainstorm and create because the clients really wanted something unexpected that pushed the limit.
The most common request I receive is that the flower decor reflects the Tahoe surroundings and contributes to the setting. I find that this is important regardless of the theme. I never want anything to look out of place. It needs to compliment and be cohesive with the venue and personality of the event.
What do you love about being a florist?
Since Bellissima specializes in floral designs for weddings and parties, I get to meet a lot of different people and get to know my clients pretty well. Because I am trying to make sure that each even resonates with the client's personality, I am always creating original designs and arrangements. The work is never dull and always innovative! I love that I can contribute to such a memorable day in people's lives.
Do you have a favorite event that you designed?
I have so many, it's hard to choose. One that sticks out is a wedding last fall at PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn. The clients wanted the florals to come across as organic, yet contemporary, warm, and elegant. The colors were eggplant, white, and green with accents of matte silver and brown. The floral and design elements were eggplant calla lilies, white orchids, gardenias, white tulips, dark purple lisianthus, green grasses, moss, polished natural stones. It was important to the clients that the dining tables be welcoming and warm, while articulating their modern, simple style. The tables were set-up in long, family-style rows. Flowers spilled down the center of each long table, individual types of flowers filling various sized clear glass, cylinder vases. The centerpiece layout included TONS of votives scattered among the florals. Half of the votives were presented in taller footed candle holders so the candle-light was dimensional. Half of the tables were dressed with ivory satin linens, and the other half with a beautiful brocade "oyster shell" (soft grey).
The menus, tucked into the deep plum napkins at each place setting, were printed in brown on ivory cardstock and we used mahogany brown chivari chairs. The seating cards were displayed on soft beds of moss stuffed into dark brown wooden boxes. The guest book/memory table was edged in dark brown wooden boxes planted with wheat grass. For the cocktail tables and powder rooms, we floated gardenias, orchids, and floating candles in bowls lined with little river stones.
Due to the thunderstorms, the ceremony had to be pulled indoors at the last minute. Luckily we had ordered some up-lighting, originally intended for lighting some large arrangements in the corners of the room during the late night, dancing portion of the reception. Instead, we used the up-lights to highlight the altar arrangements: square matte silver urns stuffed full of moss, pampas grass, and steel grass. This, along with a lot of extra candle-light, really added drama and romance to the indoor ceremony. Regardless of unexpected circumstances caused by the weather, the event came out beautifully: romantic, warm, welcoming, lush, elegant, and organic.
Since the wedding will take place in 3 locations at the Cornerstone Gardens, it is important to direct the guests - what better way than simple wooden signs with white paint? We have toyed with the idea of using benches for the ceremony and then re-purposing them as lounge furniture during dancing in the Barn - the image above shows the benches but dressed with pillows to incorporate color!
