RBK Creations

I absolutely love this wedding that I have to show you today. This post is a little delayed but I have had the hardest time picking the photos to share with you. We worked with the bride to create a lot of items for their beach wedding. And I loved that in almost every photo there was some type of button element. A few of the elements were even new to us. It was completely customized.

Even with picking just a few, this will be a very picture heavy post. I spoke with Holly, the bride, and she explains some of the different things that went in to planning her perfect wedding!

Holly and Charles’ wedding was in sunny Key West at the Key West Beachside Marriott in early June. The wedding took place around sunset. They were able to get some great photos before the ceremony took place. All photos were taken by J. Hunter Photography.

I worked with Holly for about 2 months. I got to know her pretty well as we created the different pieces for her big day. It was great to work closely on each element. I was able to get a sense of her personality and the overall feel she wanted. This photo above really shows how much fun the whole group was!

When I asked Holly to explain the overall feel/theme of her wedding, this is what she had to say, “It seemed very hard at first to find a central theme, so finally I just started thinking of my favorite things, trying to think tropical. I have always loved sea turtles. I came to find out that baby sea turtles meant ‘new beginning’, which was perfect for us. The colors were a mix of tropical colors: blues, greens and ivory. We really just wanted a relaxed destination beach wedding!”

In this photo you can see the pomanders on the chairs. I loved making these. They were a labor of love! It was a great way to incorporate the colors of the wedding while keeping it flowing and light. I also asked Holly what her favorite part of planning her wedding. She was kind enough to say, “My favorite part was waiting to see how all the different decorations/flowers turned out for our wedding. I was always getting pictures from Ariela, even at midnight!” What can I say, we work pretty late at night here at RBK Creations! It always seems like I get to emailing/updating customers around midnight or later, especially on weekends.

Some of the items we provided for Holly and Charles are: The Bride had a button bouquet with custom buttons. I think the name we ended up for the bouquet was the Sea Daisy! The groom had a matching button boutonniere. The Matron of Honor and the Best Man had organza pieces. She let her Matron of Honor pick and that is what she went with. It was truly a mixture of the types of pieces we create here at RBK Creations. The bridesmaid bouquets were felt, as were the groomsmen boutonnieres. Each bridesmaid also received a few pins for clutches and fun, flow-y organza hair clips. The parents and grandparents also had matching pieces! The organza pomanders I mentioned above were a lot of fun. They turned out to be huge but it ended up lining the aisle pretty well! There were baby versions on the arch as well.

The tables at the reception had either a button bouquet, felt bouquet or an organza bouquet. There were also buttons scattered as an extra pop of color (as seen above). I made a couple of wine charms for the wine drinkers, also seen above. Each guest was given a little embroidered felt magnet. A lot of the items from the ceremony were reused for the reception! Multi-purpose items are great. Each item also had a great mix of buttons including shells, turtles, dolphins, and so on!

“My favorite item would have to be my bridal bouquet, the head table arrangements were a close second though!” The head table arrangements were a mix of buttons, felt and organza poof stems. They were a lot of fun!

Part of what I was able to learn while working with Holly is how she met Charles. “We are both air traffic controllers, and have really messed up schedules! Out of 300 controllers, in five years we never talked until we had the same schedule last year. (Of Wednesday and Thursday off, with Tuesday being a midnight shift.) His first text message to me was, ‘I have a PB&J and a Ham & Cheese, what should I eat” (This was at 3am!!). and I said, “Depends on what you have to drink…” and well, the rest is history.” How cute is that!

I always like to hear how brides find RBK Creations. It is fun to hear the different ways plus it helps me plan different ways to reach customers! For Holly, she was just searching the Internet and came across out site. “I was searching for ‘blue wedding flowers’ on the Internet. I came across a million different things! Most were very expensive. I was thinking fresh flowers, and then I found some DIY stuff at JoAnns and was so excited! Silk flowers were the way to go. I spent HOURS looking, trying to make the flowers come together…and I just couldn’t do it. It was too hard to match, find enough of the same flowers…UGH! It was so frustrating. Finally, I found some photos of a button bouquet online and a link to RBK Creations. I remember emailing Ariela and Brenda…so late and so excited, hoping they had an open slot! AND THEY DID! And the price was so very appropriate, and I believe their work is completely priceless. I can’t beging to tell everyone how perfect these flowers are. They last forever, create conversation and are absolutely gorgeous.”

The flower girl was Holly’s adorable little girl. We made her a flower ribbon wand and customized a little basket for her. We included some shells and daisies for her to toss as she walked down the aisle. Holly shared the cutest story. She walked down the aisle, all smiles, but would not toss the shells and flowers because she wanted to keep them all. Kids can be so funny!

Told you it would be a lot of photos! And it is only half of what I uploaded. I thought 10 was enough for this post anyway! The photos will be in a photo set on Facebook here in the next few weeks for your viewing!

Holly, Thank you so much for being such a joy to work with. You made our job very easy! It was fun chatting about all of the different elements in your wedding and helping you pick out things like vases and clutches. I really hope we can keep in touch! We also wish you, Charles and little Norah the best!

JHunter Photography, Thank you for taking such great photos! The colors just pop! You were able to capture everything so well!

Key West Beachside Marriott, what an amazing venue! A perfect location for the bride looking for a relaxed, tropical feel!

Thank you all for looking!

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I have been making these button trees for a couple years now! I think it is time for them to go into semi-retirement though! They may return at a later date but with our current work schedule, it won’t be any time soon. I have quite a few of these trees in stock from last year’s craft show. They make great gifts or decor for your desk or home.  All trees are priced for the sale. They were originally $30.00 and currently they are $25.00

I have a range of holidays represented with the trees in stock.

The autumn tree is great for the weather most of the country is having right now! The leaves are starting to change color and this button tree matches that!

The scarecrow tree is the last of the Halloween themed beauties. Still time to get this one to make your decor a little more spooky!

A winter wonderland! Nice, cooling blues and sparkly white. This is even a great combination of colors to leave up all year long. I just love the little snowflake garland.

The Christmas tree is what started it all! I don’t actually have any listed in the shop right now, but soon! I didn’t want to get Christmas things up too early. If you are interested in one before I get it up in the shop, just let me know! I gave a button tree to almost every family member two Christmas’ ago and they were a big hit.

This weekend, I also plan on re-listing some 12 stem halloween, autumn and winter wonderland type bouquets. They are loose stems that would be perfect on a desk or around the house.

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With so much emphasis on the bride, the groom gets left behind in some of the small details for the big day. We have a new line of items just for the groom!

Button Cufflinks are a great touch. They can be given as a gift to the groom on the morning of the wedding. Whether you are going for a full button wedding theme or just wanting that special touch these will do just that! I made up a few different color combinations but with everything else we make, they can be customized to your liking.

I love grey and yellow together. The ivory helps complete this first set of cufflinks. The buttons I used are vintage. I just love the textures in old buttons. They don’t make them the same anymore!

This set is a mix of turquoise and aqua. And again vintage buttons were used (except the top button, that is a newer button). This set of cufflinks also has a matching tie tack!

The Tie Tack is another great item for the groom, groomsmen or other members of the bridal party! The same buttons were used on this specific one.

Along with the cufflinks and tie tacks, I worked on a few different items for the bride and bridesmaids this weekend. I got a few sets of satin flower shoe clips listed in the shop!

This first set is a combination of black satin and a printed satin. I love the printed satin. I have wanted to use it for a long time! You can’t really see the actual pattern once it is transformed into the shoe clips, you just see that it isn’t a solid color. The print actually has dragon and other oriental themed drawings on it. LOVE!

I have had these made up for quite awhile. They are made from a heavy, high quality bridal satin. The yellow is such a fun accent to a solid color shoe. I love the look of the clip against the brown shoe I took the photo on. There is also a matching hair clip up in the shop.

It was a productive weekend. I have many sets of bouquets to share with you over the next few weeks. We are getting into the fall colors and of course some real fall weather! I also have a few Real Wedding Posts in the works.

~Happy Monday!
~Ariela

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I am so excited to show everyone some teaser photos from a project I have been working on.

When I first started making button stems, one of the first things I did was put them in a vase with some flowers. That arrangement is still sitting on a shelf in my room. I love the look of fresh florals with a whimsical touch, something unexpected. Over the past couple of years I have had brides order loose stems to put with their fresh flowers. It is perfect for a bride who still views the wedding as super traditional, loves flowers but wants to stand out a little bit. By creating bouquet alternatives, I know it isn’t for everyone. Hopefully this type of arrangement will allow more and more brides to get the ‘something unique’ they are going for on their big day!

So, I have this concept and  I have created some things on my own but never anything that could truly be considered a bridal bouquet. Sure, I could go get some flower stems, throw them together and call it a day. I can tell you now, it would look NOTHING like what I am about to show you.

I didn’t start searching for a florist for quite some time. We have had a pretty busy year (thank you amazing brides!) so it was put to the side. At first I wanted to work with someone local but when I met Kristen I knew she would be a perfect match for this project. I met Kristen through Flickr of all places! She contacted me, simply saying she liked the bouquets. I was stunned to see a fresh floral person so accepting of the non-traditional bouquet. I also liked how she used her own non-traditional items and mixed them in (some different fabric flowers and other fun materials on the handles of the bouquets). 

We made a plan, we talked colors and types of flowers. I then created a bunch of stems with two different color combinations. Each set had its own completely different feel. Kristen has a photographer she works with and was available for the shoot.

The following photos are only teasers! There are so many more that I will be sharing later in the month/Early October during its official release. Hold on to your pants ladies and gents! These photos are stunning!

These photos make me smile: ear to ear! And yes, RBK Creations + Kio Creations = AWESOMENESS!

(Photo from Kio Kreations, Photography by Tara Etrheim)

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I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. It has finally started to cool down here in Texas and it is very much appreciated! We had a full week of not using the portable air conditioner (in addition to the central air in the house).

The whole weekend was spent in the studio but I am so proud of all we got finished! We really needed this extra day. The day is almost over but I thought I would share a few things that we worked on this past weekend.

I was able to get the red/black/gold/leopard satin order finished this weekend. I just love the little hints of leopard. They are subtle but very fun and playful at the same time. There are numerous pieces of this order that I have posted previously.

This is the last piece of the leopard order that I had left to do. It is a custom piece, just for this bride! Where leopard is subtle in other pieces, for the flower girl (and ring bearer) it is all about the leopard print!

Over this past week we were also able to finish up this organza order. Bright red, a light blue and ivory. The organza gives the bouquet a very fluent look. There are a lot of rhinestone and vintage buttons in this set.

This is the toss bouquet. We added a fun red polka dot ribbon. The organza colors were also mixed on this bouquet where the bride was all red and the bridesmaid was all blue.

This order is a fun mix of yellow, ivory and grey. We also created the stems a little bit different for this set. The bride wanted the bouquet to look like she picked the flowers in a field right before the ceremony. More of a wild flower look. I really like how it turned out. It is a nice mix of something hand made and something natural.

The mix of colors are nice as well. For fall I really like ivory, grey and yellow together.

I just love this ivory satin bouquet. And the bride it is getting sent to, is so sweet. She has said the nicest things and has been a true pleasure to work with. We fit in the order for her even though we got pretty booked up. It was so worth it and I can’t wait to see the photos from her October wedding!

The bridesmaid bouquet is a great mix of deep and bright purples with some great black and purple buttons. In the bride bouquet there is a hint of gold glitter tulle while in the bridesmaid there is a bright purple glitter tulle. This is a set that I am sad to see leave as it is so pretty to look at!

We have recreated this bouquet quite a few times but this time it has ivory instead of white. Mostly, I just like this photo so I thought I would share!

This bouquet is a great mix of a clover green and a rosy pink. I added in some ivory buttons and some ivory daisies. This little bouquet will be a gift. I love when people spead the button love!

The last photo is of a set of bridesmaid felt pomanders. A great mix of orange, ivory and purple. I think I have posted these before but I added in some tulle and buttons to the poms. I used the same purple glitter tulle as the satin bouquet above. Soon I will have some photos of the bride bouquet that matches!

It was a great weekend and I am so grateful for the extra day off of the day job. Tomorrow, however, will be a very long day!

~Ariela

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