A Little Floral Wonderland at Bvlgari Hotel Tokyo
It's kind of unbelievable to think that my creative journey first started in the world of blogging. One of my earliest passions was writing and taking photographs for my silly little Tumblr blog. A passion that somehow took on a life of its own, evolving into different creative pursuits and eventually bringing me to where I am today: a florist working from my little home studio in Tokyo.It's funny how it all began with a love for writing, when these days I can barely muster up the energy to string together a sentence for this blog. I'm not going to lie, the arrival of ChatGPT has certainly had an impact on my writing habits. Years after creating my website and publishing my very first blog post, I now find myself struggling to get back into the rhythm of writing. But here I am, giving it another go!
As the weather grows colder here in Tokyo, I'm lucky enough to still be surrounded by beautiful blooms and to have had the opportunity to work on some truly wonderful projects.Granted, the rain has had a habit of showing up at the most inconvenient moments lately, but flowers have a way of making any occasion feel just that little bit more special. And lucky me, I get to be the little ray of sunshine bringing in the blooms!
Today, I wanted to share a particularly special project I had the pleasure of working on alongside Fun Creative Team: a romantic proposal setup at the beautiful Bvlgari Hotel Tokyo.
Working with Fun Creative Team is nothing new, but creating a setup featuring eight flower meadows was certainly a first for me. A little scary? Absolutely. But incredibly exciting, too!
The Flower Selection
Reference Images sent by our client Raymond, as you can see although both are purple color palette, one has a more blue tone and the other more of a lilac tone.
Every floral setup or bouquet I create begins with a colour palette. My clients will send me over reference photographs, inspiration images, or a general idea of the atmosphere they'd like to create. From there, I start putting together a selection of flowers that I think will bring their vision to life.
As a creative, I have a terrible habit of building these visual images in my head. Only to realise that translating them into something clear for my clients isn't always the easiest task. I'm incredibly grateful that so many of my clients put their trust in me, especially when it comes to creating something for such an important moment in their lives.
That being said, I do try my best to give them a little glimpse into what they can expect, whether that's through mood boards, colour palettes, or a curated selection of flowers. For this particular project, the client shared two different inspiration images. One featured cooler blue-toned arrangements, while the other leaned towards softer lilacs and purples.
Rather than immediately settling on one direction, I put together two different floral selections for the client to choose from. After a little back and forth, we settled on a dreamy palette of lilacs, soft purples, and whites, with plenty of texture and movement to create that whimsical, meadow-like feeling.
The flowers selected for the lilac color palette.
The flower selection that features a little more blue toned blooms.
The Process
Once the client is happy with the floral selection and gives me the green light, it's time to place the flower order and get everything moving! For this setup, we also arranged a site visit to see both the original proposal location and the backup space in case of rain.
With eight flower meadows to arrange, we wanted to make sure that the setup and cleanup would run as smoothly as possible, with everything properly coordinated with the hotel. I took measurements of both spaces and started imagining how the arrangements would sit within each setting. Being able to see the venue in person makes such a difference, especially when working with larger floral installations.
The hotel team was also incredibly accommodating, kindly allowing us to incorporate some of their candles and low tables into the setup. These little additions helped create different heights and dimensions, bringing the entire scene together.And with everything planned out, all that was left was to cross our fingers for some sunshine!
The Result
Well… turns out the weather had other plans.Unfortunately, the rain came pouring down on the day of the proposal, which meant moving everything to our backup location. Thankfully, with some wonderful teamwork and careful coordination, all eight flower meadows made it safely to the venue, and we were able to bring the vision to life indoors.
Once the initial arrangements were in place, I added a few extra stems of foliage, flowers, and delicate fillers on-site to soften the edges and give everything that lovely, natural, just-picked-from-a-meadow feeling.
Hydrangeas were a particularly important part of the design, as they appeared throughout the client's inspiration images. I made sure to incorporate them into the arrangements, alongside wispy pampas grass, wild cosmos, roses, and lisianthus, all in beautiful shades of lilac and white. The result was a soft, romantic floral wonderland that brought a little bit of the outdoors inside.
And most importantly...
She said YES!
A Second Look
One of my favourite things about flower meadows is just how versatile they can be. Unlike more traditional arrangements, they can be moved, rearranged, and restyled to create entirely different scenes throughout an event.For the proposal itself, we arranged the flowers into a romantic half-moon meadow, creating an intimate little space for the big question.
Later, during the couple's engagement photoshoot, we gave the flowers a second life. We brought one of the sofas into the space and rearranged the meadows around it, allowing the flowers to naturally frame the couple.The result was this dreamy, romantic little setting that almost looked like something straight out of a Korean drama. Don't you think?
I love that we were able to create two completely different looks using the same flowers. It's one of the reasons I enjoy working with flower meadows so much. There's so much room to play, experiment, and transform a space.
Until the Next Floral Adventure
I am truly obsessed with how this project turned out, and I couldn't be more grateful to have been part of such a special moment.A huge thank you to Fun Creative Team for another wonderful collaboration, and to everyone involved in bringing this little floral wonderland to life.
And of course, wishing the newly engaged couple a lifetime of love, laughter, and beautiful memories together!I can't wait for another opportunity to create something like this.
If you're dreaming up a romantic proposal, intimate wedding, or elopement in Tokyo and would love to have flowers be part of your special day, I'd be delighted to help bring your vision to life. I'll be here, scissors and blooms in hand!
With love from Studio Sunny in Tokyo,
Louie
FINAL CREDITS: PHOTOGRAPHER @aleacostaphoto ORGANIZATION & VIDEO @tgibralta LOCATION BVLGARI HOTEL TOKYO
