I recently had the opportunity to collaborate with a ton of industry professionals on a fabulous styled shoot and wanted to peel back the layers of a styled shoot: to highlight both the positives of a creative exercise like this while also exploring the challenges, particularly color-wise, of designing around a specific theme.

Ikiya, the owner of Intimate Occasions by Ikiya, Michelle, owner of Wandermore Photography, and I linked up early this year with the idea to do a shoot that would feel like a creative exercise in our slow season. We quickly got to brainstorming- what would the theme be? Where would we focus our design efforts? Since it was January when we began planning, it seemed like a no-brainer to design a shoot around Pantone’s Color of the Year: Mocha Mousse.

If you’re not familiar with the concept of the color of the year, here’s a quick primer: each year, Pantone releases their “Color of the Year”- a color meant to be emblematic of the trends in fashion, interiors, and the larger cultural zeitgeist. Last year we got the bright and juicy “Peach Fuzz,” and this year was followed by the warm and rich “Mocha Mousse.”

As a florist, I was excited by the challenge- but I also knew right away how much of a struggle it would be to design a color palette of florals around a color that doesn’t occur in nature frequently! Sure, if you filter by “brown” on your wholesaler’s website, a lot will come up- but as one of my studio’s values, I don’t design using dyed flowers, as the chemicals can be harmful for the environment and those flowers generally can’t be composted back to the earth.

So here’s how I approached it: the mocha mousse color would serve as a touchstone for the project, anchoring all the textile goods (table linens, ceremony drapery, etc) and rentals (chairs, plates, utensils), and the florals would feature colors that complement mocha mousse, without necessarily being so literal as to include the color itself.

Check out my design deck here:

My initial color palette, accompanied by a sketch I did of a potential ceremony design and several inspiration images from other florists.

As you can see, I decided to focus on the colors that would naturally lead into a deep, rich brown: creamy ivories, soft peach tones, and deepening orange hues. It was important to me that the designs felt lush, romantic, and feminine, featuring lots of soft, round blooms and bouncy textures. My goal was to complement the somewhat masculine vibe of the mocha mousse color with softer hues and tones.

Here’s how I pulled that together into a floral inspiration board:

A floral inspiration board is always just that: inspiration. I try to craft mine with seasonal availability in mind, but the main goal is to convey the types of textures and colors I’ll be using in the design. The only “must-have” element for me here was the dried bracken fern- I really wanted that rich brown color and interesting texture, so I ordered some to come shipped from California. Out of the rest of the florals, many of the blooms on this board weren’t available the week of the shoot! Part of event floristry is staying on your toes and making it work.

Without further ado, here are some shots of how it all came together: