Gingerleaf Floral

I cannot say enough good things about Ellen at Gingerleaf Floral. It was important to me and my groom that we sourced as many of our vendors locally, from Oakland or Berkeley, as possible. I stumbled upon Ellen, just a few minutes away from us in Oakland, during an internet such for local florists and read her amazing reviews. Once I'd met with her, I knew that all our wedding flowers were taken care of, and I didn't need to give it another thought. Ellen is thoughtful, attentive, buzzing with creative energy, and clearly knows her craft. We didn't have a huge budget for flowers, and we also didn't need lots and lots of arrangements, as we were being married at my groom's parents' home and holding a celebration lunch in the home of a neighbor. Ellen came up with the most amazing wedding flowers I have ever seen (and yes, I am completely biased) within the budget that we had. I provided her with an idea of my dress (it wasn't completely made yet, so I didn't have a picture) and the color themes that we were using. We discussed ideas during a very easy and comfortable first meeting, where she gently guided me through the process and covered all the points she needed from me, to allow her to do her thing (e.g. how many gentlemen needed boutonnieres, were any of them children as their flowers should be scaled, etc.) Throughout the entire process, from that first meeting to delivery of the flowers on the day, her attention to detail and organization were second only to mine ;) I really appreciated her few communications in the "between" time. She made herself open to any questions or queries that I might have (I really didn't have any, as I had complete confidence in her from that first meeting), but was also up front that she wouldn't necessarily be communicating all that much with me, unless she needed to, but not to worry. That was great, as it again gave me confidence that it was all under control, and one less thing to worry about. That confidence was not misplaced. Boy, did Ellen deliver! For my bouquet, she put together the most beautiful and elegant arrangement of two-tone ivory and eggplant calla lilies, surrounded by a collar of burgundy cymbidium orchids. The handle was wrapped in ivory ribbon, fixed with a vintage Eisenberg ice brooch that I bought from a jeweller on Etsy.com My favourite part of the bouquet was a photograph of me with my father, who died just over two years ago, which Ellen incorporated at the back of the bouquet, where only I could see him. As I descended the stairs to join my groom, my dad was there with me. Alex's boutonniere was a simple ivory/eggplant calla lily to echo my bouquet, with the other gentlemen keeping it stylish with ivory roses on their lapels. Our table arrangements included roses, dahlias, callas, cymbidium orchids, snowberry, a couple varieties of eucalyptus, blue acacia and dusty miller. They trailed beautifully over the lunch table. In all honesty, before the wedding, I wasn't too sure how much the flowers really mattered. I knew I wanted to have some, bringing a little color into the day, and adding a little something to the gents' suits. But I had no idea how much they would be THE key element in tying everything together - nor did I have any idea just how much a woman can really, truly LOVE her bridal bouquet! It looked AMAZING in the photos and it lasted for weeks and weeks after the wedding, and every morning I got up and saw it there... Well, it was a just great feeling of happiness. The photos of the flowers will be some of my favorites from the entire wedding day. And all this is testament to Ellen's...

Ellen is such a delight to work with! She is very professional, supportive, fun to work with, and super talented! I couldn't be happier with the floral arrangements she put together for my wedding. She did not only design the floral arrangements, she also helped me with designing the overall look of my wedding and kept that in mind when she delivered her work. All my guests were gushing to me about how beautify everything looked, and thanks to Ellen, she made it all come together. I highly recommend her. She is worth every penny!

I asked several local florists for estimates, and Ellen was one of the most helpful and willing to work with me to come up with something I'd love that would fit my budget. That's when it became clear she was my top choice to work with. In addition to that, she was patient when I adjusted my order a few times as my vision came together, which I really appreciated. Finally, it didn't take much work on my end to get what I wanted. I gave Ellen a color scheme and some pictures of other arrangements I liked, and she ran with it and came through with flying colors, creating bouquets and arrangements that I absolutely loved and that fit my vision to a T. (My vision was a little vague to start with, so I'm especially thrilled that what she provided was so spot on!) Ellen is an artist and wonderful to work with. I'd recommend her highly!

This review is long overdue,thanks to a very hectic work schedule these days!Ellen designed all the floral arrangements for our wedding this past August in SF at the Westin St Francis .Both my husband and I were blown away by her professionalism and the unique arrangements she designed that so beautifully tied in our color scheme with the feel of the venue. With her back ground in graphical design, upon our first consult, she made great suggestions that pulled in elements from our card as well as our venue. Through out the process she constantly helped us stay within our initial budget. We were utilizing two different rooms with different color schemes for ceremony and reception. She designed our floral arrangements so that we were able to re-utilize all of the arrangements from the ceremony site in the reception ballroom for a more grand look. Ellen exceeded our expectations with her floral design for our Persian Ceremony spread("Sofreh aghd"). It was amazing to see how with only a few images,and no previous such experience, Ellen was able to come up with a scheme that blended in our cultural elements on the Sofreh with a modern twist. We were fortunate to have great vendors for our wedding, but Ellen stood apart with her punctuality, professionalism, great personality and artistic vision. Thank you so much Ellen!!

Ellen is incredible!She is a joy to work with and truly an artist. Our flowers were exquisite and even lasted a week and a half after the wedding. She created exactly what I had pictured!

Ellen at Gingerleaf Floral is fantastic! She is creative and artistic but also really listens to what her clients want. I wanted very traditional orange rose arrangements for my July wedding and was very specific when telling her my vision. She executed it perfectly! She was completely professional and quick to respond. She worked with me to create my dream wedding florals and I am confident I could not have chosen a better florist.

I did a lot of online research when trying to find a florist for my SF wedding. I came across Ellen in a few different places and while she had great reviews, I wasn't sure if her style was in line with mine. I am extremely traditional and sort of in-the-box and the pictures I saw of her work, while beautiful, were a lot more creative and unique than what I was going for. Since she had such great reviews, I decided to just meet with her anyway. I met with quite a few florists and Ellen was by far the best one! I met with her in her home and I brought my mom and sister with me and they both agreed that Ellen was the best florist we met. She was really lovely and listened to everything I told her. I was really particular about what I wanted for flowers and didn't want to veer from that. I didn't think I did a great job of explaining my vision to Ellen but she seemed to understand. Just to be sure, I asked her to create a mock-up of the centerpieces. It was around Thanksgiving and since my flowers were orange roses, I figured it work work out well as our dinner centerpiece. The moment I saw the centerpiece, I knew that Ellen heard everything I said - it was PERFECT! I booked Ellen well in advance and she frequently checked in with me by email to see how things were going and I really appreciated that! She is super organized which is a huge plus to a type-A controlling bride like myself. She was one of the few vendors that I had complete faith in. I knew she'd show up, on time, with everything just right. And that she did! I absolutely LOVED the flowers at my wedding and I have had so many compliments on them. Ellen was wonderful and I'd recommend her to anyone!

Ellen Kim of Gingerleaf floral was absolutely amazing! She really listened to our needs, our likes/dislikes and overall concept that we were going for in our wedding and added her own artistic flare. She really brought everything together in a beautifully unified floral landscape. I would use her over and over again for any event. She has a wonderful, easy going personality and is extremely pleasant to work with!

Ellen has been an extremely professional, prompt, understanding and overall great person and floral vendor to work with. I cannot think of enough nice words to describe the service, and beautiful arrangements she came up with for my wedding. The colors she put together were completely out of this world. She worked with me every step of the way to ensure that I was happy and we were always within budget. On the wedding day she stayed and made sure everything went off without a hitch and made me feel very special because the flowers felt very unique. I would definitely recommend Ellen and Gingerleaf Floral to anyone getting married and I only wish I could get married again to have her do the flowers all over again :)

Words do not describe the wonder is inspired by Gingerleaf's arrangements. Ellen at Gingerleaf has converted me from a tomboy bride reluctant to spend money on flowers to a true fan of all things Gingerleaf. We knew when we met her that she was a real find; there's just a sense of magic when you meet someone who is doing something they love. Our instincts were so spot on. The way I looked at her flowers almost made my hubby jealous. We got compliments all around for the flowers - many from men! :) She was also very willing to work with our budget, but her work is absolutely priceless.