Sunday, December 22, 2013

Amy & Pat - Aldie Mansion Magic

I've known Amy's parents for a long long time. They're one of our dearest couple friends with whom we share a lot of fun times. Thus, I've known Any since she was a little girl. And it was truly my pleasure and an honor to help Amy and Pat with their wedding decor at Aldie Mansion and then attend her wonderful wedding. And I was so proud of how hard they worked on the many, many details for their special day.

 Amy and Pat wanted to use a color palette of ivory, peach, and light green with accents of gray. So I designed Amy's bouquet to reflect that. I used ivory roses, peach roses, mini white calla lilies, and mini-green hydrangea in Amy's bouquet. The stems were bound with gray ribbon. I also used an ivory rose for Pat's boutonniere.

Bridesmaids carried bouquets similar to Amy's bouquet made up of ivory roses, peach roses, and mini green hydrangea. Groomsmen wore peach rose boutonnieres.


One of the flower girls chose to hold her pomander while the other carried hers.


Moms wore pearl wrist corsages of peach flowers. Dads also wore peach spray rose boutonnieres.


The wedding party processes down the stone garden path to the ceremony location. I filled my rental metal cones with peach and white flowers and lined them up along the path.



Flower arrangements for the ceremony stood to the right and left of the stone garden patio. This is a beautiful setting for a wedding ceremony.


A bride can choose to have a small table placed at the base of the stairs in the mansion. Amy and Pat chose this table on which to place photos of loved ones that are no longer with them. I added a vase of flowers in their memory.


Amy and Pat collected wine corks with which I filled the glass container of flowers. The five wine bottles were to be signed by their guests with one being opened up on each of their first five anniversaries.


I like to see some color on the entry table. Often brides put their programs on this table or some other information they wish to share with their guests. I filled this vintage birdcage with small ivory and peach flowers and added rose petals as well.


I like to put a wreath on the door at Aldie Mansion so that guests know through which door to enter. I made this wreath out of silk flowers so that it could be saved. The tulle was knotted at the bottom so that it didn't get caught.


I used a green rose on top of river rocks in a glass square for each of the inside cocktail tables. Outside I had double green pots filled with white hydrangea and peach mini-carnations.


Amy's friend made this wonderful seating chart for guests. Amy also created a fabulous candy bar for favors, but unfortunately I don't have a photo of it.



Amy's table decor was based on gray chevron table runners that she had made for her wedding. I followed through with her color palette with two similar, but different, centerpieces.  Both flower arrangements were made in large glass bowls.  The bottoms were filled with clear acrylics.  For the first style, I used pretty summer flowers including green hydrangea, white dahlias, and peach carnations.



On the other half of the tables, I filled the glass containers with white hydrangea, green roses, and peach Asian lilies.




A mix of all the flowers were used in the bowl on Amy & Pat's table.




 I added peach roses to the cake.  To the right and the left of the cake are wedding pictures of the bride and groom's parents. 


Congratulations to Amy & Pat.  May you always be as happy as you were on your wedding day!

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Rachel & Matthew - Lots of Lemony Love!

Rachel and Matthew choose a white, yellow, and black color palette for their wedding at Chester County Country Club. We naturally thought of all the perfect summer daisies with black accents that would work perfectly for her. I loved working on this wedding and with the very easy going Rachel.

 Rachel chose to use beautiful white summer peonies for her bouquet. I loved how her rosary looked wrapped around the stems.


Bridesmaids' bouquets were made up of yellow daisies and Baby's Breath. Groomsmen also had yellow daisies for their boutonnieres.


Moms carried small nosegays of white daisies and Dads wore matching boutonnieres.


I made large yellow, white, and black flower arrangements for the altar at church.


And I placed small bouquets of yellow daisies with black bows down the aisle of the church.


Rachel bought "Lemonheads" to fill cocktail table martini glasses. I put a large fuji mom on top of them and set off the look with black wire heart stirrers that we made.


Because their wedding was at a golf club, and Matt plays golf, I created a an urn of flowers and golf clubs for the placecard table.


Low glass cylinders were filled inside with yellow lemons to sit on guest tables. I added mounds of white hydrangea to the top and scattered cute yellow daisies around in it. Rachel used black chair covers with yellow ties that looked fabulous!  I also created smaller versions of these for the sweetheart table.


My very favorite arrangements for this wedding were the tall pieces. Rachel was such a good sport to allow me to create something brand new for her. I had bases put onto wooden table legs that I had and then had them crackle painted by our artist, Carolyn. I then created pomanders of daisies on the top. And because Rachel was having a black and yellow wedding, we added a little bumble bee to each one!


Congratulations to Rachel and Matthew. May you have many, many years of happiness together!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Cheryl and Matt - Lovely Lavender

Cheryl chose a beautiful color palette of white and lavender with a touch of light purple and silver accents for her wedding. For her indoor ceremony at Blair Mill Inn, Cheryl carried a gorgeous bouquet of white roses and lavender lisianthus. I scattered stephanotis throughout the bouquet and added rhinestones to their center. Cheryl found wonderful rhinestone pins which I added to the centers of some of her white roses.  Matt's boutonniere was made up of a white rose.


Bridesmaids carried bouquets of white roses mixed with lavender carnations. Groomsmen wore a matching lavender carnation boutonniere.


Blair Mill Inn has two different arches that a bride can use. Cheryl added tulle to the white light arch. We added a spray of lavender, white, and light purple flowers to the center of the arch for color.


Cocktail tables need just a touch of color for a wedding. For Cheryl's tables I added white and purple alstromeria to purple tinted bud vases.


In silvery Mercury glass containers, we made arrangements of lavender and white flowers.  White pillar candles were added to the flowers for the placecard table decor.



The wedding cake was topped off by double silver hearts.  We scattered fresh white rose petals, mixed with silk purple petals, around the base of the cake.  The toss bouquet is sitting off to the side.


Congratulations to Cheryl and Matt.  May all your days be as wonderful as your wedding day.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Kelly and John - Magnificant Memorial Day

Kelly and John's Memorial Day weekend wedding was a bit of a humbling experience for me. They had invited any and all guests to dress in the uniform in which they had served. It was so striking to see young men as well as gentlemen of an "advanced" age dressed in their blues and grays and whites. So impressive!

Kelly chose a color palette of yellow, black, and white. All of the bouquets were a variation of those colors. Kelly carried a bouquet of yellow roses - some with black pins in them - and white mini-calla lilies. The two MoHs held bouquets of white roses and yellow mini-calla lilies white the bridesmaids' bouquets were made up of white carnations and yellow mini-calla lilies. And the junior bridesmaid - Kelly's daughter - carried a bouquet of yellow roses with yellow mini-calla lilies. They all blended together so nicely. John did not wear a boutonniere on his uniform but the groomsmen did wear yellow rose boutonnieres.

The ground was wet and the winds were blowing far too hard to hold Kelly and John's ceremony where they would have liked - down the garden path. Fortunately Aldie has several good locations for ceremonies so they opted to use the front courtyard with the fountain as a backdrop - so beautiful!
The balcony at Aldie is a great place for a bride to toss a bouquet or to use just for photographs. So I like to add a little something to the black rail. Here I used yellow ribbon bows and streamers. I caught the bridesmaids out there taking a peek below.
Outside patio tables and the inside cocktail tables were decorated with small squares of yellow foam with a white hydrangea. I added a black ribbon square for another pop of color.
Kelly made this wonderful wreath to greet her guests as they entered Aldie Mansion. I think it's so nice to add something warm and welcoming.
When you step through the door at Aldie, there is a small table in the foyer. Many brides will leave programs or something similar there for guests to take. I usually do something small and colorful on that table. At this wedding, I used squiggle vases!
It's difficult to see because of my stellar photography skills, but this is a picture of the placecard area arrangement. I used white and yellow flowers for this and spray painted "greens" black in color to complete Kelly's color palette.
I table-scaped half of the tables for this wedding. Each of the cylinders contained one type of flower plus black marbles. I used either hydrangea, yellow roses, or mini calla lilies in one of the three vases.
I believe that when you take flowers "apart", the alternate centerpiece should contain all of the flowers "put together".  I like the balance. So, I made arrangements of white hydrangea, yellow roses, and white calla lilies for the other half of the tables. Black was incorporated through the use of black marbles.
Kelly's attention to detail was phenomenal. She even decorated the candles for the head table beautifully.
Congratulations to a wonderful couple - Kelly and John. It was a pleasure to be a part of your wedding!


PS - I felt a little bit like Santa Claus at this wedding for waiting for me was a beautiful tray of delicious cookies! One of my former lovely brides - Christin Cicippo-Smith - surprised me with this adorable tray of cookies. Thank you soooo much Christin - they were so yummy! (She knows I'll work for cookies!)

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Amy & John - A Rose is a Rose is a Rose


I watched Amy grow up from an adorable little girl into a beautiful woman and a gorgeous bride. It was an honor to be asked to help with her wedding as well as attend it! And what a wedding it was! The festivities included an Elvis impersonator, great music, good food, and tons and tons of homemade cookies. Who could ask for anything more? We had so much fun!

Amy always seems to be smiling and happy, so it felt completely right for her to choose bright and cheerful. colors for her wedding.   Her teardrop bouquet reflected Amy's sunny disposition and included a lot of brightly colored flowers such as calla lilies, roses, hypericum berries, lisianthus, gerber daisies, and alstromeria. I made John's boutonniere out of a matching calla lily.


I used different dazzling colored flowers to contrast the bridesmaids' gowns of shades of purple.  Flowers included orange roses, lime green mums, pink alstromeria, and purple carnations.  Groomsmen wore boutonnieres of orange roses with a touch of green flowers.





Larger brightly colored flowers graced the church altar for Amy and John's ceremony.




 For the reception, I made fun little cocktail table arrangements in curvy vases of different colors and filled them with various flowers and ting ting.


 

I arranged lime green, orange, hot pink, and purple flowers on a large purple vase to decorate the placecard table. Amy used cute LOVE placecard holders.



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 We used a lot of happy, brightly colored flowers for the guest table centerpieces all arranged in squares. Half of the glass squares were filled with vividly colored acrylics of various colors. I used a variety of Spring flowers in each of them.



My favorite design of the entire wedding sat on the other half of the tables.  Amy stenciled white ceramic squares with a Rose - her new last name! Do you believe it was her first time stenciling? She did a spectacular job with these containers that I filled with purple hydrangea and an array of brightly colored roses.



Congratulations and love to Amy and John.  It was a pleasure being part of your special day!

PS:  The larger photographs were taken by Candace Baldwin Photography.

PPS:  This is the adorable Teddy in his tux.  He lives across the street also.