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.



https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1455099_10153387813720034_1719505147_n.jpg



 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.