Whitney & Tom - A Plethora of Color!

Whitney wanted lots and lots of bright color everywhere for her wedding at La Massaria. However, she wanted her bouquet to be a bit more subdued and have all that color surround her. Whitney's bouquet was made up of mini white calla lilies, purple lisianthus, stephanotis with crystals inside, and white roses. She wore a beautiful gardenia in her hair. Her husband Don wore a Picasso calla lily on his lapel.


Bridesmaids carried colorful bouquets of lilies, sunflowers, stock, zinnias, and mums. Groomsmen's boutonnieres were made up of stock and green mums wrapped in orange ribbon.




Large arrangements in urns sat on pedestals sat on each side of the front of the aisle for the ceremony.

Colorful carnations and bows decorated the chairs along the aisle path.

I made a colorful topiary, which sat on a pedastal, for each side of the back of the aisle. This was a special request by Whitney.

A different color wire was used to wrap each of the vases that sat on the cocktail tables. I placed a Circus rose in each.

I placed layers of sisal inside a vase and coordinated an arrangement of brightly colored flowers and ting ting on top of the piece that sat on the placecard table.

I designed three different types of centerpices of the guest tables. All of them used brightly colored flowers, glass squares, and colorful acrylics in the base. The first group of tables were "tablescaped". I used three differently sized squares, each filled with one type/color of flower. Votives in glass squares surrounded each centerpiece.

The second group of centerpieces were made up of a mass of one color and type of flower along with matching acrylics.

There were five different flowers/colors on the guest tables.

The third type of centerpiece incorporated a variety of brightly colored flowers set upon a tall glass vase. Inside each container was a stem of larkspur set in clear acrylics.

I decorated the corners of the square layered wedding cake with "bits and pieces" of a variety of flowers. The "N" at the top stands for Nye - the last name of the happy couple.

Pirate Party - Yo Ho Ho!

Whitney and Don celebrated their rehearsal with a dinner at the Desmond Hotel. They chose a pirate theme of purple and gold. The reason was simple - they attended the same college where their colors were purple and gold and the mascot was a pirate! Whitney's favors were treasure chests of chocolate. I filled the large chests with alstromeria and carnations, gold beads, and gold pirate coins. Each chest featured a different pirate element. Looks like I forgot to photograph the spyglass! I had as much fun shopping for this party as I did designing the arrangements. What a great idea Whitney!

Centerpieces for the DEC Christmas Party

This year Whimsical Welcomes was honored to donate the centerpieces for the Christmas luncheon at Marjeanes for the workers (and their families) from the Developmental Enterprises Corp. - North Penn Training Center. I'd like to introduce you to Bill, a member of our family - who used to work at that workshop, but always attends the party with Glenn's Aunt Carolyn. A good time was had by all. Next year I hope to be able to attend the party too, if I don't have another wedding to prep for. I hear the DJ rocked and everybody loved the dancing! I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the arrangements that we made for the party.


This is a red sleigh that I filled with flowers so that Bill could bring a little bit of Christmas back to his group home.






Several people had given me a variety of baskets. I painted them all red and then decorated each of them differently with ribbon and all sorts of cute decorations - presents, sleds, sparkle.... Each basket was later filled with a variety of winter greens and flowers. We had a great time making these for the party.

I couldn't have taken on this project without the help of Sue L. - who helped me decorate and deliver all of the baskets - and Kathy F. - who helped me arrange all of the flowers. The centerpieces were given away as prizes. It was so much fun that we're definitely going to do it again next year!

And finally, an arrangement that I made for Glenn's Aunt Carolyn, as a gift, that sat on the gift table. Happy Holidays everyone!

How To Holiday Centerpiece

Here is an example of a centeriece that I've previously made. But holiday centerpieces don't have to be difficult to make yourself. Cute and easy works just as well. I've written down directions for a centerpiece that I made sitting in the front of the picture below. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Happy Holidays to All!!

1. Purchase an 8" round glass bowl. Michaels has them.

2. Add stick on dots in a pattern around the bowl. Choose from white, green, or red. You can find them in Staples or in the office supply section of Walmart.

3. You'll need at least 15 carnations to fill in the top. Arrange the first layer in a circle so that the heads lay right on the rim of the bowl. Fill in the next layer of carnations against them and finally fill in the center. You can use red, white, or peppermint carnations. They normally come in bundles of 25. Allow them time to warm up after you bring them home and "fluff" out the petals. Carnation stems will snap if you work with them when cold.

4. Add a few drops of food coloring to dye your water either red or green. It won't hurt the flowers. If you have a package of flower food, add it now. If not, a tablespoon of non-flavored Listerine will work.

5. Finally, buy some small Christmas tree balls. You'll need to attach them - with a hot glue gun - to a dowel or stick of some type. I've used wooden sticks that are sold for shishkebob. If you buy balls that are attached to a wire - wrap the wire around the stick to stabilize it more. Insert the balls among the carnations. Centerpiece done! You can also do this for Chanukah with white dots, blue water, white carnations and blue balls. Perfect!

Let me know how they turn out! I'd love to see pictures.

Jeniece and Ferris - Drama in red, white, and black.

Jeniece wanted a color scheme that would "wow" her guests at her wedding at the Mansion at Ridley Creek State Park. She certainly achieved that with dramatic red, white, and black for her flowers and her table linens. It just goes to show you that you can make a statement with color and not have huge flower arrangements on the tables.

Jeniece's bouquet was made up of red Freedom roses. Ferris wore a matching boutonniere.

The Maid of Honor carried white roses with red pins in their center. Bridesmaids carried white roses with crystal clear pins in their center. Groomsmen wore boutonnieres of white roses.

Mini Eiffel towers were filled with spraying grass and red spray roses for the cocktail tables.

Jeniece wanted high and low centerpieces for her tables. For the high centerpieces, I filled Eiffel tower vases with black bubbles. I made pomanders of red carnations to sit on the top. I thought both centerpieces looked terrific with the black tablecloths and red napkins.

I banded black square vases with red ribbon and layered the top with white carnations with black pins for the low pieces. The contrasting table runners provided even more "pop" on the tables.

Pam and John - Under water at the Radnor Hotel

It was very important to me to get the flowers for this wedding just right because the mother of the groom is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Marlyne and her daughters looked beautiful, as pictured. Pam, the bride was radiant. She chose a wonderful color pallette of ivory, peach, and green, which looked so pretty together. Pam had also requested that the flowers in her centerpieces be under water.

I think that we made all her wishes come true.

Pam's bouquet was made up of peach roses, white mini calla lilies, ivory lisianthus, and scattered green dendrobium blooms. I just love the color and texture of her bouquet.

John's boutonniere was made up of a white mini calla lily with a green dendrobium orchid bloom at the base.

This is a photo of the entire beautiful Caruolo family. Bridesmaids carried bouquets made up of peach and ivory spray roses mixed with hypericum berries. They all wore stephanotis in their hair. Groomsmen wore ivory rose boutonnieres. Isn't this one good looking group?

I did a very tall arrangement of peach, green and white flowers to decorate the placecard table.

White hydrangea interspersed with green hypericum berries sat in little orange glass containers on the cocktail tables.

And finally, in tall cylinders of water, I submerged two standard sized white calla lilies which sat on polished river rocks. There were also two underwater acolytes that lit up the flowers - which would look much better in a nightime picture.

Denine & Randall - Gerbers Galore!

Denine's favorite flowers are gerber daisies - which I myself absolutely love - so I was really excited about working with her on her wedding. She wanted to use bright vibrant color pallette of bright pinks, oranges, and lime greens - perfect for a summer wedding at Bolingbroke. Denine added wonderful details to her wedding including the most colorful candy buffet you ever saw! Of course my pictures didn't turn out, so I can't share them with you. But trust me when I say Denine was on top of everything and Bolingbroke was vibrating with color. Besides Denine's bouquet, I think my favorite things were the mantle pieces we had painted for the bride and groom. The tins were personalized with the couples' names and I filled them with wheat grass and what else?......gerber daises!

Denine's bouquet consisted of a layer of bright pink roses upon which I placed a variety of orange and bright pink mini gerber daisies. On top of the daisies, I layered a string of lime green pearls which looked so cute on this bouquet. Randall wore a matching gerber daisy boutonniere.

Bridesmaids carried bouquets of dark pink carnations, orange gerber daisies, and green button mums. My photos were terrible. But the adorable ringbearer box and flower girl pomander came out just fine.

Even though Denine wanted to use fresh gerber daisies everywhere in her wedding, we substituted faux gerbers for the outside ceremony. Gerbers don't retain water real well, especially in the heat, and we were concerned with the temperature in August. I think the ceremony was adorable. I made bouquets of gerber daisies for the railing, hung daises from the chairs on the aisle, and even scattered extra large gerber daisy "heads" along the bridal path. I loved the bright colors of the ribbon and the flowers.

Centerpiece vases either had ribbon and mums wrapped around the outside or were filled with bubbles. Roses, gerber daises, and lime green button mums filled each vase. Very cute flowers for a very cute couple!