Corey's Baby Shower - Rubber Duckie you're the one!

Corey and JC collect small rubber duckies. Naturally, I thought this was the perfect theme for her baby shower at Columbia Station in Phoenixville. I had a blast shopping for duckie goodies prior to the shower. Most of the gifts that we gave her had a duck theme too - duck towels, duck pjs, duck toys, duck bathrobe, duck bibs, duck bottles, etc. . Barbara and I had so much fun preparing for this party and Jackson's arrival.

The large welcoming doors to Columbia Station look wonderful with some type of wreaths on them. I always suggest this to my brides who are having their weddings there. For Corey, I made two large blue and yellow Spring wreaths to go with her color palette.

After entering the doors to Columbia Station, a cuddly duck pointed the way to the party room.

I admit that I get a little crazy, but I like flowers in the Ladies room. I decorated a cylinder with a rubber duckie and filled it with yellow gerber daisies.

I used two types of centerpieces and only one type's photo came out. Corey's favorite flowers are gerber daisies. So I painted a duck on the bowls and filled them with gerbera. I bought all sorts of little yellow ducks and surrounded the bowls with them. Favors - which were cookie ducks made by my friend Ellen Perla - were placed on the blue napkins at each guest's place.

I filled two hurricane vases with silk Spring flowers and baby ducks for the buffet table. The food was absolutely scrumptious and the service was wonderful. I highly recommend Robert Ryan Caterers.

I found a guestbook with a duck on it as well as a pen with a duck head that "quacked". I'm keeping that for myself. I also failed to take a photo of the "duck" tablecloth I found for the gift table. It wasn't revealed until the pile of gifts were all opened by Corey. Guests played gift Bingo while she was doing this. Prizes were Rubber Duckies made of soap!

Two bouquets of blue flowers flanked the entrance. And balloons were placed in each of the high windows in the party room too. In the hallway, on the credenza, I had a print of rubber duckies displayed as well as a hand-made bear and a very large rubber duck that I found on vacation. My picture turned out too dark to share.

We decorated Corey's Chair of Honor with a large yellow bow and blue daisies.

The shower ended with everyone being served this wonderful duck cake made by Ellen Perla. She does beautiful work! I also had an adorable mother duckie carrying her 3 babies on this table.

I had a lovely time with my daughter and all the wonderful ladies who attended. Now, I'm ready to be a Mom-mom!

Katy & Jon - It's Easy Being Green!

Katy wanted a wedding that was unique in every aspect. She loved the combination of red and green, but we had to be careful to not make it look like Christmas. She loved greens as much as flowers, which was such a nice change of pace. And she was very willing to take on a large wedding project. Katy and Jon were married and celebrated their wedding at Columbia Station in Phoenixville. Working with Katy was a pleasure and her hard work paid off handsomely. I think we all succeeded in making this wedding very unique. Katy's gorgeous Fall bouquet was made up of red dahlias, red hypericum berries, and greens. Jon wore a matching dahlia boutonniere.

Bridesmaids' bouquets were very different. They were made up of tall Bells of Ireland and feathery celosia. Groomsmen wore red mums placed through a floret of the Bells.

I made up two arrangements in birch containers for Katy and Jon's ceremony and sat them on tables on each side of the gazebo. I used an array of red, burgundy, and green flowers and greens.

One of the many nice features at Columbia Station is a credenza that sits in the hallway between the two large rooms. It's a perfect spot to place a memory arrangement. I made one up for Katy and she sat a photo of her loved one next to it. I think this is a lovely tribute.

My favorite part of this wedding was definitely the cocktail table arrangements. I found out that Jon collects comic books and asked Katy to decoupage boxes featuring comics. She did an amazing job and certainly personalized these tables! I filled each box with one color of fall mums. Katy made 10 of these boxes for the 10 cocktail tables and they looked fabulous!

Using apples for a red and green Fall wedding was kind of a no brainer. The placecard arrangement also contained cockscomb, matching hanging amaranthus, alstromeria, and greens.

Katy wanted lots and lots of greens in her centerpieces. We made three different but similar centerpieces for her. Each was arranged in a specifically shaped green antique tin and contained a specific type of green and a red seasonal flower. The first type of centerpiece was made up of fern and red cockscomb.

The second centerpiece contained red alstromeria and a plethora of ruscus.

And the final centerpiece was made up of salal and Red Rover mums. I love the rich, deep green of leaves and was thrilled to feature them at a wedding.

Kristie & Tony - Beautiful Bling!

Kristie and Tony were such a fun couple to work with. They were to be married at the Lake House Inn in Perkasie. Kristie wanted a bright, colorful palette of bright pink, purple, and white with accents of damask. I added crystals, glitter, feathers, and all kinds of "bling" wherever I could. I do have to apologize to Kristie because she sent me wonderful pictures of her wedding, including her in her gorgeous dress and I can't find any of the them on my computer. Her dress had a panel of pink running down the back of it and the hat she wore was fantastic. If I find them I will add them. I knew this wedding was going to be a blast just from Kristie and Tony's joy filled personalities and Kristie's fun filled ideas. I wish them nothing but the best!

Kristie's beautiful bouquet was made up of pink roses, purple lisianthus, and stephanotis. I placed two memory charms on the stem wrap.

The colorful bridesmaids' bouquets were accented with some fun white feathers. Stems were wrapped in damask ribbon.

The groomsmens' boutonnieres were also make with feathers to match the bridesmaids.

Kristie's junior bridesmaid doubled as the "ring bearer". I made a small bouquet for her, similar to Kristie's, with lots of streamers. On one pair of the streamers I tied "rings".

The ceremony was held outside. I had made two large pedastal arrangements to denote the ceremony area.

Martini glasses were filled with purple bubbles. I placed a gerber daisy on top that I had dipped in glitter. And we made the hot pink heart stirrers out of aluminum wire. These looked adorable on the cocktail tables.

Kristie did a fantastic job decorating the shade for the "lamp" I put together for the placecard table. There is crystal beading inside along with roses. And yes, this lights up from the top and the bottom.

I made pink, purple and white "gifts" our of carnations for the gift table. They were wrapped up in damask ribbon.

Glass cylinders were wrapped with damask ribbon and filled with a mix of spraying pink, purple, green, and white flowers and bear grass.

I wanted to leave you with a photo of the view at the ceremony. Just beautiful!

Jen and Tony - It's Magic!

Jen and Tony held their wedding at the Loft in Limerick. When I met with Jen, she had an idea for a very unique color pallette made up of deep red and pale yellow with accents of gray. What rose would have possibly worked any better for her bouquet than a Hocus Pocus rose? It was truly magic!

I'd like to give a big thank you to Sarah Shulte (http://www.sarahschulte.com/) for sharing her wonderful photos with me. Sarah is responsible for the first four beautiful photos. I have to admit that I did the best I could with the rest.

The second photo is a close up of Jen's beautiful bouquet which consisted of Hocus Pocus roses, yellow freesia, and yellow hypericum berries. Her stems were wrapped in a combination of burgundy and gray ribbon.

I made a contemporary boutonniere for Tony consisting of a rose, freesia, and silver aluminum wire. It added a bit of fun to his lapel.

A close up of the bridesmaid's bouquet which was made up of yellow and deep red spray roses.

Corsages were made out of yellow and red spray roses with a touch of yellow hypericum berries.

I arranged Hocus Pocus and yellow spray roses in a contemporary gray ceramic container for the placecard table.

Jen had purchased lanterns and
candelabras for her centerpieces. I enhanced the lantern with a rose sitting on cranberries in a glass container. And all the pretty candelabras needed were scattered rose petals. Jen did a really nice job with her choices. She spent a lot of time working on the details of her wedding and making it beautiful. Congratulations to the both of you!

Julie & Shawn - All "Buttoned" Up

Julie and Shawn were married at Bear Creek Resort in Macungie. I'd been there many years ago when it was Doe Mountain, but the resort has been completely done over and it is gorgeous. The lodge is decorated beautifully and there are so many things to do there any season of the year.

Julie chose white, green, and black as her color pallette. Black is always a challenge to incorporate into a wedding, but Julie and I were up for the task. She is extremely talented and designed so many of the details for her wedding.
That's one of the things that made this wedding so very special.

Julie's beautiful, textured bouquet was made up of white stock, green button mums, hypericum berries, and mini green cymbidium orchids. I used matching green pins to secure her ribbon wrap in place.

I used Star of Bethlehem and hypericum berries to make Shawn's boutonniere as well.

Bridesmaids' bouquets were made up of white lisianthus, green hypericum berries, and Star of Bethlehem. Star of Bethlehem was also used for the groomsmen's boutonnieres.

Moms carried small bouquets of white spray roses and hypericum berries with black ribbon wraps. Dads wore white spray rose boutonnieres.

The ceremony took place outside, up the hill from the lodge. I decorated both corners of the black arch with sprays of white cremones, orchids, roses, and green cockscomb. White bows and streamers were attached to the aisle chairs on the parents' rows.

Cocktail tables were simply decorated with green acrylic mint julep cups filled with white hydrangea and green hypericum berries.

I designed an arrangement for Julie's sign-in table that incorporated stock, hydrangea, equisetum, mums, and cymbidium orchids in a black square vase.

Julie wanted to use square glass vases for her centerpieces and we designed three different types of arrangements that did just that. The first one really represented "buttons" in this wedding. I lined each of these glass vases with green equisetum (little bamboo). I used green "button" mums scattered throughout white hydrangea. I suggested that Julie layer black, white, and green buttons on wire to bring some black into these centerpieces. She did a fantastic job and I think that the buttons are certainly a unique touch. This is one of my favorite centerpieces ever!

The insides of the glass squares used for the second centerpiece design were filled with black bubbles. I lined the rim with green cushion mums while dendrobium orchids and bear grass sprouted from the center. I put small black beads on each of the blades of grass.

The third type of centerpiece was decorated by an "M", the initial of the couples' married name, crossstitched by Julie and accented by black ribbon. I also used the ribbon to create black "tails" in the green hydrangea mixed with button mums.

I designed the sweetheart table to coordinate with the rest of the guest centerpieces. Julie used the couple's monogram to stitch on the three vases which contained a mix of hydrangea and button mums.

Guests were sent home with a cupcake in a box designed by Julie. What I loved about this cupcake tower was the "little cake" on top! While having an untraditional wedding "cake", the bride and groom were still able to have the traditional cutting of the cake ceremony. The best of both worlds.