Maureen & Michael are now Mr. & Mrs.

I have known the groom Michael since he was a very little boy.  My son Justin and he played together since they were youngsters and stayed friends into adulthood.  His family lives right up the street.  So when Michael got engaged to Maureen, I was thrilled to help them with their flowers.  Ironically, I had previously done the flowers for a wedding in which Maureen was a bridesmaid and had a photo of her in my album.  Small world.

Here is a picture of Michael in Justin's wedding.

 

And here is a picture of my son Justin with his wife Kate at Michael's wedding.

 While Maureen wanted to use bright Fall colors for almost everything at her wedding, she wanted her bouquet to stand out.  So she chose to us have her bouquet consist of just white roses and calla lilies with beautiful rhinestone pins throughout the flowers.  Michael also wore a calla lily boutonniere.

Bridesmaids'  bouquets were made up of dahlias, roses, hypericum berries and calla lilies.  Groomsmen wore boutonnieres made up of the dark pink rose with hypericum berries. 

Moms carried nosegays of Fall flowers. Michael's Dad Al wore a matching boutonniere of mums.

The weather cooperated for Michael and Maureen's wedding ceremony on the patio at Talamore Country Club.

I used a mix of Fall flowers and sunflowers in glass vases in front of the pagoda at the ceremony.

A close-up of the orange daisy pomanders that lined the ceremony aisle.

Michael actually chose these lanterns for the cocktail tables.

One of my very favorite touches at this wedding was the "heart plaque".  Each guest signed a heart on the board which would later be mounted on the wall at their home. The toss bouquet is lying on the table.

The livingroom area at Talamore Country Club is a great place to personalize a wedding. Michael and Maureen used a variety of candles to flank a personalized ceramic platter on the fireplace mantle.

Maureen chose to use three different centerpieces on her guest tables.  For the first third of the tables, I filled large round bowls with "gold dust" in the bottom.  On top I used a mix of brightly colored flowers in orange, yellow, green, and dark pink.  Maureen found wonderful Mercury glass votives to surround the bowls.

For the high pieces, I filled tall glass cylinders with branches of manzanita and stems of orange mokara orchids.  I hung gold threads from the branches and attached individual orchids to them. 

I filled small bowls with "gold dust" and Circus roses to surround beautiful lanterns which Maureen found.  These were placed on the final third of the tables.

In keeping with their white theme, Michael and Maureen's sweetheart table was  decorated with all white flowers.

Circus roses brightened up the couples' wedding cake.

Congratulations to Maureen and Michael.  It's so nice to see how happy you both are!  Much love to both of you!

Stacey & Blair - Fall Beauty at Villanova Conference Center

Stacey and Blair wanted a brightly colored early Fall look for their wedding at the beautiful Villanova Conference Center at Montrose Mansion. We used lots of bright oranges, yellows, and greens with plenty of Fall elements to make their theme come to life. Stacy carried a large bouquet of mango calla lilies, Circus roses, Viking mums, and green hypericum berries.  Blair wore a boutonniere of a Circus rose with hypericum berries.

I used the lace from her grandmother's wedding dress to wrap the stems and create a collar for Stacey's bouquet.

Bridesmaids carried brightly colored Fall flowers in their bouquets. Stems were wrapped in navy blue ribbon to match their dresses. Groomsmen wore boutonnieres of gold button mums and hypericum berries.

Stacey and Blair's ceremony took place at St. Matthews in Conshohocken. We made large arrangements of Fall flowers to sit on the altar.

I love to make use of the piano in Montrose Mansion. It's a great place for photos and personalization. Stacey chose to have us fill a bicycle container with bright flowers for this location.

 A clay pot of Fall flowers was added to the gift table.

This glass vase was filled with orange rose petals and topped off with orange, yellow, and green flowers.  Stacey added some wine bottles and used corks for her placecards. 

Stacey loves Asian lilies so we used yellow and orange ones, with green cushion mums, to fill in the low squares of curly willow.

We added Fall elements such as wheat, Japanese lanterns,curly willow branches and dried pieces to the Fall flowers on top of tall glass squares filled with curly willow.

Two small arrangements graced the sweetheart table. There were made to blend in with  the larger centerpieces on the guest tables.

Congratulations to Stacey and Blair. May you live a happy, wonderful, and long life together.

Mary & Kyle - Scientific Style

I often buy collections of unique containers that I know will work for a bride who wants something different.  And Mary was just that bride!  Although Mary wanted a vintage feel to her wedding, she couldn't resist my beaker shaped containers.  While Kyle is a software engineer, Mary is in grad school for neuroscience and the beakers were a perfect fit for their wedding at Columbia Station.

Mary's bouquet was made up of yellow campanella roses, ivory spray roses, and peach hypericum berries.  Kyle wore a boutonniere of ivory spray roses and peach hypericum berries.

Bridesmaids carried bouquets made up of white lisianthus, peach spray roses, and yellow hypericum berries.  Groomsmen matched them wearing boutonnieres made up of yellow hypericum berries.

Because it was a hot day, we did not put the ceremony flowers outside when we brought them over to Columbia Station. The staff would graciously do that for the couple closer to ceremony time.  We used a mix of yellow, white, and light blue garden flowers in large glass vases.

On the placecard LOVE table, we made an arrangement of blue hydrangea and yellow iris on top of a large candle holder that I had found.

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Mary did a fabulous job decorating the mirror in the lobby area.  I hadn't seen anyone do this before and I think that the various size hoops look wonderful.  They tie in perfectly with Mary's table numbers.

Mary chose to use robot mats on her cocktail tables.  So cute!  I also had the right shade of small blue glass lanterns which I filled with Baby's Breath for the cocktail tables.

The credenza in the hallway is also a lovely place to add memorial photos of loved ones.  I added a vase of flowers - one bloom for each person - to the display.

I had previously found a set of large glass triple beakers that were connected to each other that Mary really liked.  I filled each of the three beakers with a different flower that Mary chose - white dahlias, cream lisianthus, and a large yellow rose.  I used blue acrylics in the beaker bottoms to carry out the complete color palette.  Votive candles surrounded the centerpiece.  The lace table numbers were added to a hoop for each table.

I also had a set of matching miniature triple beakers so we used those on the other half of the tables.  But this time, a pair of the triple mini-beakers flanked a large pillar candle.  The vases were filled with a mix of daisies and yellow spray roses.  I think the tables looked great and were definitely different!

I got very lucky and happened to find a collection of 7 matching miniature beakers stacked together - a perfect addition to Mary and Kyle's sweetheart table.

And once again, Mary's sense of humor popped up on the top of their wedding cake in the form of robots!  How adorable is this cake?

Thank you to Mary and Kyle for your creative spirit and allowing me to be small part of your wedding.  I had a great time working with you long distance.  You made it easy!  Happiness and love to you forever and always!

Emily & Brian - Columbia Cuteness!

When I first met Emily I found her so enthusiastic and endearing. While talking more with her at our first meeting, we found out that she was a former third grade student of my best friend! And Anne agreed that Emily was an enthusiastic and endearing third grade student as well. They had fond memories of each other.

Emily wanted a rustic mason jar look for her wedding at Columbia Station. She chose a wonderful color palette of yellow, lavender, and purple with accents of green.  What a happy combination of colors! And as you'll see, Emily did a wonderful job with the details of her decor. The bouquet pictures were taken by Matthew Szoke Photography.

 Emily looked gorgeous carry a bouquet made up of lavender roses, purple lisianthus, small drumstick allium, lavender stock and dusty miller. Brian wore a purple lisianthus as his boutonniere.

Bridesmaids had bouquets of lavender roses, green hypericum berries, and purple carnations. Groomsmen wore a lavender rose boutonniere on their lapels.

In keeping with a natural, rustic look, I filled glass vases with several shades of larkspur and fern. I placed one pedestal to each side of the pagoda. The single roses were presented to the Mothers.

 Buckets of purple hydrangea led the way down the aisle supported by my rental holders.

Emily added the couples' initials to the front door to greet their guests. 

 Each cocktail table had a different purple vase sitting on it with yellow flowers in it.

 Columbia Station has a large table set up in the entryway where most brides put their placecards.  On the left hand side of the table, I had a small wooden carpenter's box painted with the couple's last name and filled with three mason jars of different flowers. Wedding photos stood next to the box.

On the right hand side of the table, I placed a purple jar that Emily fell in love with and wanted to use - somewhere.  I filled it with fun sunflowers.  Instead of placecards, Emily used a seating chart with each paper representing a table and names listed below.  Tables were named after their favorite Phillies players.

Emily wanted to use mason jars on "slices" of logs for all of  her guest tables. Votive candles would be added to sit on the wood.  She gave me quart sized jars to fill with a mix of flowers for half her tables. Pretty mix of colors! 

Emily provided smaller mason jars with which I "table-scaped" the other half of the tables. I used a mass of one flower in each jar.

I rented Emily my Mr. and Mrs. signs for the backs of their chairs.

I used smaller mason jars to decorate the front of the sweetheart table.

Congratulations to Emily and Brian.  May you love one another forever and live happily every after!

Kate & Tim In Society Hill

 I met Katie and her sister at my very first Bridal Blossoms in 2013 and immediately felt that I would enjoy working with this sweet, enthusiastic bride who drove all the way out to Limerick from Center City.  And I was so right!!  Katie chose a color palette of dark blue, white, and yellow with accents of gray.  She also wanted a bit of a vintage look to her flowers which worked perfectly with her wedding ceremony in an historic church and reception right in Old City.

Katie loved craspedia - the little yellow balls -and we used quite a bit of them in the personal flowers.  Along with white calla lilies, white lisianthus, and yellow alstromeria, they made up Katie's bouquet.  I used some Dusty Miller around the edges to add gray.  And I had to show a picture of the beautiful brooch affixed to the gray satin ribbon wrapped around the stems!  Tim wore a matching white calla lily boutonniere with, of course, a craspedia!

Katie is very close to her adorable sister and wanted her MoH's bouquet to be a bit different from the others. So I used white alstromeria mixed with yellow calla lilies and more of the yellow craspedia.

Bunched white alstromeria stems provide a puffy look to bouquets and hold up beautifully in the heat. I also used yellow craspedia throughout the alstromeria.

 Fun boutonnieres of matching craspedia were worn by the groomsmen.

For our 3 year old flower girl we made a very light weight pomander of tulle and yellow satin flowers. Her matching halo also had yellow and white streamers.

What can you say about the charming historic St. George's United Methodist Church in Old City? It is absolutely gorgeous! I made simple yellow, white, and blue flower arrangements in silver trumpet vases for the altar. The beauty of that church spoke for itself.

A few cocktail tables were scattered throughout the main room of the Society Hill Dance Academy and on the outside patio. We used simple blue vases filled with yellow and white flowers to add a touch of color to those tables.

 Since there wasn't a lot of room on the entry table, I used a simple blue vase filled with white and yellow daisies to brighten up the area.

With navy blue tablecloths on the guest tables we made good use of yellow and white flowers as a contrast. We chose two types of centerpieces - one was a mass of flowers and we "table-scaped" the others. Katie wanted a bit of a vintage look to her tables, so we introduced some retro ideas - like the 60's daisy collars - and doilies as the base for multiple vases. I collected blue bud vases, round vases, and yellow ceramic containers and filled them with some old-fashioned flowers like hydrangea, daisies,carnations, and zinnias. All of the table-scaped tables were different. Here are a few examples.

I used large glass bowls on the other half of the tables to display a mass of flowers. The bottoms were filled with fun yellow bubbles and then I layered yellow and white daisy collars in the top. I filled them with lemon yellow Asian lilies and white daisies! Such a bright flash of sunshine on the tables!

To Kate & Tim - I wish you the best of everything.  Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your special day.  Congratulations!