Say "I Do" at the Zoo

On Sunday, June 1st, Whimsical Welcomes Floral Design partnered with Elmwood Park Zoo to present a fabulous Bridal Party. We had some wonderful wedding specialist present to talk with brides as well as lots of food, entertainment, drinks, sweets, and gifts. A huge "thank you" to all of the great vendors that came out to help and to all of the hundreds of people who came out to enjoy the festivities. We'll be doing this again next year and hope to see you there.

In case you weren't able to join us at the zoo, here are some of the flowers we displayed. Enjoy!

If you choose to have your wedding at the zoo, the cost of having your ceremony in their theater is included. Quite a deal! Since there is a large tree growing in the center of the seats, I chose to integrate more branches into the decor. Two large flower arrangements on the stage and birch balls alternating on the aisle steps were filled with lavender, green and white flowers.

The beautiful ballroom has a rustic feel to it.  Walls and the fireplace are made of  beautiful stone.  The side facing the patio is all folding glass doors that let in so much light.  For Say I Do at the Zoo, I decorated nine tables in the ballroom.  Gala Cloths provided beautiful tablecloths.  Representative Nancy Bauman added various chair bows to the zoo's chairs for the lavender table that held an arrangement of peonies and lavender flowers.  To the right, the purple pintuck table held a colorful centerpiece with feathers and flowers in the colors of peacocks.  I was inspired by  the zoo's own Harvey.

In honor of the zoo, a ceramic tiger filled with orange lilies, fern, and Birds of Paradise. I used a zebra print cloth over a white base for this table. All linens by Gala Cloths - galacloths.com.

If you're having your wedding at the zoo, these jungle animal print tablecloths would be perfect. For the centerpiece I used rush - which looks like little bamboo - to line the vase and then filled it with brightly colored flowers including several tropicals.

Bunches of small bright colored flowers look adorable in the leopard bowls I've made. These can be rented for a shower or rehearsal dinner at the zoo.

 I filled a glass cylinder with a wide variety of animals and topped it off with tropical flowers.  This would be perfect for tall centerpieces or a placecard table at the zoo.

Because the ballroom has a rustic look to it, I designed some centerpieces that would work well in there.  The first grouping are mixes of flowers in jars held in wire holders. I have three sizes that I rent out that can be used together or individually.  I put colorful votive candles in jelly jars for lighting.  The Gala tablecloth has a garden flair to it as well.

We made log containers from trees that have fallen down in our backyard.  I filled one of our birch logs with roses, fern, and hypericum berries.  I also made the candleholders out of birch, raffia, and pine cone flowers.

On a orange and yellow plaid Gala tablecloth I arranged flowers in a rusty bucket and added sprays of rusty stars.  I wound rusty wired stars around ivory pillar candles sitting in small rusty trays. These work well for a rustic wedding.

 The beauty of the zoo's ballroom is that it lends itself to many different styles.  In this photo is a glass cylinder that I wrapped in a gold leaf wrap. I filled the vase with white hydrangea, white roses, white alstromeria, and while mini-calla lilies. I topped the flowers off with gold beading and gold pins in the roses.  Gold beaded candle holders add light to the table.

My final arrangement was my "bling" table.  I used three different sized crystal containers to hold flowers along with three matching crystal candleholders.  This arrangement was spot-lighted by Silver Sound and looked spectacular. 

If you have any questions about any of these arrangements, or would like to discuss more of the endless possibilities for your wedding, please contact Leslie at WhimsicalWelcomes@yahoo.com. 

Krista and Jim - The Best is Yet To Come!

Let's start by saying that this is the wedding of my BFF's daughter - who is like a second daughter to me.  Anne, Krista, Jim, and I worked for months on projects to get ready for this one.  While it sounds like a great thing to have your best friend be your florist, believe me, I can be a true pain in the patootie!  I am detail crazy and push to keep everyone on schedule.  But I think the results are worth it.  I'm actually missing some pictures of the wreath I made for the caboose and the initials hanging from the front door, but I have mostly everything else to share.

I really didn't have to ask Krista what her favorite color was - because I knew - purple!  But I did find out what Jim's was - red!  With lots of silver accents - we put Krista and Jim's wedding together with good intentions and lots of love.

Before the wedding day, I made rehearsal dinner flowers for the night before.  I was invited but couldn't go because I had to work!  And you know I rarely miss a free meal!  But I had things to do.  Since Krista's favorite flowers are sunflowers - and they didn't exactly go with the wedding's color palette - I used them for the clay pots of flowers for the rehearsal dinner.

Krista's bouquet was a blend of beautiful red and purple flowers with some gorgeous crystal pins in the roses.  Jim work a matching calla lily boutonniere for their beautiful wedding at Columbia Station.

My daughter was a bridesmaid in this wedding!  They all carried bouquets made up of red roses and purple lisianthus surrounded by a wire collar.  I made wire curls to match for the groomsmen's boutonnieres.

I made this flower pillow for the ringbearer. Our artist painted  the flower girl's name on her bucket.  I like to use faux flowers for little girls so that they can play wedding when they go home.

For the ceremony, I made standing topiaries in red and purple to flank the pagoda.  Down the aisle I hung matching pomanders.

Anne's husband, and Krista's father Bob, was honored at the wedding with an arrangement in the pagoda.  The table also held the sand for the sand ceremony.  Anne and Bob and Glenn and I started this business together and were the closest of friends until Bob suddenly passed away 5 years ago. So during the wedding I was sitting next to Anne in the front row.  The minister is talking and the sun is going down.  All of a sudden the lights inside the pagoda goes on and shines down on the flowers I made for Bob!  I nudge Anne and tell her to look right away!  We knew it was a sign that Bob was there and gave his blessing. I'm getting goosebumps again just writing about it.  I'm so glad that the photographers and videographer realized what was happening and got pictures of it because I didn't.

The flowers were later moved inside to the credenza in the hallway surrounded by photos of Bob.

What the heck, I may as well show you the bathroom basket and the flower arrangement I made for the Ladies Room while I'm in this area of the hallway.

As I said, I don't have the picture of the door decor, but when you walk inside there were some awesome details.  The first, is an engagement shot by Ron Dlutz photography that was turned into the sign-in board.  I made them buy red pens for this. It was wonderful and now framed on the wall of their home.

Next to this photo, was the centerpiece I made for this table. To be honest,  I bought it even before they were engaged!  Once a saw the purple container I had to get it for Krista!  I obviously filled it with red and purple flowers.

Across from this table is the gift table.  I don't have a good picture of the card box, but it was a red gift box tied with a purple ribbon.  Glenn glued four little pieces of wood into the corners and then drilled screws through the top into the wood. No one was getting the top off of that thing!  Next to it Anne made a shadowbox of Jim's medals he won playing golf for Special Olympics.  This was the charity that the couple donated to in lieu of favors. Guests helped themselves to personalized golf tees.

Jim is a first class sports nut - and a crazy Phillies and Eagles' fan.  In honor of that, I had Anne make tins of golf tees and I put together little tribute flowers to Jim's favorite sports teams in the cocktail room.  Notice the Phillies' shirts for the sign-in board?

And because Jim is such an avid golfer, we had a special "entrance" for the bridal party.  During military weddings, swords are raised to form an arch. Again, in Jim's honor, I tied purple and red ribbons around golf clubs which were raised by the bridal party!  Cheers rang out when the happy couple emerged from the golf salute.

I made two kinds of centerpieces for the wedding - low and tall.  I decorated low cylinders with silver swirls.  Check out the table numbers made by Krista, Anne, and their cousin Chris!  Perfect!  And here's where more of my crazy comes in - I made sure Anne bought mints for the table.  These were exceptionally good ones!   This is something that my mother instilled in me.

I wanted to make something striking and different for the tall centerpieces.  So I created lamps for the tables with crystal beading and red roses inside sitting in water.  Anne and I decorated all of the lampshades ourselves. But when night came and the lights were turned down, these looked spectacular!

You can't see it real well, but I bought Krista's sweetheart table decor for them for Christmas.  In the center is a silver heart photo holder with flanking red candles. Since hearts were an underlying theme, this worked out beautifully with the two silver vases on each end.  And doesn't everyone have chair bows especially  made for the bride and groom chairs!  We found some very cool silver swirl material for them.

And because this wedding was more fun than formal, Krista and Jim had purple and red cupcakes for their guests.  The food at the wedding was spectacular and many guests were too full to eat them.  So Glenn and I were eating them for a week. Yummy!

The wedding ended on a high note with dancing and laughing.  Lanterns that were bought especially for this wedding lined the steps as the guests exited  And then we had to clean everything up!  That's the part you forget when you add so many details. But we got it done in record time and went home happy and exhausted.

Congratulations and much love to two of my favorite people. Krista - I've always had a soft spot in my heart for you.  And I want to thank you for bringing Jim into our lives.  I love you both!

Ashlee & Mark at Kimberton Inn

Ashlee and Mark's wedding took place at the lovely Kimberton Inn. She wanted to use a color palette of red and white with accents of silver. It fit in beautifully with the holiday decorations already displayed. Ashlee's bouquet was made up of gorgeous red mokara orchids in a more non-traditional bouquet. Mark wore a mini-white calla lily for his boutonniere.

Ashlee wanted a more "untamed" bouquet of red daisy mums and white lisianthus for her bridesmaids to carry. . Groomsmen wore boutonnieres of red hypericum berries.

At Kimberton Inn, the indoor ceremony takes place in the beautiful reception area. We set aside the centerpieces and set up the ceremony flowers as Ashlee requested. On white pedestals, I filled two silver trumpet vases with hydrangea, carnations, calla lilies, and white branches. It looks so pretty sitting in front of the fireplace.

Ashlee chose to use my tall silver vase with red lilies and winter branches for her placecard table.

We used two centerpieces for the wedding reception. The tall centerpieces contained red berries and white branches in the base. The winter greens and flowers topped off the containers with some white winter branches and burgundy snapdragons.

I mixed lots of white hydrangea with red carnations in glass squares. I topped off the flower arrangement with a few white branches to keep the look of winter.

Congratulations to Ashlee and Mark.  May you always be as happy as you were on your wedding day!

Prerana and Nithin - Top of the Tower

I first met the adorable Prerana and Nithin at my Bridal Blossoms event at Bolingbroke Mansion. They liked the flower display that they saw and the information that I had to share with those that attended.  At our meeting, Prerana told me that her wedding colors were bright pink, blue, and silver. She also mentioned that she was crazy about anything with "bling" and we gladly made that happen. What a fun party to work on!

Prerana and Nithin were married in a traditional Indian ceremony with a luncheon at her aunt's home in New Jersey on a Friday. But the couple also wanted to celebrate with a non-traditonal wedding party.  So they celebrated again at the Top of the Tower on a Saturday night. The room is amazing and the view of Philadelphia can't be beat. There are large glass windows surrounding the entire room. Just gorgeous!

 I had pink glass containers with matching votive candle holders that worked out perfectly for the cocktail tables. Notice the shimmering pink and silver medallion on the front of each glass holder.

Prerana loves everything bright, shiny, and with  lots of "bling", so I made sure she had it, while not breaking the bank.  Here are two views of the first type of low centerpiece I used at this wedding party.  I filled crystal lined containers with lots of white hydrangea, bright pink roses, and matching bright pink carnations. Favors in colored bags were added to all of the tables.

The second of the low centerpieces involved only nine hot pink roses! I added a bright pink and blue ribbon wrap and, of course, a bit of "bling" to the container. Contemporary, simple, and pretty!

To add some height to the room, I used very tall crystal candleholders to add that touch of crystal that Prerana loves.  Bright pink rose petals were scattered at the base along with more votive candles.

The evening was topped off with this fabulous sweet table. What a great ending to a great evening!

Thank you to Prerana and Nithin for having me be a part of your fabulous wedding party!  I hope the two of you live and long and happy life together!