Holly and Brian at Talamore Country Club

Holly came to me with a more unusual color palette:  purple and pool/teal  blue.  She fell in love with dyed dendrobium orchids, which contain these colors, so I made as much use of them as I could.  We were all so pleased with the results - especially Holly!

For Holly's bouquet, I used a mix of white roses, purple lisianthus, and lavender mini-carnations.  Brian wore a matching rose boutonniere.

Holly's bridesmaids carried bouquets made up of white spray roses, lavender lisianthus and purple carnations - a variation of Holly's bouquet.  I used lavender lisianthus for the groomsmen's boutonnieres.

At church I used primarily purple and white selections for the altar flowers.  I was able to add the touch of blue with a big bow in front.

For the cocktail hour, I made up some fun martini glasses filled with blue bubbles and a white fuji mum.  We made our own purple/silver wire heart stirrers for these pieces. 

The first location to show off Holly's dendrobium orchids was her placecard table.  I filled an Eiffel tower with purple bubbles and sprayed the orchids from the top. They looked great with Holly's purple placecards.

I did some tablescaping on half of the guest tables.  Three different sizes of glass cylinders were filled with flowers in different forms. They were seated on silver chargers.

For the rest of the tables, I floated orchids in a glass bowl that had a pillar candle in the center decorated by Holly.  I think she did a great job!.

Vases to hold bouquets were set up across the front of the head table alternating with candles.  I scattered lavender rose petals to tie it all together.

I think that the cake turned out fantastic tying the colors together so nicely with ribbon and fresh purple lisianthus.

Congratulations to Holly and Brian.  Thanks for making me a part of your fabulous wedding!

Megan & Jason - Valentine's Day Love

Megan had her heart set on a Valentine's Day wedding.  As the day came closer and closer, weather stations were forecasting a winter storm.  As a precautionary measure, I delivered church flowers a day ahead of the wedding.  I knew the street that it was on was treacherous in ice and snow.  Even Talamore Country Club generously offered to move Megan and Jason's wedding day to the day after. But Megan stuck to her guns and fortunately, her Valentine Day wedding dreams came true.

As you probably know, anything red - especially roses - are particularly expensive on V-Day.  So other than Megan's gorgeous bouquet of Latin Lady red roses, we designed arrangements using some more unusual red and white flowers.  Take a look!

Latin Lady Roses are whitish on the outside and red in the middle - perfect for Megan's bouquet with scattered stephanotis. Jason wore one rose as his boutonniere.

The MoH carried a bouquet made up of red and white spray roses mixed with white waxflower.   The Best Man's boutonniere was made up of a combination of both.

I made small bouquets of white carnations mixed with red spray roses for the two 8 y.o. flower girls.

I don't have any pictures of the church flowers unfortunately, but inside the country club, I made martini glass mixes of white bubbles, red gerber daisies, and silver heart shaped stirrers.

Continuing with our V-Day theme, I designed a placecard table piece of red and white flowers. I think the red anthurium look like hearts!

Instead of using a lot of typical, smaller red and white flowers, we designed centerpieces using large amaryllis in glass vases contained large pearls among bubbles for the low pieces.   We were all so happy with how them came out. The large flowers certainly made a statement!

For the tall centerpieces, I mixed the amaryllis, red carnations, and hydrangea in a layered fashion.  The amaryllis are so pretty standing up tall.

And of course we used a red heart shaped vase for the sweethearts on their table with a mix of lisianthus and red spray roses.  Congratulations to this wonderful couple. Thank you so much for having me help you with your special Valentine's Day wedding. I'm so glad that the weather cooperated!!

Jessica & David - A Winter Wedding of Wine & Roses

 I was fortunate to have two very pretty and very different winter weddings in January.  For her wedding Jessica wanted to use a color palette of white, wine, and black.  Unfortunately I forgot to take bouquet photos in my workshop and had to use a stained tablecloth at Normandy Farms as background.  Jessica carried a bouquet made up of white roses, white lisianthus, and wine colored ranunculus.  I used triple pearled pins among the flowers.  David's boutonniere match Jessica's bouquet.

Bridesmaids' carried bouquets of white football mums and wine colored roses.  Groomsmen wore white lisianthus boutonnieres. 

A touch of winter added to the Moms' and Grandmoms' corsages.

 Since it was January, the ceremony was held indoors in the ballroom.  I filled tall glass containers with pine cones and snow and topped it off with winter greens, hydrangea, wine colored roses,  winter branches and snowflakes.  There were two  put in place in front of the drape.

 Just a little touch of winter on the cocktail tables.  Just right!

 Pretty board for guests to find their seats.

 The first of three types of winter centerpieces was done in my rental winter wreaths.  I added silver balls and more crystals to the winter branches.  I then set a glass bowl in the wreath that contained more acrylic "ice" and floated a football mum on the water.  This arrangement is so simple, but so pretty for a January wedding.

 The second type of centerpiece started with glass squares filled with clear crystal acrylics because they resemble ice. Flowers included dusty miller, hydrangea, and wine colored roses.  I also added some small natural pine cones.  I topped off the flowers with crystal-like branches.

The third of the three centerpieces was my favorite. I filled glass candle holders with snow and then set a wine colored carnation pomander on top of each. Since I typically work in "threes", I added a silver pillar candle sitting in more snow.

I like my sweetheart tables to resemble the rest of the centerpieces in the rooms so I added two small squares of hydrangea, roses, and a snowflake to Jessica and David's table.  The fan has been present at many family weddings and Jessica continued the tradition at her wedding.

Congratulations to Jessica and David. Thank you for the opportunity to work with you on your wonderful winter wedding.

Lisa and David - A Winter Wonderland

Blue, white, and silver are beautiful colors for a winter wedding and that's why Lisa chose that combination for her January wedding at Normandy Farms.    We used a mix of light blue and bright blue for this wedding, which we think turned out very nicely.

For Lisa's bouquet I used a mix of white lisianthus, white ranunculus, white anemones, light blue delphinium, and a touch of dusty miller.  I also added silver painted pine cones to her ribbon wrap.  David's bouotonniere was made up of anemones.

All bridal party bouquets were made up of white roses and delphinium sitting on silver wire collars.  I used light blue delphinium for the MoH bouquet and bright blue delphinium for the bridesmaids.  All groomsmen wore white rose boutonnieres.

We brought white and blue altar flowers to church for the wedding ceremony.

I filled glass cylinders with snow, silver painted pine cones, winter white twigs, and blue dendrobium orchids for the guest tables with low centerpieces. Blue dyed dendrobium orchids are a very unique looking flower, but a striking one as you can see.

Tall glass cylinders were also filled with silver pine cones and snow.   A collar of blue silk poinsettias  captured more of the blue color among crystals, white orchids, and white painted manzanita branches.  We were thrilled with the overall look of the room when we were done.
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A snowflake cake was the final perfect touch for this lovely winter tableau. Congratulations to Lisa and David.

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.