Katie & Tim - Yay for Yellow!

You would expect someone called Katie to be adorable - and this bride was absolutely that and more!  She was a delight to work with and was just so happy about everything. What a wonderful way to enjoy life!

I originally met Katie and her sister at my very first Bridal Blossoms Show.  The next time was at my home to plan her wedding.   Katie wanted to use a color palette of yellow, white, and blue with touches of gray.  She was hoping to add a touch of "vintage fun" to her wedding and I think that we provided that for Katie and Tim through several elements.

Katie loved the craspedia - the little round flower balls often called Billy Balls, so we added lots of them into bridal party flowers.  Katie's bouquet also included white mini calla lilies, pale yellow alstromeria, white lisianthus, and a collar of gray dusty miller. Tim wore a white calla lily boutonniere with a craspedia at the base.

The bridal party wore gray dresses. Katie's wonderful sister Tara.  her MoH, carried a bouquet of white alstromeria, craspedia,  and yellow mini calla lilies.

Bridesmaids bouquets were made up of white alstromeria and craspedia.

All groomsmen wore boutonnieres of craspedia.

The young flower girl wore a halo of yellow satin flowers and carried a very light weight pomander made of tulle and yellow satin flowers.  I make these for the little ones because they can wear them on their wrists if they prefer - they have no heft to them at all! 

Katie & Tim's ceremony took place in the gorgeous National Historic Landmark Church - St. Peter's Church in Society Hill. This church was built on land donated by William Penn's sons.  The first service took place on September 4, 1761 and has been in continuous use through Katie and Tim's August, 2013 wedding and ever after.

The couple's reception was held at the Society Hill Dance Academy - right outside of HeadHouse Square.  There were a few cocktail tables scattered throughout the layout so we added simple blue vases of yellow and white daisies.

I added a blue vase of yellow zinnias to the sign-in table. 

Since Katie and Tim are both involved with mathematical careers, they "named" their tables after mathematical equations.  We did some tablescaping on half of the guest tables - each one slightly different - but they all contained a clear glass vase, a blue vase, and a vintage-like yellow ceramic piece.  

The other half of the guest tables held large bowls of yellow Asian lilies and daisies.  If you look closely you'll notice that I added a fun yellow and a white "daisy" collar to each bowl to hold the flowers. I also added yellow bubbles into the base of the bowl.

Thank you again to Katie and Tim for having me be a part of your special day.  I wish you a long and happy life together.

Angela and Andrew - Daisies Galore!

Angela wanted to use a color palette of white, green, and yellow for her wedding. She loved daisies, so they were a natural for this absolutely adorable wedding at Penn Oaks CC. Angela worked hard and added a lot of her own personal details to her wedding. And daisies became our theme! We had daisies line the aisle. Daisies painted on watering cans. Daisy pomanders. Daisy bridesmaids' bouquets. I even had ceramic pots of daises to use! Everything came together so well! This was so much fun to work on and it will always be one of my favorite weddings!  Thank you to Ron DLutz photography for the professional pictures.

Angela loved craspedia so I tucked it in among her beautiful white peonies and lemon leaf. Notice the daisy buttons I added to her bouquet wrap! Andrew's boutonniere was also made up of craspedia.

Bridesmaids' bouquets were made up of daisies, craspedia, and solidater. Groomsmen wore matching daisy boutonnieres.

The flower girls carried pomanders of silk white daisies.

 The ringbearer carried a nest of daisies and "pretend" rings.  I don't advise giving little boys the real wedding bands. Better safe then sorry!

I had two watering cans painted with daisies and the name of the bride and groom. I filled them with yellow, white, and green flowers for the ceremony. They stood on pillars in front of the gazebo.

I had "wicker" daisies that I tied bows/streamers around and stuck in the grass to line the aisle. This was a fun, inexpensive way to add a touch of whimsy and color to the ceremony.

Just something cute for the cocktail tables - I taught Angela how to make these containers out of straws and added daisies.

 Guests found their seats on this windowpane.  I filled two boxes that Angela had constructed with wheatgrass and daisies to flank the window.

 This mailbox was used for guests to hold messages to Angela and Andrew from guests.  She added a blackboard explanation and lots of pens and paper.

Also on the placecard table were honey favors that were personalized with tags from the couple.

 I showed Anglea sets of golden yellow ceramic containers that I had purchased to use on half of her tables.  If you look closely at the vase it has daisies all over it.  They were just perfect for this wedding and were filled with white and yellow daisies and a touch of green hypericum berries.

 For the other half of the tables, Angela added a green candle to mason jars.  To either side of the jars, I filled smaller versions of the daisy ceramic containers with flowers.

Angela was such a pleasure to work with.  All of her personal touches really helped make her wedding uniquely them.  I wish Andrew and Angela the best always!

Thinking about having a "green" wedding?

When planning an environmentally friendly "green" wedding, there are three words that comes to mind:  Recycle, Re-purpose, Rent!  Borrow or buy containers that have already been used for a wedding. Look around your home and decide if there is anything you can use to hold flowers:  pitchers, vases, interesting jars, and even cleaned out cans with colorful labels!  I've done flowers for a party using an Italian food them in Italian tomato cans!  Some of them have fabulous labels!

 

I recycled beer bottles and turned them into vases for a party.

 

 

 

Even blue jeans can be re-purposed and turned into vases.

 

I've re-purposed an urn I bought at an auction and used my mother's golf clubs to create this golf container.

 

 

These flowers were arranged in a re-purposed cigar box.

 

 

I've also created flowers in baskets for a wedding.  The groom's mother had taken basket making class and they sat in a bag in her attic because she didn't know what to do with them. As soon as I heard that I suggested we use them on the tables and make each one a bit different for the wedding.

There are now several manufacturers who also make their glass vases out of recycled materials.  I have used these for several events.  And I also use "crepe" containers, particularly for ceremonies, that are made from recycled materials.  And a way to not involve flower foam when using these containers for centerpieces is for your florist to arrange flowers in sand rather than floral foam.   And if you can rent anything for your wedding - that's a great way to go.  I work with Mile Hill Wicker in Trooper that rents out lots of wonderful vintage and rustic items for a wedding.  I'd be happy to show the containers or techniques to a bride who is interested in doing something like this. 

 Another thing that a bride might want to consider is her flowers - do you want them to all be from local gardens where no pesticides are used or can the be flown/shipped/trucked from other states or countries?  This is a completely personal decision and it does limit the seasons when you can have a wedding to make use of garden flowers.  I've used hydrangea, zinnias, dusty miller, branches, mock orange and more from my garden for many of my weddings.

We carved this log from our backyard with a chainsaw.

Logs cut from my backyard to hold placecard birds.   I also rent these out.

Mock orange from my yard for this placecard table arrangement.

 

A tree fell in my back yard and we turned the trunk into containers that we rent out to our brides.

 

I used twigs from my yard that I painted to make these houses for a party.

 

This is also a tree trunk from my backyard that I turned into a placecard table arrangement.

Please keep in mind that all flowers are biodegradable and can be put in a compost pile.
 If you've used fruit or vegetables in your centerpieces - would you consider donating these to a local food pantry after the wedding.   How about donating your centerpieces to a geriatric center or nursing home?  All of the centerpieces at this wedding contained fruit. It was all donated to a food pantry in Phoenixville.

 

These apples in this centerpiece came from the orchard of this couple's grandparents.  I also added hosta from my garden.

 

 

 

The birdseed in this placecard table arrangement was left at the arboretum to feed the birds.

 

 

And finally, this flower girl basket was filled with bird seed - instead of rose petals or flowers.  The birds at Tyler Arboretum graciously ate them up!

 

 

 

So even if you're not having a totally "green" wedding, there are many things that you can do to help our environment in small ways.

 

Jennifer & Chuck - Beautiful birch

 I have been very fortunate to work twice with the lovely Roth family.  This time it was son Chuck's marriage to Jennifer.  Jenn wanted a rustic look to their wedding so we based everything around birch and a color palette of pinks.  We also used green as a contrast to highlight the pink in several ways.  I loved being able to use various shades of pretty pink. . I think Jenn's mixed pink bouquet was gorgeous!  I used the bright pink rose for Chuck's boutonniere.

 Bridesmaids carried bouquets of Malibu roses collared by salal tips.  The green really "pops" the pink roses.  Groomsmen wore matching rose boutonnieres.

 On my rental "steps", I placed silver buckets of hydrangea, dark pink spray roses, and green hypericum berries to decorate the placecard table.

 A memory vase held a flower for each person the couple wanted to remember at their wedding.

 Glass squares of green hydrangea, dark pink spray roses, and green hypericum berries also contained green acrylics in the base. These were used on the buffet tables.

 We made three different types of centerpieces in the containers Jenn chose for her tables.  I filled square birch covered squares with very full green hydrangea and "dotted" it with bright pink mini-carnations.

 In the round birch bucket holders I made arrangements of a variety of pink flowers with a touch of green hypericum berries.  The blend of colors is so pretty!

The last third of the guest table centerpieces were made up of different heights of birch log candle holders. Several of them held candles of course, but I placed reflexed roses in two of them.  I love how this technique makes roses seem so much larger!  Tables were named after places the couple had visited with cards put in pine cones by Jenn.

I put two of the birch containers filled with flowers and candle holders on the couple's sweetheart table.

Congratulations to Jenn and Chuck!  It's been such a pleasure getting to work with more of the Roth family!