Kendi and Lew - A trip down Memory Lane

The most wonderful thing about Facebook is being able to find and catch up with friends from my past.  I have re-connected with so many terrific people.  And through Facebook, I have also found some of my former third grade students!  There was a family whose son was one of my third graders when I first started teaching.  He was a little imp, but I was crazy about him and became friendly with his parents as well. I have lots of funny moments in memory from this 8 year old young man.  And then a few years later - I had his little sister Kendi in my class.  And Kendi grew up into a beautiful, warm, and loving woman who met and fell in love with the wonderful Lew!  Kendi (and her brothers) were all at my wedding, so things came full circle and I not only attended Kendi and Lew's wedding, but I helped her with the flowers.  I got to visit with almost the whole family.  It was pure joy for me.

Kendi loves purple - which turned into the theme of her barn wedding.   The barn belonged to someone they knew and was absolutely adorable.  It even had a built in bar!

I made Kendi's  bouquet out of white, purple, and lavender lisianthus.  Lew's boutonniere was made of white lisianthus.

Kendi's bridesmaid carried an all lavender lisianthus bouquet.

I filled purple mason jars with hydrangea and purple carnations for all of the guest tables. Lew's sisters helped with all of the other decor.  The room looked great!

I placed lavender daisy mums on the wedding cake. The toss bouquet is in the background to the right. This wedding was just right for the happy couple.

I was so happy that I got to share in Kendi and Lew's special day.  I love them both and look forward to getting together with the whole family soon.  Congratulations to both of you!

Krissy and RC's wonderful white wedding!

Krissy's plan was for an all white wedding, except for her bouquet!  She wanted that to stand out.  So we put our heads together and came up with a rustic looking white wedding at The Barn.

Krissy loves peonies so we mixed pink peonies with peach spray roses and added a collar of dusty miller.  RC's boutonniere consisted of the peach spray roses.

Bridesmaids carried bouquets of all white football mums.  They remind me so much of peonies but for a fraction of the cost.  Groomsmen wore boutonnieres of white dendrobium orchids and beargrass loops.

Ceremony flowers were one of my favorite parts of this wedding.  I used large white flowers mixed with Baby's Breath in glass vases up front.  For the aisle flowers I made small bundles of the baby's breath tied with burlap "ribbon".  Love this!

I used more dendrobium orchids and beargrass for simple cocktail table pieces.

A manzanita branch covered with orchids sat on the placecard table.

I have diligently worked to come up with rustic ideas in lieu of mason jars for the many rustic weddings that I do.  Often, my containers are found in out of the way places and may be the end of a lot.  So much of what I have is one of a kind because I can't get anymore.  For Krissy and RC's  white wedding it meant using just white containers filled with white flowers.  For half of the tables I used large white ceramic containers of white hydrangea mixed with white roses.

But for the other half of the tables, I used some of my "finds" to tablescape the centerpieces.  One of the three pieces was a glass encased white candle.  The second piece was a copy of the short, squat butter holders. These were made of white ceramic and filled with white hydrangea.  The third part of this centerpiece was another replica of an antique in the form of old-fashioned milk bottles also made of white ceramics.  I filled these with white roses.  I love this look!

The "butter holders" also appeared on the sweetheart table.  I like these tables to match what is going on in the rest of the room so they were also filled with white roses and hydrangea.   Krissy added an adorable sign to her table.

The white ceramic milk bottles also made wonderful holders for the bridal party's bouquets.  They added a touch of flowers to the table because the topper was a LOVE sign.  Another cute detail!

Thank you to Krissy and RC for having me help you with your wedding flowers.  May you have many wonderful, happy years ahead of you.

Anne-Sophie and Brandon - There are doctors in the house!

Over the years, I've found that med students and doctors make some of the most fun brides and grooms. They put a lot of effort into their details and seem to have a really good time planning their weddings - in between studying. Brandon and Anne-Sophie were no exception. If I gave Anne-Sophie an idea, she ran with it. And the results were spectacular for her wedding at Aldie
Mansion.

With a color palette of white, blue, and green, Anne-Sophie's bouquet was made up of ivory roses - some with blue pins - and green dendrobium orchids. Brandon wore a white calla lily boutonniere.

Bridesmaids carried bouquets of the opposite colors - SuperGreen roses topped with white dendrobium orchids. I made blue wire curls for the groomsmens' boutonnieres and glued the same white orchids to them.

Here is where Anne-Sophie's creativity took flight. When I work at Aldie, I normally suggest a little something on the entry table by the entry door.   Anne-Sophie filled little test tubes with candy "pills" which I topped off with daisies. She tied the tubes together with ribbon. Very cute!

I love how she set up her memory table. If you're getting married at Aldie, you have to ask that this table be set up for you to use. I added a small blue vase of flowers here.  I also suggest that you label your photos so that guest know who is in the picture.

Anne-Sophie collected different beakers for me to use on the cocktail tables. I just put in simple green fuji mums

The couple collected medical items - including Anne-Sophie's valuable stethoscope - for me to fill a glass container that sat in the middle of her placecard table. For placecards, I gave them boxes that I had on hand which held test tube samples for drug companies. Anne-Sophie painted and labelled them and filled small test tubes with "pills". She tied on the names of her guests to each tube. . She labelled each box which matched a picture on each guest table.

Also on the table, was a "prescription pad" for guests to sign. Such a great idea! And to top it off, Anne-Sophie supplied pens that look like needles!

But my very favorite of Anne-Sophie's creations is the container to collect envelopes! She had a giant pill bottle made up! This girl is so creative!

We used three different types of simple centerpieces for the tables. I don't have a photo of the floating orchids that sat on some tables. But another third of the tables had squares of hydrangea with orchids and button mums while a third was made up of three glass containers holding orchids and hydrangea. Orchids do not have to cost a fortune if you use them in creative ways.

Thanks again to Anne-Sophie and Brandon for having me be a part of your wedding.  Your patients are going to be so lucky to have physicians as warm and caring as the two of you are.  Best wishes!
.

Caroline & Rob - Fun at the Please Touch Museum

I love working with a family with a sense of fun and adventure and this family certainly fit the bill! I was fortunate to be able to work with two sisters on their very different weddings - two months apart. I couldn't have met two more lovely young woman. First up was Caroline and Rob's wedding at the Please Touch Museum. Caroline wanted to use U of P colors for her palette and create a fun theme her party. So for Caroline's bouquet, I used white peonies, white lisianthus, and ivory roses. Rob wore an ivory rose to match.

Caroline's MoH carried a bouquet of Fire n Ice roses mixed with ivory roses. I love the white petals with the red tips!   The rest of the bridal party carried the just the red roses. All of the groomsmen work red rose boutonnieres.

After a church ceremony, the guests arrived at the museum for cocktail hour in the carousel room. Caroline had a popcorn machine set up there so naturally we used a popcorn-like flower - hydrangea - in popcorn containers for the hi-top tables just for fun!

I filled a large glass container with boxes of Cracker Jack and topped it off with a variety of red, white, and blue flowers. Caroline had family wedding pictures set up on the table.

Guests then moved into the reception area with its very high ceiling. So we made tall arrangements of blue and white flowers for some of the tables.

And we also made two kinds of low arrangements for other tables. Caroline was very brave and did a fantastic job making the bowls out of tickets that I showed her for one type of arrangement. If you look just under the flowers, you'll see a row of tickets.

For the second type of arrangement, Caroline did a great job shopping for striped fabric. I wrapped vases in either the red or blue striped fabric.  For the parents' tables, Caroline gave me U of P pins to pin on the fabric.  We even made smaller versions for the sweetheart table.  Can you tell that Caroline is a big fan of hydrangea?

It was pure joy working with Caroline and I wish Rob and her happiness and love forever and ever. I'll certainly think of her next time I take my grandson to the museum.

Drew and Shri on the Moshulu

Drew wanted very simple wedding flowers for her marriage to Shri. She chose a color palette of navy blue, white, and yellow which looked right at home on the beautiful ship, the Moshulu.

Drew's bouquet was made up of white peonies and craspedia with a touch of lemon leaf. Shri's boutonniere of craspedia matched perfectly.

Bridesmaids carried petite bouquets made up of cushion and button mums. Groomsmen wore matching yellow button mum boutonnieres.

The ringbearer carried a "gift box" made up of flowers.

We made up a basket of fresh flowers for the flower girl.

You don't need much for a ceremony on such a beautiful ship. We place two large white and yellow arrangements on either side of the wheel for Drew and Shri's ceremony.

We added just a touch of color to the tables on the deck used for cocktail hour.

Pretty yellow and white flowers sat on the placecard table.

We put containers wrapped in navy blue ribbon holding white hydrangea on all of the guest tables.

Drew and Shri's sweetheart table matched the other tables in the ballroom.  I hope that the sweethearts had a wonderful, wonderful wedding day.  Congratulations to you both!

Olivia and Todd - Bright and Beautiful

Olivia wanted bright, bright, bright colors for her wedding. I think we accomplished that with these wonderful bouquets and boutonnieres which included a wide assortment of flowers.

A bright mix of purple. green, yellow, pink, and orange pop right off the page.

Todd wore a purple lisianthus boutonniere to match his bride.

Bridesmaids also carried brightly colored bouquets of pink, green, orange, and yellow.

I used green cushion mums for the boutonnieres of the groomsmen.

Moms carried petite bouquets of bright pink mini gerber daisies.


Congratulations to Olivia and Todd.  I hope your wedding was as happy as your flowers!