Brigantine NJ

Where to begin.....

This is the last wedding I will ever be a bridesmaid for (me and my friend Carissa, who was also in the wedding, did a toast to this fact at the reception).....not because it wasn't a blast, but the last of my best friends is off and married.

I told Heather, long ago, I would love to do the flowers for her wedding. I should have known it would be a biggie (30 tables)....Heather's dad's friends nicknamed him "The Mayor", because he knows everyone...and Heather is much the same. It's rare that we go someplace and she doesn't run into someone she knows.

The weather was the most perfect wedding day weather, and while thunderstorms and high winds threatened the outdoor tented affair the night before (luckily the storms passed just to the north of Atlantic City and Brigantine...the nervous fiance, Joe, was camped out in front of the weather channel for part of the night watching the storms on the radar, hoping the tent wouldn't get blown away)

The main flower of this wedding was some serious, serious hydrangea...in colors that were so vivid it was crazy. The supporting flowers were purple and yellow roses, purple cymbidium orchids, and purple dendrobium orchids.

As I was unpacking the hydrangea, the blue was firm and fresh, the pink the same, ....then the purple....which I unpacked last. As I was unpacking the blue and pink I was happily thinking to myself that I was in hydrangea heaven, as I unpacked the purple I realized I might be entering into hydrangea hell! There was a fuzzy mold growing on the stems and they were wilting. So I put them in water and crossed my fingers. And as I guessed, by the next morning most of the purple had begun to wilt. I cut again and put them in warm water up to their heads and crossed my fingers. In the end I saved enough of them to complete all the bouquets and centerpieces...whew! (Imagine me here wiping the sweat off my brow)

The centerpieces matched Heather's personality perfectly, they were outgoing, bright, and their colors were true.....ok that might be total cheese, but it's the truth. Heather is the most genuine, loyal friend and I am so happy to have been part of the beginning of a new chapter in her life.

The excited bride.....

Because I was in the wedding I needed help...and my assistant/husband was on duty and my friend Amy from Philadelphia. She recently started her own floral design business, Leaves of Grass Floral Design.

Here she is among the flowers...

We worked the night before putting centerpieces together and finished around 2:30am. I was up at 7am to make out 8:15am hair appointments. While I was getting be-a-u-tiful Amy took charge and worked on the flowers while I was gone. When I got back it was corsages and bridal bouquet time. Then I was off to the church, while Amy and Cleat took care of setting everything up on site.

Said Corsage

And Bridal Bouquet....without and with the bride....

I took so many pictures that it's hard to edit!

Here are the bridesmaids bouquets and some of the pictures of the day that I really liked...And of course since I was taking all the pictures there are none of me!

Above...Carissa who will probably be calling me yelling at me for putting this picture on my blog!

Now for the centerpieces, well half of them...I forgot to take pictures of the fishbowls, which my hubby says he took pictures of so I'll post them at a later date....and maybe there will actually be a picture of me in there too! The tall vases on the tables were filled with marbles and a purple floralyte to light up the vase and a submerged dendrobium orchid...because of liability they couldn't dim the lights in the tent (we were on grass)...so they never got to show what they were capable of...but as it got dark people were asking me how I got them to come on...were they on a timer....it was just that you could only see them as it got dark. I didn't get a picture of them as it got darker...I was having too much fun by that point!

It was an insanely exhausting two days and I think it took me a week to completely recover!

Next wedding...October 3rd! Three days away!

DUMBO

Down Under the Manhattan Bridge

Another hot, hot summer day.

And while the ceremony site was amazing, the Manhattan Bridge to the left, the Brooklyn Bridge to the right, I worried for the bride in the crazy heat. These are some pictures I took of the ceremony site after it was dressed up with red Gerbera Daisies and bright green ribbon.

Her fiance brought her red Gerbera daisies with the black center when he flew to see her (I can't remember if it was a first date or not), and had a very difficult time getting through security with the liquid in the water piks on the end of the stems. They were going to make him leave the flowers all together but he convinced them to just let him dump the water out. All the trouble he went through was very sweet. So it was very important for them to have these flowers as part of their wedding day.

The heat made me very nervous for the brides all white bouquet. On a cool or even warm day a white bouquet is ok as long as you treat it well. White flowers show their bumps and bruises very easily. But on a hot day white flowers, 95 degree temps, and the sun do not make for a happy bouquet. I left my bride with specific instructions to keep it cool and in water for as long as possible. I haven't heard from her and am hoping everything turned out fine.

Here is her lovely bouquet before I left to drop it off. It was made of hydrangea, freesia, gardenia, and large and small calla lilies...My husband was laughing at me as I took these pictures...the green in the background is actually the weed patch currently growing next to our front door...in the future I see a patio of slate with moss growing in between...but for now...weeds.

I was really happy with how the boutonnieres and the little pomander for the flower girl turned out.

Small bunches of daisies for the bridesmaids and a wristlet of freesia for the mothers...

The reception was held in the Dumbo Lofts. Place card table was very cute....they were paper airplanes...I wonder if they 'used' them during the reception?

There were two centerpieces, small green ones with green hydrangea, spider mums, and small pom mums.

And tall tree's with hanging candles and white dendrobium orchids. These vases were perfect to give the arching effect the bride was looking for. And being about 6ft tall they definitely filled in the open loft space.

My Next wedding, Heather's Wedding! Sept. 18th Brigantine, NJ.