Newark Club, Newark NJ

This wedding was Dec. 29th...and after the big wedding the weekend before, then Christmas....then prepping for this wedding....ahhhhh....that's how I felt when this was over.  It was a very busy two weeks!  The color scheme was red, purple, and platinum.  Everything went smoothly...except I forgot to ribbon one of the bridemaid's bouquets...opps...so back I drove to the hotel.  I always bring the ribbon with me...just in case ;)

Bridal Bouquet: Picassa Calla's, Purple Sweet Peas, White and Purple anemone, and fiddlehead fern.

Bridesmaids Bouquets:  White Roses and Brunia

Boutonnieres:  Callas and brunia, and roses with brunia

Centerpieces of purple sweet peas, brunia, purple anemones and black magic roses

And the bride wanted centerpieces that were affordable, but would take up volume in the room.  So we went with babies breath, which mimicked the snow falling outside, dressed up with brunia and sweet peas...I didn't get the best pictures here...lighting is off...need to take class to learn to use camera!

Macaluso's Hawthorne, NJ

I am obsessed with succulents after doing this wedding.  I use 45 of them to complete all these looks and one of the best things about them is that all you need to do is give them a bed of soil afterwards and they will grow...sometimes they'll even be around for years.  So you'll see in the base of the vase I provided a rock covering, with soil and bark so the guests could simply take out the little vase of flowers and let their succulents continue to grow.  

The bride also had one large succulent and 6 small succulents in her bouquet, along with garden roses, spray roses, brunia, cafe latte dahlia's, seeded eucalyptus and dusty miller.  

The bridesmaids had a smaller succulent with sedum, dahlias, and spray roses.  

This wedding had the whole family involved....I made 21 boutonnieres and 14 corsages!  That's a record for me!

Pew bows for the church...

When first discussing ideas with the bride I came across an image online, that I maybe looked at for 2 seconds....then I couldn't find it again, but that was enough...I was inspired.  I love how the driftwood looks across the top with the succulent and cymbidium orchid.  For half I put the driftwood across the top, for the other half I had a dish with a floating candle and the driftwood was placed on the table next to the vase.  

I created my test run for this idea for a wedding show a few weeks earlier and I was able to get little trios of potted succulents to use inside the vase.  I ordered 22 more for this wedding only to have the supplier call me the day before the wedding to tell me he couldn't get them...really!  Ugh, this is why I pick up all my flowers myself.  In the flower district there are always alternatives.  I was able to get more large succulents when I picked up the rest of my order.  

These cylinder vases drove me crazy.....when I first unpacked them at home they were filthly...so I had to wash them with soap and water....and they smelled like fish inside!?   So weird....then when I took them out for the wedding they still didn't look clean so I cleaned them again with windex...so much work.  I won't be buying vases from there anymore!  

My next event is October 13th....and it's going to be a beauty!  I'm going to get the flower order together today and place it at the end of next week.  It's going to be so beautiful and I am using the chuppah again...but this time it's not a chuppah....just an arbor for the ceremony.  

Wedding Show, Edison NJ

Earlier this month I participated in a wedding show.  I wanted to use my manzanita branch trees, but do something a little more organic looking, and it was nice to just go into the flower market and pick what caught my eye...and what matched the mismatched table setting I had purchased to complete the look.   I also created the bridal bouquet that I envision going with this garden wedding affair.  Enjoy!

 

This was the smaller table centerpiece...The Bridal Show had up lighting and it was difficult trying to take pictures..the lights were changing from pink, to blue, to purple, to yellow....you can see in the pictures below how it effected how the arrangement looks.

In this one it was blue...

In this one it was yellow...

I love looking for unique things and think at some point I'd love to do expand and have a prop shop to rent items out to brides from.  It would be a justifiable excuse for my yard sale/estate sale addiction.  I was at an estate sale the weekend before the show and picked up these intricate table clothes...I underlayed it with a yellow flower print that I picked up at a fabric store.

The bouquet was patience garden roses, craspedia, brunia, star of Bethlehem, fuchsia spray roses and lambs ear.  My next wedding is August 18th and there are birdcages, lamps, trees...it's going to be beautiful!

Just Having Some Fun

Oh, how many times I've been in the flower market during May or June, picking up my light pink and white peonies for a wedding...as I get my order I longingly look at the beautiful dark pink peonies and wonder why they are shunned by brides.   No more I say!  I picked up a few bunches and other lovelies that caught my eye (get a load of the purple artichokes!) to show a bride doesn't have to be all light and sweet on her wedding day.

These arrangements are all made with dark pink peonies, dark pink spray roses, silver brunia (the balls) and, purple artichokes....wow.  I gave the bridal bouquet a long train of grey lace to pick up the silver in the bouquet.