Rutgers Gardens

H-O-T....yes very H-O-T. It was so hot that I waited in the truck with my air conditioner running full blast because I was afraid the hydrangeas in the bouquets and centerpieces would freak out and immediately wilt once they hit the hot and humid air. And the ceremony, reception...everything was outdoors...hence my concern about the flowers. I emailed the bride today just to see how everything held up. Because, of course, I was worrying about them all day yesterday. Here is what she said,

"The flowers were all gorgeous and we got so many compliments on them. They held up great in the heat. My bouquet is in a vase here at home still looking great, and my mom said she took a few centerpieces and they all look great today. Thank you so much for all you did. I will definitely recommend you to anyone else I know who is getting married!"

~The Beautiful Bride

I am so happy to help a bride fufill her vision of what she wants for her wedding day. And I am honored when a bride choses me to be part of it. I know it sounds corny, but it's true.

So back to Rutgers I went. While I went to school there I had no idea these gardens even existed. But now, thanks to a neighbor who told me about their Mother's Day plant sale, its become a family tradition that we visit the gardens on Mother's Day. The ceremony took place in the gazebo next to the little store there. The store is tended to by a sweet woman named Pat, who will be happy to answer any questions you have about the gardens and about planning a wedding there.

And there was some green hydrangea in bloom right by the ceremony site.

And to help the guest keep cool in the summer sun the programs for the wedding had little handles on the bottom so they doubled as fans.

The star of yesterdays show was hydrangeas, and the bride picked out such beautiful summer colors peach, blue, yellow, and green. I was excited about using these colors together, but I guess it must be hard to picture it...I had a few friends that looked at me with question marks over their heads when I told them the colors. As you can see from the fan/program pic above they are beautiful and so refreshing.

It's nice to be able to get pics of the flowers before I leave the house and then to get pics of the flowers hard at work. I normally don't get to see the bridal party go down the aisle, but in this case the centerpieces were sitting in the cool AC of my car, so I waited until the bride walked down the aisle before I went to the reception site down the road to set up.

The woman standing in the background of the pic above is Debbie Page owner of Simply Creative Weddings she was very nice and takes care of everything from day of coordination, to the entire wedding planning process.

The reception took place in a covered area a short walk down the road. It was dressed up all nice and fancy for the wedding. And a cute idea for a summer outdoor wedding....water bottle seating 'cards'.

The centerpieces were simply hydrangea...

All of these hydrangea reminded me of something....

For the DIY brides I have a little story about hydrangea...you can play Dr. Frankenstien and bring them back from what you may think is 'the dead'. Last year I did a wedding that was all hydrangea, I had 70 stems of hydrangea in my basement. I had cut them, put them in water, given them their flower food...everything your supposed to do....to my horror, when I went to check on them the next morning almost all of them had wilted...wilted hydrangea are not a pretty sight...they look kind of like a wet hairy dog. I frantically called my supplier (in my head freaking out..."what I am supposed to do the wedding is tomorrow maybe I can run back into the city super early to buy more and still make it to the wedding in PA"...and on, I left out any commas because this is what it sounds like in my head when I start to freak out.). His advice...put those babies in warm water all the way up to the head of the flower...he promised they would be resurrected. I was very doubtful, but when I check on them the next morning out of the 60ish that were wilted only 5 where still goners...the other 55 had risen from 'the dead'.

This time around out of the 80 stems I purchased for this wedding only a few wilted, but I brought them all back to life too...bhua ha ha!

Next wedding...a small wedding at the shore August 14th.