This wedding was huge! And I was sooo exhausted when it was all said and done. I was lucky to have help....and my husband was thrilled that it wasn't him this time! A while back I was contacted by someone who wanted to work with flowers, but the design classes she was taking were breaking the bank. She asked if I ever needed help to think of her. And so for poor Leslie it was trial by fire....what an event to have as your first experience with a wedding! (I hope it didn't scare you away Leslie!)
I normally don't get much sleep before a wedding, but this was insane. Leslie arrived at 7pm (I had been up since 5am...I decided to pick up the flowers day of since I was working with garden roses and it was warm out). Leslie helped me finish all the centerpieces and then she was on her way, we planned on meeting at the church the next day at 11:30. I continued to work until 3:30am. Then I slept.....for two hours, and was up again at 5am to make bouquets and boutonnieres. We finished setting up at the reception at 3:30....then I literally slept in the van until it was time to collect vases and lanterns at the end of the night. There was rain in the forecast, but it waited until the end of the reception to start, so everyone had a chance to enjoy the amazing views and the property.
As I drove home it was pouring and my GPS wasn't picking up a signal because of the storm....I missed my exit and ended up on this crazy creepy road with no exits..... it took me into Connecticut! I finally made it home at 1:30am.....exhausted...so much so that I decided to spend the last week at my dad's house by the beach. I totally unplugged and couldn't even think wedding!
Now though, I am now completely recovered and am looking forward to the wedding this weekend and all of my fall weddings.
Now for all the pictures.....
The church was built by some of the same masons that built St. Peters in NYC, cool right. On the doors leading in there were two wreaths of babies breath......yes, I know Babies breath is ugly, is boring, is sooo totally 80's right?! Wrong...I have been converted. We were able to use it in a way that totally kept with the romantic theme of the wedding and saved the bride a ton of money...especially on the tall centrepieces. You'll see, by the end of the blog I bet you'll see it in a whole new light too!
Inside there were tall candelabras with three arms. 16 of them....each arm with a small bouquet of flowers...that's 48 little bunches of flowers. Surprisingly out of everything I made I whipped through these in about 40 minutes.
Now to the reception location, The Wainwright House. Seriously this place was like you had a very rich family member that allowed you to use their home and grounds for your wedding. It was beautiful.
Although you can't see it in the picture right smack in the middle, very far off in the distance, was the Empire State Building. You could see it clearly when night fell. So imagine from this spot you turn to the left to see the tent and the house with cocktail tables set up on the lawn.
To add a bit of drama, especially when it got dark, lanterns were set framing each of the three steps...these are mine so if you are interested in renting them let me know! I have 6 of them and can easily get more...I think they'd be great for a flower arrangement inside the lantern set in the center of a table with two smaller arrangements around it.
The 10 cocktail tables were dressed up with small arrangements of roses and babies breath.
The Brides Bouquet was very romantic. It contained David Austin garden roses in peach and ivory, ivory spray roses, blushing bride serruria, a really pretty frilly white flower (I can't remember the name!), framed with dusty miller. I think this is now winning the prize for my most favorite bouquet.
The bridesmaids carried bouquets of light pink spray roses, scabiosa pods, sahara roses, sweet akito roses (light pink), and astrantia.
The boutonnieres...a request to keep it masculine. I did my best!
Now these tall centerpieces were all babies breath, making them a very affordable way to have a substantial size centerpiece without spending a substantial amount of money!
They were framed at the bottom with two smaller arrangements of hydrangea and spray rose, scabiosa pod, and babies breath.
The short, but not at all small, arrangements were hydrangea, scabiosa pods, sahara and sweet akito roses and carnations...yes here's another one that I usually steer away from, but the color was the most perfect antiqued paper...exactly what was needed.
So 35 arrangements...10 of which had 2 smaller arrangements to go along with it...so thats 20 small ones, plus the 35, 48 little ones for the church, 2 babies breath wreaths, 13 boutonnieres, 1 bridal bouquet, 4 bridesmaids bouquets, 1 card table arrangement, 2 arrangements for the church, 1 corsage....maybe you understand why I was so tired....and Leslie, I want to thank you again for all your help! You were fantastic!
Next wedding this Friday. The bride decided to take the reception in a direction different than using floral centerpieces, but the church will be totally decked out in flowers!
