Na Na Na...

So the process has begun.  This blog will still exist...and all the pretty flowers, but all of my new posts will be on trfloraldesign.blogspot.com I'm still working on the layout of the new blog (so please forgive my appearance)  and it will still be awhile before I have a new website....I keep taking deep breaths and thinking it will get done...slowly but surely ;).  My email is still bridalbouquetdesign@gmail.com if you need to reach me and talk flowers.

Elegant Bridal Productions Wedding Show, Short Hills NJ

I'm still working out the issues with my external hard drive and trying to get it to make nice with my new mac.  My iphoto is on there and so until I get the problem straightened out I can't post my pictures from all the September weddings.  In the meantime I'll be at the Short Hills Hilton tomorrow for an Elegant Productions Bridal Show.   If you are in the area why not stop by!

The Short Hills Hilton (Short Hills NJ) 41 JFK Parkway Short Hills, NJ  07078 888-427-4339 http://www.hiltonshorthills.com

Date: 09-29-2013 Time: 01:00pm - 04:00pm

And I'll be in at the Upper Montclair Country Club for another show on Tuesday....

Upper Montclair Country Club(Clifton NJ) 177 Hepburn Road Clifton, NJ  07012 888-427-4339 http://www.uppermontclaircountryclub.com

Date: 10-01-2013 Time: 07:00pm - 10:00pm

This was my only free weekend in September so of course I had to do something!  Next Sunday I'm up and running again with my 3 October weddings.

Whew!

September has been a busy month and every bride had amazing weather..in my book it's the best month to get married!  I had 4 weddings and a my little Kenzie girl turned four.  In the same weekend I had a wedding on Friday and a Hello Kitty Party on Sunday!  No wedding this weekend, but I am doing two wedding shows  ( I'll post details later today).

 A few things to update you on....I finally got a new computer so it's taking me a little time to set it up, organize things, get it to recognize my external hard drive so I can post my pictures from these past weddings.  (I plan to spend tomorrow morning on the phone with Apple Care)   I'm in the process of updating my website and blog and will be transitioning to a new name, Tracey Reynolds Floral Design..my focus will still be weddings but it was pointed out to me more than a few times that my name could indicate that all I do is bouquets...which is sooo not true!  So I've decided why not use my name.  I'll let you know where to find me once I do!  I love the weddings I did for September and I should have them up by the weekend!

Eventi Hotel, NYC July 12th

Yes, that is the answer to your question.  If you saw my post below, and that my daughter was born on June 28th, and this wedding was July 12th...and your question being "Is she crazy?!", the answer is yes.  I booked this wedding (before I was pregnant) through a wonderful wedding planner, whom I've worked with before,  Christina Whitehurst and here is a link to her site.

The couple was from Norway and getting married at the Norwegian Seaman's Church in NYC.   Since it was a smaller event I figured, of course I can handle it.  And with the help of my husband, and my moby wrap (this crazy long piece of fabric that you origami around yourself and stuff the baby in...sounds terrible, but babies love it!) it went off without a hitch.

The bride and groom brought their photographer with them from Norway...I love this cute and quirky shot she took of them.

And for the flowers

Bridal Bouquet:  White hydrangea, patience garden rose, white lysianthus.

Boutonnieres:  We were going to do the garden roses, but with the heat I made a back up of white calla, which are sturdier, and what they decided to go with.



Centerpieces:  In the brides words "overflowing" with white hydrangea, on the table were 20 votive candles that were to be laid out on the table in an unorganized manner.  I'm hoping the Norwegian photographer got a shot of these all set up.

I do have an event in early August, but it's only bouquets....so I am getting a little break..and July is always a slow month for me.  Probably because no one wants to be wearing a wedding dress in this heat, and everyone is enjoying the start of the summer.  Starting August 25th though it will be go, go, go, with a wedding almost every weekend until November 17th.

Welcome Olivia Lucille Reynolds

Little LiLu arrived on June 28th, so understandably my world has stopped...sigh...sorry flowers, right now nothing can compete with the beauty of my new little girl.  I'm slowly coming out of the fog that is first few weeks of mommy-hood (she'll be 3 weeks old on Friday!).  I want to thank all the brides I am working with in the Fall for your un-ending patience and understanding as I've been a bit of a turtle on checking and answering my emails....what can I say, I'm in love.

I started today catching up on everything, so don't worry girls, I'll be responding to you soon!

Westminster Hotel, Livingston NJ

This was the wedding I was crossing my fingers that baby girl would stay in my belly for (although I had arranged for back up I'm a little OCD when it comes to the designs)....and she did.

I started working with this bride more than a year ago and from the start she had the vision of fruit in the centerpieces with a bright pink and bright green color scheme.   Limes and apples....so after some experimentation on how to get the lime slices to stay in place on the sides of the centerpieces I figured it all out.

This will be the last peony post for the year...peony season usually ends toward the end of June.


Boutonnieres of mini green mums, green hypericum berries, and mint.

Corsages of white roses, green cymbidium orchids, and mini green mums

Bridal Bouquet of green cymbidium orchids, pink calla lilies, green hydrangea, green spider mums, and the most delicious pink peonies.

Bridesmaids bouquets of green hydrangea and pink peonies.

Escort Card Table:  A vase filled with granny smith apples and limes.  Topped with a large arrangement of bugati roses, white hydrangea, and mint.

Tall centerpieces of mint, bugati roses, pink peonies, and white hydrangea

And short centerpieces with lime slice covered vases and an arrangement of pink peonies and mint.

Next time I post I'll be the mother of three!  

The Westin Governor Morris Hotel, Morristown NJ

I just wanted to get these last two weddings up before the baby arrives...which I think is going to be very soon and a few days ahead of her due date...good thing I have a few weeks before my next wedding...then little baby girl is going to work!...meaning she'll be hanging out in the baby bjorn ;)

So there'll be no stories here...just the basics!

The colors were yellow, green, and light pink..which I wished was more on the peachy side, but flowers are nature and their exact color can't always be controlled...I could have used regular peach roses, but the bride was clear that she didn't want too many regular roses, so I had to make the decision between peach regular roses, or the light pink spray roses which have a softer feel to them...the boutonnieres were yellow spray roses..

Boutonniere of yellow calla and pink spray roses for the groom and corsages of calla, yellow cymbidium orchids, and pink spray roses for the mothers and grandmothers.

For the ceremony two very large arrangements of white hydrangea, yellow peonies (which my camera does no justice to the color of at all....these were amazing), super green roses, white roses, yellow and pink spray roses and green ruscus.

The bride carried a bouquet of white peonies, white roses, pink and yellow spray roses...and just a note to brides...if you want you bouquet to be perfectly round you should mention that to your florist, have it in the contract, as some flowers lend better to that shape than others.  My bride was unhappy that her bouquet wasn't perfectly round...spray roses grow on one stem at different lengths so they give more texture to a bouquet...there is no way to have them all the same length.  I remade her bouquet, and all the bridesmaids bouquets, on site and did my best to get them to be perfectly round, but I still don't think she was happy with it.  These pictures here are all the before pictures..I didn't have a chance to take pictures of the remade bouquets.

 If this was something I had known before hand I would have suggested different flowers and would have made the bouquet exactly as she wanted...my priority is always creating the designs as the bride sees them..so speak up and let your florist know exactly what you like, it will be appreciated!

The Bridesmaids carried bouquets of yellow cymbidium orchids, super green roses, and yellow spray roses.

Pew Bows:  Yellow peonies, pink spray roses, yellow calla, and green ruscus...so strange that the yellow peonies came out washed out in these photos....they were so vibrant in person.

Reception Centerpieces:  I've done different variations of these....and they are so popular because you get a lot of bang for the buck....a large centerpiece without the huge price tag a large centerpiece usually has...not to say they are "cheap", but they are when you compare them to other types of large centerpieces.

White dendrobium orchids, white hydrangea, curly willow branches

I just bought these lighted bases (below), and they can be rented as can all the vases, and usually this is what I do with large centerpieces....imagine your guests trying to lug this or the centerpiece above out of the room at the end of the night!  So if that is a priority for you, that your guests can take home the centerpieces this might not be the option for you.  But price wise submerged flowers are more affordable.

So these white dendrobium orchids are so bright because there is an LED light under the vase lighting it up from below.

One more wedding to post before my baby break....then I'll be back to work July 12th with a wedding at the Eventi Hotel in NYC.

Professionals Photos of Windows on the Water at Frogbridge

Click here for the link to the professionals pics....they are submitting them to several blogs and magazines....let's keep our fingers crossed!  

You'll see here that the bride and groom actually had two ceremonies...one was a Zorastrian ceremony...one of the oldest monothiestic religions in the world originating in was is modern day Iran.  And a Christian ceremony.  I didn't include the flowers for the Zorastrian ceremony on my blog...I just ran out of time and didn't get pictures of them.  I must admit though I outsourced on the garlands.  I can make simple ones, but the grooms mother wanted something a little fancier that I was capable of making.  She sent me a few pictures...and funny enough the place that the pictures were from is 10 minutes from my house...so I hired them...Vivek Flowers.  And now I will order all my garlands from them!

Windows on the Water at Frogbridge, Millstone NJ, May 25th

I did a wedding at this location back in October of 2012, and while I was working a bride and her family were checking out the venue...I gave her my card and that's how I ended up back at Windows on the Water.  This venue is beautiful and the staff there is professional and fantastic to work with.  

In fact when the venue revamped their website they included the wedding I designed the flowers for as one of the featured weddings of 2012...take a look!

Over the winter by husband and father renovated our basement...I finally have a proper work room!  And here it is in the midst of making the centerpieces.  

I want to eat these peonies....they look so delicious!

Boutonierres of Orange Spray Roses...

Bouquets ready for transport....

The bridesmaids carried bright bouquets of mint, orange spray roses, pink spray roses, juliet garden roses, yellow craspedia, orange freesia, and succulents.  

The Bride carried a bouquet of pink scabiosa flowers, garden roses, orange protea, succulents, orange freesia, coral pink peonies, pink hypericum berries.

There was debate about if we should make the centerpieces in square boxes or rectangular...I'm glad the final decision was the rectangular boxes...and they were perfect on the table runners that the bride provided...the table numbers were also a DIY endevor taken on by the bride.  She had the most amazing run of the day spreadsheet that she provided.  She plans events for a living, and it clearly showed in how relaxed she was on the day of the wedding and how smoothly everything went.  
Crazily enough there was an unfinished bridal gown she was to wear...it never got finished...the day of the wedding...day of...her bridesmaids ran to David's Bridal picked out 3 dresses...she tried them on about 3 hrs before the ceremony and made her choice.   And through all this...completely relaxed!  I loved it!

There were 4 different color peonies, each centerpiece focused on one color (yellow, coral, light pink, dark pink).....my favorite, the yellow. The blooms were huge!  The unifying elements in each were the mint, garden roses, succulents, and babies breath.

 Dark Pink Peonies...

Coral Pink Peonies...

 The Bridal party sat at a long rectangular table...with each of the different colored centerpieces.  The mason jars were for the bridal party to place their bouquets in when they sat down.