Ruffled Blog Feature: City Winery Inspiration Shoot

The beautiful inspiration shoot I told you about the other day was featured on Ruffled this week. 

Very exciting! 

Find out about what inspired the shoot from Roey Mizrahi and see more of the fabulous images from Allan Zepeda in the full post here.

Real Wedding: Sarah and Michael

I designed a wedding Memorial Day weekend at the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia. It was the second time I worked at the hotel but this time the reception was in the Rose Garden room rather than the Grand Ballroom. While both are lovely spaces I liked the slightly more modern feeling of the 19th floor and the Rose Garden room which was also much better suited for this smaller wedding. I'll post the professional shots as soon as I get them but in the meantime here's a peek at the personal flowers, my favorite thing to design for a wedding.

 I really loved this bouquet!! Lush, romantic white peonies, "Garden Snow" spray roses, "Juliette"  garden roses, mini succulents and peach calla lilies. The ombre peach and ombre gray ribbon were the perfect compliment to the bouquet.

 Let's just say corsages are really not my thing, I'm usually not a fan but I loved the way this turned out. I'm so happy that I didn't try and discourage the bride from her original vision for the bridesmaids. Okay to be honest I did try to change her mind, at first.

Here are my three reasons why: 1) smashed, 2) wilted and 3) beaten, all of which can happen to the flowers while they are swinging around the wrist from the old school elastic wristlet traditionally used to make a corsage. 

But not anymore, these corsage holders allowed me to create more of a flower bracelet, held snugly in place. Picture those "snap" bracelets you had as a kid. You can either tie the ribbon in bow as seen here or leave the streamers to hang from the wrist.

 

So for now I guess I'm a corsage convert...for now.

Inside the Studio: Busy days of spring

I've been working on a bunch of different projects lately and I hope to share them all with you soon but in the meantime here's just a sampling of some of the pretty things I've surrounded myself with over the last few weeks.

 Oh peonies, peonies, peonies, 'tis the season.

You don't often see me mix white and purple (my old flower friends might gasp!) but this just seemed to work for me and these tulips...sneaky little guys with their "Mysterious" name. Yes, that's really what they are called. Those flower growers over in Holland must love choosing the variety names...makes you wonder what they might be smoking doing when choosing names...ahem.

 Okay so I did it again...more purple and white...what can I tell you?!? It just felt right. And the accent of the cherry branch foliage was the perfect touch.

 A little something for my friends over at Catch for a dinner a few weeks ago. The asked for deep rich cranberry tones, keeping it clean...what do you think?

 I had made these arrangements for a client but then...

 

...they turned into these because of a request to make them a bit more masculine.

What do you think? Were they masculine before or did the yellow make them too feminine?

 

 

 These were great little bundles wrapped with twine to use in a small vase for cocktail tables.

You can see I was a big fan of the "mysterious" tulip while I could get it.

So I've been busy (thank you very much!) and I've been trying to be really good about talking pictures before these loves head out the door so I can share them with all of you!

More to come...

Spring Wedding Flowers

having a spring wedding? most likely you've already chosen the flowers you will be using but if not here are some great options.

• tulips - there are endless varieties of tulips and sometimes i feel like they are constantly growing new ones. don't think about your average single tulips (meaning single layer of petals) that you find at the grocery store or deli. consider special varieties of fringe, pencil, double or parrot varieties.

• hyacinth - they are known for the fragrance and often considered an Easter flower but can be so beautiful when using one type of flower in an arrangement.

• cherry blossom branches - oh, how everyone loves cherry blossom!!! it's a crushing blow to brides when i have to tell them that the only time that they can get cherry is for a few weeks every spring. the white cherry starts and ends earlier than the pink which is usually available from late March until early to mid-May. The timing can fluctuate a bit based on weather and market region.

• peonies - another all time favorite of brides everywhere! the timing of peonies is greatly dependent on season but you will find that if budget is not a concern the season for peonies is greatly increased. with importing from all of over the world commonplace in larger markets you will be able to have peonies in January from places like New Zealand since our seasons are opposite. locally peonies start slowly in mid to late March and last well into June (sometimes July depending on the weather).

any of these options are the perfect addition to a Spring wedding but keep in mind there are many more options to choose from and to combine these flowers with...lilacs, viburnum and hydrangea are just a few. here are some great examples of designs using a mix of spring flowers.

purple hyacinth with calethea leaves

white peonies, blue hydrangea and lemon lime cymbidium orchids

purple lilac, sarah bernard peonies and amnesia roses