Nicole

Nicole came to her bridal appointment and knew exactly what she wanted. In fact she was so completely certain I knew very little details about her dresses and colours until I saw the finished photography by Ruth Stenson Photography... I must admit- although I'd like to take credit for the entirety- her choices were amazing and I was pleased that we could accomodate her requests.

Her colour palette was composed of orange and lime green for her bouquet and the rest of the bridal party. The maids' pomanders hung from a broom handle across our backroom door on a beautiful fall afternoon.



Nicole wore a couture dress with an ostrich feather detail on the bodice and we added some creamy ostrich feather accents to the pomanders which were composed of green viking or button mums and orange flat daisies.



Nicole's bouquet featured mango calla, orange dahlia, orange cymbidium orchids lime green flat mums, queen anee's lace and more ostrich feathers.



The table centres were contemporary cubes filled with orange lily and gerbera daisies, green hydrangea and fern fronds wich echo the movement of the ostrich feathers...


Two large vase arrangements of orange gladiola flanked the stairs of the Montrose Inn which looks remarkably like a southern plantation in the photography from Ruth Stenson which I will post next.

Amanda

The same evening we hosted the Artwalk we also prepared for Amanda's wedding. The September date of her wedding conflicted with her desire for peonies...We felt the best option to create the same soft pink romantic feel would be garden roses- a product we didn't have much experience with. With some research and a lot of communication with Alexandra Farms (the grower) we settled on a couple of varieties that could provide a complimentary tone to her colour scheme while providing a lovely fragrance and getting close to the shades of pinks and fuschia of peonies.

The bridemaid's bouquets were composed of white spray roses the 'Marietheresia' and 'Yves Piaget' garden roses with a small collar of variegated pittosporum as well, but were somewhat smaller than the bride's.

Her 2 year old daugter would be her flower girl and we decided to try something slightly innovative, modern and yet easily carried and fun for a little one. We dressed a series of concentrically smaller styrofoam balls which we selected because they are lightweight; the smallest ball was woven with bear grass, the next variegated pitt and dressed with pearl head pins, and the largest ball with a sage green moss. The balls were tiered together and pink cymbidium orchids were the cherry on top!

The wedding and reception took place at the River Inn Corbyville - a venue that provides a fabulous, substantial solid wood bar. Amanda envisioned a collection of 3 glass cyclindrical vases with a modern treatment. We anchored some cymbidium blooms at the base of this vase and submerged them, a tai leaf with pink striation circled the interior of the glass obscuring the stems of the sedum which were angled jeff leatham style, folded aspidistra leaves and more garden roses.

A saucer dahlia provides a dramatic focal point in contrast to the shape of the roses and submerged rose petals add textural interest.

The lenth and curve of these calla ideally suited the largest vase- we based the cylinder with tai leaves a white hydrangea and another calla nestled in to draw the eye. Mirror covers the wall behind the bar creating the appearance of even more cylinders and a grouping was placed at each end of the bar

The tablecentres were inspired by the Ellen Degeneres show and as I'm not a regular viewer I had to go online to determine what that style enveloped. We had some beautiful green moss which we lined the low glass oval cylinders and pink ecuadorian roses in rows stood at attention interspersed with rose buds.

They're all tucked in and ready for bed and so am I!

Gorgeous Holiday Urns and Swags

We had anothere series of extraordinary classes this holiday season. Each urn was as unique as it's designer and I am once again suprised and impressed!

You can't beat the smell of fresh pine, cedar and fir! Each urn was accented with magnolia, ilex berries, dogwood, curly willow and a variety of holiday greens.
With some reorganization of the back room we were able to host more guest designers comfortably this year and we'll definitely keep that in mind- maybe a floral design class in March would be fun!

We used the left over tips to create some lovely door knockers or swags with a few cones and some wonderful ribbons to choose from that each designer could personalize to their taste.