For every client I do a sample so we can ensure they are happy on the day of their event. I consider this sample more of a tablescape than I do a traditional centerpiece. The bride was getting married on December 23rd and the reception was being held at a golf club in a room with wood beams and a large stone fireplace so she wanted something that would compliment the venues rustic elegance. After this picture was taken we decided to plug in some red hypericum berries for a little more color and some pine cones for texture. If you are going to use Amaryllis, make sure you get them way in advance because they come in a tight bud and you want to have plenty of time for them to open up to their full potential. We had to keep adding warm water in the buckets of the cut stems in order to expedite the process.

The bride's bouquet was comprised of the same Amaryllis with white Open Cut Callas, white Roses, and green Magnolia leaves.

I absolutely love what this time of year has to offer! The antique hydrangea is beautiful. The addition of a few roses and two different varieties of cymbidium orchids makes this a simple yet stunning arrangement. I doubt that the average person realizes that each individual orchid flower is hand wired before being placed in the arrangement. That's a lot of time when you have eight flowers to a centerpiece and there are 15 tables. I think it's worth it!

A Vision of White

The composition of this arrangement was made up of White Casablanca Lilies, Dendrobium Orchids, Calla Lilies, White Tibet Roses, and assorted greens. The mass of blooms sat atop a glass vase. A funny side note about this arrangement has to do with the Casablance Lilies. I always try to make sure that the client gets the most bang for their buck by trying to ensure that the blooms are at the peek for the event. I had the lilies early enough to get the buds to open but what really helped was putting the bucket of lilies in our van for a couple of hours. The warmth from the sun on the van made the flowers explode with open blooms. Hey, you do what you gotta do!

Warm Palette

Every Season has it's own special beauty and Autumn is no exception. We created this tablescape for the wedding cake with the warm tones and varied textures in mind. Originally, the client had asked that we do a floral swag to swoop down the side of the cake but instead we used small floral bouquets placed just so as not to detract from the simple elegance and stature of the cake itself. Everything you see behind this cake was brought in and hung on a pipe and drape system. The light coming in from the patio doors, behind the backdrop, really accented the design of the cream pintuck material. A special thanks to the head of my sewing department who is also my Mom. LOL!

Callas

Just a few elements can make a striking yet simple arrangement. White Calla Lilies with assorted tropical leaves and curly willow made this a show stopper but it's all about the right container. The glass vessels didn't get in the way of the guests but allowed the callas to fan outward. We also used curly willow to take advantage of the high ceilings in the tent.

Anchoring A Room

If you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be?
How about a 5' iron tree embellished with fresh willow, glass votives, and hanging amaranthus?
The reception was in a tent at restaraunt with a beautiful view of Sugarloaf Mountain. The clients owned a working horsefarm so we decided to use details to reflect that part of their lives. Black underlays were on the tables topped by a high grade ivory burlap and black napkins simply tied with twine. Summer flowers including dahlias, cockscomb, roses, and scented geranium were placed in galvanized metal buckets as centerpieces including four embellished iron trees placed on tables at the four corners of the tent. I also must mention that the father of the groom made votive holders for the place settings which he welded together using pony horse shoes and a piece of barbed wire. It was rustic elegance at its best!

Chandelier

This was a fun, out of the ordinary piece created for a charity auction. All of the local florists were asked to donate a centerpiece and at the end of the night they would be auctioned off to the highest bidder. We approached this an opportunity to do something a little bit different. Funny thing was the event was held on the second floor of a restaurant and consideration wasn't given as to how the recipient would get the piece home. Ooops!

Think about photographs

A lot of venues have structures for the wedding ceremony. I try to think of how things will look from the perspective of the client looking back at their wedding album a couple years down the road. The arbor in the picture has a lot of wonderful detail and is pretty in its own right but the busy background stole some if its thunder and the vast openess of the site makes it feel a little wimpy. We installed some cheesecloth like material (NOT TULLE, I despise tulle), garland and floral clips. With our embellishments, the structure looked visually anchored and also brought out the scroll detail in the iron work. In the future I would love to use pink fabric and hang a small crytal chandelier from the inside center point. Would swags of hand strung orchids be too much? Come on, if it isn't pretty....it doesn't matter!

Inspiration

You would think it would be easy to create a bouquet when your provided with a swatch for the bridesmaid's dresses, wouldn't you? In this case, the sample was of an iridescent fabric that switched from pink to lavender depending on the light. That's not too bad but the client wanted more lavender than pink but she wanted some pink but not too much pink but don't forget the lavender but not all lavender. "You'll get it right, I know you will" she said. "Oh, okay!" I replied. No problem.
I guess it's the people pleaser in me and I hate to see somebody disappointed so we went back and forth till we thought we had it right. It wasn't until we added the bright green Cymbidium that the bouquet took life.
The bride was very happy. In fact, I think I'll always remember her standing there in her robe with her flawless makeup and hair when she said, "I knew you would get it right!"

Simple yet sophisticated! An assortment of flowers in the same color palette can stand on their own with varying height and their individual textures to add interest. This arrangement was placed on a fireplace mantle totally covered with yellow roses for contrast. The white faux fur trimmed center platform for the glass vessels added another dimension to the overall look.

This is a simple altar that was made for a wedding ceremony at a local Frederick overlook. The material is a simple cheese cloth but I found that it has a little weight to it which allows for a nicer draping effect.
This was a very hot day and what you don't see was our staff running around, minutes before guests arrived, with smokers trying to clear out what seemed to be millions of gnats!

This was an alternative to an ordinary rose bowl centerpiece. Since this was for a wedding reception, we decided to make it a little more festive by having hand tied bouquets placed on distressed iron garden containers. There were 4 different color variations to the bouquets which added to interest of the room. In the future I would like to do this with four different styles of bouquets to relect the four seasons.

Wedding Cake Tablescape

I've seen it happen too many times, the wedding cake being neglected. Why do people place the cake on an oversized white tablecloth covered table? Do they want it to fade away into a sea of white? Spend a little extra attention and the wedding cake can take it's rightful place as a key element to the wedding reception.
In this picture, we hung lavender sheer drapes as the backdrop with garland and a few water and rose filled test tubes. We also placed a contrasting crushed overlay on the table with a blanket of fresh rose petals. It's simple yet effective.

Bouquets

This beautiful bouquet has perfect composition. The corset detail matched the bride's gown.