This wasn’t our biggest wedding, and it may not have been the most expensive wedding, but it was absolutely lovely, lovely, lovely!  Kirsten is a very talented artist (ceramicist) in her own right, however the succulent centerpieces she created for her wedding were just unbelievable!  I wish I had a picture to share of them! We were hired to create just the personal flowers for this event; but I think we did a very good job of having them pair perfectly with Kirsten’s beautiful centerpieces.  And what a wonderful coincidence that succulents are the most hearty, and heat resistant plants, because it was hot on this beautiful July wedding day.  Really hot.  As in 110 degrees!!

I wish I had more time to snap a few more pics of Kirsten’s bouquet, but I really just wanted it to go directly from the cooler, right into the air conditioned van.   This bouquet contained Garden Roses, Succulents, Bunny Tail Grass, Ranuculas, Chamomile, Poppy Pods, and plenty more little botanical accents.

In all my years of working with Dendrobium Orchids, I have never seen one where two florets actually fused together to create one beautiful bloom.  I took this as a wonderful sign of good luck!!

This was one of the corsages we created for this event.

Congratulations Kirsten and Mark!!!

Additional Vendors:

Venue: West Park Winery

http://www.westparkwinery.com/

Esther first contacted me about her wedding when I was literally two days away from giving birth to my daughter, Violet!  Rather than stress over the whole “just about to have a baby feeling”, and all the hospital creepiness, I was delighted to have someone to chat about flowers with.  I didn’t divulge any of this information to her until about a week later, fearing she would write me off and take her business (and beautiful floral ideas) elsewhere.   Luckily she was fine with it, and hired me shortly after.

When I first met Breandan and Esther they struck me as such a happy couple, all smiles.  I could just tell how in love they were with one another.  I love couples like this, they make me become even more involved in my work!  Esther is Korean and Breandan is Irish so they incorporated a lot of their cultural heritage in their day.  For their personal florals they selected Orchids, paired with Spray Roses, and Astilbe.  Orchids are exceptional choices for reflecting many Asian cultures, (and one of these days I really need to blog about them more).  The Astilbe seemed like a good idea to me because it is reminiscent of Heather flower which grows wild all over the British Isles, it was available locally at the time, and also fit nicely with the Hudson Valley location of this event.  When I paired the blush toned Orchids with the pink Astilbe I knew I had a perfect match, much like this perfect couple!

Congratulations Breandan and Esther!!!!

To see even more fantastic images from this event please visit our friend Kat Cheng’s blog:

http://katchengblog.com/

 

 

Photo Courtesy of Kat Cheng Photography

Photo Courtesy of Kat Cheng Photography

One of our photos

One of our photos

 

Photo Courtesy of Kat Cheng Photography

Photo Courtesy of Kat Cheng Photography

One of our photos.

One of our photos

Photo Courtesy of Kat Cheng Photography

One of our photos.

One of our photos.

One of our photos.

One of our photos.

 

For centerpieces we used graduated cylinder vases, with submerged Mokura Orchids in a vibrant pink, with floating candles.  I really liked the idea of incorporating so much water in their designs since the Rhinecliff sits right on the Hudson River.

Photo Courtesy of Kat Cheng Photography

Photo Courtesy of Kat Cheng Photography

One of our photos.

Thank you to the other vendors who made this event so lovely and perfect in every way.

The Old Dutch Church

http://www.olddutchchurch.org/

The Beekman Arms

http://beekmandelamaterinn.com/

The Rhinecliff Hotel

http://www.therhinecliff.com/

Kat Cheng Photography

http://www.katcheng.com/

The DJ Solution

http://www.thedjsolution.com

 

 

 

 

Here’s a sneak peek (at least of the centerpieces) for those of you who are wondering what we have been up to this month….

 

Rebekah and Harry were such a great couple!  I loved their custom, hand-made invitations with pine trees on them,  and loved hearing that Harry’s mother was an artist.  They seemed to really appreciate nature and the arts.  I can’t even imagine a more perfect location for such a couple than Onteora Mountain House.  I must admit this is a favorite of mine, I always feel lucky and privileged to work at this location.

During our first meeting Harry and Rebekah expressed a desire to mainly use green and white flowers.  They seemed to prefer more unusual blooms, such as Green Trick Dianthus; and Harry mentioned using Hens and Chicks. I was over the moon with this suggestion, they are some of my favorites!  Rebekah seemed to like more of the “bloomy,” feminine flowers, while Harry really liked more of the sculptural varieties.  Eventually we all decided on what you see here.  The main flowers used for this wedding were:  Sweet Peas, Peonies, Calla Lilies, Hydrangea, Hens and Chicks (Echiveria), and hints of various local product.  The centerpieces were some of my all time favorites.  We selected two different types of containers.  The first was a beautiful white paper birch, the second one was a rustic cedar cube.  Each centerpiece was surrounded by river rock, vines, large  Echiveria, and lots of white tea lights.  I was in love with these arrangements!  Apparently so was everyone else since this event was actually featured on Style Me Pretty!!

The boutonnieres were supposed to originally be green Gladiola florets, but when we ran into an issue with them we had to upgrade all of the boutonnieres and bridesmaids bouquets with green Cymbidium Orchids.  It actually worked out very nicely, since there were some beautiful potted orchids inside the estate.

This was one of the bridesmaid’s bouquets.  We wrapped each one with this beautiful grosgrain ribbon that I just had to have a few weeks earlier.  Erica and Bryan thought I had lost my mind when I purchased every single roll of this type.  However, several weeks later, while I was making these bouquets, I realized that the preselected green just wasn’t going to work for the wrap.  I knew immediately why I must have purchased the grosgrain!

 

 

Although the majority of the decor was very rustic and outdoorsey, Rebekah requested that just the handle of her bouquet have some bling to it.  She asked the the entire handle be encrusted as shown to match her GORGEOUS dress!  She was such a beautiful bride!!!

Rebekah and Harry rented our birch Chuppah for their ceremony.  It was important to Harry to have the pots contain Spanish Moss, not Sheet Moss, which seemed appropos since this couple is currently living in Florida, where it grows on many of the trees.  It was important to me to make sure the greenery fit nicely with the pine trees in the background.

Overall this wedding was one of my favorites of the season so far.  I hope you all enjoyed the pictures as much as we all enjoyed working with the flowers here!!!!

And now for the Pro Pics from the very talented Ulysses Photography!   For even more eye candy, please visit them at http://www.ulyssesphotography.com

Vendors Included:

Onteora Mountain House

Home

Day of Coordinator: Jeanne Stark,  Hudson Valley Ceremonies

Hudson Valley Wedding Planning and Officiant Service

Photography: Ulysses Photography

http://www.ulyssesphotography.com

Invitations: Momental Designs

Unique Custom Watercolor Wedding Invitations

Hair: Chelsea Harris, Salon 52 Hair Studio

http://www.salon52hairstudio.com

Music: Hudson Valley Entertainment

http://www.hveassociates.com

Catering: Blue Mountain Bistro

http://www.bluemountainbistro.com

Ceremony Music: Woodstock String Quartet

http://wavelinks.net/wsq.htm

 

 

This wedding was just heavenly.  As soon as I met Patricia I knew I would cry my eyes out if she didn’t select me to be the florist for her wedding at Mohonk Mountain House.  Mohonk.  Honestly, is there a more dreamy location for a florist?  If there is please tell me about it!  First of all, if you have never been to this location it is basically a castle set on top of a gorgeous mountain surrounded by a crystal blue lake.  As if that were not perfect enough, there are some of the most amazing gardens ever at this location, including ever so romantic hedge mazes!  But this blog is not really supposed to be about locations, it is supposed to be about the flowers! So without further ado, here are the details, all photographed by our friend Janet Skinner at Ashley Studios.

When it came to wedding florals for the day, Patricia requested romantic blooms such as roses, and wildflower elements to tie in with the gorgeous garden setting.  She also asked for a hint of vintage elements.  We used about 5 or 6 different types of roses in all vintage tones of pinks, peaches, ivories, pale yellows and dusty lavender (I normally would have left the lavender out, but I was in love with the variety that was available on this week, they opened up in such a beautiful way, I couldn’t possibly not have included them, so they did show up here and there).  We also used Lisianthus in many of the same tones, locally grown Cottage Yarrow, Double Stock flower to add some fragrance, and a host of other wildflowers, mosses, and foliage.  For centerpieces Patricia supplied her own vintage silver serving dishes.  Some were slightly tarnished, some had more shine to them, but the look in person was out of this world.  Love birds were also an underlying theme throughout the day.  They appeared on stationary, on top of the cake, and in perfectly appointed, subtle ways.

I kept referring to this wedding as “the fairytale wedding”.  I think all little girls have storybook fantasies about marrying in gardens complete with hedge mazes with a castle in the background. And in true fairytale style, it seemed as if the animals wanted to take part in the ceremony set-up as well with deer peeping over at us through the bushes, and butterflies and bees swirling all around.  I felt like I was a florist in a Disney movie!  Patricia and Vincent even left in a horse drawn carriage ride!

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Studios

The next few photos were taken by me, but I just had to include them, especially the one of the deer who was supervising us!

We want to thank Vincent and Patricia for letting us be a part of their beautiful wedding and want to recognize all the other vendors and parties who made this wedding so magical!

Venue: Mohonk Mountain House

http://www.mohonk.com

Photographer: Janet Skinner, Ashley Studios

http://www.ashleystudios.com

Videographer: Jim & Cathy Culhane, Artistic Images Video

http://www.artisticiv.com

Wedding Coordinator: Christina Latvatalo at Mohonk Mountain House

Priest: Father Rich Hasselbach

Ceremony Musicians: Boticelli Chamber Players

http://www.botticellimusic.com/index.html

Entertainment: Jeff and Stephanie Padovani, The DJ Solution

http://www.thedjsolution.com

Congratulations Vincent and Patricia!!!  We are certain that you will live happily ever after!

 

~ Heather & Adrienne