Anyone Looking for a Chuppa in the Hudson Valley?

Yes folks, we have finally broken down this year and constructed a beautiful birch Chuppa/ Chuppah (there are several spellings) for your rental needs.  As always, this is for rent to our full service clients with a signed contract.  This seems to be a very hot item, so please reserve at least a year ahead if you are interested in renting this for your wedding.  We will also be offering a similar garden arch made of birch as well for your garden style wedding needs.  Please feel free to contact us for more information.  This picture was taken during our first trail run at West Park Winery.  We have made this a modular unit, so you have the option of any number of different decorative bases.

Vintage Amber Glassware

Yes, once again we are offering even more vintage glassware!  This collection would be absolutely perfect for any fall wedding.  The hobnail and gold details would be absolutely exquisite paired with chocolate browns and other autumnal colors.  We are currently in the process of building this collection, but we are really happy with what we have so far.  Please keep in mind these items are only offered to our full service clients with a signed contract.  Stay tuned because we will be offering more items in this collection as we continue to come across them.

 

Save the Roses!

I don’t know what is going on lately but it seems in the past two years almost every bride I have sat down with tells me, “I don’t want any roses!”  This is a really interesting phenomenon to a florist who for the past 15 years or so has always heard the complete opposite!  It used to be that no one wanted Carnations, but that is no longer the case. Everyone seems fine with Carnations, just not Roses.

Were brides assuming the price would be too high?  I couldn’t imagine that was the case, because roses are usually one of the most economical blooms I can think of to use for weddings.  Were brides suddenly worried about being stuck by thorns?  I didn’t give much credit to that theory, because so many roses are bread virtually thornless these days.  Was there some website out there telling people they contain too much pollen?  I searched around and couldn’t find any.  I had to figure out why bride’s attitudes had changed so drastically.

After asking lots of questions, and speaking to many brides and their families, I realized what it was that brides don’t like about roses.  They all seemed to assume that if they ordered roses, that they would be those super tight closed up ones that you see trapped behind cooler doors at the grocery stores, or stuffed into plastic wrappers in gas stations.  Today’s modern brides want BLOOMY flowers!  Big, lush, fully opened ruffly flowers.  Which is probably why every bride I have met with has also asked me for Ranuculas, no matter what season they are getting married in.  Although few realize that Ranuculas are much smaller than roses.

Here is my suggestion.  If your budget affords it, go with Garden Roses.  However if all you can afford is the every day type of roses, do not despair!  Your professional florist will know ways to get them to bloom into the most amazingly beautiful flowers you have ever seen.  Just to prove this point, here are some “everyday” basic South American varieties that when properly cared for open as large as your fist.  Please do not discount roses for your wedding!!!

~Heather

 

 

Brian and Megan’s Wedding at Opus 40

What a sweet couple!  I first met with Brian and Megan and their wonderful families about a month before their wedding, and was a little worried that we wouldn’t have enough time to really plan their florals.  Fortunately they were very open to ideas, and only needed to order personal flowers and a few flowers by the bunch. Megan and Brian opted to create their own centerpieces out of candles and slices of tree rings.  Megan described possibly using mason jars with moss and fairie lights to complete the beautiful outdoor setting.

This couple was very open to incorporating celtic elements in their florals.  Normally I would think of using Heather or Sterling Range, however with their color preferences falling into the more lavender and purple families, I suggested Thistle, which they really liked the idea of.  Here are some of the pictures of what I created for them.  I had a lot of fun photographing these in our new building, there are so many great surfaces to take pictures against.  I really loved the old weathered bricks against the softness of the flowers in many of these shots.  Hope you enjoy!

Congratulations Brian and Megan!!!

The floral selections included: Sweet Peas, Thistle, Mini Green Hydrangea, Hybrid Delphinium, Lisianthus, Freesia, Roses, Spray Roses, Lavender, Eucalyptus, Trachillium, and a few more but I can’t seem to remember the names of evry single flower used here!

These were the wrist corsages.

Boutonnieres

Brian’s Boutonniere

Megan’s Bouquet!  I absolutely loved this one, not only was it so pretty but it smelled heavenly!!!

One of the bridesmaid’s bouquets.


 

 

Got Milk (Glass)?

If you have been doing any research for weddings lately, you are sure to have come across Milk Glass just about everywhere!  Especially in the Hudson Valley!  But who really has the time or the money to source it all on their own?  Which is why we are now adding vintage milk glass to our rental offerings.

We do also sell milk glass items, but it seems that when using them for weddings, it is much more economical to rent these vessels out for maximum impact.  Feel free to contact us for more information on these pieces and any of our other rental items.  Please note: these items are offered exclusively for our full service clients with a signed rental contract.

The Unveiled Bridal Show at Locust Grove

As everyone knows I rarely do bridal shows, too many crowds and they usually seem to happen at the most inconvenient times for me.  However Cinderella 4 a Day’s “Unveiled” show fit my schedule perfectly, and I loved that every florist was given a seasonal table to decorate!  I immediately chose to do winter, and Durant’s Tents and Events furnished the most beautiful linens for the winter themed table!  They consisted of a pewter tablecloth, navy pintuck runners and chair sashes, and white plates and stemware edged with silver.

I opted to bring out the most formal centerpiece I could think of since winter, in my opinion, is by far the most formal month to have a wedding.  I created a large centerpiece on one of our pewter candelabras, adorned with crystal accents.  The flowers I chose to use were white Hydrangea, fully blown open gigantic white roses, navy Privet Berries, Silvery Dusty Miller, and Brunia Berries.  I had also brought along several miniature arrangements that coordinated with the large candelabra, which I intended to have at the base of this large arrangement.  However I felt that it would have looked too crowded and busy, so I opted to use simple white votive tea lights instead.

For our actual table at the show I decided to create a Black Swan theme for the majority of the display.  Of course in real life you would never see this theme carried out in such a literal sense with the black and pink, but I just wanted to have fun and enjoy creating these designs. The flowers I used consisted of the following: Peonies, Ranuculas, Pink Spray Roses, Pink Roses, Agonis, Parrot Tulips, Hellebores, Tuberose, Mini Calla Lilies, and Privet berries.  Of course black feathers and tulle completed the look.

In addition to all of the pink and black designs, I created one bouquet which still had touches of the swan theme, but I made it much more apropos for  a real life wedding.  This bouquet contained Chocolate Cymbidium Orchids, Red Sweetheart Roses, and Sahara Roses.  The wrap was double faced chocolate brown ribbon with a vintage lace doily overlay.

I also decided to create one seasonal spring bouquet which consisted of Parrot Tulips, Hellebores, Privet Berries, Dusty Miller, Vibirnum, and Craspedia.

Overall it was a great show, and I am really looking forward to working with many of the brides and vendors we met while we were there!  Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by!

~Heather