The Full Bouquet

Katie & Aaron- My Hat Pin Bride- Loudoun Weddings

Wow, Wow, Wow, is what I thought when I saw the first images from Katie and Aaron's wedding. Actually I was thinking Wow, from the moment I met this bride.  Katie came to her first consult with her sister and during that time the girls gently unwrapped two of the most lovely hat pins I have ever seen. The pins were enormous as far as hat pins go, the length of the pin was as long as most of my bouquets and the pin itself was like a huge vintage brooch.  Both girls looked at me and said " do you think you can do something with these?"  At that moment Katie became my hat pin bride, and we had a theme. The pins belonged to Aunt Mary, who was clearly one seriously stylish lady and all of her lovely antiques became a part of the wedding. As our conversation developed we dreamed of centerpieces in vintage containers and even a place card display of vintage brooches. The girls headed back to look through the boxes of aunt Mary's treasures and I dreamed of doing the flowers for my hat pin bride.

I used silver brunia, dusty miller, anemones in purple and hot pink, cabbage roses, seeded euc, blue thistle, blue privet berry, and ranunculus in the bouquet and of course one silver hat pin.

The brides sister carried the second hat pin.

The wedding took place at a church and then the reception followed at the Hillsborough vineyard. I am going to show you every picture I have, because they are all so amazing. Kristen Gardner did an incredible job capturing this wonderful Loudoun wedding. I am so excited about having these images, seriously these photos are outrageous.

My bride is perfect, awesome, stunning...

and she is super cute also.

We gave the couple our "Hollyish" boutonnieres, this is what we call our bouts when we take it up a notch and create mini pieces of floral art.

My next favorite detail of the night was our brooch place card display. We gathered up Aunt Mary's brooches and vintage lace to decorate the seating card display. I could kiss Kristen Gardner for getting me these images. I am so excited about sharing this with you.

In addition to Mary's brooches we bought smaller pins in NYC to help decorate our "hat pin brides" place card board.

The reception room featured lace table runners and crystal bowls from Aunt Mary. I filled in just a few gaps from my own personal antique collection.

Perfectly fabulous right? Recipe: a wonderful and loving couple, a bit of family history to make everything sentimental, an awesome venue, beautiful flowers, and an incredible photographer to record the day. This Loudoun Wedding is a true beauty.

HC

WE'VE BEEN GATHERING - VINTAGE WEDDING PROPS

Over the last few months we have been gathering fun antiques and props for upcoming events. We love, love, love, finding that special something that sends your event over the edge. Feel free to contact us if there is anything you need, if we don't have it, we can probably find it!!!

My latest and most favorite find our these sweet little silver platters and bowls. The base of the platter has been turned into a chalkboard. We know these will come in handy on guest book and place card tables. In fact we are trying to find enough to use them for table numbers. We LOVE this idea.

These sweet little tin urns are going to be a lovely touch to some of our garden parties.

These miniature milk glass vases have been added to my outrageous collection of vintage containers. They are so small I can use them on the top of a cake. We are dying to use these. Speaking of milk glass have you seen our collecting?

We've also been buying bling, lots, and lots, of bling.

These are hair pins that we found in NYC. Next time you see them they will be in the middle of one of my bouquets.

We even bought earrings that we will convert into adornment for our bouquets.

These little beauties are antique curtain fobs. These will be used in bouquets or to pin up place cards. Fabulous idea right?

We also have been practicing our decoupage moves. We are excited about using these containers next week.

These library card drawers will be used for my "library bride." We will fill them with flowers or mini bud vases. Yes I think we are off to an incredible start. Many of these items were gathered right here in Lucketts at On A Whim Antiques.

Holly

WINTER WEDDING- WHITEHALL MANOR-GLITTERIZED

This past weekend Holly Heider Chapple Flowers, had the pleasure of managing and styling Lauren's wedding at Whitehall Manor.  Every wedding we work on is a fabulous learning experience, and this wedding was no exception. Lauren and her mom are both busy teachers. They had some really great ideas for the wedding but they needed help getting everything set up and cleaned up. Since it was Winter, we had a little extra time on our hands and we took on some projects we have not taken on before. Essentially we had wedding withdrawal and time to help. The family had a place card display and candy bar that we did the styling and set up for. The ballroom would also need to be transitioned from wedding site, to reception site, so it made sense for us to stay on and help. 

We also set up the ceremony area by placing programs in all of the chairs, and reserving seats for the family.

This windowsill became the backdrop for the wedding, it leads up to an original huge arching window. This makes for a beautiful ceremony site. It is enormous and when we have a wedding indoors at Whitehall I love to use several centerpieces and tons of candlelight in this space.

Maids carried gorgeous bouquets of dark purple carnations, hydrangea, silver brunia that had been dipped in glitter, purple tulips, purple roses, lavender stock, and purple anemones.

Guests were invited into the original ballroom of the estate for cocktails.  Here they picked up little snowflake ornaments that directed them to the correct table.

We took great pleasure in glittering many of the flowers for this wedding. It was a technique we created over the Winter and fell in love with, so we were dipping flowers in glitter constantly. This wedding became our glitterized wedding.

See what I mean, this window is so pretty.

To create the brides bouquet we used purple hydrangea, purple and blue anemones, black baccara roses, mamy blue roses, agapanthus, and blue muscari dipped in glitter of course. Great grandmothers brooch was used to bind the bouquet. Notice it is silver and blue and could not have been more perfect for this purpose.

The glitter was important because the family had a subtle snowflake theme throughout the event. It was the glitter that made these typical Spring time flowers Wintery. We used dark purple hydrangea, purple cabbages, purple & blue anemones, purple carnations, purple mums,  ranunculus, snapdragons, delphinium, stock, muscari, tulips, hellebores, and scabiosa throughout the evening. Dusty miller and silver brunia were dipped in glitter to make the large centerpieces sparkle.

My silver mercury glass went perfectly with the look of this wedding.

In order to keep the family on budget we repurposed many of the florals. We were busy all night moving flowers from location to location. The maids bouquets, and the altar designs became centerpieces, and the place card table designs became the displays for the buffet.

Our candy bar creation was amazing and we had a wonderful time buying inventory for this space.

We loved designing the candy bar and we will be happy to design these in the future. We now own all of the glass, scoops, and fun little accents that make this type of design awesome.

It was a true pleasure to be with the family throughout the evening as we are typically home fast asleep when the fun is going on. This was a very busy night for us and it was amazing how much time went into setting up this wedding.  Our being here throughout the night was essential as there were so many jobs as florists we needed to do including the major set up and an outrageous breakdown. Our lovely new crystal stands took 3 people an hour to build & set up and 3 people an hour to take apart and box back up.  We often think as rental props as less expensive but moving all of that inventory in and out of a venue is insane. We had a full cargo van of non floral products that included glass, candles, votive's, candy bar equipment and crystal stands.  Flowers arrived in an additional cargo van.

Many thanks to DJ Aaron Hahn who kept the night moving.  Aaron owns the DJ company Matrimonial Sounds. We also had the pleasure of working with photographer Mike Pullum who was a friend and co- worker of the bride.

Many thanks to wedding planner and stylist Vicki Grafton of My Simple Details who came to photograph the evening on our behalf. Vicki is an awesome designer and a budding photographer. Vicki did an amazing job capturing our glitterized wedding. This was another fabulous Loudoun County Wedding.

OUR FEATURED WEDDING IN WASHINGTONIAN MAGAZINE

Should I cry, or should I scream with delight? I want to, but instead I am jumping up and down with glee.  In early September I designed, managed, and provided flowers for an amazing wedding. That wedding was just featured in the new issue of Washingtonian Bride & Groom.
  The family was truly heaven sent. They exuded complete and total faith in me, giving me courage and wings. The family initially just wanted me to help with referrals and design ideas. A dear friend of the family would be acting as the day of coordinator, and they were certain they did not need a professional on board to handle the event. As we moved through the process it became very clear that even though we had someone executing the day of, we certainly needed someone managing  the event. The coordination of vendors, rentals, and all of the little questions that became big, huge daunting tasks as we got closer to the event fell on my shoulders. Was I scared? Yes, very much so, but I just have this thing about jumping in and being certain that I will not let someone down. The more I loved the family, the more I knew I could nail this event. I helped the family choose almost all of the vendors, and we chose all of the rentals together, I managed lighting, placement of portable restrooms, and even floating arrangements in the pool. My amazing husband, Evan, came on board with me because he is an awesome project manager. He also helped to assure that there was enough power in the tent, and he even pin spotted the lights the day of the wedding. This all of course was infinitely easier because we had an amazing group of vendors involved. Many thanks to Douglas Armstrong of Celebrations Catering, who taught me so much about glassware, napkins, chafing dishes, and staffing. Perkins Lighting, who provided the lighting on a holiday weekend in spite of the fact that they were totally booked, and for allowing my husband to set the lights the day of the event. Genevieve Leiper, for always capturing my art and my brides so incredibly perfectly. Christina from paperzest, who went above and beyond creating extra little details that I dreamed of. Jason from Market Salamander, who created a truly unique cake, and the amazing Peggy Rust of Murray HIll, who shared here gracious home and her Southern Hospitality. This day, this wedding, this family was truly blessed.

Our ceremony site was the only glitch of the day. Due to wind, our beautiful vintage tablecloth and our simple and understated flower arrangement kept blowing over the cliff. The cereomony took place on a ledge, literally overlooking the Potomac River. A potential hurricane actually blew right past our wedding that weekend, so we were happy with the breeze and no rain. We placed this big floral piece in front of the table because it was the only piece heavy enough not to blow over the cliff. The wind died down just enough before the ceremony that communion was actually placed on the table and stayed put.

A huge old farm wagon was used to display the seating chart. My bride Mackenzie and her amazing mom spent hours gathering and creating this design. It was our job to set up the windows, mirrors, and pictures frames, in a way that was safe, pretty, and functional. This area took several people working to create.

I am so proud of our designs, everything was picture perfect.

The tent was a huge 'L' shape that wrapped around an extraordinary swimming pool. One long table seated the family and wedding party. 17 round guest tables surrounded the king sized family table. Natural-toned  linens were used, with amethyst goblets. The tables also featured white battenburg lace runners. Fruitwood  chairs were rented for the ceremony and the reception. 

Centerpieces were designed in wooden boxes made by Mackenzie's grandfather. We also used vintage scales, crocks, and compotes. Those scales are now on display in my office.

Herbs and little blossoms adorned each and every napkin.

The tent was designed with a lounge area. This space was also designed to be the back up ceremony site if  the weather became an issue.  I am convinced it is because we had this space that the hurricane blew by...

The lounge area held the candy bar, the cake, and this really cute popcorn stand. All popocorn was compliments of my dad at Heiders Country Store.

All antiques were gathered from On A Whim antiques!!! I loved this old scoop that was used for the popcorn and I loved the hand stamped bags Christina from Paperzest made to hold the popcorn.

The designs created for the pool became a must, after a late-night silly chat with a floral designer friend named Tracy from Park Place Designs in Michigan.  Tracy saw a picture of the pool on twitter and she got me inspired to create these floating florals. The designs were a surprise gift to my bride and her family.

I even rented wine barrels from Fabbioli wine in Lucketts.  The wine barrels were used to hold custom made table tops for the candy bar and the cake. The table tops were created for the bride and groom and became presents for them to use in their new home.

Murray Hill is loaded with many fabulous hidden little gardens and scenic views. Photographer Genevieve Leiper did such an incredible job capturing the day. It was such a pleasure to work on this wedding with this family. So many of the fabulous ideas and designs were inspired by my incredible bride and her wonderful mother. Getting close to both of these women was one of the highlights of my year. I truly feel honored to have been the one chosen to help with this event.

It is with a full and happy heart that I say, "Happy married life Adam and Mackenzie," I am so honored I got to do the flowers for your wedding.

P.S.- Many Thanks to Washingtonian Magazine, for adding me to your "Best of 2010" list, and making me your editors pick! I strive every year to be part of such an amazing magazine.

 

KATY'S GUESTBOOK, COCKTAIL DESIGNS AND WEDDING CAKE

The guest book area was a space we had a lot of fun with. During our planning session it was clear this was an area that needed some definite style, but all the couple had was the book. They knew that they wanted to display pictures of grandparents and other family members somewhere. I suggested we create one table that could be a guest book table but also a table that spoke about the couple.  I asked Katy and Jon Erik if there was anything they loved to do or collect. They both looked at me blankly saying they had nothing until Jon Erik pipped in that they loved to fish and that he collected vintage lours and reels. This was all of the inspiration I needed to create this wonderful guestbook table.

Family photos were gathered and framed. Jon Erik provided me with his vintage fishing tackle. I also asked the couple for old love letters or any other personal information they would like to share. They rewarded me with a fabulous album of their journey as a couple and one of the pages was all about their time fishing. This came together like magic.

We could not resist phrases like "the perfect catch" or " tell us a tail." 

The "tell us a tail sign" was placed right next to the guest book. I can thank Kelly Lanza for that last minute creative outburst. We made that sign right on the spot. Of course we brought lots of mini flower arrangements and props for this table too.  I was told by the day-of planner, Kelley Cannon, that people were at this table all night, browsing and signing the guestbook. That was my goal of course. SUCCESS!

This fun vintage wooden basket was used for cards. The gift table also had an awesome floral design as the backdrop.

These fun designs were created for the cocktail hour. In the background you can see the accent linen I chose for the cocktail tables.

We also designed the cake topper. Katy wanted the top of the cake to be very simple. When I suggested a monogram she was sold. I have made these several times before we have always used the herb rosemary. For this cake I chose to have the monogram created with the bark wire. Elodie actually fashioned the wire into the H form.

I absolutely loved this wedding and I am so totally thrilled and proud of the results. I look forward to seeing the real images from photographer Genevieve Leiper, however I think we will hold onto these for a little while, just to keep you in suspense.

Katy and Jon Erik, we LOVED doing your wedding, happy married life!!!!!!!!