The Full Bouquet

The MIddleburg Garden Club

On Wens. I had the pleasure of speaking for the Middleburg Garden Club. Getting to know the ladies of this prestigous club was quite the honor. I told a brief story about the history of Holly Heider Chapple Flowers and then I discussed technique and trends in the wedding market. I brought along some of my favorite spring time blooms and designed right in the living room.

Each meeting the members bring a design and it is judged, and ribbons are awarded. This is serious business and so much fun to watch.

One of the guests told me that the flowers had to be native to the region and I believe they were all cutting from their own personal gardens.

Individual specimens were also judged. There are very serious guidelines that must be followed or your piece can't be critiqued.  These blossoms were all to be in bottles, the exact height of the blossom, the amount of greenery used, the quality of the bloom and it's uniqueness all contributed to the color of the ribbon awarded.

I seriously considered poaching these daffodils, look at the amazing varieties. The peach one at the very top really should be in one of my bridal bouquets.

Perhaps the largest tulip I have ever seen.

I have to admit I was very nervous about speaking for the club. I am self taught and I do not know the rules of design. Instead of letting fear get the best of me, I decided to do, what I do best, I decided to "wing it" and that is what I have been doing for years. Apparently I earned an A+ from the garden club, because the ladies asked if I have ever considered a TV show.

HC

LOUDOUN MAGAZINE DREAM WEDDINGS 2010 - GOIN' TO THE CHAPPLE

I want to write my "it's been a great year post," and thank everyone that has been with me through this amazing year of growth and change. I will wait for that though, and simply thank Loudoun Magazine for the wonderful coverage and recognition I just recieved in the Dream Wedding 2010 issue. It is wonderful to be acknowledged for what you do throughout your trade, but it is incredibly rewarding when your hometown and county see you for the talent that you are, or the evolving designer you are aiming for. I am truly pleased, thrilled, and grateful from head to toe to be chosen as one of the wedding leaders in Loudoun County. "Goin' to the Chapple" will always be a good step for area brides, because we will love you, honor you, and reward you with a beautiful wedding...

Its truly an honor to flip page after glorious page and see my work. I find myself speechless and as proud as I can possibly be. I love my career, I love my brides, I love weddings and I love Loudoun. I also of course love my amazing family that allows me to be a part of the wedding industry. Thank you Loudoun Magazine...

 

The Wedding Venue Search- 2 Historic Sites In Loudoun

I mentioned earlier this week that I found two fabulous venues in Loudoun and I wanted to share these with you.  I actually had not been to either of these places before so I was plesantly surprised. The first venue featured a real barn, the property is called WeatherLea Farm & Vineyard. Their barn can seat 150 people and has a view that is to die for.

 

 

Those are bags of wool sitting on the table. The family raises sheep also and the wool is ready to go to market. The property tag line is "wool, wine, and weddings".

 

This barn is the real deal, and it looks like something right off of the pages of Style Me Pretty!!

 

Here are the kids with owner Pamela Baldwin, who was kind enough to give us a tour of not only her barn but her gardens and her vineyard. 

 

This is the view from the vineyards facing the house and the wedding barn.  This place was beyond charming, and also provides a sweet cottage for the wedding evening. We loved our time with Pamela, and we were totally impressed with her very incredible farm.

Treasure number 2:

 

 

Next we traveled to the historic Siverbrook Farm owned by Dorthy "Dot" Shetterly. I heard Dot was a grandmother but I found that really hard to believe, she looks like a movie star. Cocktails can be served on Dot's porch or in the gardens. A tent is required at this venue if you have a substantial wedding guest list but there is a fabulous lawn that is perfect for the tent and the reception.

 

 

 

This is where I captured this really cute picture of Mallary and Alex.  I don't know where the kids will decide to marry but it has been awesome finding both of these new venues. They both embody the true spirit of Loudoun County.

We have one of the busiest weeks of the year ahead of us so whatch for Twitter posts and see what we are creating...

Where Will They Marry?

This weekend we started looking for wedding venues for Alex and Mallary. I swear, I did not ask them to pose for this picture!!!  Alex is my oldest son and this is his amazing Mallary. They know they want to marry in Loudoun and they believe they want to marry in a barn.  

As we start the process these are the things we are trying to understand or consider:

Does the venue have a rain plan?

Do you have to rent a tent?

Do you have to rent tables and chairs or does the venue offer these rentals? 

Does the venue allow you to choose your caterer or do they provide in house catering and which way will be the most cost effective?

Does the venue have a place for the bride to get ready?

Believing I know all of the venues in Loudoun, I took the kids to several of my favorites. Luckily for us we also found two sweet little gems and I will share those with you later today. For now, I have to get moving, I am off to Baltimore for a consult. 

Have a great day!!!

The Blessing Bouquet, The B-list Conference, In The Cooler and The Leesburg Flower and Garden Show April 17th and 18th

This is a full throttle Holly post, and I will try to touch on all of the many wonderful things that have been going on, are going on, or will be going on this week. I hope I don't make you tired, but her it goes.

 

This is my beautiful and very sweet bride Khanh.  Someday soon I will share all of her wedding pictures with you, but for right now we are saving them.  We have big plans for her lovely images taken by photographer Laura Ashbrook. Khanh is really on the blog today because of the wonderful letter she wrote on behalf of her friends.  Read below the moving letter Khahn sent to us, her friends are the next winners of The Blessing Bouquet.

"I would like to nominate my friend's family for one of your blessing bouquets.  Last month they found out that their 20 year old son has a bone marrow failure disease.  Basically, his immune system is attacking his own blood cell-making capability.  He is going to need a bone marrow transplant.  This has been very difficult news for his family to swallow since finding a bone marrow match is very different they finding a blood donor match.  It has been a roller-coaster ride for the whole family.  Just a few weeks ago they told them that there was no one in the whole national database of 7 million donors that was a bone marrow match for him.  Despite the earth-shattering news, the family put all their trust in the Lord and just 2 days later,they found someone out of the country who is a match!  While this was wonderful news, this is only the first battle, and definitely not the biggest.

This family is taking each and every day in stride.  Whenever anyone asks if there's anything they can do for the family, they just say that they would like everyone, if they're comfortable, to register to be a bone marrow donor with Be the Match at www.marrow.org.  Although it may not help their son's situation, it may save the life of someone else going through something similar.  Holly, thank you for your consideration!  I know that they would count a bouquet from you as a blessing along this daunting time in their lives."

I've attached a photo of my friends mom after I dropped off the bouquet.  She couldn't stop talking about how beautiful it is!  She absolutely loved the lilacs in it because it reminded her of the lilac bush she had when they lived in Colorado.  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for having such a generous heart and selecting this family for one of your lovely bouquets!

 

Also attached is a photo of me (khanh) about to eat some of South Street Under's ciabatta bread.  I took your advice and asked for a loaf to have with dinner.  The woman there was extremely nice and gave me the loaf at no charge!  Completely unexpected and unnecessary, but I'm completely grateful!  After coming home from visiting with our friends that won the bouquet, I told my husband that I want to move out to Leesburg because everyone out there is just so nice and genuine!

 

 Thank you again for the blessing bouquet!  Meeting you has been a blessing!!

Khanh

Many thanks, to Kevin Malon owner of Tuskies and South Street Under  in Leesburg Va. for your very generous support of the Blessings Bouquet. I love you and I love your restaurants you have a heart of gold.

 

The next fun thing I am sharing about is the B-List blogger conference which is taking place this weekend. We are providing flowers for the event tonight and we are very excited to be a part of this amazing evening.  The top wedding bloggers in the country are gathering and we get to provide the flowers for their kick off event at the Torpedo Factory. I will be working with the extraoridinary Design Cuisine once again, and you can see a little teaser of some of the decor on their blog.  Many thanks to Maria Cooke for bringing me in on this event. 

Here are some of the orange ranunculus "in the cooler" waiting to go to the B-list event. They are super sexy and I can't wait to get them out of the cooler and get to the event.

 

 

Here are the designs for this weekend " in the cooler" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also had a visit from one of my past MOB's and one of my favorite customers from the village of Waterford. They wanted to get some lilac before I hit the flower and garden show. The lilac from my garden is a favorite at the garden show.

 

Speaking of the garden show. In addition to the weddings, and our events tonight we also will be at the Leesburg Flower and Garden Show all weekend long. We have tons of lilac, roses and my viburnum is peak this week. Viburnum is the beautiful bright green ball you see in the bouquet above. Our gardens are rocking right now, and we can't wait to see you at the garden show. I will be on wedding delivery Sat. but I will be at the show on Sunday. My daughters Abby and Hannah will be running the booth on Sat. so be sweet and stop by for a visit.

 

Have a great weekend, and I will see you at the B-list conference, a wedding or at The Leesburg Flower and Garden show. Hope your weekend is full of flowers.