The Full Bouquet

Photo Shoot With Bride & Groom Washingtonian Magazine

As I anxiously await the next issue of Bride & Groom by Washingtonian Magazine, I am reminded how much fun it was to work on the last issue. You may not know this but we were asked to supply the bouquets for their big photo shoot in Waterford VA.  The shoot was titled Chapel Belles and being a Chapple, I thought that was very fitting.

We invaded the dark and sleeping little village of Waterford at 6:00 am. This is known as "Call time." The props, dresses, makeup, and flowers were all set up in the basement of the Church. Let me also say that Editor in Chief Jill Hudson Neal and most of the Washingtonian staff were also on site at 6am, extremely impressive. Knowing how much work goes into one of these shoots gives me a whole new and huge appreciation for this fabulous magazine. As models, artists, editors and directors got acclimated, scaffolding was built next to the church so that lighting, smoke machines, and photographers could all get where they needed to be. Waterford is a a small historic community in Loudoun County, and the residents are known for being very particular. It was so fun to see the people of the village a buzz with all of the excitement. Villagers gathered on porches to drink coffee and watch the production as if it were a movie.

In the basement there were racks and racks of dresses, tables of makeup, jewelry, props and of couse my flowers.

I was requested to bring some white maids bouquets and I think some pink bouquets. This shoot was always to be about the dresses and the bouquets were merely props, but I wanted the crew to have as many options as they did dresses. So, being the over achiever that I am,  I raced home and grabbed buckets of flowers from the studio. I also whipped up some other fun bouquets. I used the leftovers from the weekend and flowers from my garden to create some more selections for the shoot. I love having lots of options.

I made taupe toned bouquets with scabiosa and seeded euc.

 

I loved these white bouquets and the stem treatment I used...

Burlap and pearls.

Dahlias from my man Don!!!!

Green cabbage roses, green dianthus, green amaranthus, green berry and white tulips were wrapped with bark wire.

I certainly made way more bouquets then the magazine needed but I take every opportunity I get to impress my industry and I also love the chance to create for creations sake. I had so much fun working on this and I was so happy to be able to help with something this incredible. Being on the Washingtonians Best of List as Editors pick has been one of my greatest accomplishments, and quite frankly anytime they need flowers I will happily bring them buckets full.

When I came back to clean up for the day they were finishing one of their last shoots and this image shows just how many people it takes to bring something like this together. One other fun little side note, editor Jill Hudson is so freaking beautiful that she was actually an extra model for this set. It was so fun to look up on the hill and see her modeling.

Design Army of Washington DC was the creative/art director for the shoot and this particular shoot actually won a gold award at the DC Addy's and also a silver award at the District Two Addy's. Here are the pages that were produced in the little village of Waterford. By the way Waterford is just a few minutes from my home and in fairness to all of the other wonderful florists in the DC area probably the reason why I got the gig.

Oddly enough some of my favorite images of the day were created with the additional flowers I ran home for, absolute proof that you should always put in that extra effort, it pays off ten fold. There are no excuses for not putting your heart into something and always doing more than you were asked to do. We provided the flowers for this shoot on a five wedding weekend, managed the kids, and were still able to design with passion for this. One last fun image from the day, my sweet baby Grace in the car at the shoot, but unfortunately she missed the activity.

Be looking for the next issue of Bride and Groom, follow Design Army on Twiiter and Facebook and follow me, I am Holly Heider Chapple, Editors Pick.

Photography for the shoot was by Cade Martin.

HC

 

SEXY BOUQUETS

This lovely bouquet was created for a photo shoot last Spring. I used white phalaenopsis orchids, double yellow tulips, brazilia berry, vendella roses, dusty miller, sahara roses, and seeded eucalyptus.

This bouquet was created with purple lilac, burgundy spray roses, wine colored snapdragons, purple anemone, seeded euc, blue privet berry, and purple hyacinthus.

Purple tulips and stock were used to create this very simple bouquet. Fiddle head ferns were used to give the bouquet a bit of flair. Hand crocheted florets adorned the stems.

All images taken by Julie Renee Photography.

Happy day!!!

TURQUOISE & RED HOLIDAY DECOR WITH THE BRIDES CAFE

Several weeks ago I went to Richmond to visit my friend Janie Medley. Many of you know Janie as the editor of The Brides Cafe, but she is also an amazing floral designer. Janie was working on a table design for Kathryn of Snippet & Ink and she asked if I would like to be involved. Janie chose the fabulous color palett of turquoise and red. Since I did not have any holiday decor in turquoise, I got to go do a little shopping before I headed to Richmond.

The first blooms we arranged with were Janie's ranunculus and they were absolutely perfect. I loved seeing her amazing flowers.

I brought the red peony, red cabbage roses, and some red anemone. I have to admit though, I liked Janie's amemones best.

On my shopping trip I bought lots and lots of turquoise ornaments and we put them to good use.

I also bought these small turquoise candle holders.

Janie even had a pretty little cake. All of this was photographed by the wonderful Katelyn James. Katelyn is awesome and I have been dying to meet her in person. Katelyn shot one of my weddings last Spring, but somehow I missed meeting her. We have had several fun phone chats so being with her was an extra gift of the day. I am so glad I made the trip to Richmond. Plus I even got to use the ornaments here in my little office.

Happy Monday!!

A Moraccan Photo Shoot

Hello everyone, Kelly here! I had to jump in and bring you this too good for words Moroccan day after shoot that Holly collaborated on with Kate Triano and Vicki Grafton. You know, I had a big Moroccan-themed birthday bash a few years ago but this shoot completely blew that out of the water! Too bad I didn't know about this awesomely talented trio back then, huh?

(I have to insert here that Holly is yelling at me from the flower shop telling me to give a huge, enormous shout out to Kate & Vicki-- so there's another one for you!)

To make quite the color explosion, Holly used jewel toned flowers like blue thistle, orange crocosmia and hot pink celosia.

I am always a sucker for those gorgeous lanterns and the teal, purple and orange silks are seriously unreal, aren't they?

Be sure to check out the rest of the images on Style Me Pretty by clicking right here!

P.S. I made a few changes on the blog today while we wait patiently for our fancy new blog to come along! What do you think?!

OUR GIRL JULIE + SUNDAY PHOTO SHOOT DESIGNS

Some of you may recognize our bride Julie. Julie is a teacher in Loudoun County but she also helps us periodically with Saturday wedding deliveries. This last Sunday it was Julies turn to marry. We loved getting these very sweet and moving pictures of our bride Julie.

Julie married at the Bluemont Vineyard Stables, I love the view at this venue, it always takes my breath away.

Doesn't our flower shop/teacher bride Julie look stunning?

In addition to providing flowers for Julie and Erin on Sunday, we delivered bouquets, and loose flowers to a nearby village for a huge photo shoot. The shoot started at 6:00 a.m., which meant I was up and in the flower shop at 4:30 a.m.  We were so excited to be working on this project, and we hope to see some of our designs published in the future. The bouquets were being used as props and the feature was more about the models, and the attire, but we shall see how this all works out.  For now, we are simply thrilled that we could be of service to one of our favorite publications.

As you can see it was quite the busy weekend once again at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers. We are so pleased with all that we have been producing. We are back at the design tables, getting ready for another really fun weekend.