“Nina Isabella”.  I love this bride’s name.  When she first called me, she began leaving a message on my machine and I didn’t hear it all before I picked up, all I could think was this must be another florist, or someone marketing perfume or something.  What a gorgeous name!

Nina was neither a florist nor a perfume person, she is actually an interior designer.  Right away I knew I wanted to work with this woman!  She had such great taste but was also very budget savy.  One thing was certain she had to have Garden Roses.  Even if it meant scaling down some of the other flowers, or the sizes of the centerpieces, she knew how gorgeous these blooms are and knew everything else would fall into place beautifully as long as they were there.  Nina opted to use some of her designer connections and purchased some great vases, which she wrapped in black lace, only one had white and that was for the sweetheart table.

I had the idea of using some brightly colored Gladiola florets and lime green Bupleurem.  At the last minute I added some Mountain Mint, Gomphrena, Lady’s Mantle, and Sweet Peas.  My studio smelled heavenly for the entire week leading up to this event!  The super indulgent Garden Rose fragrance, mint, sweet peas, ahhhh.  Aromatherapy!

As always, I tried to make every centerpiece a little different so each one had a little personality all of it’s own, and didn’t look like it came out of a factory.  There is a time and place for everything looking exactly the same (bouquets, , boutonnieres, formal styled centerpieces) but garden weddings need a little more freedom in their look.

This really looked like it was going to be the most fun wedding of the summer.  Nina and Shawn thought of everything for their guests.  The wedding took place at a private residence known as Arrowfield Estate on the Hudson in Saugerties, complete with it’s own in-ground swimming pool.  They even hired Joey and Diane Vento at Movies to Go (from the Haunted Barn Movie Museum 845-852-3867).  This was my first time meeting this couple, but what a fun concept for an outdoor summer wedding!  They set up a large drive in style movie screen, so guests could watch movies when it got dark outside.  I don’t think anything says summer like nighttime swimming and watching movies in the great outdoors.  Bravo to this couple!

Please stay tuned for more photos and a complete vendor list.

Filed under: Weddings, Events, and Shows by Heather
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Katie and Darren first met in New Orleans.  Katie was teaching there as part of the Teach for America Program, Darren was lucky enough to be a local.  They actually met one week before Katrina hit.  Katie told me, they figured if they could weather that storm than it was truly meant to be.

I have only been to New Orleans once, but what a fabulous city!  I was ready to move there after only one day.  I simply fell in love with the wrought iron details on all of the architecture, and charm around every corner.  Not to mention the fantastic food and music everywhere you go!

It was very important to this couple to incorporate some of the city’s charm into their wedding day.  Little details from New Orleans could be seen throughout the day.  I hung a Fleur de Lis ornament from the arch they were married under, which they can now hang from their Christmas tree.  Tabasco favors and table numbers describing the city, were also great touches.

They decided to have their wedding and reception at the picturesque Hunter Mountain.  The ceremony took place at the very top of the mountain, and the reception took place in the Copper Tree Room. I cannot say enough wonderful things about the staff at Hunter Mountain.  What an absolute pleasure they are to work with.  I cannot wait to design another wedding here!

The main colors Katie and Darren wanted to use were green and chocolate brown, with hints of pink.  The flowers of the day were Green and White Hydrangea, Green Hypericum Berries, Green Dendrobium Orchids, and a host of pink, white, and green blooms were used for the arch.

Vendors of the day were:

Photography: Cullen Jones (cullenmsjones@hotmail.com)

Entertainment: DJ Doctor Sound (www.djdoctorsound.com)

Cake: Deisings Bakery (www.deisings.com)

Photo Courtesy of Cullen Jones Photography

Photo Courtesy of Cullen Jones Photography

Photo Courtesy of Cullen Jones Photography

Oh the lengths I go to for my clients!  Did I mention that I am absolutely TERRIFIED of heights?!  Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to make things perfect, even if it means delivering flowers via ski lift!

The Copper Tree sculpture was the inspiration for the branchy centerpieces.

Centerpieces all contained Curly Willow, hand-wired green Dendrobium Orchids, and River Rocks in tall cylinder vases.

Congratulations Darren and Katie!!!

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The main adjectives that most brides use to describe the look they would like for their weddings are usually, “simple,” “elegant,” and “romantic”.  What I liked most about Alyssa is that she described wanting a warm, cozy kind of feel along with these elements.  What also sparked my interest were her color choices: Grays, Yellows, and Navy Blue.  I was so excited to have my first wedding incorporating the color gray.  For years it seemed that the only neutral any of us florists got to use was chocolate brown.  Finally- something different!  I suspect we will be seeing a lot more gray elements in 2011 and 2012 weddings.

The main flowers used for this wedding were Yellow Dahlias, Antique Hydrangea,  Raspberry Thistle, Craspedia, Crocosmia, Lamb’s Ear, Dusty Miller, and several varieties of full blooming Roses.  The centerpieces were designed in weathered cedar cubes, which I really enjoyed working with.

I really hope some pro pics come in from this event.  Alyssa was a gorgeous bride and the bouquets against the beautiful navy dresses were a perfect fit!  I’m sure everything looked lovely when it all came together!

Alyssa gave me a few photos to draw ideas and inspiration from.  I loved her invitations and the small hint of orange was perfect to compliment the otherwise all yellow and gray color scheme.  Crocosmia seemed to be a perfect fit.  This is an orange flower from the same family as Freesia.  An added bonus is that the stems of Crocosmia are  a purplish/ navy color which worked very well with the other flowers selected.

I just loved Alyssa’s Bouquet!  I must have taken a million pictures of it!  It was so floral, but the softness of the Lamb’s Ear really changed the “been there done that factor”, and made it so unique.  It reminded me of a bouquet combined with a luxurious gray Cashmere sweater.  Not to mention the fact that it smelled heavenly and clove like, with the addition of the  Yellow Double Stock Flowers.

I chose to wrap the bridesmaid’s bouquets in this really unusual ribbon I found a few years ago.  It was discontinued, so of course I had to have it!  It is the softest pale blue velvet.  I never had any occasion where it seemed to fit until this one.  Once they were wrapped I accented the wrap with trim ribbon and studded it with pewter pins.

I thought Alyssa did a great job selecting the yellow blooms that she did for the centerpieces, they looked great with the warm yellow walls surrounding the dining room!

All in all, a beautiful color and flower scheme, which I am certain we will be seeing more of!  I for one am really looking forward to more gray!

Congratulations Justin and Alyssa!!!

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I know, I know…where are the latest wedding pics and blogs!?   I keep hearing this from many of you.  I’m hoping that I will have more of the pro pics in soon and will be able to share these events soon.  In the meantime, here is a little sampling of what is coming soon in much more detail….

Please be patient!

Filed under: Business Announcements by Heather
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Complete and utter loveliness is the best way to sum up this past weekend’s wedding!   Shawna, the Bride was a stunning redhead, and as many of you know I could probably open a sister business to A Night in Bloom that features only stunning red headed brides.  Maybe a red headed modeling agency?  I don’t know how they all find me but they do, and one wedding is more inspiring than the next!

When I first met Shawna she wasn’t sure of a color scheme, or even flowers, she just knew that she wanted to incorporate local product whenever possible, and include multiple smaller eclectic arrangements on all of the tables. I suggested a palette of all shades of peaches and soft candlelit tones to complement her complexion and hair.  What resulted was a gorgeous evening in the outdoors under a beautiful tent and sky at Montgomery Place in Annandale-on-Hudson.  Barn wood tables were draped with burlap runners, and the flowers looked as perfect as could be against these natural warm toned elements.

The main flowers of the day were: Garden Roses, Cottage Yarrow, Tuberose, completely blown open roses, Spray Roses,  Cantebury Bells, Stock, Lisianthus, Freesia, Veronica, Stars of Bethlehem, Queen Anne’s Lace, Delphinium, fresh local herbs, and a host of other blooms, including the very sought after, Cafe Au Lait Dahlias!  The Dahlias were so beautiful I really feared I wouldn’t be able to let go of them come delivery day!  As high maintenance as a flower can be, but so worth it!!!  And of course the more difficult something is, the more I favor working with it!

This wasn’t the easiest wedding to design, whenever creating eclectic themed tablescapes I feel it is so important to have several designers working on the table arrangements so they don’t look too “done”.  In the past when I have been the only one designing these types they always looked exactly alike and as though they came out of a factory.  So I had my wonderful assistants Jodi, Daijha, and Bryan (the hubby assistant) all working with me to be certain that each one had a life of it’s own.

I heard from the happy couple the following day who told me the pro pics are one the way, so stay tuned!  I will also have a list of all the participating vendors.

Here you go everyone, as promised, the Pro Pics!!!

All of the following beautiful photos were taken by Jennifer May, whose work has been seen in the New York Times,  Gourmet Magazine and a host of other publications.  Jennifer May Photography is based in Manhattan as well as here in the Hudson Valley.  Her contact information is as follows:

Web: http://www.jennifermay.com

e-mail: jen@jennifermay.com

Phone: 845-679-4198

Cell: 845-389-3803

Other Vendors Included:

Dress Designer: Elizabeth Fillmore

Caterer: Main Course Catering

Cocktail Hour Entertainment: The Saturday Night Bluegrass Band

I love Shawna’s friend in the back lifting up the bouquet in this shot!  Usually this is my favorite picture from any wedding, but it is usually the bride holding it up.  I just love that she is just as happy as the bride.

All of the photos below were taken by either me or Shawna.

Rather than traditional corsages, the Mothers and Grandmothers carried fully blown open roses.

I have a new favorite rose variety!

Groomsmen wore Peach Spray Rose Boutonnieres.

Fathers and Grandfathers wore Star of Bethlehem and Ivy Boutonnieres.

The Groom wore a boutonniere consisting of Peach Spray Rose, Star of Bethlehem and Ivy with raffia tie and fastened with pewter pins.

The bridesmaids carried bouquets consisting of Garden Roses, Blown Open Roses, Spray Roses, Peach Stock, Israeli Ruscus, Freesia, Cottage Yarrow and Queen Anne’s Lace.

The Bride’s Bouquet consisted of much of the same flowers that the bridesmaids carried but included more ivories and had pale blue delphinium accents.

For the Bride’s Hair I created a halo using Dendrobium Orchid Florettes, Curly Willow, Ivy, pearl accents, and Plumosa Fern.

The welcome station table had peach iced tea for all of the guests to enjoy so we found this weathered crate on Etsy and opted to fill it with peaches, greenery, and straw fill, to complement the theme.

Cocktail tables consisted of Cafe Au Lait Dahlias in small recycled jars tied with raffia.

The next batch of photos were all taken during set up, but  I am told that this tent looked absolutely amazing in the evening once all the candles were lit.  We created a total of 50 miniature arrangements for the reception

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Natalie and Eben choose to purchase flowers from Lippincott Manor’s all-inclusive package, but opted to tweak their flowers just a little.  Instead of purchasing extra centerpieces, they opted to create their own for the tables (there were a lot of tables!) and have me create one large scale one for the place card table, and another for the sweetheart table.

They chose a perfect color scheme for a hot month like July, deep watermelon pink and bright lime green.  If I wasn’t 6 months pregnant, I would have rushed home and made myself a Mojito or Daiquiri!  These colors just make one want to be by the pool relaxing!

Reusable and sustainable elements were important to this couple, they even recycled their Metro Cards as place cards!  Their centerpieces were Lucky Bamboo plants, placed in clear glass vases.  For the sweetheart table we still used the Hydrangea, Alstromeria, Green Berries, and Bupleurem offered in the package; but we upgraded the size and type of the vase and filled it with River Rock, and added Curly Willow Twig accents.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a very good picture of the place card arrangement, but it was very similar in look and feel to the sweetheart arrangement, but was placed in a towering glass cylinder vase with much larger branches extending out and upward.  All in all a very refreshing look!

Please note: many of these pictures were taken by our very newest intern, Daijha Leonard.

Filed under: Lippincott Manor Weddings by Heather
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This wedding was complete and total eye candy!!!!  It was kind of an overcast day, however the vintage inspired red and aqua color scheme popped so wonderfully against the cloudy sky and the Hudson River backdrop!  Sara (the beautiful bride) was a blast to work with, and I loved that she had collected vintage broaches for me to place into her bouquet.   For the cocktail hour centerpieces she had collected vintage red candy dishes, which we filled with white Peonies in full bloom.  For the reception centerpieces Sara had once again been collecting, and had a ton of vintage red vases which we filled with tons of White Carnations all massed together.  As if the candy dishes, vases and broaches were not fabulous enough, Sarah even found vintage embroidered tablecloths consisting of all reds and aquas.  Loved it!!!  I am so happy that I was chosen to work on this wedding, I’ve always wanted to create a red and aqua themed day, and this joyous event really gave me a wonderful opportunity to do so!

This was our first wedding at the Hotel Rhinecliff, since it has been completely redone, and what a beautiful setting for a wedding!  The staff is absolutely wonderful and accommodating to work with!  If you haven’t visited this location yet, I highly recommend you do!

The following professional pictures were shot by the very talented John Bulmer.  I really look forward to working with him again!  Here is his contact information:

On the Web at:
http://www.bulmerphotography.com
http://www.bulmerweddings.com
http://www.unseennortheast.com
http://www.revolution7.com

Social Media:
http://www.facebook.com/johnbulmer
http://www.twitter.com/johnbulmer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnbulmer/
Blog at: http://www.throwingpixels.com

To see more of the photos from this wedding and even more details the blog may be found at:

http://bulmerphoto.blogspot.com/search/label/CS061210

The vintage black and white Rhinecliff train station shots are not to be missed!

It was a popular trend from the 1930’s to the 1950’s for many brides to carry prayer books and bibles with small bouquets on top.  As the bride departed for her honeymoon she would remove the flowers from her book and wear the blooms as a pin on corsage, usually to a jacket.  Cattaleya Orchids were the most popular at the time.  Although I created a more modern bouquet here, I was reminded of this tradition when I saw this picture.

Beautiful Sara!  This girl really knew her stuff!  Notice the broach on her bouquet and the one on her dress- perfect!

The Groom wore a white rose with Red Hypericum Berries, wrapped in white ribbon.

Vintage Hankies.

The bridesmaids wore aqua dresses and red shoes- loved it!

I was thrilled to death when I saw this picture!  Sara’s Mother is such a delightful woman, and like me, she loves Gardenias! I told her I would make a corsage for her using one, but assured her that it would brown in no time.  She told me she didn’t mind, that she loved them just the same, no matter how fussy a flower they are.  But look at the picture, still white as can be, no brown at all!  In my opinion nothing is more “vintage” than Gardenias or Violets!

I can never get enough of the pictures of my past brides joyfully holding their bouquets up in the air!  That’s the same feeling I get every time I finish making a bouquet or delivering a wedding.

I heart this picture!

I really Liked all of the flowers in the girl’s hair.

Sara collected all antique aqua and red tablecloths for the tables.

Vintage cake topper.

Congrats Sara and Chris!!!!

Please be sure to post your comments!  Every one will count as an entry into the Bloomie Awards!

Filed under: Weddings, Events, and Shows by Heather
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Michelle was just the sweetest girl to work with!  Although the weather was a little on the cloudy side, her color choices I’m sure made up for it!   Yellows and blues, with a few hints of soft greens made for a wonderfully bright and cheerful wedding color palette.  Not only were the tables decorated with the flowers you see here, but Michelle also had sugared lemons placed in bowls on some of the tables.  I wish I had a picture of them!   For all of you Lippincott Manor couples out there who would like to see some pictures of what you are getting included in the basic Lovely Package, here are some examples.  Please note: These flowers have been upgraded with yellow roses and cube centerpieces, however the rest of the flowers and styles are the same.  Please contact us for pricing information.

Filed under: Lippincott Manor Weddings, Weddings, Events, and Shows by Heather
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The petals and stems have been flying across the studio these days.  We feel beyond blessed to have the work that we do this year, and would like to thank everyone so, so, so much for your support of our small business!!   It seems after every event we do, we get tons of requests for “pictures please” from many of you on our Facebook page.  Everyone loves a wedding, and everyone loves to gush over the beautiful details of the day, especially the flowers.  Which got us to thinking…we should give an award to honor the most beautiful and most commented on wedding.

Announcing for the first time ever, the Bloomie Awards!  Since this is only our first year of the Bloomies, only one grand prize will be awarded for The Best Overall Wedding Flowers and Decor.  If this year is a success next year we hope to offer more awards in different categories including: Best Bridal Bouquet, Best Personal Flowers, Best Color Scheme or Theme, Greenest, and Best Overall.

This year’s award winning couple will receive a $100 Visa Gift Card and we will also be making a $100 donation to a charity of the winning couple’s choice.

To Enter:

If you are interested in participating, please gather up the very best wedding pictures you have (all professional photos will have photo credit given, and a link to the photographer’s website), along with a list of all of your wedding vendors with links to their websites or contact info.  Be sure to double check with your friends and family if you are planning to submit pictures of them to the contest, as they will be appearing on this blog.  Also double check with your photographer about their policies.  Once you have all of this together please submit it to us via e-mail to our main e-mail: heather@anightinbloom.com

All entries must be submitted no later than November 1, 2010, but the sooner the better if you want to gather as many comments as possible.  The winners will be announced in early December, just in time to kick off the holiday season!

Rules:

The winners will be determined based on how many comments are posted on the couple’s blog post.  Comments made by A Night in Bloom or the Admin. will not be counted. Any 2010 wedding pics that we have already posted on our Facebook page will have their comments applied to the contest tally as well (again, with the exception of our own comments), this means only weddings before June 7,2010.  All posts after that will not be counted.

Tips:

Send an e-mail to all your friends and family, post about the contest on Facebook, or Tweet about it. People seem to love images of flowers and emotions.  Photos including Mom’s pinning boutonnieres, friends hugging while holding bouquets, flower girls wearing halos, and babies with flowers are always a huge hit. Of course the details such as all the bridesmaids holding their bouquets against their dresses, and the bride in her dress holding her bouquet are always favorites too! Keep in mind everyone can comment, not just your friends and family but our other readers and wedding pro friends as well, so neutral pics without people in them are good options too. If any photographers out there would like to submit your favorite examples of flowers and emotions for me to attach to this post, I would be happy to.

This is a great opportunity for any couples looking to have a little extra spending money during the holidays, but also for what we are sure will be a worthy charity.

Thanks for reading and good luck to all of our 2010 couples!!!

Filed under: Business Announcements, Contest by Heather
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These were a gift, but I think they would also be gorgeous as a centerpiece.  Unfortunately with all of the technology we have, we are still unable to create computers with scratch and sniff options. Can we please get an app for that Apple people?  Anyway the fragrance from these roses is delicious!  Each color has a different fragrance.  These yellow roses almost have a lemony scent to them.  Aside their wonderful fragrance, they are stunningly beautiful and unique.  Certainly not a bargain bloom, but as more South American growers continue to grow them, I think the prices will become more reasonable.  Hope you enjoy them, I know I did!

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