May Weddings

I haven't blogged in awhile mainly because the Month of May is CRAZY.  Not only did we have to be shut down during Apple Blossom Festival, the following week brought Mother's Day, 3 Proms (!), SU graduation and Nurses week- ALL in ONE WEEK.  Scheduling 3 proms mother's day weekend is insane for many reasons, but I won't go into that right now...that's a whole other blog post.
So finally after all that crazy, I thought (initially) the following week with 4 weddings wouldn't be that tough.  Unfortunately  my long time partner in crime (i.e. designer) had moved on to another opportunity closer to home.  Good for her, bad for me.  So it was me, myself, and I designing all the daily arrangements (funeral, hospital, birthdays, etc) and designing the weddings.  I got it all done and my designer did come in one night after her other job to help me out for a few hours.  (and I am so thankful she did).  With all the daily work I got a late start on the weddings and worked late into the night Thursday and Friday. Here's some pics:
One wedding inside the cooler waiting for Saturday delivery

Wedding #2 inside the cooler waiting for Saturday delivery:

Some other pics from this weekend's weddings:

Submerged orchids The bride's bouquet

Centerpieces in metal cube vases

Centerpieces.
(I apologize for all the weird spacing, but I haven't gotten the blogging format down to perfection just yet)

 

 

 

When there's a florist in the family Part 2

I had a family wedding at Oglebay in Wheeling, WV.  This is the view of the golf course and it was a beautiful location for a wedding.  Unlike my sister's wedding there were not any wholesalers close enough to the location that also had enough space for me to work.  So....

I purchased all my flowers and supplies from my local wholesalers in Virginia, loaded everything in the truck and took off for West Virginia.  Luckily enough the venue had a meeting/conference room I could convert into a flower/design room for the weekend.

Plastic was laid down to protect the carpet, thermostat was put on the coldest setting possible and all the flowers were set up and ready to go.

And some pics of the necessity of plastic on the floor!

Table centerpieces waiting and ready to go.

Bride and Attendant's bouquets

The massive fireplace required I borrow a ladder from the venue which they were very helpful and even spotted me on the ladder.

Another company decorated the ceiling and this is before everything was finished and I was placing arrangements.

close up of the bouquet.  Light blue hydrangea, light blue delphinium, blue agapanthus, white freesia, white mini callas, and white lisianthus.

Low Centerpieces on oblong tables.

Lighted tall arrangements.

 

 

Dendrobium orchids attached to the venue's restroom mirrors. This is one of my favorite ways to add a little bit of fun to the restrooms- a unsuspecting place for flowers generally.  Amazing little glue dots made from the same adhesive magazines use to attach trial size products they promote.  It's especially pretty with brightly colored orchids and inexpensive also.

 

Blue Thistle

This thistle is a beautiful blue color and is perfect for added texture and color in any bouquet.  Read the excerpt below for additional information:
Eryngium is a genus in the family Apiaceae of about 230 species of annuals and perennials with hairless and usually spiny leaves, and dome-shaped umbels of flowers resembling those of thistles. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the centre of diversity in South America. Some species are native to rocky and coastal areas, but the majority are grassland plants. Common names include Sea-holly and Eryngo, the former typically being applied to coastal species, and the latter to grassland species.
The flowers are clustered in tight umbels, with a whorl of spiny basal bracts.
Eryngium maritimum is a perennial plant native to Europe and often found on sea shores. It produces a basal rosette, from which grow flowering spikes with stiffly spiny foliage and stems. These can reach around 50 cm in height. It is often grown in gardens for its metallic bluish flowers and upper foliage. The basal foliage is a very conspicuous pale grey or silvery green, from which the stiff, lightly branching flowering stems rise up.
Related species are grown as ornamental plants in gardens, and these may also be called "sea holly", though the majority are not associated with littoral (sea-shore) habitats. Among the best known of these is Eryngium bourgatii (illustrated), a perennial with stunning green, prickly foliage marbled with silver. The flowers, which appear in summer, are cobalt blue, and appear very attractive to bees. The plant is 30 to 60 cm in height. Other commonly grown ornamental species include Eryngium alpinum, E. variifolium, E. tripartitum, E. bromeliifolium, and the biennial E. giganteum. (information courtesy of Wikipedia.com)

Erynigum thistle in a recent bridal bouquet last month.

One of my favorite flowers is Delphinium.  It is one of the few naturally blue flowers available commercially and has vibrant bell shaped flowers.   These bouquets were for an outdoor, Winchester wedding this past summer.