Real Wedding - Part 2

Part 2 of R+K's Torpedo Factory wedding is below. For their ceremony, we create a chuppah of white flowers and seasonal greens. And for their cocktail-style reception, we included a variety of smaller scale arrangements, filled with dahlias, lisianthus, and seasonal greens in gold containers.

Thank you to Jessica Latos Photography for the shots!

Blooming Branches

We're excited for our first ever wedding at the Athenaeum in Alexandria. We love this little gallery in Old Town - it's on a quiet corner, has the most adorable garden/courtyard, and because of it's size only allows for smaller weddings. We can't wait to share the final results of this luscious garden design full of blooming branches and seasonal selections. Happy Friday!

Cherry Blossom Season

We are gearing up for a beautiful, cherry blossom inspired wedding at the Willard Hotel tomorrow and can't help think of last year's Torpedo Factory wedding with Roberts & Co Events.

         

          

 Image: Kate Headley Photography

Winter Wedding with Snowfall and All

We're hoping that today is the last snowfall we have this season, so let's cheers the cold weather away with Dan+Katie's winter wedding - snow flurries and all.

   

Thank you to Emily Clack Photography for the beautiful images!

Friday Happiness

Our clients make it all worth it...especially moments like these (Dumbarton House 2 weekends ago):

Floral Samples 101

Over the past few months, we've gotten an abnormally high number of requests from planners and clients to provide floral samples, which sparked this blog post. What are the pros, cons, and the best timing for these? We've got the answers:
PROS: Samples are a great way to ensure your vision is executed properly. This is your chance to revise any elements that might not be exactly what you wanted.
CONS: In most cases, samples are not only not free but are also slightly higher in price than the actual centerpiece. Why is that? you might be asking. When pricing out centerpieces, we consider stem count and box pricing. However, when we're ordering for just 1 centerpiece we're losing out on high volume pricing. And depending on your florist, they might charge extra to cover the time set aside for the sample consultation.
TIMING: 1 or 2 weeks before your wedding is not the right time to order a sample. At that point, the flower order has been placed and you don't have much wiggle room with making any significant changes. On the flip side, getting a sample 6 months out is also not the best time - if your design is focused heavily on seasonal flowers, something available in October might not be available in April. Just like catering, flowers are heavily driven by seasons. We recommend doing a sample 3-4 weeks out and giving your florist at least a week or two notice in advance to be able to place their flower order.
We also urge that if you do decide to do a sample centerpiece, coordinate this with either your tasting or your sample tablescape setup at the rental/catering location. A centerpiece on a full table looks very different than a centerpiece on a bare table.

And remember - read your florist's contract. If you're considering a sample, ask about the process before signing that contract - each florist has a different policy.

Berry-Tone Pieces

Today we thought we'd share a few pieces from back in June and totally falling in love with these colors all over again:

 

Happy Hump Day

We don't need an occasion to make a floral arrangement - happy hump day!

 

What's In the Studio This Week

This week our studio is filling up with all kinds of awesome for the upcoming weddings. We're creating two different looks this weekend - city chic and outdoor elegance - but using similar materials and color palettes. While both weddings mix crispy greens and whites, each has its own pop of color (which we won't reveal until after the weddings). Aside from the flowers (to the left), we're incorporating glass globes, mercury containers, and as always candlelight.


Tomorrow on the blog we're talking "city" gardening - creating an outdoor oasis with limited space, budget, and time. Think bright colors and statement pieces.

NYC Flower Expo 2013 - Japan

Today is reserved for my favorite booth at the NYC Flower Expo 2013 - The Japanese Flower Trade Council. When I walked up to the booth my jaw dropped and I couldn't decide what to photograph first. From the long stemmed sweet pea (which you don't find with American grown) to the scabiosa varieties I was obsessed. I was given a tour, and provided with the most helpful booklet with seasonality and variety info. Check out the photos below and make sure to come back tomorrow for a few of the misc arrangements. 

 

 

NYC Flower Expo 2013 - Roses

Continuing with amazing flowers at the NYC Flower Expo, today we're looking at roses. While I don't tend to use many single stem roses in my designs, I do like me a spray rose. However, after this expo, I might be back on the rose wagon and hopefully one day can design a 100% super modern rose wedding (are you my potential rose client??). Roses have recently gotten a bad rep (80% of my clients walk in and specifically say no roses...unless they are a spray rose or a garden rose) but after these photos you might reconsider them, as I have. 

   

 

 

Make sure to come back tomorrow to see my favorite booth.

How To Updated 2012 Flower Trends We're Sick Of

While 2012 had a few good wedding trends, it also had many no-so-good trends. Today we're going to give you some pointers on how to update these trends for 2013/14.

Corsages: if the women in your wedding party are not too keen on corsages one of my favorite alternative options is providing the mothers, grandmothers, aunts, etc with a posy to replace the corsage. A posy is small enough where the women won't feel like BMs but enough to highlight the woman holding them as important. Additionally, a large single bloom works as well (peony, hydrangea, dahlia).
Submerged Florals: a simple update is removing water from the vessels (which at the same time removes the floating candle element). By removing water from the vases you can now virtually put any greenery/flower inside the container (water submersion limits the types of flowers that can go in the container). This creates a modern terrarium look and adds a twist to a simple flower arrangement. Anywhere way to spruce up this look is to bring in a height element to balance out all the submerged flower containers. 
Tall Ridiculous Centerpieces: some large venues require some sort of height element but who said this had to be on the reception tables? How about suspending something over the tables rather than placing a piece directly on top? We did this for a May wedding - we suspended custom glass globe/fresh flower chandeliers over the tables (image above). These added a unique element to the wedding - and they were definitely a conversation starter.

Do you have questions about how to update a trend from 2012 in your 2013 wedding? Shoot us an email and we'll blog about it.

Welcome Back

Hi everyone - I know we've been offline since Wednesday of last week but we had a HUGE wedding this past weekend and there was zero time for blogging.

Although I'm sure my entire team feels like they've been hit by a truck we're back this week and ready to bring you some great stuff! Today I'd like to share a shot from a wedding we did back in July - I don't know why but I'm digging this image from Hamilton Photography:

The bouquet was a gorgeous variety of cascading orchids, white roses, and stargazer lilies - a classic elegance.

Weekend Extras

Happy Saturday! Check out the flowers going up for Michael Buble's wedding! Insane right?

The bouquet though? They have so much money! Why?? Who is responsible for this mess?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!