Two blogs in one week!  It sure has been a long time since I had the time to blog twice in one week…go me, ha! I have been feverishly working on getting our 2011 photo album together, and in doing so have had sooo much fun looking at last year’s wedding.  I wanted to take the time to blog this gorgeous white summery wedding that we did for Katie and Marc at Congress Hall in Cape May this past August.  Congress Hall has this amazing, striking reception room and I loved how the photos turned out.  Tiffany with Atlas Wedding Photography did an amazing job with the photos!

Katie looked stunning!  She carried a bouquet of all white vitality garden roses.

I loved her dress.  The bouquet of all roses perfectly complimented her gown.

GORGEOUS bridesmaids!  I loved their blue dresses!  They carried bouquets of all white dahlias (LOVE!) wrapped with this adorable blue and white striped ribbon.  A mono-botanical bouquet accented with a striking wrap like this is one of my favorite bouquet designs.

Check out the pretty pearl and rhinestone brooch that we added to Katie’s bouquet.

A simple white dendrobium orchid bout looks so elegant.

For her centerpieces we used our chic vase topped with a mound of white hydrangea, white roses, and hanging green amaranthus.  Hanging crystals added the perfect touch of sparkle.

The white flowers really stood out well against the blue walls and those amazing black and white checkered floors!

Next week is a busy one for us.  We will be displaying at the Running Deer Bridal Show on February 12th and then Valentine’s Day is right around the corner!  We are also doing lots of samples for our 2012 brides next week.  Don’t forget to give me a call if you are interested in seeing a sample of anything on your wedding order.

If you are interested in our floral design services in South Jersey, the greater Philadelphia area or Northern Delaware please contact us by filling out the form below:

Sam David made his debut just about two weeks ago now on January 13th at 11:58pm.  He squeaked in on Friday the 13th with a mere two minutes to spare!  Mary did awesome, not only did she deliver on her due date, but she also had him in under an hour from the time she got to the hospital (LUCKY girl – I am soooo jealous!).  Tina stopped by to visit Mary once she got home and caught so many amazing, perfect pictures of baby Sam that this proud aunt couldn’t resist dedicating a blog post to him.  Lee got his own blog post, a few years ago, so it is only fair that Sam have his moment in the spotlight!  I also wanted to take a minute to talk about our newborn photo class that Ryan and Colleen at RHM Photography are holding this weekend.  Sam is one of the 3 models and there are still spots open for anyone looking to learn how to use their DSLR camera or interested in newborn photography.  You can see some more info about the class here.  The class will be held in Elmer on Saturday, February 4th at 10am.  Please contact me ASAP if you would like to participate, Dawn@agardenpartyllc.com.  These two do an amazing job and I am super excited to hear all their tips for me.  I am one of those people that owns a DSLR camera…with the best of intents to use it…and yet hardly ever use it because it overwhelms me.  Yes folks, I can handle close to 100 weddings in a year, but a DSLR camera overwhelms me.  Hey – we can’t all be good at everything!  Anyways, check out these photos that Tina caught; pictures of tiny new babies are always the best!

Little Sam all bundled up like a baby burrito <3

Here he is peeking at Tina!

I have this conflict now everyday when I am work…how am I supposed to focus on work and not just hold this sweet little baby all day long??? Advice???

The trifecta kiss!

Lee is an amazing big brother!

I don’t think Mary will ever have a shortage of hugs!

Thanks to all of our brides for their kind words after Mary had the baby.  You girls are the sweetest!  Mary has been back in the office off and on (I knew she wouldn’t be able to stay out long!) but for the time being I am handling most of the e-mails, phone calls, etc.  Thank you all for your patience!

Well the big major news here at A Garden Party is that baby Sam has arrive!!!  Mary and baby are doing wonderful and I am loving getting to snuggle him up everyday.  Look at how sweet he is! (PS – thanks for the photo Tina!)

I also wanted to show off these photos from a wedding that we did last spring at Trump National of Pine Hill.  Megan wanted a tall centerpiece with a lot of impact, but was looking for something very natural and gardeny. We came up with the idea of using our tall bell vase with a maidenhair fern planted into the top.

I was obsessed with how striking and different these centerpieces turned out to be.  It doesn’t always have to involve flowers (well as a florist I think it usually does, but in this case, the ferns were awesome all on their own!).

In the base of the vase we used a crystal sphere with natural birch branches standing up in the vase.  We added that little bit of bling, but kept the natural element that Megan was looking for.

I kind of loved how you could see the dirt and the roots through the clear vase.

 Now I know today’s blog was super short and super quick….but there will be more to come!  I have lots of weddings waiting in the wings to be featured on the blog so keep checking back!

If you are interested in our floral design services in South Jersey, the greater Philadelphia area or Northern Delaware please contact us by filling out the form below:

Well we are still waiting on Baby Coombs over here.  Mary’s due date is tomorrow and we are so excited!! We can’t wait to meet the new baby and find out whether it is a boy or a girl!  We have been steady working on lots of projects. We have a bridal show coming up, February 12th at Running Deer, so we have been tossing around some ideas for that.  We decided that we wanted to offer a 50% discount on samples for any of our 2012 and 2013 brides that would like to see samples of their bouquets or centerpieces.  Any brides that have already booked with us that would like to see a sample at 50% off please contact me (dawn@agardenpartyllc.com) asap to set up an appointment for Saturday, February 11th.  We will then be taking the samples to the Bridal Show on Sunday.   I am also working on our 2011 album and have come across so many pictures from weddings throughout last year that, at the time, we didn’t have time to blog.  I love going through all the past weddings, it is so much fun looking back at our brides and their flowers.  Kim and Brian were one of your favorite couples of 2011.  They are the sweetest two people and seriously are so much fun and so in love.  Every picture I see of them just makes me smile.  Their wedding took place on 9/10/11, which of course, was one of our biggest wedding weekends of the year.  They were married in a church in Ocean City with their reception following at Greate Bay Country Club in Somers Point. I really loved all the details of this wedding.  The color scheme was great, jade green and yellow, and we got to bring in some of those modern elements that we really love.  Jac & Jules Photography did an amazing job with the photos, so check it out!

How sweet are these two!??!  For Kim’s bouquet we used yellow calla lilies, cymbidium orchids, yellow latina roses, and bupluerum.  I loved all this yellow, it photographed gorgeous!

The bridesmaids wore jade green dresses and held bouquets of all yellow long stem calla lilies.  We wrapped the bouquets with black ribbon and added a beaded jade green accent (I have memories of searching online for a jade green accent for these bouquets…I think it took 3 of us looking for hours before we found something that we all liked, ha!).

What a pretty little flower girl!  She wore a floral halo of yellow spray roses, so sweet!

The couple was flanked by our ivory pedestals with a mound of yellow roses on top and draped crystals.  Love it!

Brian and Kim exited the church with yellow rose petals raining down on them.

They had these adorable table number holders that held a single flower.  We loved them so much that we bought them after the wedding.  Let us know if you would like to rent them for your wedding!

Half of the tables had our smaller black cylinders filled with sandblasted manzanita with yellow roses, hanging crystals, and hanging votives.

The other half of the tables had our tall black cylinders with long stem yellow calla lilies cascading out one side.  We hung crystals from the calla lilies to add some more interest.

Their cake was accented with cymbidium orchids.  I love orchids on a cake, so pretty!

Thank you Kim and Brian for letting us be a part of your day.  We thoroughly enjoyed working with you two and loved how all of your flowers came out.  Best wishes to both of you!

If you are interested in our floral design services in South Jersey, the greater Philadelphia area or Northern Delaware please contact us by filling out the form below:

Last week Mary and I sat down and kind of caught our breath from the craziness that was the holidays.  We decided we wanted to set some goals for 2012 and also to check and see how we made out on our 2011 goals.  It was so rewarding reflecting back on the year and realizing that not only did we accomplish our goals, but we blew some of them right of the water!  In 2011 we did 99 events…no small feat for these two sisters!  We were published on several blogs, including Style Me Pretty, Glamour and Grace, and The Wedding Chicks.  We were also awarded The Knot Best of 2011 and Wedding Wire’s 2011 Brides Choice.  While we love seeing our work published and recognized, what really makes us happiest is the feedback we get from our brides.  Seeing their faces on their wedding days, getting their thank you cards, and developing friendships with them is what makes this all worthwhile for us.  Mary insisted we set some 2012 goals, which I kind of chuckled about (I kind of hate New Year’s Resolutions)…but thinking about it later I think this is one of the reasons Mary and I work so well together.  I tend to concentrate on the work that needs to be done now, the wedding that this weekend, and the brides that are calling today; while Mary is our go-getter.  She sets our goals and has this vision of what we can be in the future.  I keep us grounded in today and she sets us up for success in the future.  Today though, I want to take a look back on 2011 and highlight one wedding from each month.  I hope you all have enjoyed reading our blog this past year and watching our business grow.  We can’t thank our brides and our customers enough…you guys are what this is all about!

January began with Sarah and Simon’s Wedding.  This was the first wedding we got to use our luminaries for…love it!

Our very own April was married in February.  I was obsessed with all the lilacs we got to play with for her wedding!

March brought Lindsey’s wedding.  Lindsey was a dream to work with, gotta love a bride with so much style that she made it on to Say Yes to the Dress!

April kicked off with Danielle’s charming cobalt blue wedding.

May was full of weddings. One of my favorites was Anya’s.  I LOVED putting together her bouquet.

In June we did Brynn and Drew’s gorgeous green and pink wedding at Scotland Run.

In July things really heated up with Sarah and Rob’s gorgeous wedding at The Southern Mansion.

In August we partnered up with Art+Life Photography and Salon Nicole for our Rock the Dress photo shoot.

September kicked off the busy fall wedding season.  Jocelyn’s wedding has remained one of my favorites for the year!

Bridget’s shore wedding in October was another one of my favs.  I love doing something different, and everything about this wedding was unique!

In November we hosted a DIY party for Jaime, truly one of the sweetest brides we have ever met.

We ended the year with some gorgeous December weddings….but those photos are yet to come.  Stay tuned for everything to come in 2012, we are so excited about the upcoming year!

If you are interested in our floral design services in South Jersey, the greater Philadelphia area or Northern Delaware please contact us by filling out the form below:

 I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays!  Mary and I took a week off to get ourselves ready for Christmas and it sure felt strange not working!  I have been working on this blog post off and on for days.  It is a lot harder to blog from home with two little kids ‘helping’!  We LOVED this wedding.  Bridget and John were a joy to work with.  She came to use wanting untraditional wedding flowers, but gave us lots of leeway in flower choices and design concepts….we love creative freedom!  They were married in Stone Harbor in October, with their reception following at The Princeton in Avalon, NJ.  I loved all the extra little details and how south Jersey beachy their wedding felt!

Bridget carried a bouquet of cream garden roses, dill (yes, the herb dill!), ivory dahlias, nigella, succulents, and pitcher plants.  The pitcher plants and dill were a last minute add….and I really think they made the bouquet!

The bridesmaids carried bouquets of soft green hydrangea, ivory dahlias, yellow zinnias, white nigella, dill, and succulents.  I loved the soft colors with the pops of the yellow zinnias in front of the yellow gowns.

Bridget’s bouquet was wrapped with burlap and had an ivory lace accent.  The bridesmaids were wrapped with yellow satin and accented with twine.

The flower girl carried this adorable pomander of yellow button mums with green pins.

The bouts featured a succulent, pitcher plant, dusty miller, and a touch of the white nigella.  They were wrapped with the twine as well.

At the church we tied yellow oncidium orchids to the pews with ivory satin ribbon.  I love these orchids and they were the perfect shade of yellow for Bridget and John’s wedding.

Looks like a fun bridal party!

Check out all this stuff they had set up!  All we had to do was come in and dress it up a little with flowers.  A few dahlias, touches of moss, and a candle and the table was perfect!

For their card box they used an old lobster box…so cute!  We added sandblasted manzanita, succulents, and button mums.

They strung this burlap banner between two manzanita trees that we set up.  Extra details like this are what really makes a wedding memorable!

I am obsessed with their lobster card box!

Instead of a guest book, they had their guests sign this surfboard!

Amazingly delicious looking appetizers!

The Princeton is a bar so it wasn’t set up like a traditional reception.  We made these smaller arrangements for all of the hightops.  They were done in these sleek tin containers and filled with zinnias, roses, dahlias, air plants, succulents, and touches of moss.

I loved these arrangments.  They weren’t your typical centerpiece, but were gorgeous, and fit the venue perfectly.  Each arrangment was slightly different and the guests/family got to keep them at the end of the night!

Yet another adorable sign!  They didn’t forget even one little detail!

The pitcher plants were added because a local supplier mentioned them in her availability earlier that week and I just couldn’t resist.  I love being able to add last minute finds like that!

On the other tables we did a larger version on the tin container filler with air plants, succulents, roses, dahlias, protea, and dusty miller.

 All the different textures in these arrangments were truly amazing.

This wedding was so fun to work on.  Looking back on it has really made me feel ready to get back into the flower shop!  Thank you, Bridget and John, for letting us be a part of your wedding day.  Your wedding was one of a kind and we were honored to be a part of your day!

If you are interested in our floral design services in South Jersey, the greater Philadelphia area or Northern Delaware please contact us by filling out the form below:

Hope everyone is loving our new website and blog!!!  We have been a little behind on our blogging, while we got the new website up and running, but now we are back and are vowing to get back into regular blogging.  Check out this gorgeous purple wedding that we did this past summer.  Megan and Daniel got married at Brigalia’s in Sickerville, New Jersey. The bride loves purple, so her colors were green and purple. (One of my favorite color combinations!)

 Her bouquet was a variety of purple flowers including picasso calla lilies, stock, alstroemeria and orchids.

I love the bridesmaids’ pistachio gowns! The purple bouquets look great against the green.  The girls carried bouquets of purple stock and green gladiola blooms.  Gladiola are one of my favorite flowers!

The flowers looked beautiful on this elegant cake. We used purple orchids, dark purple stock, purple gladiola blooms, and green button mums to coordinate with the bridal party flowers and dresses.

Thank you Megan and Daniel for letting us be a part of your big day. We hope married life is treating you well!

If you are interested in our floral design services in South Jersey, the greater Philadelphia area or Northern Delaware please contact us by filling out the form below:

Remember that weekend in July when it felt like 120 degrees outside? Well, while most people were cooling off by the pool or hiding in the air conditioning, Dawn was setting up this gorgeous wedding on the beach in Cape May. Despite the hot weather, Sarah and Rob’s beach wedding at the Southern Mansion turned out beautiful. Rebecca from The Queen of Hearts Wedding Planning helped put together this gorgeous wedding, and Amanda from Swoon Over It captured all the pretty details.  We really enjoyed working both of these vendors. Rebecca was amazing, she was involved in every detail and made sure the day ran perfectly.  I would def recommend Queen of Hearts Wedding Planning to any bride looking for a wedding planner.  Check out the photos from Swoon Over It!

The ringbearer carried this adorable little banner. This is such a cute idea.

Sarah and Rob used bamboo poles with sheer aqua blue fabric flags to decorate the ceremony.   The aisle was lined with shorter bamboo poles, blue ribbon and white flowers.  All of the bamboo poles are a rental and can be accented with whatever color fabric a bride prefers.  See how beautiful that sand is….well Dawn swore it felt about 110 degrees!  She took along her sister Sara and hubby Chip to help set up the ceremony….after the final pole was in place they all enjoyed some Rita’s water ice to help cool down!

The bride carried a gorgeous white bouquet with champagne roses, white dahlias, lisianthus, freesia and ivory garden roses. The bridesmaid had a smaller version  with light yellow stock, yellow lisianthus and white freesia. The bouquets looked beautiful with the white and khaki attire.

The bride’s bouquet was wrapped with ivory satin and accented with twine and a crystal brooch.  The bouts were white freesia and lisianthus, accented with twine to coordinate with the wrap on Sarah’s bouquet.

For the centerpieces, we used assorted cylinders with ivory, champagne and light yellow flowers accented with floating pearls, candles and crystal votives. I love how simple and elegant these centerpieces were.

This mantle arrangement features hydrangea, garden roses, floating candles and crystal votives. Candle light is a great way to set a romantic tone at your wedding and these crystal votives are a rental item that really adds a lot of look for not that much money!

Sarah and Rob’s beach themed cake was adorable. We used a few white lisianthus buds and tealight candles to decorate it.

Thank you so much Sarah and Rob for letting us be a part of your special day! Best wishes as you start your life together!

If you are interested in our floral design services in South Jersey, the greater Philadelphia area or Northern Delaware please contact us by filling out the form below:

Mary and I have been busy little bees this fall.  Every weekend was booked with weddings and every weekend we would say “I love this wedding!”.  It cracks me up how every week we fall in love with a wedding, think it is the best one, and then repeat the whole scenario over again the following week!  We just can’t get enough of our brides, their creative ideas, and playing with all these flowers.  Sometimes a wedding comes along that is just perfection.  Molly and Rich were lucky enough to have one of those weddings.  Sweet Little Molly used to work with Mary at Butler Gardens, a local flower shop, so their friendship goes back to their high school days! It has taken me so long to get this blog up because there are about a million amazing pictures.  Finally, I just decided I am going to share all the ones I love so get ready for an amazingly long blog, ha!  Tina Jay was the photographer (she also raved about Molly!), and as usual her pictures didn’t disappoint!

Molly and Rich were married at Running Deer on a gorgeous day in July.  All the succulents that you see in the bouquets came from Molly’s mom’s garden…we went there and handpicked them ourselves!

Molly’s bouquet featured purple haze roses, green hydrangea, purple vanda orchids, dusty miller, freesia, and the succulents.  We accented the bouquet with pearl garland and tied family hankies around the stems. This is how smart Molly is – she did a bridal portrait shoot with Tina a few months prior to the wedding and we made up her bouquet sample for her to use during the shoot. Great idea! More brides should do that!

Um – could these girls be any more gorgeous!?!?

The bridesmaids carried bouquets of purple stock, green hydrangea, vanda orchids, bupleurum, dusty miller, and succulents.  The stems were wrapped with green ribbon and accented with a burlap detail.

I had to share this picture.  I am obsessed with this vintage chandelier.  Mary and I rescued this (from Mom’s attic – she rescued it from a casino in AC many years ago!) and now offer it as a rental item.  It is perfect for hanging from the pergola at Running Deer. We dressed it up with hanging crystals, springeri fern, and hydrangea.

Rich wore a bout of freesia, dusty miller, and a tiny little succulent.

For the ring bearer we made this adorable little pillow out of moss, twine, and a green button mum.

Amazing photo Tina!

Molly and Rich’s wedding was full of soooo many cute details.  Instead of a Unity Candle, they did a tree planting ceremony.  Molly and Rich each spread some soil on the gardenia, then their parents watered it (showing their support for the new couple).  Love this idea!

Ok – now I thought this was the CUTEST idea I have seen in a long time.  They had their guests shower them with herbs which guests were able to mix themselves according to their wedding wishes.  I love original ideas like this one!

We lined the aisle with shepherds hooks (rental) holding a mason jar of purple hydrangea.

The cocktail tables were topped with our burlap table toppers (rental) and a mason jar full of flowers.

Molly used this antique window pane to hold her guests seating cards (which were labeled polaroids of their dog!), which we accented with hanging moss ball garlands and vanda orchids.

We designed this ‘A’ monogram to hang on their sweetheart table.  This is such a cute way to dress up the sweetheart table!

We have been doing napkin treatments more and more recently.  A flat napkin fold with one flower added is such a nice touch that your guests will really appreciate.

I have been dying to show these items off…we had these items custom made for us by Cobb’s Mill in Alloway, and used them to decorate a long table in the entry way.  All of these items are now offered as rental items and are perfect for the bride looking for rustic wedding details.

This wooden pedestal was another one of our handmade, custom, designs that is now offered as a rental item.  We topped it with the trio of cylinders that Running Deer has for each table, and merely added floating candles, hydrangea, and succulents.  Each of the tables was covered with our burlap table toppers and a moss square, both are rental items.  We really pride ourselves on our extensive rental collection…stop by our studio sometime and check it out!

The Sweet Life Bakery outdid themselves with this gorgeous cake!  It is sitting on our wooden cake stand, also available for rent.

Thank you so much Molly and Rich for being such an amazing couple and working with us, xoxo!

Keep an eye on our website…big changes are coming soon!  Mary and I will be sure to make a big announcement when everything is up and running, but we are gearing up for a whole new website!

If you are interested in our floral design services in South Jersey, the greater Philadelphia area or Northern Delaware please contact us by filling out the form below:

Rainy days = blogging days over here at A Garden Party.  I have been anxiously awaiting the photos from our rock the dress shoot that we did in August around Salem County NJ and once I got my hands on them last week I knew I had to get a blog up asap.  We partnered with Art+Life Photography, Salon Nicole, and some of our very own brides on this amazing photo shoot.  Mary and I have always loved checking out trash the dress photos, but are too chicken to do it ourselves….so we figured this was the next best thing.  We found a few fearless brides, got them some awesome hair and makeup from Salon Nicole, put together some amazing florals, and then let Debbie and Denise from Art+Life take care of the rest!  The pictures are gorgeous and we had soooo much fun designing the flowers and working with all of these ladies.  Check it out (sorry so many pictures…it took all the self restraint I had to keep it to 20!)…

This bouquet Mary made basically out of flowers and grasses that she cut from her yard…it is amazing what you can do with wildflowers!  She has always wanted to do a really wild and natural bouquet like this, something not so perfect. Rebekah looked gorgeous (wait until you see the shots with her dress covered in paint!).

Here is Gina carrying the same bouquet…isn’t her dress amazing!  She bought it at Kleinfeld’s, and then was willing to rock it again at our photoshoot…thanks Gina!

Mandy is one of those brides I now consider a true friend.  Check out her smile…this girl is nothing but sweet. And yes, those are artichokes in her bouquet.

She is carrying a bouquet of pink garden roses, cut artichokes, bleached ostrich feathers, and moss balls.

Every now and then Mary and I like to stop at Michael’s and buy whatever random cuteness that catches our eye.  The little paper flowers glued on the moss balls were one of those purchases!

I also obsessed with the beaded fringe we used on the wrap of this bouquet.  Little touches like this are what makes a bouquet so special and different.

Melissa brought along her hubby…he was so cute and the two of them looked amazing in basically every shot!  Here she is carrying a bouquet of hydrangea, maidenhair fern, and cut violets from about 20 potted violets.  Mary accented the stems with twigs and some burlap ribbon, so cute!

Here is Jordan…carrying our wildflower bouquet and a chicken, ha! This beautiful backdrop is provided by Mary’s brother in law, his farm is located near Mullica Hill NJ.

I had soooo much fun making this bouquet.  I used red roses, dark red mini callas, and dark black pearl peppers.  Then I accented it all with a charcoal gray pearl necklace, black ostrich feathers, and black tulle. Our thought here was “what would a bride NEVER carry on her wedding day”…please someone prove me wrong.

Rebekah really rocked this bouquet!

These next two shots of Gina were my favorites of the day, <3

Mary and I have been into finding new and modern ways to use baby’s breath lately.  Check out our spray painted rainbow of bouquets!

Ok – now get ready for some action shots….it all started with Rebekah and this all white bouquet…

Things got interesting when we handed paintbrushes soaked in paint to Gina and Jordan…

I LOVE how this shot came out….exactly as I pictured it!  Rebekah was so amazing, she let us do whatever, and looked fabulous through it all!

We ended the day with some fun in a flooded road(thank you to the hurricane), the sun setting in the background.

I don’t know a whole lot of people that could say they get to do things like this during their day at work.  Mary and I are so lucky to be able to have the chance to be creative and do fun projects like this one.  I hope everyone loves checking out all of the photos and I can’t thank the brides, Salon Nicole, and Art+Life Photography enough for all of their help with the shoot!

If you are interested in our floral design services in South Jersey, the greater Philadelphia area or Northern Delaware please contact us by filling out the form below: