Wedding season is back!  We are excited.  The flower shop is full of flowers and our schedule is packed full of lovely, fun weddings.  Today we have a wedding at the shore…let our weekends of “working” at the shore begin!  When I was trying to decide what to blog about, I saw this wedding from last May on Long Beach Island and it screams spring and fun at the shore, perfect to kick of the spring wedding season.  We were lucky enough to work with Caitlin from Just Be the Bride on this wedding.  Girls, if you are looking for a detail oriented wedding planner to help make your day run smoothly…this is the gal for you.  She is on it!  The ladies at Art + Life Photography shared these beautiful pics with us.  They do a great job, we were excited a recently when they showed up at another wedding we did….can’t wait to see those pics!

Allison carried a bouquet of white peonies, light blue hydrangea, blue muscari, white spray roses, silver brunia berries, and touches of artemesia.

Jamie and Allison were married on such a gorgeous spring day!  Check out that blue sky.  Their wedding took place at The Surf City Yacht Club on Long Beach Island.

I loved this creative bout we came up with for Jamie.  White spray roses and blue muscari wrapped with twine and accented with a little starfish.

Not floral related….but I loved these beach tag place cards!

The centerpieces were casual, yet elegant and the shades of blue looked so lovely in the room.  We used light blue hydrangea, white peonies, blue delphinium, and equisetum.

A napkin accent is one of my favorite touches.  I think it adds so much to the decor and the prettiness of the table setting.  Here we added a little seashell, a touch of blue delphinium, and tied the napkin with twine.  So pretty!

What a great idea instead of the standard guest book!??!

Loved this beach inspired cake, accent with seashells and beach chairs.  A few scattered sand dollars and orchids accented the table.

 We have so many fun things going on in the next few weeks.  We are hosting our first ever Prom Night at the flower shop on Thursday 4/11 from 3pm-8pm.  Come and check us out and pick out your prom flowers (and bling!).  You can order online and see more info and all the fun details of Prom Night, HERE.  Then, on Tuesday April 16th, we will be at Eastlyn Golf Course for their Bridal Show.  We are hoping to meet lots of new brides there!  All of our booked brides, we will be running a sample sale before the show, so check out all the details HERE.  Don’t forget to follow up on facebook to see up to date pics of all of the weddings we work on each week….we love posting sneak peeks!

Time to spice up this cloudy day with some beautiful color.  Rose and Nick were married this past fall and their wedding was full of tons of floral details and gorgeous color.  Rose LOVES flowers, so we wanted that to reflect in her wedding day.  We were thrilled to hear that T Alimario was the photographer, and he didn’t disappoint – the pictures turned out amazing!

Rose carried a bouquet full of gorgeous fall tones.  The flowers used included circus roses, yellow garden roses, eggplant purple mini calla lilies, blue thistle, orange mini callas,  antique peegee hydrangea, dahlias, and blue viburnum berries.   Nick wore a coordinating bout featuring an orange calla lily.

I loved the peacock blue gowns that the bridesmaids wore.  The pretty fall flowers showed up perfectly against the blue.  Notice the flowers in all the girls hair!  So pretty!  Their little shawls were just perfect for the fall day too.

The bridesmaids bouquets featured eggplant purple callas, circus roses, blue thistle, pee gee hydrangea, orange dahlias, and viburnum berries.

This was the first time we used the yellow garden roses and I fell in love with them.  They definitely will be making an appearance in our flower shop more often.

 Look at how cute these two are!  The flower girl carried a kissing ball of orange spray roses and the ring bearer had an adorable coordinating bout of orange spray roses and viburnum berries.

I really like when the guys wear lighter colored suits.  Rose really tied it all together perfectly with their pale, muted orange shirts, and peacock blue ties.  The groomsmen wore bouts featuring the blue thistle, which perfectly matched their peacock blue ties.

 They were married on Nick’s family farm.  What a gorgeous location!?!?  We scattered fall leaves down the aisle, instead of the traditional rose petals.

Details like this wedding sign at a beverage station for guests are what make a wedding.

Check out that tent in the background!  I can’t say enough about how great it is to work with Dee over at Rental City. They did an amazing job with all of the rental items for Rose and Nick’s wedding.

 Cocktail tables were adorned with these sweet little blue mercury glass cups with bronze mums, scabiosa stellata pods, and fall grasses.

Instead of the traditional place card table, guests names were written on magnolia leaves and hung from these trees that we created.

Showcasing just how much Rose loved flowers, she gifted each couple at her wedding with their own potted phalaenopsis orchid as their wedding favor.  These orchids were locally grown and sourced by us.  They were gorgeous.

The cake / cupcakes were place on our large wooden cake stand.  Loved the combo of  cake and cupcakes, so creative!

 Half of her centerpieces featured wooden pedestals with a design done in a hidden bowl that featured japanese maple branches, sedum autumn joy, yellow garden roses, circus roses, thistle, peegee hydrangea, and bronze mums.  The bride and groom supplied antlers to accent the table.  Gorgeous.

The other half of the tables were accented with more of the blue mercury glass done with coordinating flowers.  Golden mercury votives were the perfect touch.

What an amazing wedding.  I really do need to make more time to blog, because I do love looking back on our past weddings and remembering how much fun we had putting together the flowers.

Now, on another note, while Mary and I are known for our wedding work we are also very excited about this upcoming prom season.  Spread the word that we are taking prom orders and will even be holding a Prom Night at the flower shop!  You can find order forms and info about Prom Night, HERE .   Thank everyone for all of your support!!!

I have been hearing some nasty rumors about some possible snow the middle of this week….but here at A Garden Party, we are concentrating on spring.  We have some gorgeous flowers coming in tomorrow that I can not wait to get my hands on; tulips, hyacinth, anemone, and free spirit roses to name just a few.  We are so pumped about all the fun details we have planned for this weekends wedding at Running Deer…check us out on facebook Friday and Saturday, because I am sure we will be posting some sneak peeks.  Now, on to the fun stuff.  This past August we had the pleasure of working with Diego and Sau on their gorgeous outdoor wedding at The Inn at Fernbrook (by the way, this place is soooo charming and perfect for an outdoor wedding!).  Pat Furey was the photographer (lucky us!) so the photos are fab.  Working with this couple was a dream.  They were long distance planning, so we never actually met face to face.  I worked very closely with the groom, Diego, and found it so sweet that he was so involved in the wedding planning.  I think we caught their vision exactly.  Proof that you don’t need a sit down, face to face meeting, nowadays….as long as you have good vendors that you can trust and are willing to spend some time on Pinterest and communicate via phone or email, a lot can be accomplished.  We create pinterest boards for all of our brides, it is like a little look book of what they can expect on their wedding day!

Sau carried a beautiful bouquet of pink astilbe, pink esperance roses, white ranunculus, white dahlias, pink lisianthus, cleome, and blushing bride protea.  The bouquet was wrapped with burlap and accented  with a sweet touch of white lace.

Sau was a stunning bride!

Diego wore a bout of the blushing bride protea accented with lace to match the bride.

How awesome does this couple look?!?!

The bridesmaids wore gowns in pastel shades (love this idea!) so to unify them we made bouquets of all babies breath.

I loved this shot of the bridal party in front of these red doors. The Inn at Fernbrook had so many amazing spots that were perfect for photos.

Another trend we are starting to see more and more of (and one that I LOVE) is long tables.  We accented the tables with burlap runners (a rental) and mason jars of flowers in soft pastel colors.

Mom scored some great blue mason jars last year and we have been making great use of them. Thanks mom!

I love adding little details like these strands of spray roses that we hung on the backs of Diego and Sau’s chairs.  Little details like this are what make a wedding stand out.

We used smaller mason jars to hold little tealights sitting on dried lavender.  These smelled soooo good while they were burning.

Every napkin was adorned with a blossom.  I am sure the guests loved being greeted by a bloom at their place setting.

Thank you Diego and Sau for working with us, we loved every minute of it! XOXO

I was lucky enough to get away this past weekend (no weddings!) and visit the beach.  I know…the beach in February (and it was raining), but I still enjoyed myself and found myself getting so excited about our 2013 upcoming shore weddings.  I always love the Jersey shore, and any opportunity to visit is great.  How lucky am I that my profession includes visiting the beach lots of spring, summer, and fall weekends!  Even if it is mostly work, I usually find time to sneak a peek at the ocean and maybe squeeze in a slice of shore pizza.  When I was scrolling through photos today, trying to decide which wedding to blog about, this pretty fall wedding in Avalon at The Golden Inn caught my eye. Bella Pictures caught so many great shots from the day, and Kristen and Zac were kind enough to share them with us. This couple was so sweet, and had included so many cute little touches as a part of their wedding day.  Check it out…

Kristen’s bouquet featured one of my favorite roses, the pink esperance rose. This rose has shades of pink, ivory, and green; and it opens beautifully.  We also used light pink dahlias, pink waxflower, pink ranunculus, queen anne’s lace, and nerine lilies.  Originally Kristen wanted an all peony bouquet, but peonies can be hard to get and questionable quality in October.  When we called her and offered our suggestions, she was so laid back and flexible.  She loved her bouquet and personally it turned out to be one of my favorite pink bouquets that we have ever done.

It was such a gorgeous, sunny day.  The stems of her bouquet were wrapped with burlap ribbon and a lace overlay.

The bridesmaids wore watermelon gowns and carried bouquets of similar flowers, with ivory dahlias added.

The groom and groomsmen all wore baby’s breath bouts, wrapped in twine.

The flowers girls were adorable.  They carried kissing balls of pink spray roses.

This is our lace canopy, which is a rental item.  This canopy is ideal for outside, or inside ceremonies. It looked gorgeous, and went perfectly, with Kristen’s theme.  We tied back the lace with raffia, but this can be customized for your wedding.

Such a pretty bride!

Sweet “In Loving Memory” table.  A mason jar of lilies and snapdragons was just enough to accent.

The Golden Inn usually has a mix of long tables and round tables.  For the long tables we did mason jars with assorted flowers accented with lace and twine.  Each of the napkins was tied with a little piece of twine (little details like this really do help it all come together).

This mason jar of baby’s breath, nerine lilies, and lisianthus is so sweet!

The room all set up is so pretty.  The Golden Inn is one of our favorite beach venues to work at.  If you are looking for a beach wedding be sure to give them a call (ask for Michael, he is the best!).

Pretty jars of flowers even dressed the sweetheart table.

This has nothing to do with flowers, but how freaking cute is this!  And yummy!

Loved this pretty cake done by The Sweet Life Bakery.

I don’t know about you, but I am so excited for spring (and warm weather) to hit.  We are gearing up for a busy spring wedding season here and can’t wait to share it with our readers on the blog!

In case you didn’t smell the roses and chocolate in the air, I would like to remind you that Valentine’s Day is approaching (next Thursday to be exact)!

A few reasons to choose A Garden Party …
-We aren’t your traditional florists.
-We won’t try to sell you a dozen red roses.
-We refuse to triple our prices.

Instead….
-We are a family business here to offer our coveted floral design services.
-We want to make you look GOOD with our unique and natural arrangements. Say I love you in style!
-We are proud to offer the finest flowers from across the globe AND our very own farms here in NJ (ask about our Jersey Fresh flowers)!
-Most importantly, we have developed a relationship with either you or your loved ones and would love to share our beautiful flowers with you all! It’s why we get out of bed in the morning!!

If you would like to place an order, please do so by:
Phone: Mary at 609-364-2529
Email: mary@agardenpartyllc.com
Website: http://www.agardenpartyllc.com/order-online/
(Cash, Check, Visa, Mastercard, Discover accepted)

**Sweet Mary’s Chocolates (handmade locally) also available to add to your order!** Lollipops for $2.50 and a 6 piece decorative box for $9.

Arrangements start at $40 and can be picked up or delivered anywhere/any day in the Tri-County area (Elmer, Pittsgrove, Bridgeton, Alloway, Woodstown, Pilesgrove, Swedesboro, Woolwich, Mullica Hill…..) starting at $8 (or anywhere for 50 cents/mile!)

Flowers in stock include:
JERSEY tulips
JERSEY daffodils
JERSEY orchids
hydrangea
roses
ranunculus
peonies
gladiolous
ginestra
heather
quince
gerber daisies
and many many more

<3 We look forward to helping spread some LOVE <3

Hello, my name is Jessie Walker, floral design intern, and I am here to introduce you to A Garden Party’s newest blog series: Bride Diaries! We want to give you a look at real weddings from the bride’s point of view. We sent our bride Emily the following questions and she was gracious enough to send us her responses! We hope you enjoy this new series, more posts coming soon!

1. What was your all-time favorite moment of your special day?

I think my favorite moment was our first dance.  It was a chance for us to be alone and together for a few moments and to take it all in.

2. We know things don’t always go as planned…Were there any entertaining wedding bloopers?

I don’t remember any bloopers.  Believe it or not, everything went as planned!  Everything was perfect and the day ran smoothly.  The only thing that was of concern we the weather.  Early in the week the forecast was for a beautiful, sunny day.  However, two days before the big day, the forecast changed to “periods of rain and cloudy.”  So, that became a big worry!  But, the weather held out. It was a little overcast, and we only saw a few drops of rain.  Our biggest blooper was the honeymoon, but that’s another story!!!

3. Any wedding toasts that made you laugh, cry, or gasp?

I don’t really think we cried or gasped.  We may have chuckled a bit at stories mentioned from our pasts.  The toasts were genuine and touching.  Our groomsmen and bridesmaids did a great job.

4. It’s okay to admit it – did you have any Bridezilla moments?

Not, really!  I’d say the only moment was when putting the programs together.  The programs were a little complicated, and the wedding date was getting close, so things were a little stressful!  I may have gotten a little nasty with my sister, while working on them!

5. Did you have a wedding planner? If so, did it make your day run smoother? Was it worth it?

We did not have a wedding planner.  We planned everything on our own, along with lots of help from our families and input from our vendors.  However, we did have a friend, Darin Pfeifer, who helped to coordinate the whole day, making sure everything was ready and set up how it should be on the actual wedding day at the reception site.  Darin did a fabulous job, and sure enough everything was perfect when we arrived at Pratt Gardens!

6. Cake or cupcakes? What was the flavor?

We had a three-tiered cake.  It was marble flavored on the first layer, chocolate chip in the middle, and lemon on the top.  The butter cream frosting was ivory and it had yellow flower details made of frosting.  My brother-in-law, Richard Kopp, handcrafted our cake topper – two little wooden lovebird with a heart in between.  They were adorable!

7. We always try to bring your floral dreams to life…did we succeed? In what ways? Is there any room for improvement?

When we arrived at both Corpus Christi Church and Pratt Gardens, I was blown away by how beautiful and perfect everything looked!  It was spectacular!  Dawn and Mary really brought my vision to life.  Everything was just as how I had imagined it to be.  I loved the bouquets and arrangements on the pews and doors of the Church.  The tree with my hanging bird ornament favors was adorable.  My favorite was the table décor – loved the burlap runners, ribbon on the napkins, and of course, the array of bottles and vases (we provided our own) filled with a variety of yellow flowers!  I received numerous compliments on the beauty of it all.

8. What song really got the party started?

I don’t remember a particular song that got the party started.  I think as soon as the DJ started playing and dinner was over that the guests started dancing!

9. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your:

Venue? 10, Pratt Gardens

Food? 10, Di Paolo’s Italian Restaurant

Flowers? 10!!! A Garden Party

Music? 10, DJ – Ed Bowman

Photographer? 10, Photography by Gary Johnson

10. I’m sure your day was amazing, but if you could change one thing about your wedding what would it be? Or would you not change anything at all?

I would not change a thing!  It really was the perfect day!

Mary and I took advantage of no weddings last weekend and went to Miami with friends.  It was the perfect break and proved that we do know how to have fun after all, ha!  We love weddings, but have to admit, it can really put a damper on our social life when ever single weekend is full of work.  We figured we better fit in some fun time while we can.  Pretty soon, we will be back to creating floral magic every weekend.

On this overcast, windswept day, I couldn’t resist blogging about this bright, sunny wedding from September.  I figured everyone could use a little sunshine today (plus it kinda reminds me of Miami)!  Carey and Brad were married at Scotland Run Golf Course on a gorgeous September day and thanks to Dazzle Photography, we all get to enjoy their photos.

Yellow is one of my favorite flower colors, and not used too often. We had so much fun with Carey’s bouquet.  The bouquet featured white stock, white gerber daisies, yellow craspedia, yellow babe spray roses, yellow roses, and silver artemesia.

Check out these cool dudes with the gorgeous Carey.  The groomsmen wore bouts of yellow gerber daisies and artemesia, wrapped with silver satin.

The bridesmaid wore gray gowns (love gray and yellow together!) and carried bouquets of all yellow gerber daisies.

 The cocktail tables were accented with these adorable mason jars filled with lemons and white stock.  The flower shop smelled amazing the night we sliced all these lemons up for this wedding!

The guests’ tables were accented with trio of mason jars, all filled with lemons, and topped with white flowers.

Torey (A Garden Party’s newest designer) did an amazing job with the cake. I loved the stream of yellow roses and solidago running from the top, across the front of the cake.  Gorgeous.

Vintage, large, jars filled with gerbers and solidago lined the aisle, and were then moved to accent the reception space.

I love creative place card table displays.  Here we used a bed of moss to place painted rocks on, and then scattered daisies.  So cute!

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and we have been stocking up on all kinds of cute things for the holiday.  Just placed my candy order with Sweet Mary’s Chocolates yesterday…the perfect addition to fresh flowers is a little box of chocolates.  Give us a call….or at least tell your boyfriend, fiance, husband to give us a call, and order something special for your someone special, 609-364-2529.  You can also place your order online, HERE.

XOXOXOXO!!!

The holidays flew by and Mary and I are gearing up for our busiest winter ever. We are so excited about the weddings we have booked so far for 2013 and are looking forward to meeting with many new brides as the year progresses. We have been terribly behind on blogging…too busy creating all these beautiful designs for weddings!  It is a new year though, so time to get back into the swing of things and back into our weekly blogging.  Today’s blog features a gorgeous wedding at The Flanders in Ocean City, NJ. Lindsay and Jim were the sweetest couple.  They were high school sweethearts and you could really see just how in love these two are.  All photos courtesy of Meyer Photography.

Lindsay carried a bouquet of dark purple and magenta flowers including baronesse garden roses, magenta stock, purple glad blossoms, dark purple lisianthus, and magenta gomphrena. The garden roses were accented with diamond pins. Don’t they have the best smiles!?!?!

Such a creative picture!

Lindsay loved bling so we incorporated it as much as possible; even doing Jim’s bout in a rhinestone encrusted bout holder.

I thought these flowers girls were just adorable.  Check out their dresses!

Another amazing shot.  The sky in this picture is breathtaking.

I loved how the place card table came out. Lindsay had these silver manzanita trees, so we accented one by placing it in a decorate silver mercury vase.  We added a fuchsia sash and hung our crystal votives holders filled with flowers from the branches.  I loved the cards radiating out from the center.  This is a perfect design for a round table like this.

The room looking gorgeous.  The linens really helped pull it all together and, along with the flowers, set the tone of the event.

Half of the tables were done with our silver mercury glass filled with purple stock, purple hydrangea, and magenta garden roses. Crystal votive holders added another touch of bling to the tables.

The other half of the tables were done with bleached beach grasses and purple and magenta stock in our tall silver vases.  Magenta rose petals and the crystal votive holders completed the look.

I love little touches like this.  A gladiola blossom was placed on each napkin for all of the guests.  Gorgeous!

The sweetheart table was draped with crystals and silver mercury candle holders.  Love!

This has nothing to do with flowers but I am obessed with boardwalk pizza….especially at a wedding!

The wedding cake was stunning!  I love when brides choose to do fresh flowers on the top, instead of a cake topper.  So pretty!

Just a reminder to all of our upcoming brides, we are excited to be participating in Running Deer Golf Club’s Bridal Show.   The show is a free event, taking place on January 13th from 3-6pm.  We hope to see lots of brides there!  We are also running a sample sale.  You can see anything on your wedding order at 50% off.  Check out all the details here, and contact us if you are interested, dawn@agardenpartyllc.com.

We recently told many of our brides about our upcoming sample sale. To make sure you understand how the sale works, here are all the details and answers to the most frequently asked questions.

We are participating in a bridal show at Eastlyn Golf Course in Vineland, NJ on Tuesday April 16th, 2014 at 6:30pm. (If you want to attend the free bridal show, you can find info HERE.) For the show, we make various flower arrangements to display at our booth. Some of the arrangements we display are samples we create for our brides. Since we are using the samples in the show, we offer our brides 40% off the invoice price for all samples. A win-win for  us both!

To view your samples at the shop, you must make an appointment. We are booking 1.5 hour appointments, so we have plenty of time to review all of the details on the order. The extra meeting fee of $40 is waived.

So what is a sample?

A sample is an arrangement we create so you can see what the flowers will look like on the day of your wedding. The most common samples we create are bridal bouquets and centerpieces. We try to use the exact flowers, vases, and ribbon for the sample as we will use on the day of your wedding. This allows you to get a sneak peek at your wedding flowers.

Why would you order a sample?

Many brides find it useful to order a sample because it helps them visualize their wedding day. For instance, if you order a sample centerpiece, you will get to see how your centerpieces will look on the day of your wedding. This is very beneficial to brides who have a hard time visualizing or who are unsure about their flower choices. By viewing a sample before your wedding, you can decide if you want to make any changes to your order and iron out last minute details before the big day.

What is the 40% discount?

Normally, samples are the same price as the day-of items listed on your invoice. For instance, if your bridal bouquet is $150 and you want to see a sample, the sample would be $150. However, during this sample sale, we offer 40% off on all samples. Therefore, the bouquet sample valued at $150 would be $90. This discount only applies to the samples. It does not apply to your day-of order.

In the past, brides have really enjoyed participating in the sample sale. They love getting a sneak peek at their wedding flowers! If you are interested in taking advantage of our sample sale, contact Mary at mary@gardenpartysisters.com or (609)-364-2529.

Photo Courtesy of Tina Jay Photography

I can not believe it is December 11th….and that we haven’t blogged in over a month, fail on our part.  However, while we may not have been blogging, we have been busy creating wedding after wedding of GORGEOUS wedding flowers. Sometimes, when I look back at pictures, I am blown away by how lucky I really am.  Being able to spend (most) of my time working with flowers, and having the chance to truly create something beautiful for our couples is really the best.  I remember I loved this wedding when it was going together and then, when I saw the photos, I fell in love all over again!  I always love setting up a wedding at Running Deer, their staff and attention to detail makes them one of the best venues around. Heather DiPiazza did an amazing job with the photos, check them out for yourself!

Laura’s bouquet was stunning.  She carried purple and fuchsia stock, purple pacu calla lilies, purple veronica, fuchsia plume celosia, and vanda orchids.

These bright purple and pink bouquets stood out great against the bridesmaids charcoal gowns.

I love fresh flowers as an accent in the hair.  These orchids look so pretty!  We provide them already wired, so the hairdresser can easily pin them in place with bobby pins.

September 15th was a gorgeous, sunny day this year.  Check out this pretty bridal party.

I love doing something a little different and unique with the stem wrap.  Here, to tie in the purple, we accented with purple lace.  Pretty!

We hung these pretty cups of fuchsia roses from the pergola at Running Deer.

The aisle was line with fuchsia rose petals, and silver mint julep cups hanging from our black shepherds hooks, filled with purple and fuchsia stock.

Beautiful shot of the ceremony.

These hanging votive cups with roses are the perfect accent and look great in all of the photos of the couple saying their vows.

I LOVED these centerpieces.  Done in our Diana pedestal vase, they featured purple hydrangea, fuchsia and purple stock, purple haze roses, plume celosia, and dark purple iris. A band of charcoal ribbon and purple crystals accented the vase.

On the place card table we used one of our many silver mercury vases.  Pretty!

Another shot of the centerpiece.

The silver julep cups from down the aisle were reused as decor in the chocolate room.

Loved the cake.  The flowers were the perfect pop of color.

Thanks Laura and Ray!  We loved your wedding flowers, and hope you did too, xoxo!

I have lots of blogs started….now just to get back into the business of finishing them and posting them!  As an FYI to all of our fans – we will be closed next week, 12/17-12/25.  Mary and I needed some time to get ourselves together for Christmas!  Tomorrow night we are hosting a Pinterest Party here at the shop….stay tuned for a blog post about the fun times that I am sure will be had, haha!