I hope everyone had an amazing Valentine’s Day last week!  I really enjoyed coming up with all sorts of gorgeous floral designs.  I don’t think I did one single standard dozen roses in a vase; I am blessed to have customers that really let us be creative with it.  The designs coming out of our studio featured phalaenopsis orchids, gloriosa lilies, cymbidium orchids, garden roses, anemone, ranunculus, and more.  I loved seeing the designs that were posted on facebook too!  We have a few nice weddings coming up this week and we are excited to get back into the swing of wedding work.  Tomorrow there is a big flower delivery coming in and I can’t wait to check everything out.  We have been staying busy and met lots of amazing brides on February 12th at Running Deer’s Bridal Show.  I hope some of those brides check us out on facebook and check out our website and blog.  Today I want to blog about a wedding that took place last June on a private property in Alloway, NJ.  I especially enjoyed this wedding. I graduated with the bride and I really enjoyed coming up with unique weddings flowers for her wedding.  Liz is such a sweet person and working with her was a joy.  Gary Johnson did an awesome job with the photos and I am excited to share them with you all.

For Liz’s bouquet we used lavender, green celosia, green hydrangea, bupluerum, blue thistle and peacock feather accents.

We wrapped the stems with teal ribbon with a champagne lace overlay.  Her dress was a gorgeous vintage inspired lace gown and I love how the lace on her bouquet coordinated with her gown.

The bridesmaids carried bouquets with pops of magenta.  I love their champagne gowns!

To line the aisle we used our shepherd’s hooks to hang these lovely copper lanterns from.

We decorated the pergola with hanging blue vases filled with green hydrangeas.

I loved this bout, celosia and a peacock feather wrapped with moss twine.

Her centerpieces were seriously so cute and so creative.  On half of the tables we planted assorted ferns into blue glassware and clustered them on moss mats on the tables.  Liz had these chalkboard table number signs that we added.  After the wedding she took all these ferns and potted them up.  What a great remembrance of her wedding day!

For the other half of the tables we used assorted blue glassware filled with dianthus green trick. celosia, green spider mums, chocolate cosmos, and peacock feathers on a moss mat.

I really loved being a part of this wedding and had so much fun with it.  Best wishes Liz and Michael; I hope you enjoy those ferns for many years!

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:

A Garden Party has been busy gearing up for another busy wedding season.  We just ordered our 2011 photo album, highlighting many of our 2011 weddings.  The album is due to arrive on Friday and I can’t wait to check it out! We have been meeting with lots of brides and are really excited to meet even more this Sunday at Running Deer’s Bridal Show.  Our flower delivery came this morning and I was BLOWN away by the gorgeous Italian ranunuculus that we received.  I have never see anything like it and I know that our bride that is coming to see samples this weekend is going LOVE them.  Today has been all about getting ready for Valentine’s Day, so in honor of Valentine’s Day I decided it was appropriate to blog about this gorgeous, romantic, red wedding that we did this past October at The Merion in Cinnaminson.  If you need to place an order for Valentine’s Day, you can order HERE.  We offer delivery to Salem, Cumberland, and Gloucester counties.

Stephanie looked gorgeous on her wedding day! I loved her all red bouquet.  It featured red mokara orchids, red dahlias, red roses (red piano and red freedom), and red ranunculus.

We added rhinestone accents to the roses to bring in just a touch of glitter.

I have been obsessed with this diamond trim.  We used it here to bring some bling to the wrap of Stephanie’s bouquet.

Her bridesmaids carried all white bouquets, which stood out so prettily against their red dresses.  Their bouquets featured white garden roses and white dahlias.

The red mokara orchids were perfect for Andrew’s bout.

Their wedding took place inside at The Merion.  We updated the arbor that they have there by adding crystal curtains, with red orchids tied in.  We also flanked the arbor with our chic vases filled with curly willow and red James Stori Orchids.  Both of these pieces were later moved to be used as past of their reception decor.

I love how these crystal curtains looked hanging on the arbor.

To line the aisle we placed a silver tray on top of their existing pedestals and topped each with a trio of glass cylinders with submerged orchids, floating candles, and diamond trim.  These were later moved upstairs to be used in their reception.

The sweetheart table was decorated with our crystal candlesticks, crystal votive holders, scattered crystals, and scattered red orchids.

This was one of the centerpiece designs, a tall vase filled with submerged orchids, crystals, and a floating candle.  This was surrounded by the 3 shorter cylinders from the ceremony.

We used our diana candlestick trio as another centerpiece option.  They were each accented with the diamond trim, crystals and red rose petals in the water, and a floating candle.  Our crystal votive holders added some more bling to the table.

The third centerpiece was our chic vase filled with crystals, curly willow, and red James Stori Orchids.

The cake was accented with the same diamond trim and red flowers.

 Thank you Stephanie and Andrew for letting us be a part of your special day!  We loved your romantic, red wedding, and hope you did too!  Hope you have a fabulous first Valentine’s Day as Mr. and Mrs, xoxo!

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:

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:

In June, Dawn and Mary had the pleasure of creating the flowers for Jenna and Drew’s wedding at The Golden Inn in Avalon, NJ. The Golden Inn is one of their favorite reception venues.  Located right off the beach, this venue is perfect for the couple looking to have a beach ceremony within walking distance of their reception venue.  This beach wedding featured tons of fun yellow and green flowers that looked gorgeous with the bridesmaids’ “sprite” dresses and the groomsmen’s light gray suits. Mirka Photography captured all of the lovely details in these great pictures.

Jenna carried this gorgeous bouquet featuring craspedia, succulents, freesia, silver brunia berries, burpluerum, green cymbidium orchids, yellow roses and dahlias.

The matching groom boutonniere looked great against Drew’s light gray suit.

Dawn and Mary lined the aisle with shepherd hooks and tin pails filled with monstera, succulents and craspedia.  The hooks and the pails are both available as rental items.

Behind the bridal party, Dawn and Mary arranged bamboo poles and sheer white fabric.  These poles can be customized with any color fabric and are perfect for a beach wedding.

The bridemaids bouquets, which featured craspedia, succulents, silver brunia berries, burpluerum, dahlias and one monstera leaf, looked amazing against the “sprite” colored dresses.

I love the monestra leaf in the bridesmaids bouqests.

What a gorgeous group of people!

This picture makes me wish I was at the reception. They look like they know how to have fun.

They are such a beautiful couple.

Half of the tables had these high centerpieces that featured green hydrangea, bupluerum, yellow dahlias, a monstera leaf and  succulent in a bell vase.

The rest of the tables were decorated with monstera, manzanita  and assorted blooms such as craspedia, freesia, orchids and dahlias under glass cloches.  Each napkin was accented with a green mum for the perfect final touch.

This stunning cake was decorated with green cymbidium orchids.

Jenna and Drew, congratulations on  your marriage. We wish you many years of happiness and love.

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:

A few months ago, I introduced you to a great website Mary and Dawn discovered called Pinterest. Since then, Dawn and Mary have become obsessed with this website that lets you create virtual inspiration boards. (I’m in love with it too!) We all use it for personal inspiration; for instance, Mary has a board of nursery ideas for her second baby she is expecting in January, Dawn has a board of recipes she wants to try and I have a board of crafts I want to make, but the best part of Pinterest is all the wedding ideas.

Dawn and  Mary both create boards for wedding ideas they love. They also are willing to create boards for bride’s who need some inspiration. If you want Dawn and Mary to love you forever, create a wedding board before or after your floral consultation and share it with them. Don’t include just flowers. They want to see all your wedding details including dress ideas, cake ideas and favor ideas. (In case you haven’t noticed, Dawn and Mary love everything about weddings. Seeing all the details helps them get a better sense of your overall theme and style, so they create flowers that coordinate.)

For a little inspiration, check out these boards Dawn and Mary have already created.

Baby’s Breath Inspiration

These ideas are so simple, inexpensive and beautiful.

Fall Wedding Ideas

I love the idea of lining the aisle with pumpkins.

Fab Bouquets

If I got married again, I would totally carry this.

Winter Wedding Inspiration

I am obsessed with this cake!

Pine Cone Decor Ideas

This would be beautiful at a winter wedding.

Ali and Sean Wedding Ideas

I love this bouquet!

We would love to see your wedding inspiration boards!