Happy Friday Flower Fans! It’s Mary this time, I think it is about time to relieve Dawn of some tasks now that I am back to work full time (with Sam at my side!). Our schedules have been delightfully full of client meetings, lots of quotes mixed with lots of Pinterest boards (see some wedding inspiration here folks!), and planning for the Centerton Country Club Spring Bridal Show (don’t forget to register).

This weekend we are honored to be a part of Caitlyn’s wedding, so it got me thinking about another Caitlin we got to know last August. Her wedding reception to Richard was celebrated at Lucien’s Manor in Berlin, NJ, after their church ceremony in Cherry Hill; both full of bright orange, coral, hot pink and green. Caitlin was such a sweet bride, especially when I had to call her a few days before her wedding to let her know that the hot pink dahlias that I ordered came in looking rough. I just didn’t feel comfortable using them because the color was a little off and I couldn’t get a replacement due to short supply, so I called her to ask if we could sub them for hot pink gerbers instead. She happily agreed and let me know how grateful she was that I called to keep her in the loop. I try to run my business how I want other businesses to treat me, and I would certainly want to know about a change to my order and that all options have been explored. So anyway, let’s see how it all turned out!

Caitlin wanted a traditional look with lots of color, so we created a bouquet of pale pink dahlias, movie star coral roses, peach mini gerbers, green hydrangea, orange celosia and stephanotis with rhinestones.

The happy couple, congrats!

I thought this was a pretty way to incorporate flowers into an updo, even though it is a silk orchid, still looks so romantic!

Close up of a bout.

The sage green dresses were flattering on everyone and you know I am digging that little flower accent.

I like the printed dresses for the little junior bridesmaids!

The ballroom at Lucien’s was dressed up with 2 centerpiece styles: one tall chic vase with gerbers inside and a mounded arrangement of green dutch hydrangea, gerbers, roses, and gomphrena. Coordinating floral rings with candles adorned the other tables.

Thank you Studio K Photography for sharing the photos and a big thanks to Caitlin for being so understanding! We wish you many many years of happiness…

xoxo, Mary and Dawn

Time to get back to the next Caitlyn’s wedding..the damask print accents are so cute! Good thing Sam likes that carrier sling thing <3

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:

In August we set up our first wedding at The Seaview Dolce Resort in Galloway, NJ.  Kristen had such a fun vision for her wedding day and we were more than happy to help. Her wonderful photographer, Paula Cella sent us these amazing pictures, which we couldn’t wait to share. Kristen and John’s day was full of pink gerber daisies, limes, and lots of special details that all added up to a gorgeous wedding.

Kristen’s bouquet was full of pink gerber daisies, calla lilies, and green hypericum.  We accented the bouquet with criss crossed bear grass and colored pearl pins in the gerbers.  Striking!

Love this shot – beautiful couple!

The bridesmaids bouquets used similiar flowers, but were wrapped with black ribbon accented with wire – love these pink vases!

This pergola turned out awesome.  We hung little vases of gerbers and added a large arbor piece to the top.  Stunning!

We hung the same bud vases on shephard’s hooks to line the aisle.

Half of the tables had this centerpiece which was done in our Chic Vase (a rental item) filled with limes.  On top we arranged the flowers in a detachable dish (so guests can take them home to enjoy).  We uses gerbers, dahlias, spider mums, and orchids.  The colors really popped against the black table linens.

The other half of the centerpieces were done in a glass cube filled with limes.  Pink and lime green are a hot color combo!

Thank you Paula for the pictures – we hope we get to work together again soon! Congratulations to Kristen and John, everything about your wedding day was fun and we feel so lucky that we got to be a part of it!

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:

Baby showers…everything about them is cute! The mother to be, the itty bitty clothes, the adorable books, even the mountain of diapers turns out to be exciting. But, I gotta tell ya, these decorations just put it over the edge. To quote Marguerite (the host of Jessica’s shower), “these girls are going to faint from the cute factor!” and I bet she was right. Held at Running Deer Golf Club in Pittsgrove NJ, Jessica’s shower was a “Two Peas in a Pod” theme to celebrate the arrival of her soon to ripen TWINS! That’s right, twins…one boy (Mason), one girl (Olivia). Like I said before, this shower couldn’t have been cuter! Even thought the idea of twins frightens me, it is still such an overwhelming blessing and should be double the fun, let’s ask Jessica 4 weeks after their arrival haha.

Anyway, back to the shower….Marguerite wanted to host an elegant shower for her dearest friend, with lots of personal touches, what a joy it was to be a part of! She just loved these antique hydrangea that I had in my cooler, so we incorporated them into the centerpieces (using Running Deer’s house vase trio).  She ordered all of these adorable personalized tags online, the staff at Running Deer was drooling over them! Of course the favors were 2 peas in a pod salt and pepper shakers to tie it all together.

She also ordered die cut butterflies that we attached to the rim of the glasses, just for a touch of whimsy.

In the chocolate room, she set up a miniature candy buffet that was a hit!

All of the candies had little tags on them saying "Jessica's Sweet Peas, Due August 2010, 2 Peas" etc etc, it was almost too pretty to eat!

Sorry for the bad picture, but she had these personalized shower games printed and even made the cartoon mom look like Jessica!

Our wishing tree (the perfect rental) with pink and blue crystals and the simple yet elegant hydrangea.

Personalized tags for the guests to write their motherly advice on.

Oh Marguerite, that was just too much fun! I had a great time brainstorming ideas with you, maybe I should follow your advice and branch out into party planning haha!  Best wishes to Jessica and here is my advice for her, “Pack away the dumbbells and get a refund on the gym membership, your babies will tone up those arms like you won’t believe! At least you save some money there! Oh and be thankful for every crazy day.” Thanks again Marguerite for letting me be a part of all the sweetness.

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 am so blessed to have such supportive/amazing/inspiring friends, you know, the kind of friends that make you want to be a better person. Tina is in that category for sure. It just so happens that we have become industry buds too, which adds to the fun. Whenever we are together, we swap stories about creative and awesome weddings that we have been a part of and we are always trading tips and advice. As A Garden Party grows and develops, I can’t help but think that Tina has something to do with it. She has been so generous with sharing her beautiful photos (see many more on her website), always sending me a cd bursting with tons of high res pics for me to play with…come see many of them in the new studio on display! So today’s post is showcasing her talent showcasing our work, cool huh?

This is a sample of Tina's wedding bouquet for her big day in October, we are IN LOVE with the texture/bulk/drama of this bouquet! There is nothing delicate about this baby except for the feathers! Many of our brides are interested in sample bouquets, which we think is a great idea. We do charge for the sample though, these things cost money ladies!

It was windy this day and those feathers were dancing! Every bouquet needs a little bit of movement, that is my motto.

A centerpiece sample that you may have seen at our last bridal show…a trio of square vases with an electric mix of green cymbidium orchids and perfect blue hydrangea, this was HOT people!! Brides loved it at the show!

So we might have went a little overboard on the feathers that day, but you gotta love it. Peonies and roses are a romantic duo.

We got these new jeweled collars that are sooooooooo beautiful mixed with simple pink callas.

Purple mokara orchids (my new addiction), grape hyacinths and ranunculus are cute cute cute for bridesmaids. I think this would look great with black dresses!

We that is my little bit of randomness for today! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks again to Tina for sending me the beautiful photos and for being an inspiration. Love you 619 McKean!! To everyone that has no idea what that means, we were PSU freshman neighbors and loved every minute of that chaos. Looking forward to the weddings we are teaming up for this summer and of course your own wedding in October!

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:

Dawn and I are always up for driving down the to shore with the windows down! We are so happy that Melissa and Joe came into our lives so we could do just that! Melissa contacted me several months back to set up an appointment and on our meeting day, this cute little car pulled into my driveway featuring Joe, Melissa and a lovely bridesmaid. As Joe stepped out of the car, I could tell he was taken aback by the view….I live in the middle of a FIELD. Sod fields to be exact (not for long, that sod is rolling outta here!!). As I welcomed them into my home for the consultation, I discovered that they drove down from BROOKLYN to meet with me! Wow, I was totally shocked/amazed/flabbergasted that someone would want to drive that far (about 3 hrs?) to order their wedding flowers. I of course had to ask her why Melissa was interested in my business, she replied that she loved my website (thankyouverymuch) and could tell that ordering her wedding bouquet would be fun and easy from me (you can tell that from my website? Sweet!). I could already tell I was going to adore her. It didn’t take me long to discover that Melissa and Joe wanted to have a fun, artistic, relaxing and unique wedding day at Renault Winery in Egg Harbor NJ and I am sure they achieved their goal. Here are some shots that I received from her photographer, Allison Herbert.

Melissa and her dramatic bouquet of the darkest red roses, callas, green cymbidium orchids and bear grass.

A close up of her wedding bouquet. We added pearl accents to compliment her gown.

She looks like a model! So classy and naturally beautiful.

Bridesmaids carried simple bouquets of green cymbidium orchids with bear grass loops, finished with coordinating chocolate satin ribbon and a row of pearl pins.

Again, I would like to express my thanks to Melissa and Joe for a) driving the terrible turnpike down to me! b) being so cute and super easy to work with and c) playing Smashing Pumpkins during your wedding ceremony. That was awesomely jaw dropping! Best wishes for a long and happy life together <3

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:

So this is the post all of our winter brides have been waiting for! I just got the digital prints hot off the press from Tina and couldn’t wait another day to share them with you! Thank you Tina for ALL of the great photos from Sarah’s January wedding, you amaze me more and more with each wedding (or Lee photo shoot!). For those of you who don’t know who this beautiful bride is, she is my best friend and partner in crime, Sarah. I felt honored to design the flowers for her wedding day (and serve as her Matron of Honor!), she gave me all the creative freedom I wanted and only gave me one tip, “I like lots of candlelight!” Well, we didn’t burn down Waterfall Banquet Center, so I would consider that a success! Dawn and I put candles in every facet of this wedding, and the warm glow really lit up the happy couple. Let’s just get right to the good stuff…

Sarah's bouquet is one of my all time favs…I wanted to capture her sweet and simple personality so I choose white and cream garden roses, white fringed tulips, white cymbidium orchids and ranunculus. White feather trim added the perfect amount of texture and style to this classic bouquet.

Bridesmaids carried green and white orchids with fringed white tulips, of course we added feathers and crystal trim too!

The bridal party adoring Sarah…that was an easy shot!

Sarah and Joe share their vows….doesn't the background look magical? I took inpiration from an episode of Platinum Weddings, and I think my version looks better!!

The aisle was lined with our new pedestals, which were linked with a crystal strand and a feather boa. Floating candles and orchids added some more drama!

A screen of willow trees decorated with crystals, votives, mirrored garland, snowflakes and orchids. Vases of pinecones and candles added some extra warmth to the ceremony location.

Windowsills were dressed with our diana candleholders, pinecones and orchids to warm up the room.

 

Adore the steamy lighting here in front of the waterfall!

 

The fireplace in the lobby was a perfect place for a big show of candles, roses, ornaments and my personal favorite, amaranthus!

 

Manzanita trees with orchids, crystals and hanging votives are taken to the next level with a lush floral ring at the base. Guests were able to take the ring home!

Coordinating candlelit centerpieces in a classic silver bowl, these were so elegant! The bowl is a rental item and the arrangement is designed to be given away to guests at the end of the party.

 

A simply beautiful cake stamped with snowflakes and adorned with orchids.

 

I know this has nothing to do with flowers, but I just had to include this shot! Silversound DJs (Dan Breslin was awesome!!) even got Gram Brooks out on the dance floor! Best wedding DJ I have ever heard!

I just had to include this one because I love when couples do this! She made her thank you cards with this shot!

That was just a selection of all the great photos from her wedding day, I hope you enjoyed a look into their special day! It was my pleasure to do what I love for the lovable Sarah, thank you for your total confidence in Dawn and I, but more importantly, thank you for our friendship. Love you 620 McKean (our freshman dorm at PSU!)

Stay tuned for my next blog entry about my wedding toast to the lovely couple…I have had lots of requests to publish it! There are more farmer’s wives out there that need to hear this!

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:

For those recently engaged brides out there, congrats! We have seen quite an increase in inquiries since the holiday engagement season…who said the winter months were supposed to be slow for florists? We are busier than ever and loving every second of it! Dawn and I love to hear engagement stories, we really are that sappy.

I get a lot of emails and calls requesting appointments and all of my brides have the same question,”what do I need to bring to the meeting?” To help you out, I have made a list of suggestions:

1. Your happy face!

Wedding planning should be a happy time and we think that choosing your floral designs is one of the most fun parts, ok we are a little biased, but we can’t help it. So many of our brides say that the one thing they are most excited about is seeing how the flowers pull everything together on that special day. We agree! While we do understand that there are a lot of decisions to make, we are here to help. Don’t stress about all the little things at the first meeting, we will send you a little “to-do-list” to help you remember to ask your dear Granny if she wants a pin on corsage or a wristlet.

A happy bride!

2. A Wish List

It will save a lot of your time at the meeting if you have a list of all the things you will need from us on your wedding day. If your wedding is 6 months off, we don’t expect you to have the exact centerpiece count, but a rough idea will help. Don’t fret if you decide to add or delete a few things, we can make changes to your order until 30 days before your wedding. Here is a list that might help….

Bridal Party flowers: bridal bouquet (duh.), bridesmaid bouquets, groom’s bout, groomsmen bouts (we will need names for labeling), father and grandfather bouts (with names), mother and grandmother corsages (with names), flower girl and ring bearer flowers, reader or soloist bouts or corsages

Ceremony flowers: alter vases or urns, aisle runner, pew or chair decor, presentation flowers, unity candle, wreaths, toss petals for guests

Reception flowers: cocktail tables, head table or sweetheart table, guest table centerpieces, votives, cake flowers, place card table, bar decor, throw bouquet, gift table

Now I am sure you feel overwhelmed about all of the things on that list, but just reeeeeeeeeeelax. We can discuss all the options at our meeting, but it is a good idea to think about everything that you will need prior to sitting down.

3. Wedding Day Details

We encourage our brides to go about their wedding planning in this order…..get the man, get the ring, book the venue, find the dress, call A Garden Party! Your venue and dress will help set the tone for your wedding floral designs, so it helps to have those decided on. Also, choosing a bridesmaid gown is recommended so we can get a color palette going. To help estimate the price for delivery, we will need to know the general wedding timeline, like where and when you are getting ready, where and when the ceremony is being held and what time the cocktail hour and reception will begin. Dawn and I also like to contact the wedding photographer and bakery prior to the wedding day to firm up arrival times. Many brides will look for suggestions for a photographer or cake designer, and we are happy to recommend Tina Jay Photography  and Sweet Life Bakery…we adore them!

Sweet Life Bakery….I want a piece of this right now!

4. All of your hard work!

Dawn and I are sticklers about making sure the wedding flowers compliment all of the other wedding day details, from the invites to the favors! We would love to see a sample of the invitations, programs, favors or anything else that you have been working on. Believe me ladies, all of those little details add up and make a big statement! Let us help you pull it all together! For example, one of our brides wanted a country chic wedding and planned to make homemade jam as her favors. We used coordinating mason jars for her centerpieces and for her aisle decor. It was so cute and totally country chic!

Mason jars hung on shepherd hooks down the aisle for this outdoor ceremony.

5. Pictures!

We love when brides come to us with stacks of inspirational pictures, it gives us a head start! We all know you have that huuuuuuuuuuge pile of wedding magazines at home, take a night to go through them and tear out any pictures that you like. Or head on over to TheKnot.com for lots of ideas and inspiration (be sure to add us as your vendor)! Bring them to the meeting and we can review them and create a custom look, just for you! If you have them, bring pictures of the ceremony and reception location too. A beautifully ornate church may not need the same decor as a simple country church. We can make copies of your pictures to keep in your file.

6. Some help!

We love when brides bring their moms, mother in laws, bridesmaids and even the groom! We kinda go with the motto “the more the merrier”. Everyone has a good time and likes to be a part of the planning, just be prepared to hear lots of opinions We have lots of books and albums to keep everyone busy while we discuss all the details. I have a big table so everyone can fit!

7. A Budget

Many of our brides are unsure about what the cost of the flowers will be, which is totally understandable, you have never ordered wedding flowers before! According to the wedding experts, 10-15% of your overall wedding budget should be spent on flowers. Of course this varies greatly since every bride is different and each case is unique, but let me give you an idea of price ranges. Most bridal bouquets start at $125 and can range to $175, depending on the floral selection and design. We have done simple tulip bridesmaid bouquets for $50 to more elaborate designs for $85 with roses, callas and orchids. Bouts are usually $15 and corsages are $25. Since centerpiece options are so varied, the range does too. We have candle rentals starting at $20/table or more elaborate designs priced around $150, depending on floral selection and season. There are plenty of options everywhere in between too!

A trio of floating candles and bear grass in rented candle holders.

Lush pink elevated centerpieces on silver flower tower.

I hope that this blog has helped! Let me know what you think and if I missed anything!

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: