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!!!

Wow – this weather is insane today!  We have been sooo busy here, and have another packed week this week; sorry we are so far behind on our blogging!  This week we are hosting 3 (yes, 3!) DIY parties here at the flower shop.  We LOVE having the brides and their friends and family in here designing their flowers.  It is so much fun, for us, and for them!  Basically the bride and around 6 or 7 friends / family come here to our studio and we help them design and put together their bouquets, centerpieces, corsages, etc.  You can see some more info about these DIY events, HERE. We had a DIY wedding this past May that turned out so stinking cute, that I just had to blog about it.  Check out these adorable photos of Emily and Don’s wedding.  Their wedding took place on a private property in Pittsgrove, NJ. Many thanks to John Stickel Photography for sharing these photos with us!

I swear, Emily has the greatest grin!  Check these girls out.  They each picked out their own white dress and designed their own bouquets.  It all came together so great!

Emily attached this family brooch to her bouquet.

Isn’t this brooch so sweet!?!?!  Coming to the studio to help put together her flowers, mean Emily got to pick exactly what flowers she wanted to use in her bouquet…perfect for any bride that wants to do their own flowers, but just needs the space and a little guidance.

All the bouquets, lined up, looking pretty!

This shot doesn’t include flowers…but seriously, who could resist these two!?  Look at how excited she is!

Emily had all these great DIY ideas that she came up with, to make her wedding personal and special.  Instead of a guest book, each guest wrote a little message on a jenga piece.  So cute!

All of the tables were covered with red and white checked tablecloths.  Emily provided all of the pitchers for the centerpieces, and her and her friends/family helped put all of the flowers together in them.

Another pretty centerpiece, didn’t they do a great job?!?!

She even painted these mason jars!

Love this cake topper!

 Spread the word, our DIY parties are so much fun and are getting so popular.  This is a great idea, not only for brides, but for bridal showers, baby showers, etc. Let us know if you are interested, dawn@agardenpartyllc.com.

Whew – this weekend has been a whirlwind of weddings!  I decided there was no better way to end a weekend of wedding madness, then with a blog about one of my absolute favorite weddings of 2010.  A few weeks ago this wedding was featured on Style Me Pretty, you can see it HERE.  We are always so excited to have a wedding featured on Style Me Pretty, it is such an honor to hear that other people love our work.  I have to be honest, while we did the flowers for this wedding, I think what really made this wedding so amazing and special was all of the details the bride and her family put into the day.  Rachael and Connery were married at Pratt Gardens in Pilesgrove, NJ (anyone looking for a gorgeous outdoors location in South Jersey has got to check out this venue!).  I was so impressed with the amount of work, planning, and love that Rebekah (the bride’s older sister) and her mother did to make sure Rachael’s wedding was perfect.  Rebekah was kind enough to send us a list of the details her and her mom came up with to make Rachael and Connery’s wedding so special.  Check out all that they did….I love all this DIY and the fact that they shared their secrets with us:

BURLAP SIGNS – “Just Married” & “Sweet Treats” – Burlap pennants 10” x 7”,stencil letters painted on the burlap, jute sewn on across the top & on the ends to hang them up.

BURLAP PETAL CONES – each cone was made from 2 – 7” circles of burlap, sewn around the edge, and turned; then wrapped into a cone shape and hand stitched to hold. A ribbon loop was sewn into the top & finished off with a small bow. Filled with colorful petals by A Garden Party.

BURLAP drawstring CANDY BAGS w/ tags – Small drawstring burlap bags were made to be filled with candy at the candy bar. Each bag had a round “canning jar” tag that read: “Love is Sweet – Rachael & Connery 10.30.10”. Each bag was finished with a jute drawstring, and canning tags stamped in orange, green & brown ink. The tags and the custom made stamp for the tags were purchased on Etsy.

BURLAP OVERLAYS – Burlap overlays covered all the tables, ivory over brown tablecloths, on the serving tables; and natural burlap over ivory tablecloths on the guest tables (provided by A Garden Party).

“Bride” & “Groom” CHAIR MARKERS – Wooden hearts stenciled with “Bride”& “Groom”, hanging on the back of the bride and grooms chairs.

DIRECTIONAL ARROWS – Wooden signs/arrows for guests to find their way around: Signs included: Connery & Rachael’s Wedding, Reception, Ceremony, Restrooms, Ladies, Gentlemen, Smoking Area, Party, Parking.

PAPER FLOWERS – Paper Pompoms were made with 6 sheets of tissue paper, 2 shades of orange & ivory. The paper flowers decorated an old swing in the yard, the bar area, the photo booth, and the golf cart that the bride and groom rode off in after the ceremony.

WEDDING CLOTH Guest Book – Large ivory tablecloth with the following instructions for wedding guests: (pencils were provided and the messages were later embroidered) “Please Sign Our Wedding Cloth, In lieu of a Guest Book, we wanted to create our first family heirloom. Each message written and signed by our dear friends and family will be embroidered and sewn into one big memory of this very special day. We will look at it always, and think of y’all. Thank you, Rachael & Connery.”

THUMBPRINT TREE Guest Book – Drawing of a tree trunk & branches (no leaves), and instructions for guests to “leaf your thumbprint”. Three different color stamp pads and hand wipes were provided for the guests.

WEDDING ATTIRE – The entire bridal party wore Cowboy boots; and the girls also wore Flower Mohair Triangle Shawls, purchased on Etsy, handmade in Istanbul, Turkey.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/61818696/ready-to-shipbrown-flower-mohair
http://www.etsy.com/listing/61818692/ready-to-shipivory-flower-mohair

THE CAKE – The brides’ aunt made THE WEDDING CAKE, it was a triple layer cake with butter cream icing; and 250 matching cupcakes. The cake topper came from the brides’ grandparents, and A Garden Party topped the cake and cupcakes with an assortment of matching flowers. Carved pumpkins adorned the cake table, each with a different carving. The carvings included a bride & groom silhouette, champagne glasses & a heart with 2 birds on a branch (to match the invitations).

HAY BALES – Hay bales decorated the inside of the ceremony gazebo, and the outer areas of the guest seating, and around the reception tent.

ENGRAVED BRICK – An engraved brick bearing the names of the bride and groom & wedding date, was placed in the ground at the gazebo, where the ceremony was held. This is something that Pratt Gardens does for all the weddings held there.

PHOTO BOOTH – The Photo Booth was decorated with a sheet of burlap, with “photo booth” stenciled down the side; flanked by 6 streams of paper pom poms on each side; a chalkboard easel identified the area, and small chalkboards & chalk were provided for guests to write a message to the bride and groom; an assortment of mustaches & lips on sticks, “Groucho Marx” glasses and other masks were provided for fun props; and, a stone bench for guests to sit on.

BAR MENU – The bar menu was written on small chalkboards (to match the photo booth), honey sticks stirrers were provided, for hot beverages.

INVITIATIONS – Invitation designs were purchased on Etsy, and printed locally. Table menus and Programs were made to match, and were printed on Ellie Pooh paper (Mr. Ellie Pooh LLC is an eco-friendly Fair Trade company making exotic gifts and paper made partially out of elephant poo!)

And one final story…when I asked Rebekah about the PacMan and PacWoman that greeted the guests as they entered the driveway I knew I was in for another amazing story.  Here it is, I just had to share it! From Rebekah:

“When Rachael was home, Connery had to do some training in the states and flew to NJ to spend the weekend here, meeting the rest of the family and friends. It was the weekend before Halloween and we were all going to a 80s themed party. So in true Rachael fashion, nothing can be done small scale, Rachael made the costumes – wood, cardboard, glue, nails, paint – I think it took her like 2 weeks to put them all together. This is how Connery met all of Rachael’s NJ friends, dressed as an oversized pacman..so we knew he was a good sport and would pretty much do anything for her. So, since it was Halloween weekend the following year they were getting married it was only fitting to pull them out and have someone wear them!”

I had to include a few more photos showcasing some of the flowers

Rachael was gorgeous!  Her bouquet featured locally grown dahlias, calla lilies, craspedia, tulips, and bittersweet.

We added these charms to each bouquet.  Each charm was slightly different – so unique!

The gazebo at Pratt Gardens looked amazing after we added some hanging mason jars with votives, and ribbons with flowers.

Beautiful shot of the bridal party!

We hope you love this detail filled wedding as much as we did.  Thanks for working with us Rachael and Connery!

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