Tommy and Shannon were hands down one of my favorite weddings we have done recently.  I am a sucker for lots of purple…add to that all these gorgeous butterfly accents and it was perfection.  They got married outside at The Smithville Inn in picture perfect weather.  When Mary showed me all the details in this wedding I was so excited to see that the couple had come up with a theme (butterflies).  It is always fun to add special little details and watch it all come together in the end.  Denise Mabilog was the photographer for this wedding and she caught some gorgeous shots – check out her blog, she does amazing work! Now on to the good stuff

Shannon's bouquet featured picasso calla lilies, vanda orchids, lavender and ivory roses, and dark purple stock. We added sprigs of fresh lavender and this bouquet smelled amazing. We wrapped the stems with a handkerchief that Shannon provided to us (I think it was her grandmother's). Photo courtesy of Denise Mabilog Photography.

Here is a close-up shot of the bride's bouquet. If you look close you can see that we snuck in a couple of jeweled butterflies – so pretty! Photo courtesy of Denise Mabilog Photography.

For the bridesmaids we used similar flowers and accented the stems with a butterfly. I love the pops of bright green against the purple. Photo courtesy of Denise Mabilog Photography.

Shannon was such a gorgeous bride! I love this shot, these girls all look so pretty and that covered bridge is picture perfect. Photo courtesy of Denise Mabilog Photography.

They got married outside under this pergola. We added butterflies to the urns, perched on the branches and put a few in the top arbor piece. We even hung strands of white butterflies on each side <3

I loved these urns. We use our manzanita branches, hydrangea, roses, stock, and of course those butterflies!

Mary designed this piece and I have one word for it – LOVE!

This piece was featured on their seating card table. Adding a tall piece like this to the placecard table is so eye catching.

Check out the little butterflies that Shannon gave us to put on all of the wineglasses – I love these little details! Photo courtesy of Denise Mabilog Photography.

We made floral rings to go around hurricanes for half of the tables. The floral rings are a great option for brides that want to give their centerpieces away to their guests at the end of the wedding.

The other half of the tables we did these mounded silver bowl arrangements. The silver metal bowl is a rental and the arrangements are designed for guests to remove and take home. I love hydrangea; especially mixed with roses, kale, bupleurum, and butterflies. Photo courtesy of Denise Mabilog Photography.

Instead of a traditional cake topper, we decorated the top of their cake with just a few spray roses and a beaded butterfly. Photo courtesy of Denise Mabilog Photography.

Lots of pictures, but they were all too good not to share!  Congratulations to Tommy and Shannon and thank you so much for letting us be a part of your wonderful day.  July has been such a fun wedding month for us   This Friday we are so excited to be hosting our first annual Open House.  We hope to see you there! Contact Mary via e-mail, Mary@gardenpartysisters.com to RSVP or for details on the Open House.

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:

Tisk, tisk, Mary has been a bad blogger! It has been a while since we featured some wedding work and I apologize. We were away on a family vacation and the beach was just too distracting! Or maybe it was the 5 kids that kept us all busy…anyway, I am happy to showcase Tara and Chuck’s wedding from June 12, 2010. These docs (yes both are doctors) wanted an intimate backyard wedding, something Tara always dreamed about. When we arrived at her childhood  home outside of Philadelphia and entered the backyard, I could tell her dreams would come true that day. A giant willow tree (I think I have to get one of these on the farm here) with a gazebo nestled underneath was the perfect place for vows and a nearby tent (with AC!!!!) was placed on lush green grass and was lit with chandeliers, I couldn’t have done it better myself. Take a look for yourself!

The photos are courtesy of John Robert Pankratz , many thanks for sharing!

Tara putting on the final touches…notice her floral hairpiece that we recreated for her. This is what she had to say about it, "they were able to take a family heirloom hairpiece and bring it back to life, literally – they revived it, reworked it, and made it like new – and it's 5 generations old!" It was our pleasure!!

This is what the hairpiece looked like when she gave it to me. What can I say, I love a challenge!

Stunning.

Her dad confided in us that he only wanted to give her everything she hoped for on her wedding day….seriously pops, you made me tear up. Tara's bouquet is composed of white mini callas and stephanotis with a vintage inspired beaded leaf collar.

Her aisle was lined with these swirled hooks with hanging vases of orchids and callas…it looked great!

Told ya that tree was awesome!

Family shot….her bridesmaid carried picasso callas to coordinate with her white callas.

A perfect DIY project….Tara made table numbers from wine bottles and found the perfect place to display family wedding photos. How thoughtful!

Centerpieces were submerged callas with floating candles, a simple and elegant mix!

I have a feeling this might be hung in their house one day.

I covet this tree.

 Thank you Tara for letting us be a part of your dream come true…best wishes for a lifetime of 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:

I love to be surprised, who doesn’t? This wedding handed me a lovely little surprise, I had NO IDEA that Pratt Gardens on County Home Road in Pilesgrove NJ even existed! And I grew up on a farm just down the road! From the looks of Aimee’s wedding photos, it was a perfect location for their outdoor ceremony and tented reception. Aimee’s wedding was a casual family affair, full of many personal touches that I just adored….I can’t even take credit for them, Aimee did all the planning! However, during our first consultation when I discovered that her fiance was a glass blower, I quickly expressed my excitement (and jealousy – I took a glass blowing class in college and phew, that stuff is harder than it looks!). I asked Dan to make some glass beads to add to our floral designs and I just LOVE what he came up with. I knew I would, so that wasn’t really a surprise haha. I was happy to design the bridal party flowers for their special day and I hope that Aimee doesn’t mind me showcasing some of her other creative gardeny ideas for all of our other brides out there. Thanks for the inspiration Aimee!

Aimee and her father heading down the "aisle". I love the natural cascade design that she selected, a perfect fit for her natural and casual theme!

Dan's glass teardrop beads were added to her bouquet for the perfect amount of sparkle and movement. So sweet.

Aimee is really into lady bugs and I just had to put Dan's glass lady bugs on display in her bouquet, love love love them!

I like how his light blue shirt matches the hydrangea we used.

He gets a lady bug too!

I think Aimee's friends were the photographers and for non-professional work, she got some great shots!!

They decorated the gazebo themselves and look how pretty it is!

Hanging baskets and ribbon add color to the ceremony background.

Instead of a unity candle, they planted a tree. Ok, you totally won me over here kids.

Dan's mom admiring her glass beads too! I love when all of our little details are noticed!

Her set up for a wishing tree!

What a cute idea! The cards were hung on those trees for all to admire, especially Aimee and Dan.

They get a personalized brick installed at Pratt Gardens! I hope they go back every spring to admire it.

Place cards were actually pinwheels!

Dan also made the favors, beautiful and simple hand-blown glass drops. Perfect for a Christmas tree or hung from a chandelier!

It sure is.

               Many congrats to Aimee and Dan, we will always adore your personal touches that you added to your wedding day. Thanks for the delightful surprises!!

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:

Talk about a blushing bride…Colleen certainly was! I just got these awesome shots from David Humphrey, a local photographer serving the tri state area. FYI to my budgeting brides out there, he has maney different packages and prices listed on his website, thanks Dave! Anyway, back to Colleen and Stephen. Their wedding took place at Paris Caterers at the Palace in Blackwood NJ, which is a great local venue that a lot of brides don’t know about! It is nicely updated with beautiful decor, the ballrooms are very clean, the managers are organized and friendly and they also have space for indoor or outdoor ceremonies of any size. Since Colleen and Steve got married on Novemeber 14th, they had their ceremony inside the Paris Room, with the reception immediately following in the Garden Room. Her aunts crafted these beautiful fall wreaths and hurricane candle centerpieces and Colleen chose to use many of the existing flower arrangements at The Palace to decorate her ceremony, so we just focused on the bouquets, personal flowers, unity candle and the cake.

 Colleen wanted to capture the colors of the season with her wedding flowers and bridal party, so her maids wore a rich chocolate brown (one of my favs, it is the perfect neutral!). For her bridal party flowers, we used saturated fall tones like red, purple, yellow and orange, which looked great against the warm dresses! Their hand-tied bouquets of red mini gerbers, purple lisianthus, yellow roses, peach ranunculus and hypericum berries were finished with some of our favorite accents – peacock feathers and brown beaded wire!

Surrounded by lots of love!

Our happy bride and her maids…the colors stand out nicely, don't you think?

Colleen and her maid of honor…notice how we added a few of the stephanotis to make her stand out from the rest of the beautiful bridesmaids.

Colleen’s bouquet was designed to be a bit more traditional with mostly ivory flowers with a touch of color, it was so elegant! She loves calla lilies and stephanotis, so those flowers were the stars of her bouquet. Ivory roses, a soft peachy orange ranunculus (OBSESSED), hypericum berries and of course some peacock feathers and pearls (sassy and simple!) completed the bouquet.

Traditional with a twist…our specialty!

Colleen, you are so stunning! A natural beauty.

Love that bout too!

Steamy!

A timeless shot…

Her mother’s corsage coordinated with the bridal party flowers and showcased peach roses on a beaded wristlet (we NEVER use those tacky elastic scratchy wristlets) and I just had to include this picture, because now you know where Colleen got that beautiful smile from! Great shot Dave!

Love it!

For their unity candle, we just did a simple arrangement of these HUGE orange roses that really said it all. After the ceremony, the arrangement was moved to their sweetheart table to serve as the centerpiece there. Great way to save some money!

This one is from our own camera, but at least you can see the size of those awesome roses!

The couple’s cake was a traditional design with a topper. We accented the layers with coordinating flowers in bright colors, which stand out best on any wedding cake.

I like the rounded layers of this cake!

So thanks again to Colleen, you were a total pleasure to work with and we were happy to be a part of your wedding day. May the seasons of your new life together be full of many many smiles….

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:

We just had pictures sent to us from a bride that got married this past September (thanks Sara!), and I am so excited to blog about them.  Purple is my favorite color and I am always thrilled to meet a bride that loves purple as much as I do.  Sara got married at The Palace in Blackwood, which by the way is a gorgeous reception hall all you bride to be’s should check out – tell Keith we sent you! All photos were done by Cindy Guessford Photography, check out her website – she does some beautiful work. Now on to the pictures….

Sara’s beautiful bouquet consisted of lavender roses, stock, and purple dendrobium orchids. I love mixing shades of purple, and look how great purple photographs!

I had to include this picture! Look how gorgeous these girls look with all their purple up against that blue wall. This shows you how good colors you might not expect would work together can really play off of each other. All your brides out there contemplating blue bridesmaid dresses, consider purple for your flowers!

Sara’s bridesmaid’s bouquets were simply purple stock and lavender roses. Sometimes mixing just two or three flower types results in the most elegant look. We bumped it up a notch for the bride and added deep purple dendrobium orchids.

A few vases with simple stems of flowers created this chic centerpiece. We used stems of orchids in one vase and the lavander roses in another, added some purple ribbon and of course a little gemstone accent, and Sara’s tables were gorgeous.

Hope you enjoyed all this purple as much as we did!

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 beautiful holiday card from one of our beautiful brides!

 As I looked at the front, I thought, “Oh, how sweet, she sent us a Christmas card!!” but as I flipped it over, I realized it was a thank you card AND and Christmas card! What could be better? I hope she doesn’t mind if I share it with you…

Her hand-written note was so sweet, it totally made my day! Maybe my week!

I think my favorite line is “…we found your ideas very refreshing and exactly on point with what we were looking for. I also really appreciated your willingness to work with our budget, it was such a relief to know we could still have such classy, beautiful arrangements without breaking the bank.” That statement says a lot to me! Dawn and I try very hard to help each bride select floral designs that reflect their personality and style, but still at a reasonable price, and I think we hit this one out of the park. Here is a flashback from her wedding day.

An all white bouquet with white callas, stock and orchids with bear grass loops.

Submerged cymbidium orchids in orange tinted water with floating candles in our belle vase.

Her second centerpiece option, a simple arrangement of floating candles in tinted water and rose petals. I love how the dark grey tablecloth makes the colors pop!

Thanks for the note Clarisa…I am still blushing

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

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