September 2, 2010 – 4:15 pm

Ashley and Erik-August 2010

We just got the photos back from this beautiful summer garden wedding we did at The Madison Hotel in Madison, NJ. We were so excited when Dale (the bride’s mom) called us and asked if we would design the flowers for her daughter’s wedding.  Dale actually had been a bride of ours 4 years earlier and she was a dream to work with on her wedding.

It was our first time working with Julia W. Newman and she took these gorgeous photos of Ashley and Erik’s wedding.  Enjoy them!

I love Erik’s attire….he looks great in his purple shirt and yellow bow tie. Ashley’s dress is just gorgeous!

Erik’s boutonniere was a mini work of art made from sunflowers and hanging amaranthus.

Ashley’s bouquet was made from a mix of sunflowers, hydrangea, allium, dahlias, dianthus and hanging amaranthus.

The bridesmaids wore these gorgeous purple dress with pink shoes. Love it!

The bridesmaids carried a mix of a hydrangea, dahlias, stock and roses.

Look at how cute this ring bearer pillow is which is a square of wheatgrass wrapped with ribbon with accent of sunflowers. We wanted to do something unique that matched the garden party wedding feel we were creating. It really looks so cute and matches his bow tie to perfection.

Another fabulous photo of the bride and groom!

The groomsmen wore these work of art boutonnieres made from a single yellow spray rose bloom placed in a green dianthus bloom. The base of the boutonniere had a circle of bark twine as its basing.

In keeping with the garden theme, we thought it only fitting to use these mini troughs as flower girl baskets.  We filled them with sunflowers and hanging amaranthus and accented them with a wide green satin ribbon.

The bride is now headed to get married.

Dale’s dress (bride’s mom) was gorgeous and you should have seen her shoes. I don’t see a photo here but I am sure that Julie took one so as soon as I see it then I’ll post it.

The ceremony was held in the Conservatory at The Madison Hotel and the bride asked that we design a natural garden chuppah so that is just what we did.  We covered it with curly willow and a mix of sunflowers, allium, gerber daisies, hydrangea and stock.

Half of the centerpieces were metal tins filled with wheatgrass and flowers growing out of them which include gerbers, allium, sunflowers and dahlias.

Our second centerpiece was a garden of flowers growing out of wheatgrass.

We even did table numbers from sunflowers. We sat a sunflower on an easel and then had a square cut out with a number on it and pinned it in the center. It looked super cute.

Just can’t get enough of these flower girl troughs.

The butterfly covered cake completely matched the garden decor.

By Donna | Posted in Flowers, Weddings | Comments (0)
August 30, 2010 – 4:38 pm

Bride and Groom Portraits-Modern Enchanted Garden Wedding

We were so excited when the bride’s mom emailed us these photos that were taken by Jerry Meyer Studio in NY.

Enjoy them!

Our gorgeous bride is photographed here holding her modern cascade bouquet.

These two make a gorgeous couple!

Love these shots of the bride and her mom.

This is a great shot of mom, dad and the bride. The moms and grandmothers wore this gorgeous emerald green color.

As the finale here is a photo of the bridesmaids!

By Donna | Posted in Flowers, Weddings | Comments (0)
August 30, 2010 – 1:19 am

Modern Enchanted Garden (Part 7)

By now you have had a chance to view parts 1-6 of this Modern Enchanted Garden Wedding. I am excited to show you the decor in the reception (see below) that the Beautiful Blooms Team created.

To create the garden feel we started with three different shades of green textured linens with gold napkins. We layered on top of that an amazing gold and green textured charger plate and then stemless Riedel drinking glasses.  We completed the table setting with gold chameleon chairs with gold cushions.

Beautiful Blooms

Beautiful Blooms

Beautiful Blooms

We designed this textured leaf lighting for the floor and worked in the Bride and Groom’s first name initials and logo amongst the curtain that we had created to separate the men and women on the dance floor. This wall was created from opague white drapery and above the curtain we had additional texture lighting on the ceiling.

Beautiful Blooms

Here you can see another shot of the wall/curtain.

Beautiful Blooms

Beautiful Blooms

A hedge was created for the front of the sweetheart table and spun with calla lilies.

Beautiful Blooms

Beautiful Blooms

Beautiful Blooms

Here’s another shot of the room.  Look at the table to the right and you will see one of the custom centerpieces we created for the client.

Beautiful Blooms

The top of this centerpiece had a square of votives and then on the grid below we hung emerald green crystals and plum callas in this linear design. The tray was created so that we could display additional flowers at the base (shown here…beautiful purple waterlilies).

Beautiful Blooms

Beautiful Blooms

Our second centerpiece was a tiered ring of gold bamboo with plum callas tied onto the bamboo placed in a bed of moss. The inner tray was filled with floating candles for this gorgeous glow.

Beautiful Blooms

Beautiful Blooms

All of the table numbers were also metal and we worked with Two Paper Dolls to design these. We thought the metal would be a perfect accent to all of the metal accents we used including some of the centerpiece structures.

Beautiful Blooms

Our third centerpiece was a tall metal stand with a glass vase placed on top filled with spun plum calla lilies. We accented the bases with gold metallic pillar candles.

Beautiful Blooms

Our 4th structure was this metal tower which was filled with different size moss balls which were connected by emerald crystals. The balls and structure were wrapped with plum callas for this very dramatic look.

Beautiful Blooms

Beautiful Blooms

I just love the that the client really let us use creativity here to design this wedding!  We so enjoyed it and the client was thrilled.   I have a few people shots which I will share in part 8. Our client was kind enough to send me some so stay tuned.

By Donna | Posted in Flowers, Weddings | Comments (0)
August 17, 2010 – 1:28 am

Modern Enchanted Garden-(Part 6)

As promised here are more photos from the Modern Enchanted Garden Ceremony.

Beautiful Blooms

A few days before the client asked us to add a tent as she was concerned with the heat. This tent gave us a nice clean finish and then we had tent pole covers made to keep it very clean.

The custom aisle runner was created from wood with a carpet covering and laid on top of the grass. We created this aisle runner because there was a winding path outside and it did not work into our design.  The bridal party entered through the flap at the back of the tent. It was opened and closed each time someone walked through opening.

We created a custom gold satin topper to work with this custom gold chuppah.

As our client loved emerald green we used these gold chavari chairs which coordinated with the chuppah and then added the emerald green cushion. They worked beautifully against the grass and with all the moss and boxwood balls.

Beautiful Blooms

We created a back drop to the chuppah from ivory draping. It not only gave a clean back drop to the ceremony but it also separated the cocktail area from the ceremony area.

The mix of different textured greenery balls lined the aisle. Some were wrapped in plum callas and complimented the chuppah.

Beautiful Blooms

This ceremony was truly unique and we are so proud of what we created. We look forward creating something else unique with this new structure.

The combination of moss balls, plum callas and emerald green crystals really was breathtaking and our client was just thrilled.

Stay tuned for Part 7, the reception.

By Donna | Posted in Flowers, Weddings | Comments (3)
August 15, 2010 – 9:05 pm

Main Line Today and Beautiful Blooms

We were thrilled to work with Starr Events on this Summer Soiree. We worked with them on this Aqua, Orange and White color palette creating tight paves of white roses in aqua vases and large white dendrobium orchid draping “tree” arrangements.

By Donna | Posted in Events, Flowers, Press | Comments (0)
August 11, 2010 – 11:58 pm

Modern Enchanted Garden-(Part 5)

While some of the guests enjoyed cocktails there was also a Tish happening in another part of the hotel. We wanted to stay in theme so we created tiny hedges for the tables.

All photos are by Roger Dong Photography.

We designed a luxurious seating area where the Bedekken took place. It was so elegant in all white with coordinating flowers.

The bride’s chair had a garland of plum callas wound around it.  The uplighting in the room really added softness and it was the perfect scenario for the guests and groom to meet the bride.

Arrangements of plum callas and hanging amaranthus were laid in plate glass vases.

We also had coordinating arrangements which matched the mantle pieces from cocktails in the room.  We added a pop of the green fiddleheads (one of my favorites) to the arrangements.

If you haven’t experienced the parade of music and people moving from the Tish to the Bedekken you haven’t seen the magic that occurs. It is such a celebration of love and emotion.  We were so excited to experience this magical moment.

After the Bedekken the guests were all escorted outside to the tented ceremony location.

It was a warm day with a light wind as you can see from the flowing table linen. We wanted to keep a consistent feel for the whole wedding so we created this custom chuppah structure for which we designed decor.

The chuppah itself is a gold metal structure which is embellished with large boxwood balls on the top corners. A hedge was created across the center front (accented with plum calla lilies) above the hand needlepointed panel that was made by the client’s family member. It was absolutely gorgeous and so meaningful. Within the legs of the chuppah moss balls in different sizes were placed on bamboo sticks  to create a criss crossed look. Mixed amongst the moss balls were plum callas and strands of emerald green crystals.

Since the cement walkway that was outside was not straight and would not be a perfect path to the center stage where the chuppah was placed, we had a custom wood aisle made and then it was covered in carpet. The aisle was lined with a mix of boxwood and moss balls in different sizes.  Some of the boxwood balls were accented with spun calla lilies.  This is one of my favorite aisle treatments that we have done and it was fun that our client let us be so creative.

Stay tuned for Part 6 where you will see many more details of the Ceremony Decor.

By Donna | Posted in Flowers, Weddings | Comments (0)
August 7, 2010 – 4:47 pm

Modern Enchanted Garden-(Part 4)

I hope you have enjoyed parts 1, 2 and 3 so far on our Modern Enchanted Garden Wedding.   Now I am pleased to present Part 4.  All of these photos were taken by Roger Dong Photography.

As the guests walked through the main doors they walked into the cocktail area. Cocktails were held prior to the ceremony for this Jewish wedding.  We used a beautiful green crinkle linen which was cross dyed with purple and it looked great against the cocktail table decor which was a gold one hole cube vase with plum callas.

Beautiful Blooms

Beautiful Blooms

Around the fireplace we created a seating area with beautiful green silk dupioni pillows. In keeping with the overall feel of the wedding we designed an arrangement for the mantle.

Beautiful Blooms

This hedge arrangement was created from boxwood, moss and yes lots of plum calla lilies.  It was quite a statement piece and reflected what was to come in the Bedekken and the Reception.

Beautiful Blooms

We also created a similar look in the outside cocktail area. Here is one photo and now you see the next photo where we added an arrangement to that rectangle nook.

Beautiful Blooms

Beautiful Blooms

The nook arrangement was made from boxwood with fiddleheads (one of my favorites) and plum calla lilies in a linear design.

For the restrooms we created this orb of moss wound with plum calla lilies in a plate glass cube vase.

Beautiful Blooms

Stay tuned for Part 5 where we will show you the Bedekken and the Tish!

By Donna | Posted in Flowers, Weddings | Comments (0)
August 5, 2010 – 11:35 am

Flower Arranging Workshops-NY Times Article

Yesterday (August 4th) in the New York Times Home and Garden section, there was a whole article titled “Flower Arranging Finds a Younger Audience”.

Beautiful Blooms Boutique on Liberties Walk already offers monthly Floral Design workshops so for more info contact us at 215-925-3111. See photo below of a workshop at BB in progress.

Here’s an excerpt from the article from the New York Times……

THE first time I bought flowers for myself was about five years ago at the Greenmarket in Union Square, in the midst of the hottest, dullest days of summer. Feeling very alone that afternoon for a reason now forgotten, I stood admiring some tulips. For $8 they could be mine. I was in my mid-20s and it seemed like such a luxury to buy myself flowers for no reason, no occasion. But that day I had the money in my wallet, and soon I was carrying the tulips home. I stuck them in a glass pitcher and watched them bloom, until their stems bowed and swept the tabletop and the petals all dropped off.

Over time, I became a regular flower buyer, at farmers’ markets on weekends or at the bodega on the way home from work. The bodega tulips were often the color of margarine and just as engineered. I loved them anyway.

Yet arranging flowers was something I avoided. As with baking sourdough bread or building bookshelves, I was too intimidated to try, especially since buying individual stems can be expensive. Easier to buy a bunch of the same flower, or two or three kinds at most, snip their stems and plop them in water, all while handling them as little as possible.

It turns out that I am not alone in wanting instruction: flower-arranging classes are on the upswing. Established institutions have long offered programs in traditional arranging, but newer schools, with a natural, free-form aesthetic, have begun popping up across the country, part of a swell of enthusiasm for things homemade.

“I think it might have something to do with a younger audience seeing all the great design on blogs,” said Brooke Howsley, a floral designer in Austin, Tex. “Floral classes used to be for the blue-haired ladies, right?”

To continue reading this article from the New York Times follow this link http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/garden/05flower.html?_r=1&hp

We hope you will give us a call at the Beautiful Blooms Boutique in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia and sign up for one of our workshops. They are a great learning experience and a lot of fun.  215-925-3111

By Donna | Posted in Boutique, Flowers, Workshops | Comments (0)
August 4, 2010 – 9:14 pm

Philadelphia Magazine-Northern Liberties

Beautiful Blooms was listed as one of the standout shops in Northern Liberties.  Stop by the Beautiful Blooms Boutique on Liberties Walk and come see for your self!

Round 2: Standout Shops

Home goods at Millesime, kids’ stuff at Genes, flowers at Beautiful Blooms, sneaks at the Training Station, art at Bambi and the Toothless Cat, paper goods at Pressed 55, sustainable clothing at Arcadia.

Come check out Northern Liberties! There are a whole variety of amazing shops to see.

By Donna | Posted in Flowers, Press | Comments (0)
August 3, 2010 – 5:00 pm

Grace Ormonde Weddings Book-BB Featured

We are so pleased that one of our boutonnieres is featured in  the newly released book Grace Ormonde Weddings .

Leapfrog Photography took this boutonniere photo and it was part of a wedding that we did last May. Our photo is the full page image on the left.

The boutonniere is a combination of mokara orchids, dianthus and green ivy leaves.  We all love the texture and color of this boutonniere. At Beautiful Blooms all of our boutonnieres are mini works of art. To see more images of this wedding follow this link.

This book is a wonderful source of inspiration for those planning a wedding and I am glad we have a copy on hand for inspiration.  Beautiful Blooms has over 200 books and magazines at our studio and we are always updating our library.

By Donna | Posted in Flowers, Press | Comments (1)