I have been holding the pictures from Tami and James’ wedding for so long it actually made my heart hurt. Today is finally the day I can share them with you!! This wedding was featured in the Southern Weddings Magazine and also on the Southern Weddings magazine blog, which you can read about here.  A million thanks to Adam Barnes photography for his incredible images. I am truly in love with Adam’s work.

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Pink peony, cafe au lait dahlias, dusty miller and seeded euc were the flowers chosen for the bride.

Maids carried white hydrangea, sahara roses, cafe au lait dahlias, scabiosa pods, and dusty miller.

Simply dreamy!!

The bouts were wrapped with burlap and twine and we loved this accent.

This portrait of Tami is one of my absolute favorite bridal photographs ever. Adam Barnes this photo is insane, you are brilliant!!

Bud vases of the days flowers were hung in a tree next to the reception tent.

The bride and groom’s table was built by the bride’s parents. In fact, Tami’s mom now sells the tables at an antique store in Lucketts called,  ‘Rust and Feathers.’  Tami’s mom also made the menu holders and she covered all of the mason jars with burlap and accents.

This wedding also featured an insanely gorgeous Maggie Austin Cake. There are so many wonderful details about this wedding so I hope you will read all about it either in print, or on the Southern Weddings Blog. I am headed into a really big day but I was dying to get this wedding posted. I also want to take the time to thank Tami and James for allowing me to be a part of their wedding. Tami should be highly commended for her incredible sense of style and the amazing details she and her mother brought to this wedding. Tami and James, happy married life!! We loved your wedding.

Happy Friday!!

Last week was a very inspiring time in the studio. In addition to our weddings, we  got to design flowers for the State Department and also for the non-profit organization Casey Trees. The designs for the State Department were created with asparagus from my fathers farm and flowers from my garden. The flowers for the Casey Trees event were created with mosses, barks, birch tubes, flowering branches as well as branches from our tulip poplar, birch trees, smoke bush, and my Japanese maple tree. The Casey Trees organization is restoring the tree canopy in the nations capital. You can read about their mission here. The information in their mission statement happens to be a very interesting and educational read!!

The event took place on the 730 acre Casey Trees farm, in Clark County Virginia.  We loved the natural and elegant designs we created for this event and we loved seeing the farm where the trees were grown.

Read up about the Casey Trees foundation and see if perhaps you can find a way to help. It would be really cool if my brides and grooms started adopting trees in honor of their wedding. Yes, I like the sound of that!!!

I hope this post helps to clear up some of the confusion about cabbage roses verses traditional roses. Over the last few years I have seen a significant increase in the prices of my designs and so have my clients. The biggest culprit or reason for this is the new found obsession with garden roses. Okay, so its not a new found obsession because garden roses or cabbage roses have always been the rage. Garden roses are the roses you see in famous paintings by Renoir, or Van Gogh. However, these roses were not readily available to designers and you typically did not see them in traditional wedding work. In the last few years cabbage roses were made available, all be it, in a very limited supply.  When designers like myself started using cabbage roses in their creations these designs became highly published, pinned, blogged and sought after. This caused the garden rose to become the most desired flower for weddings. I truly believe the love of the cabbage rose has even surpassed the love of the peony. The most sought after cabbage rose is the David Austin Rose. This is the Gucci, or Louis Vuitton of roses. Seriously, a David Austin rose is a branded and labeled rose. David Austin roses make my heart sing, but they are seriously expensive and remember there is a limited supply of these beauties. I am all for using cabbage roses, especially David Austin, but clients need to understand that one cabbage rose is equivalent to 3.5 regular roses. That is right, a true branded and marked garden rose is 3.5 times more expensive then a regular rose. So here are the pictures to help you grasp the difference.

This is a simple design of hydrangea and deutzia from my garden. This design features 7 David Austin peach juliet roses. Juliet roses, fast became the superstar of the cabbage roses. It’s hard to find a peach bouquet on pinterest that does not feature this rose.

I took the same design and removed the peach juliet roses and then added 24, yes 24 regular roses.

The only difference between the two designs was the amount of roses I was able to use. I had intended to make the design with 24 of the same pale peach roses but I actually ran out of the soft peach roses and added in 5 of a stronger coral tone. This actually brought up a good point, when you are using  24 roses instead of 7 roses, you can actually introduce two colors of roses into your design, giving you even more bang for you buck.

All of these pictures indicate the exact same value. Prepare to get 3.5 regular roses to every single cabbage rose. Talk about a celebrity or a status symbol and that would be the garden rose!!

My mothers day started bright and early at Meadows Farms Nursery, which is the garden center my father built 26 years ago. My newly married son Alex came out from the city and met the clan for some flower shopping!! If you follow this blog you know mothers day is the one day I get the whole clan to work. Every year the kids ask what I want for mothers day and every year I request that they help in the garden. The children seriously wish I would come up with a different gift idea. I however love this day, and I always hope we can spend it planting. The cutting gardens are typically in pretty good shape by mothers day. Our annuals are started and are growing on racks. This day is about getting the planters planted, the pool cleaned up, and adding hanging baskets to the property.

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Having my whole clan with me feels so right!! I know this time together is so precious. As each child gets older and leaves the nest, my chances of us all being together will get very slim.

I grabbed everything I could get my hands on. I chose lots of unique foliages, ferns, vines, and some blooming perennials. Evan has created lots of new gardens that require shade plants so I was really pulling for those spaces. I also chose two more viburnums to add into my serious collection of viburnums.

Next we headed to my dads farmers market which is called Heiders Country Store. I gathered more perennials, herbs, annuals, and my flowers for the planters, plus lots of hanging baskets.  We also bought pie, strawberries, asparagus, and herbs, dads store in Lucketts is amazing.

The kids always get an old fashioned soda pop when they hit the store. From here on out all of the images of Grace show a super cute orange mustache. That mustache stayed with her all day!!

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Back home the planting began.

See the orange mustache, see the worm?

Our new daughter in law Mallary even got in on the fun.

Sam chose to swim rather then help. Notice the pool has not been cleaned yet. Crazy boy!!!

Once all of the gardening was done there was a family baseball game.

Things are looking good around here!! Thanks Chapple kids for a fabulous day and thanks to Evan for an amazing supper!!

Sammy and Nathan married last summer at Murray Hill. This fabulous Loudoun wedding makes my heart sing. The yummy colors, the amazing local product, and the delightful couple made this wedding a gem to be a part of. The wedding images made their big debut yesterday on Wedding Chicks so today is the day I get to share them with you!! Many thanks to Julie Massie the photographer responsible for this eye candy.

Sammy’s bouquet was truly one of my favorites from last season, so much of the gorgeous product came from local grower/designer  Andrea Gagnon of Lynnvale Farm. Working with her flowers was insanely inspiring. I used yellow peony, coral peony, spray roses,viburnum berry, poppy pods, poppy flowers, ninebark foliage, and clematis vine

This wedding was simply beautiful!!!

Photographer: Julie Massie
Event Designer & Flowers: Holly Chapple Flowers
Venue: Murray Hill
Hair & Makeup: Gloria Harding of Tranquility Spa
Cake & Caterer: It’s a Peace of Cake
DJ: Dominion DJs
Groom’s Attire: Tommy Hilfiger
Shoe Designer: Lucchese Boot Co.
Stationery: Allegra Print & Imaging
Prop or Furniture Rentals: Select Event Rentals
Cinematography: Dylan Haddock | Dress Designer: Priscilla of Boston

Tonight is the night that we are headed to the 950 F St. Anthropologie in DC. We are so excited to be the invited speaker/designer. We have all of our craft supplies lined up and ready to go, and we of course have pretty flowers to share.  I will be teaching a craft/floral design project. We have 31 students signed up and we have a very healthy wait list. If you missed your chance to participate in the craft you are still welcome to come and shop, shop, shop. I will most certainly make time to say hello.  I hope to see you tonight at Anthropologie.

Peonies from my garden!!

Perhaps one of the most exciting things about life is that you never really know where you are headed or how things will end up when you get there. For the most part I have enjoyed the surprises around the bend, and I am certainly in a life I never dreamed of. If someone had told me at my 15th wedding anniversary that I would go on to have 3 more children, or that Evan would become a part of our business and that we would work together to create a network for floral designers, I would have laughed my you-know-what off. I can’t believe what has happened to us. Sure, I was making decisions along the way that got us here, but I really didn’t see this life unfolding. I am thankful we got where we are, and I am trying to trust daily in the way life unfolds. So far so good. There are most certainly days that I wish I could predict the next direction of this family/floral design studio. Trying to pick our next option or next best move is often scary and confusing. In my world there are already so many uncertainties like, where I will get those peach Juliet cabbage roses, or whether or not the viburnum will be ready in time for that wedding. I am dependent on nature and suppliers across the world. I have gotten used to that level of uncertainty. That much I am used to, but lately, my mind has been racing with thoughts like do we need a warehouse, more land, a retail space, a barn, or even a wedding venue. Growth is something I am used to, I expect it, I even long for it. Perhaps my constant need for growth comes from spending all of my life in or around gardens and because I have always been in a house full of kids… gardens and kids grow!! If I had a crystal ball I would know what is next, but since I don’t, I guess I am just along for the ride. I bet when we get where we are going, I am going to be shocked at what happens next.HC

Photo by Geneveive Leiper

Kelly and Kevin married last May at the Lansdowne Resort. Since we are fast approaching their first anniversary I thought it would be fun to post their wedding pictures. The images were taken by one of my favorite photographers Kristen Gardner.

Kelly’s bouquet featured white peony, ranunculus, sahara roses, green hydrangea, green hypericum berry, lambs ear, and peach juliet roses.

So pretty!!

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Loved the flowers in cloche vases for the place card table.

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Silver mercury glass vases and crystal stands were used to decorate the king table. The look was divine!!

This was such a gorgeous wedding and we were so happy to be involved. Happy married life Kelly and Kevin and happy almost anniversary!!!

Photography | Kristen Gardner Photography

Reception Venue | The Landsdowne Resort

Event Coordinator | Megan Pollard with Events in the City

Flowers | Holly Chapple

Videographer | Shelly Gross with Blue Sky Films

DJ | Mark Wilner with Washington Talent

Hair | Hair by Remona

Makeup | Wendy Rae

Cake | Landsdowne

Lighting | Atmosphere

This is gonna be fun!!! As many of you know I am the founder of a floral design network that consists of incredibly talented and stylish floral and event designers, we are the Chapel Designers. Today we are playing one of our favorite games where we host a progressive blog post!! This means at the end of this post I will provide a list of links to other inspiring designs created by some of my favorite Chapel Designers.  Today’s progressive blog post is all about bouquets. The designs in this post were created by me for a local bridal show. Thankfully I had the pieces professionally photographed. The dear Anne Robert captured all of these outrageously beautiful images.

My first bouquet was created with succulents and air ferns. Many of the succulents were gathered in California when I was teaching there.  The design was created in an armature that I learned to make in Europe. The wire structure certainly helped to support the weight of the succulents, making my design super sexy and fun.

This design featured white mini calla lily. black privet berry, white agapanthus, white anemone, and an insanely gorgeous ribbon that Martha Stewart Weddings featured several years ago.

This exotic design features king protea, black beauty roses, wanted roses, silver brunia, and dusty miller. Once again amazing ribbon from our favorite source in NYC.

White and emerald, this bouquet was inspired by the pantone color of the year emerald green. Once again when I pulled this ribbon from the shelf in NYC the store said “the offices of Martha Stewart bought that very ribbon last week. My picker is good!!!

This bouquet features my favorite yellow cabbage rose “yellow campanella” yellow tara roses, yellow ranunculus, and yellow mimosa flowers. Ribbon was from Hyman Handler the ribbon store I keep chanting about.

Now check out the work of my amazing friends, the very best friends a flower girl can have!!

Alluring Blooms: http://alluringblooms.com/chapelbouquet/.html

Celebration Florals:  http://bit.ly/11Bc48t

Gertie Maes: http://www.gertiemaes.com/blog/

Soiree Floral: http://blog.soireefloral.com/

Colonial House: http://colonialhouseofflowers.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/bouquets/

Stacy K Floral: http://www.stacykfloral.com/blog2/?p=4489

Wild Bunch Studio: http://wildbunchstudio.blogspot.com

Passionflower: http://www.passionflowerevents.com/main/blog.jsp

Alicia Jayne Florals:  http://aliciajayneflorals.com/blog/?p=162

Goodness-Gracious! Florals: http://tulipiere.com/2013/04/29/46/

Urban Petals: http://myurbanpetals.wordpress.com/?p=3233

FloressenceFlowers: http://floressenceflowers.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-favorite-bridal-bouquets.html

On Butterfly Wings:  http://onbutterflywingsblog.com/?p=356

Fleur:ology : http://fleurologydesign.com/?p=721

Posh Floral Designs: http://poshfloral.com/memory-monday-favorite-bouquets

Francoise Weeks: http://francoiseweeks.com/2013/04/bouquets-2/

Exquisite Designs http://www.exqdesigns.com/blog/?p=2225

Sherwood Design and Events: http://www.sherwooddesignandevents.com/a-few-of-our-favorite-bouquets-and-meet-our-friends/

Courtenay Lambert Florals, Weddings, and Events: http://courtenaylambert.blogspot.com/2013/04/bouquets-with-chapel-designers.html

Affair With George: http://www.affairwithgeorge.com.au/blog/?p=80

I am super excited to be sharing the wedding pictures from Brianne and Bradley’s wedding that was just last weekend. Hurray for rock-star Joylyn Hannahs Photography for getting me such beautiful images so fast. Our studio was also responsible for the coordination of the event. Our in house planner Kristen manages our events flawlessly. The couple married at Leesburg Community Church and then headed to their reception at Whitehall Manor.

Brianne wanted a bright, happy, color combination of blue, green, and orange. Actually, it was more orange and then some blue and green. Brianne loves orange!!! I gave her free spirit roses, orange ranunculus, orange spray roses, orange star of bethlehem, orange tulips, mini green hydrangea, green button mums, blue thistle, blue delphinium, blue hyacinthus, and lavender scabiosa that got tinted blue.  The bouquet was wrapped with my favorite ribbon treatment that I learned from Ariella Chezar.

Super Cute!!

Great shoes!!

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The family made custom runners and painted bird houses bright green for half of the tables. This added so much to the decor.

Happy married life Brianne and Bradley. We are so happy we were chosen to be your designers!! It was a lot of fun to work with you and your amazing mom!!!