This week we worked on two weddings that feature the color yellow. Chartreuse green and accents of silver were added to one of the yellow weddings and that was the significant difference between the two looks. Our 3rd wedding of the weekend moves towards the fall colors. My weddings this week are all very special to me and I love my brides. Whoops, we actually provided flowers for four weddings; a woman I have known for years married today, and we were honored to make her bridal bouquet as well. Happy wedding day to Jennifer!

 

We are loving this new rose that was just developed; I believe my wholesalers were calling her Savannah. I have to admit I missed a lot of the chatter this week in the flower shop. I spent the majority of my week begging for my phone service to be restored. If you tried to reach me,  you know what I mean. Lucky me, they restored my phone today, but guess what; now they have given me the wrong phone number. The epic drama continues. Perhaps at some point the phone company thats name begins with a 'V' is going to figure out a way to give me phone, internet, and cable TV.

 

I am off to bed, I am trying to carve out enough time to get to the Lucketts Fair, which happens to be this weekend. I am looking for props for several of my weddings and I just know I can find everything I need right here in little old Lucketts.



 

 
We have been busy, busy, busy, this week. It seems whenever my work load is slightly smaller I pack so much extra into the week that I am shockingly swamped. We have met with countless brides or moms this week. It is time to finalize plans for my fall 2010 brides and we are inundated with requests for 2011. I am also working on a new website, blog, and processes for our ever growing and changing business.  We have a wedding today, tomorrow, and Sunday. I am not quite sure why my mind thought this was a smaller work week, perhaps it was because the weddings were spread out through the weekend. Our wedding today took place at Sunset Hills Vineyard. I need to be back at the venue at 11:00pm tonight to strike the event. When florists or vendors talk about striking they mean breaking down the event. Did you know we had to do that?

 

The wedding today featured berry toned flowers, we also used as much local product as possible. Thanks to Don's Dahlia's and Fields Of Flowers for their fabulous blooms.  Whoops, thanks to my son Alex also who grew me zinnias, celosia, and hydrangea.

 

Cabbage roses were special ordered to create the bridal bouquet, but the hydrangea was local, and the lovely pink snow berry was straight out of my garden. Have I ever mentioned, that I love to try and include one blossom or foliage from my garden in every bridal bouquet I make. 

 

Designer Jessie made incredible bouts and corsages!!!

 

We lined the aisle with hanging mason jars.

 

 

Centerpieces were rich, rich, designs from the garden. We used cosmos, zinnia, celosia, dahlias, scabiosa, black berry buds, hydrangea, stock, amaranthus, coxcomb, and foliages.

 

This wedding was absolutely beautiful and we loved working with Maria and Kelly of Ritzy Bee Events, Kate Headley Photography, Fusions Cuisine. and  Stephanie The Baker.

 

Happy wedding Jenn and Anthony!

Here's whats "in the cooler."

 

It's time to go STRIKE!!!!
 

 

It is early in the morning on Friday, and I am getting ready to start this day. Fridays are always busy days for event designers because it means we will need to push, push, push, to get everything finished and ready for delivery.  I have been thinking about all of the designers I know across this country, my team included, and I am amazed at how hard we all work. If the average bride only knew how hard it was to create floral designs, they would greet us with banners, flags, and trumpets.  Instead of cute little signs that say "reception this way" or "Happily Ever After". Brides could have little signs that say "my wedding is pretty, because my florist rocks". Okay I am dreaming now…

To all my designer friends in the trenches today, know that I feel every back ache you feel, know that my head is spinning with last minute thoughts like "did you get the rental vans", "don't forget the votives", "we need to bring extra moss", " will my bride love this" and my heart will be racing with yours at that moment when you hand over your precious creations to your waiting brides. Our floral designs are an extension of us, I know each one of us waits for that moment of affirmation from the bride, when she declares "the flowers are perfect, this is exactly what I wanted".  Good luck this weekend designer friends, I will be thinking of you…

To brides everywhere know this: your florist is trying to please you, they are bringing you a precious, delicate, miracle, that has been lovingly turned into art. Years ago, when I did my very first wedding I thought "OMG I am so afraid" and my next thought was "I guess when I have done this a couple of times, I won't be so afraid". My thought that I would be less afraid on my 700th wedding, vs. my 1st, could not have been more wrong. What I have come to realize is, every Sat. it is my "first day on the job". It is the first and hopefully only time I will bring my bride a bridal bouquet. So be good to your florist tomorrow, " it is her first day on the job".

 

I hope you enjoyed "in the cooler". Remember be nice to your florist!!!

Today we played with peaches and bling. Our first wedding of the weekend was today and it was our peach wedding. This wedding had lots of fun elements but the one common thread was the use of  peaches. MOB spent hours gathering faux mini peaches and full sized peaches for our designs. The family wanted to use real peaches but the wedding was an outdoor event and honestly that was just not an option in this heat. The reception would have been a sea of fruit flies. We love how our peach designs turned out. 

 

Our Grooms Boutonniere.

 

This sweet little design was created to wrap around the flower girls up do. We like to tie flower rings around the hair buns. The trick is to make them small and dainty.

 

This bouquet was created with cream hydrangea, pink finesse roses, white freesia, Juliet cabbage roses, and Illsa spray roses, white stock, white phlox, and of course mini peaches. We bound the bouquet in silk dupioni ribbon.

 

Looks like a very happy bride!!!

 

Happy married life Betsy, we are so happy that we got to do your wedding flowers, everything was just PEACHEY!!!!  

Now for the bling, we have a very dramatic red and white wedding going out tomorrow and then a super rich black, green, and white wedding. Here are a few more pictures from "in the cooler" and then I am off to bed.

 

This was a pretty good day, as usual there was a little drama. We broke a few vases, stressed a little, and fought with Verizon. I have been without a phone all day, it is pretty frustrating to loose your phone line. We joined the 21st century yesterday and got cable, fast speed internet, and because of that our phone lines got messed up. Just a little glitch that had me on the cell phone all day begging for my land line back. Truly 4 and half hours of holding and transferring  and begging for my phone to be restored. Lucky for me I can make a bridal bouquet and be on terminal hold. 

Tomorrow I get to go wedding venue shopping with my son and soon to be daughter-in-law. Yep that's right, we are about to start the planning for our very own family wedding for the year 2012.

Sleep tight, I hope you enjoyed "in the cooler" tonight; I was almost to tired to write it… Well that is a bit of a lie, I was more distracted than tired,  I am watching " Say Yes To The Dress". I HAVE CABLE TV!!!!!!!

It's Friday night and there is nothing in the cooler. In fact I have not done an "in the cooler" post for the last 3 weeks.  Here is what is going on. We did family vacation the first weekends of July and of course that was just wonderful.  This week our weddings were today and so my cooler looks like this…

 

 

With both of our weddings already out the door, we took the opportunity to sterilize and prep the cooler for the weeks to come. Yes, we have to do a clorox wash on the cooler from time to time to prevent any bacteria from developing in the cooler. This bacteria or mold would damage blossoms and cause an illness to my precious flowers called botrytis. I know having a flower shop often sounds oh so pretty and glamorous. Let me assure that cleaning the cooler is not a glamorous job.

 

My day started with a trip out to the garden. I created this wonderful centerpiece simply because I was dying to design in this amazing box. One of my MOB's had the boxes created for her daughters upcoming wedding.The box was made with antique barn wood and I could not wait to try it out.

 

This stunning bouquet was created for Kelly. Her wedding is tomorrow, but she came today to pick up all of her flowers. We made the bouquets, bouts, corsages, and altar flowers for this wedding.  She will be making the centerpieces herself with the help of her family. We sold her loose flowers and she rented our sexy glass vases.  

 


Her wedding had a tropical theme and was being held at a private estate. 

 

Our  next wedding took place today in Georgetown. We did personal flowers for the bride and maids, bouts and corsages and 21 centerpieces. I neglected to send the camera to the city because some amazing photographers will be covering this wedding.

 

We wrapped these vases in an amazing black lace. The vases will be used for one of our weddings next week. I can't wait to see this look come together, I have no doubt that this will be beyond stunning.

 

I met with clients for 2011 and we dreamed big dreams.

 

I took time to visit the mini orchard Evan started, his peaches are the sweetest thing in the world.

 

I inspected my persimmon tree that was given to me by the famous Margaret Hubert owner of Tarara Winery in honor of her beloved Whitie who passed away two years ago.

 

I delighted in the beauty around me…

 

 In addition to all of this, I spent many hours today on the computer working diligently to try and get all of my emails and call backs finished. I will never finish all of my emails and call backs, case closed.  I also just had the most wonderful conversation with designer AK Haydon from Colorado. Keeping in touch with fellow designers and moms makes me a better mother and a better business woman.  I am off to bed, I need to be at an estate auction by 8:00 am tomorrow morning. My little antique booth at On A Whim is begging for some new lovely pieces. Going shopping for my space is always so much fun.

 

I am so tired I can barely type out a word, so I am going to slam up a ton of pictures and run off to bed. Every cooler is jammed full and this is the biggest week ever at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers. Every design is truly remarkable, and I am in complete flower heaven. I got to touch and play with every imaginable color combination and each design totally meets my very high expectations. I am thrilled to bring you our very full "in the cooler" and  I will let the pictures tell you the story of this week.

 

Believe it or not Sadie thought she belonged "in the cooler". This has been one hot week in DC, thank goodness for the cooler.

Nighty, night.


 

 

 

 

I can't even begin to express how content and fulfilled I feel right now. Yesterday and today have been two of the most exciting days of design. Yesterday I worked on a fabulous photo shoot with Pam Barefoot from A Trendy Wedding . Ttoday I designed for a huge photo shoot and 3 weddings. At every turn I had fabulous elements, blossoms, berries, and textures to touch hold and create with. My oldest son Alex said I was in the zone. 

 

I have had a blast stretching our talents to hair pieces and jewelry. My daughters prom designs a few weekends ago got us all totally inspired.

 

I created this really arty, wild, bouquet for todays shoot. Jessie made a necklace and bout to go with the bouquet. We were  simply cranking out flower art.

 

In addition to the designs for the photo shoot we had a wedding today, plus a consult with a fabulous couple. The couple arrived with their sweet puppy and the grooms parents. It was one of those ridiculous moments when everything seemed so perfect and so obviously meant to be. The couple showed me pictures of designs they wanted and I happened to have every single flower they requested in house or in the garden. We were all squealing with delight.  It was so much fun, I fell in love with the couple and the parents.  In addition to our flower connection, apparently the grooms parents have a mini addiction for a pie man in Lucketts. I just cracked up laughing because the pie man happens to be my father and we ended up hugging and screaming  with delight when they realized I was the pie mans daughter. They even called him the pie man with blue eyes. We tease daddy endlessly about his blue eyes because all of his customers love his blue eyes.  Daddy owns and operates  Heiders Country Store. Dad is 73 years old and works everyday, he is a superstar.

 

I loved how kind my bride and groom were with my children, it totally warmed my heart. It is fun to see engaged couples with kids. It helps me to imagine them in the future after the wedding.

 

For some reason I can't get anymore images to upload perhaps it's someone telling me I better get to bed. We have a big fun day ahead of us.  



 
 

 

 

I am finding it incredibly hard to believe that it is already mid June. I can't believe we are half way through the year; it seems like wedding season just started. So many of the brides I looked forward to this year are already married. This weekend I have been creating bridal bouquets for brides and families I adore. How, how, can it be passing so quickly? They say time flies when you are having fun. I think it flies warp- speed when you are in the flower shop…

 

Miss Grace had a blast sneaking over from the other side of the house today. She is getting old enough to march over and check out the flower side of our home. She always looked so tickled and pleased with herself when she rounded the corner and found her way back into the shop. Grace has a smile as big as a peony and every bit as sweet. She is such a delight.

 

We are absolutely loving our designs this week, we have pink weddings, purple weddings, orange weddings and yellow. We are rich in blooms and unique textures and the quality this week is awesome.

 

Sam is a constant visitor in the shop, adding Grace to the room is one more challenge, don't forget about Eli, and our puppy Sadie. 

 

This weekend is also the weekend we created our place card easel and board for. We are so excited to be able to bring this to Melissa's wedding.  This was the catylst for getting my husband Evan into the prop building business.

If you do not see your flowers in the cooler, don't worry: the cooler is so full I can't even walk in to take pictures. Everything is wonderful, everything is perfect. Tomorrow will be a wonderful day and unfortunately I will be kissing some of my brides good-bye. Bummer…

 

Our " in the cooler" post tonight is also about the happy return of our oldest son Alex. Alex has been in Lithuania on an internship with the state dept. The whole house has been a buzz the last few days in anticipation of Alex's arrival. We are packing in the work and fun this weekend, with 3 weddings, a preschool pool party, the arrival of Alex, and prom for both of the girls. Plus we have been busy making shortcake for the strawberry festival in Lucketts. If you have a craving for fresh strawberries, ice cream, and homemade shortcake come to Christ Church in Lucketts. The strawberry festival is an annual favorite. Christ Church is located on 15 North just before you hit the village of Lucketts about 8 miles outside of  Leesburg.

 

Here are some of this weeks awesome designs. Thanks to all of the flower shop girls who worked so diligently on this weeks weddings and events.

 

I love this photograph of the many boutonnieres and corsages that we are designing for prom. My daughters friends are all getting their flowers from me. Adding this to the agenda was just one more crazy thing I took on this week. We also provided flowers for a Happy Birthday event and we are working on flowers for a hospital grand opening. 

No surprise, Alex arrived home to find things just as crazy as they were when he left. I am so glad to have all of the kids home. We have 2 and half short months together and this very possibly may be our last summer with all of the kids under this roof. Not gonna cry…

 

 

"In the cooler " is going to be mostly pictures and very few words. I can't hear myself think, we have 8 additional kids over tonight and the house is totally spinning. Here are some of this weeks designs.

 

In addition to all of the wedding flowers, we are providing Caribbean flowers for a Memorial Day Party. We also started preparing a Chuppah for this Sunday's wedding. In fact we now have a full sized Chuppah in the middle of the family room. I can bet the kids sleeping over have never seen a Chuppah in anyone else's living room.

 

This week also marks the end of the preschool year for the boys. Here is Sam getting his end of the year diploma.

 

The below picture is of Elijah showing off his certificate.

 

Baby Grace totally enjoyed all of the parties at school.

 

Big sister Abby made it to Eli's graduation, sister Hannah came to Sam's special day.

 

This week has been amazing, busy, and just plain crazy. With the end of the school year coming my responsibilities with the kids will be increasing, primarily because the house turns into party zone. We also have only one more week to wait until Alex comes home from his internship in Europe. Alex is our oldest child. In one week we will all be together for the summer. I am totally excited about that…