As usual, there was a lot going on around here today. In addition to the preparations for my weddings and corp. parties this weekend, Loudoun Magazine came by for a photo shoot.  It seems my flowers were the perfect background for Lola's extraordinary cupcakes.  I really enjoyed my time with photographer Molly Steele and Writer Therese Howe. I love doing photo shoots, and these two ladies are so very talented. 

 

Our photo shoot worked out perfectly for Sam. 

 

I also would like to thank two lovely ladies for coming to help today in the flower shop. Jackie, owner of Petal's and Bows Flowers and Gifts in Hancock, MD, came to visit me with her friend and designer Tina. These two girls drove almost 2 hours to see our operation. They ended up spending the whole day helping us get ready for this weekend's events. If you are getting married near Hancock, I hope you will consider Petals and Bows Flower Shop. These girls were awesome, and I would love to spend every Friday with them.

 

Now here is my "In The Cooler" part of the post. It is 12:22 a.m., and I  am hoping my bride Anne is fast asleep. We call Anne "Triple S." She requested flowers that were stunning, sophisticated and sexy.  I know we will make Anne very happy today. Here are some of the designs in the cooler, and then I am going to bed. 

 

This is Lacey; she is one of my past brides. She loves my flowers so much, she uses them for corp. events. Thank you for remembering me long after your wedding. We delivered this party tonight.

 

This is one very sexy bridal bouquet; however, it is not yours Anne.

Holly

 

Guess what's "in the cooler?" Evergreens! This week we began the process of preparing for the holiday season. We do not have any weddings this weekend, so it was the perfect time to dig out all of our holiday decor elements. We have boxes of gold pine cones, natural cones, berries, pods, fruit, twigs and ornaments, all of which needed to come out of storage. Next we began harvesting the evergreens from my property. I have blue spruce, white pine, boxwood, yew bush and cedar. I also cut fraiser fir from our first Christmas tree  that we planted 22 years ago. 

Once we got everything organized, we started making designs to take down to On A Whim antiques store. We thought it would be a good idea to get a jump on the holiday season.  We still have some really special weddings this season, so we wanted to get ahead. Here are shots from our space at  On A Whim antiques store in Lucketts, VA. I will be providing designs at my booth throughout the holiday season.  These first pieces are very natural in design and would be perfect for the Thanksgiving table as well. Evergreen designs last well into the New Year, so they are really a great long-lasting purchase. We also filled the space with beautiful antiques.

 

The tree is loaded with ornaments for sale.

 

Come pick up some Holly Heider Chapple Flowers designs at On A Whim.

Holly

Kathy is getting married tomorrow. She confessed to me that she has been blog stalking and waiting for her night " In The Cooler".  I started "In The Cooler" by accident. I thought is would be fun for brides to see what this place looks like on a Friday night. Somehow it became a weekly thing; little did I know, brides would catch on and start… sneaking. Knowing that my brides will peek tonight makes me really nervous. The flowers are actually sleeping, and they have not gotten there finishing touches. I mean, how do you look when you're sleeping? Honestly, you can never tell how beautiful the flowers are when they are "In The Cooler." It is really dark in the cooler, and really cold, and in general not a great place to try and take pictures.  So remember when you are peeking, your flowers will be beyond beautiful on your wedding day. Every flower has been touched, loved, and designed to perfection. We are going to have a great day tomorrow. I have some really great brides and some awesome stories to tell. I also want to say we are in love with one of our grooms. He is giving his wife, yes wife, her dream wedding. My couple married 3 years ago and never had their wedding. Tomorrow is their big day. I am also head over heels for one very persistent mom and bride, and I am so grateful that they did not give up on me. I promise all the flowers this weekend will be worth the wait.

 

As usual there was laughter: lots and lots of laughter. 

 

We created wreaths with dried elements and fresh flowers. Carrie got a little Carried away. Get it?

 

This is our new favorite rose and we love, love, love,  this rose.  This was the first time we used her in bouquets, and we are thrilled with her performance. We  spent a lot of time smelling the roses tonight. 

 

Helen made the maids' bouquets while I worked on the bridal bouquets. "Made the maids," that sounds a little odd.

 

Friday night dinner at restaurant Fleur Chapple is becoming legendary. We have had so many late Friday nights that Evan has been very kindly making us fabulous dinners. I am starting to wonder if we are having late nights on Fridays just because the flower shop girls are hoping for a meal from Evan. I think they really want to have his big unbelievable dinners.  Tonight he made us red snapper and beef. We could either roll up the meat and rice in the lettuce or put it on tostadas.  Evan made fresh salsa for us to use with the tostadas and we used hoisin sauce for the lettuce wraps. 

 

Whoops, I forgot the fresh squash.

 

Next time we will take the pictures before we start digging in. After dinner we worked on boutonnieres and corsages.

 

We are leaving the mess for the morning and  heading up to bed; we start loading up the flower van at 9:00 am. We will be out for delivery all day long.

Night, night.

Holly

As we move into November we are enjoying a full schedule, but a much calmer pace. This week I have had extra time for the kids and time to enjoy my flower ladies. We created designs for 3 weddings, and we also got to do bridal shower flowers for one of my favorite past customers. We also celebrated Jessie's birthday today. Designer Debbie is home in North Carolina; we miss her, but we were so glad she could be with her family. Here are some photos that show our shop, cooler, family and flower shop ladies.

 

Here is the birthday girl Jessie helping me get the flowers ordered for next week. After lunch, we had a mini birthday party.

When baby Grace woke me up at 5 AM this morning, I decided to bake Jessie a red velvet birthday cake.

Jessie is on the left, Carrie is next, then Sam, and then city designer Helen. 

 

This piece was created for Tuskies Restaurant in Leesburg, Virginia. We do their weekly flowers.

 

We have a beautiful purple and lavender wedding at Morven Park;these pieces are for Allie.

 

Of course, we always have our little visitors in the shop. Honestly, some days I don't know how the flower shop ladies put up with what goes on around here. When kids are yours, their behavior is so much easier to deal with; when they belong to someone else, they can be very annoying. My ladies are always good to our little visitors. Grace is just plain cute, so having her around is fun. Sam, however, creates an unbelievable amount of mischief.

 

Sam hiding in the flower delivery boxes.

 

This all just works for me; this is how I want to run my business. I wanted it all: a big family and a big business. Home base makes that possible.

 

We have two fall weddings this weekend and the blossoms are just amazing.

 

Milva orange roses.

 

Bronze button mums.

 

Antique green hydrangea–a local product.

 

Garland for our Lightfoot Restaurant wedding. We will twirl this up the stem of an elevated vase.

 

We have had a great week. We were featured this Friday on The Brides Cafe, and those images are simply to die for. Please take time to check out our post at the cafe. We also received a phone call from The Knot, and we have made the 2010 best-of list. This is a huge deal for us. What this means is that not only are we doing a great job here, but our brides are taking the time to nominate us for this award. We are really excited about the many good things that seem to be coming our way. We are also enjoying the new relationships with other designers and florists across this country. Yes, I Twitter, Facebook and blog.  I am just simply happy. My big baby Alex is coming home on Saturday, so when I finish up my weddings, I will have some full Chapple family, family time. What a treat.

Holly

We had lots of fun today, and I am going to have even more fun with this post. I am going to hide flowers from one of my blog followers. Dharma is getting married tomorrow, and I want to keep her wedding flowers a secret so here is Dharma's bouquet.

 

In fact, I am going to hide most of Dharma's flowers, so that she does not spoil her wedding day. I will give her one sneak preview, just because I cant be totally mean. Look at this beautiful floral headband we made for Dharma's flower girl.

 

That should keep you happy until we arrive with your flowers.

To add to our fun, I roped these poor groomsmen into modeling our bouquets. I am certain when they were asked to pick up the flowers today, they never expected this to happen. I am glad they were willing to play along. This may be our most memorable flower shoot. I am sure they will always remember the wild flower lady. I am so glad that I have the courage to be silly. These bouquets belonged to my bride Khan, and her wedding was today at Whitehall.  Here is a photo of the maids bouquets up close.

 

We love the touch of navy blue. 

This is Khan's bridal bouquet.

 

We used circus roses, orange unique roses, milva roses, crocosmia, orange orchids and a few of Don's dahlias. Khan was absolutely adorable, and I can't wait to see her photos.  We also created mason jars full of flowers for her big day.

 

Feathers and really rich tones are the leading elements for Amy's wedding.

 

We love this deep purple scabiosa. So sexy.

 

We also created this beautiful halo for this lovely young lady. 10 years ago I did the wedding flowers for her mommy, Arlee. Now I am doing the flowers for Arlee's sister, Erica.

 

We also have a very dramatic all deep red wedding with silver and platinum highlights. The bridal bouquet is all white.

 

Happy great day; we are finished.  In the last 24 hours, I made 32 bouquets, and I love them all. Thanks to my flower shop girls we get to call it an early day. One last great image of our future designer Grace.

 

Holly

Wow!!!! I have so much on my mind, and so many great things I want to share. First off, if you think it is cold here in Virginia today, check out my new flower girl friend Alicia Schwede in Colorado. She is joining us tonight "In The Cooler." Alicia owns Bella Fiore Events. Amazingly enough we are doing some of the same colors tomorrow.  Alicia is one of the many talented designers I have found on Twitter. You can follow us both on twitter. Look for me under "chappleflowers."  Please dive into her blog and see some of her unbelievable creations. I have so enjoyed following her this summer.  Colorado weddings are slowly coming to a chilly halt, and this is a fairly small weekend for her. Please look beyond this post for inspiration. Thank you so much Alicia for joining me tonight "In The Cooler," and good luck tomorrow on your wedding. I will be thinking of you.

 

Here Debbie and I are studying the dimensions on bird cages. Our bride Amy purchased these for her wedding, and we needed to see them before we could order the flowers. We spent hours getting the flowers ordered for next week. We are watching the weather and trying to prepare for the beginning of the change in seasons. So much of what we do depends on mother nature. I have checked with Don from Don's Dahlias and for now all of our precious dahlia's are happy. Everyone do the no frost dance for my bride Dharma. We really want Dahlias.

We also had really exciting news today. Our flowers were on Snippet and Ink; check out this blog post that included our bridal shower centerpieces. We got to help our friend Maria Cooke from Ritzy Bee. The shower was for Maria's sister. 

Here is what is "In the cooler" and some of the happenings in the shop or house today. I am also sharing one really fun shot of my bride Lauren. We delivered her wedding flowers tonight, but I am saving the photographs for Monday. 

 

A basket completely made of flowers for Lauren's wedding today.

 

Maids bouquets.

 

Incredible centerpieces for Lauren.

 

My oldest baby Alex is home for the weekend from Virginia Tech. Here he is loving on our youngest baby, Miss Grace. They are 22 years apart. Even though they are mine I still find it hard to believe. I love having him home.

 

I also love this hydrangea. 

 

Oh, so cute Sam. You just gotta love him.

 

Love my Hannah also.

 

And Miss Lauren loved her bouquet so much she was doing a little happy dance. I will share those pictures on Monday. It is time for bed. We have lots to do tomorrow, and the girls have their homecoming dance also. It will be a busy flower day and a busy mommy day. 

Holly

 

Tonight I have a great treat for you. You can visit with designer Tracy Hill Park In Michigan; Tracy is posting her first "In The Cooler." You can see her super sexy designs here. Thanks to social media, I met Tracy on either Twitter or Facebook, proving this really is a small world. I got to talk to Tracy today, and we planned this little treat. Thank you Tracy for playing with us today in our flower shop. Due to the internet, the blog and twitter, I have flower pals all over the world. How cool is this? I even got a request through Facebook tonight to help another designer in the area out of a jam. I happen to have the flowers she needs in my cooler. She will be here at 7:30 am tomorrow to get the final touches for her bridal bouquet.

So… get ready to feast your eyes on some really beautiful designs in Virginia and in Michigan. Here is what is going on in flower shop and "in our cooler." I have a lot to share so hold on.

 

Here the girls are creating white carnation bouquets. Yes, I know it is hard to believe that carnations can look that good. We happen to love them now after 15 years of saying we hate them.

 

Yes… pink carnation centerpieces. I told you so!!!!! We love them.

 

The white calla lily. 

 

The peach calla lily: truly a phenomenal specimen.

 

White cymbidium orchids, and white mini callas.

 

Keep on petaling girls; we have lots to do!!!!!

 

Here come the fall flowers.

 

A fresh flower wreath for the ceremony. Everyone loved this.

 

Orange and blue designs.

Wow!!! That was a huge share, and, believe it or not, there are tons of designs I am just too tired to post.

We had a great day today, and I am excited about "In The Cooler" spreading around the country. I would really love to see this grow.

Holly

We have had quite the day today. It is just after midnight, and we are finally ready to call it a day. A huge thanks to Helen (on the left), and Designer Debbie for hanging with me until the bitter end.  In the last two days we have designed for a past vice president, done our weekly deliveries, designed dinner party flowers for Suann from Simple Song Design, delivered Ellen her wedding flowers, plus created designs for Jessica and Julie's weddings tomorrow, which is technically today considering the hour.  I am so tired I am just going to give you that quick sneak peek and then I am hitting the hay. I am absolutely worn out, but I laughed harder tonight than I have in years. In truth this was a killer day. We are once again blown away by the beauty of our designs, and we are very proud of our work.

 

Our friendship bouquet.

 

Designs we created for Simple Song a fabulous letterpress company.

 

Today's bride, Ellen, taking that first look at her bouquet. We will share her pictures with you next week.

Our bride Jessica just a few minutes after she had been to see Don and his Dahlias. Jessica and her friends are going to make some of the centerpieces themselves. We created 52 vases for her and all of the personal flowers.

 

Dahlia heaven.

 

Good Night!!!!

Holly



 

 

Today is Meredith's wedding day. Her wedding will take place at the fabulous Whitehall Manor in Bluemont. We created her bouquet with circus roses, red spray roses, orange mango callas, yellow callas, billy balls, fiddle head fern and orange dahlias from Don. We added mini grapevine balls into the bouquet and collared the bouquet with one of my favorite elements: angle vine. 

 

The maids bouquets were created with burgundy mini Gerber's, orange orchids, crocosmia, solidago, circus roses, hypericum berry, and bronze button mums. We used the angel vine to wrap the maids bouquets as well.

 

Mini bouquets for the mothers.

 

The grooms boutonniere.

 

The groomsmen.

 

The bouquets all packed and ready to go.

Our centerpieces; we love that flying yellow oncidium orchid.

Our altar pieces.

Here comes "in the cooler."

Super Sexy bouquets for our Oatlands Plantation wedding tomorrow.

Beautiful bouquets for our Whitehall wedding tomorrow. I love this color combination for a unique fall look.

Sleepy time.

Holly

This has been a week of major growth and change. What seemed like a disaster on last Sunday has turned out to be a huge blessing. In five days, we have converted from my crashed PC to my new iMac computer. With this incredible change we can now blog posts that look like this. I have not had this much fun in years. This will allow me to express a completely new kind of flower art.

 

We have two wonderful weddings tomorrow, and we will be sure to bring home lots of pictures to play with.

It just keeps getting better and better.

Holly