On Saturday, we had the pleasure of helping Kelly and Ethan with their wedding flowers.  Kelly had a girl friend that had read about us, Holly Chapple Flowers, in Daily Candy DC. We were so honored to make this trip into the city. Kelly's wedding took place at the fabulous Fairmont Hotel in DC.  Evan and I actually spent our 20th wedding anniversary in this amazing hotel.  Everything about the Fairmont is perfect for a DC destination wedding.

The Hotel surrounds an amazing courtyard. The Colonnade room is one of the main ballrooms for events. Its walls of glass overlook this beautiful garden. The hotel is within walking distance of Georgetown, offering out of town guests lots to see and do during the weekend's festivities. Everything about the Fairmont is a magical fit for a wedding. This is an extraordinary hotel, in an extraordinary city, with extraordinary service. We worked with the Director of Catering, Bob Mikolitch, on this event. Bob is one more extraordinary point for the Fairmont. I loved working with him and his whole staff. Honestly, I do think you can judge a venue or any business by their employees. Happy faces abound everywhere at the Fairmont.

 

Kelly carried a bouquet of Black Magic Roses, red Freedom Roses, Black Baccara Roses and deep red Dahlia's from my local grower, Don.  We created bouquets of all white mini calla lily for the maids. We added a collar of Dusty Miller to add a hint of the silver to the bouquets. Silver was our accent color for the day.

Here is Designer Jessie, laying the aisle runner. We honestly avoid this task whenever possible; I am terrified of someone falling on a runner. But placing them indoors and on carpet is far less dangerous and actually does add a lot to the finished look of the ceremony. Just so you know, I crawled along the floor with Jessie to lay the runner.

We tied clusters of red roses and carnations on to the rows reserved for family. We placed several of the centerpieces on a table at the ceremony to create an altar. This eliminated the need for large altar pieces. In truth, I think the effect was totally stunning.

We used silver wire mixed in with the Callas to continue our silver accents. We also used thin silver thread to tie each red bouquet together. Kelly's mom made this lovely silver runner.

The Colonnade room has a beautiful pergola in the center of the room.  Ceremonies often take place in this space. After the ceremony, this becomes the dance floor. On this particular event, we needed to stay until after the ceremony. The centerpieces needed to be placed, and the runner needed to be removed.  As we left the ballroom to wait, we found these sweet little doves. 

After the ceremony everyone met in the courtyard for the releasing of the doves.

I am literally hiding behind a bush to get these shots. Kelly had given me permission to take any photographs that I could while we waited throughout the day. I really got lucky with these pictures. I was so close to the activity that I could not get the groom in the photo as well.

After Kelly and Ethan released their doves, others flew from the box to circle the courtyard. The white blur in the next picture is another of the flock taking flight.

I loved seeing this part of the day. You can tell from the photographs that the guests enjoyed this treat as well.

Here is a really sweet photo of the flower girl just before we moved the flowers onto the tables.

The guest tables either had a high centerpiece of white callas or a low of three very rich centerpieces. We did clusters of red dahlia's, red roses and red carnations. The effect was very dramatic.

This piece was for the place card table. The red dahlias are just fabulous.

 

In fact, we need to give yet another extraordinary point to the Fairmont for the wedding cake. This incredible wedding cake was baked by their in house pastry chef, Karen. She was so proud of her work. I knew instantly upon seeing the cake that she had copied the detail from Kelly's wedding dress. 

I guess that is the end of this wedding post, or the icing on a very perfect cake.  Happy married life, Kelly and Ethan. I was honored to work on your wedding.

Holly