This is my bride Anne, she is now affectionately known as “Triple S.”   I will be doing Ann’s wedding this December.  At our first flower consultation Anne explained to me the look and feel of her wedding, Simple, Sophisticated and Stunning.  I of course was thrilled with this combination and assured her that I was the florist for her. I am so excited to be working with “Triple S” this is a order that I can happily fill. I may just throw in one more “S” . In the flower shop I am constantly saying I want the design, bouquet, or arrangement to look “SEXY”  My flower shop girls are constantly teasing me, because I love Sexy flowers.
Anne Shared with us some of her engagement photographs. I hope you enjoy these images from Freed Photography.  Boxers Ripley and Baxter came along for the fun. Ripley is the dark brown and white boxer and Baxter is the dark brindle.  What a fun photo shoot!!

Thanks, ” Triple S” for sharing these with us.
Here are some teaser photos from last weekends final two weddings. The weddings are just so beautiful, we have decided to wait for the professional shots to come in.  Here is a peek at my other Tiffany and my other Kristin.
Kristin-

–

Kristin’s very gorgeous bridal bouquet of white Football Mums, Calla Lily, Cymbidium Orhchids, and hot pink Roses.

Tiffany-

I am tying great grandmothers antique lace on to the bouquet. We had some truly beautiful vintage elements in this wedding.

I am sure you are dying to see more, I know I certainly am. I hoped making you wait with me would be less painful. I am not very patient when it comes to getting proof of my very beautiful work. Don’t forget today is Friday so we go “in the cooler” tonight.
Holly

  I am cheating by sharing these pictures. I actually promised to show the final two weddings from last weekend. I just can't resist sharing these. I am always so partial to real images, verses my own photographs. After yesterdays awesome post with the beautiful professional photographs, I just wanted to stay pro today. Besides, these photographs just arrived in the mail, and who can wait to open a present.
 I love this photograph because both of these girls are a Holly Heider Chapple Bride.  Lindsey is the bride in this picture and the Maid of Honor is her sister Courtney. Courtney was my bride last spring.  MOB contacted me as soon as Lindsey was engaged and asked if I would join the team again. This wedding was going to be quite a hike, it was being held at the Poplar Springs Resort .  I just could not resist that kind of loyalty.  The wedding was on Mothers Day weekend this year and the photographs are just a delight.

What fun girls I am so glad they are mine !!!!

Now that is a serious line up.

Oh so Cute !

Just for fun, here is sister Courtney's bouquet from last year.  I loved this bouquet.

It was really fun to get these photographs today.  Honestly, it's like a Christmas present  to receive real pictures.  I love having a record of the big day !!
Thank you Mrs. L for sharing your girls with me.

As for today we have a photo shoot, client consults, lots of flowers to design, plus the other two weddings to post. I also have a little something to share called "Triple S".  And before you know it, it will  be time for " in the cooler". This week is flying by.

Holly

Guess who this is? Just read the signs.  I will be doing the flowers for Tiffany and Danny in just one more week. I am so excited to be working on this event. My couple is truly lovely and totally inspired.  They have been hard at work creating all of the little details that make a event perfect. These hand painted signs they got at ETSY from thebackporchshoppe  are a perfect example of some of the very personal touches this wedding is sure to have. The bride and groom are having a family gathering this weekend. They will be hard at work folding programs, and creating  paper tissue balls that will be suspended from the ceiling of the tent. They made the below designs for the ladies rest room, candy bar, and gift area.

This is sure to be a wonderful wedding and I look forward to sharing more with you very soon.

I wanted to post this picture because, I think it may truly be the cutest altar picture ever. This is my bride Jenn, her wedding was several weeks ago.  We are still waiting for the professional images but she sent this photo to me.  I honestly don’t think I have ever seen a bride that happy at the altar.  Most shots are the pre faint look, or the I am gonna cry look.  She clearly is wearing the “I am getting everything I ever wanted look”.  Jenn also sent me this really cute note that shares with me the value of the blog.  I often wonder if people are paying attention to these posts.  Some brides clearly are.  We typically do a Friday night post called ” in the cooler “, it’s a little sample of what will be happening the next day. It never occurred to me that my brides were taking sneak peeks. That is truly adorable.  Here is the little note she sent to me.

Holly,

 

Thank you so much for all of my wedding flowers they were absolutely gorgeous and perfect!  I stalked your blog the day before the wedding waiting for fridge pics and finally the morning of, I got a peek I was so excited!!  Of course your official thank you card is in the mail but I just wanted to let you know how much I loved the flowers.

Thank You,
Jenn

We are getting ready for another big weekend. I will try to do that walk through the cooler tonight, just in case someone is peeking.

Holly

 

  Last week, Kate Headley requested a bouquet for a photo shoot. I was happy to oblige, for the opportunity to have her photograph my bouquets. Kate is the latest superstar in the world of photography. You must check out her website and blog.

  I did have one huge dilemma, I was leaving on vacation and the cooler was almost empty. I decided to turn the request into a challenge and see what I could come up with by using the bounty of my property. This time of year proved to be a bit difficult, as we are just past the glory of Spring and it is a tad bit early for my annuals. This caused me to get very creative. Every flower in this bouquet was from my garden except for the Pink Nerine Lily. I had those chilling in a vase in the cooler.
  First I hit the apple tree and pulled tiny little baby apples down right on the branch. I used my purple Hydrangea, tiny undeveloped blossoms from some plants my husband started by seed, the pods from my Tulip Poplar tree, pink Yarrow and the remains of my Clematis.
The results were honestly stunning, I truly had a ball making this piece. So much fun; that I decided to make just one more bouquet for the fun of it all.

 
  I had probably 30 green Carnations leftover from the weekend before, they last forever. I also had some white Freesia that simple was not ripe last week. I usually take my leftovers and donate them to Churches or friends but this week I got to use them for this shoot. I massed the carnations together in a tight ball. I pulled the hydrangea though the cluster and then hit the garden again. I pulled through the bouquet white Queen Anne's lace, and my blue Lace Cap Hydrangea.  I was so happy to create these bouquets; just for the sake of creation. I had a great time in the garden that morning and it was a little kiss goodbye before I headed off to the beach.
Thank you so much Kate for sharing these photographs with me, now I will have my glorious bouquets forever.

Holly

One of the caterers I work with called me this week requesting a red, white and blue buffet piece.  I am almost on vacation so the cooler is really bare.  I really had to put on my thinking cap to come up with this design. I had blue hydrangea in the garden, white blossoms in the cooler but I did not have any red. Here is what I did.

I took my Willow Spirea blossoms that are light pink and painted them bright red. I loved the end result and I was quite proud of myself, this was a beauty.

I love when I am forced to use the flowers on my property because it causes me to be so much more creative.

Here is another fun buffet piece I made this week for yet another luncheon. I was in love with this color combination. This piece was created with all leftover blossoms and again elements from my garden. Notice this time the Spirea is painted orange.

It will actually be elevated on a glass cylinder vase. Lifting buffet pieces gets the flowers off of the table, leaving lots of  room for all of the food.

I have one more piece to create this week. Kate Headley photography is coming out for a bridal bouquet. She is really pushing my creativity, every blossom will come from the property. What will I dream up today.

Holly

 

This is my bride Jessica. The last time I saw her she was on the job helping us with the delivery of baby Grace.  Today was my day to return the favor and I brought Jessica lots of gorgeous flowers.

Jessica carried a mixed bouquet of Gerber Daisies and 3 shades of pink Roses.  She looks so beautiful. Her groom was a very happy man today.

The maids carried shades of hot pink and orange. We used Roses and Gerber’s in their bouquets also.

The boutonnieres were created of Spray Roses. I love using Sprays for the guys the size just seems perfect.

We created huge altar arrangements of bright green Mums, orange Lily, pink Larkspur, raspberry Gerber’s,  hot pink Hydrangea and orange Snapdragons.  When I showed up with these whoppers my past bride Vanessa said ‘Holly Chapple always delivers.”

Whitney will marry on Sunday and her flowers are waiting in the cooler.  Another awesome wedding weekend in Loudoun County

This weekend we will design for several weddings.  We have pink, yellow, green and purple weddings and the designs are to die for. The flowers are waiting patiently for their debut in the cooler. Here are some previews of what is to come.

Okay its not just a big day, it has been a really big week. Today we will deliver flowers to our wedding at Whitehall and I will share those pictures later. We our delivering flowers to several hotels or restaurants for their Easter buffets and I start the morning with new clients.  Here is a little peak in the cooler where all of our precious flowers lay waiting and resting for their debut.

Here are some of the Easter buffet pieces. On the floor in buckets you can see all of the green flowers that I will use for a bouquet that I have been asked to create for Washingtonian Magazine.

The arrangements to the left are the altar arrangements for my wedding and on the back wall you can see my brides centerpieces.

We also designed pieces for the other blog I work on. I have been chosen to be a Wedding Ace for Wedding Wire. This is a really big deal as I have been chosen as the Florist Ace who will represent the DC area.  We designed arrangements that would be appropriate for a bridal shower and look what we came up with.

These were designed for the place cards and party favors aren’t we clever

Lets see what else is up. My husband just left to hook up with our 22 year old somewhere between VA. Tech and here to do a little camping. Which means I am alone with all of the kids and I have all of my deliveries. This will be really fun!!!!!! It looks like the 3 children who have been in Florida with grandmother will get back today so together tonight we will do the Easter Eggs and make the babies big day special together. We also will attempt church tomorrow without Evan’s helping hands.  Yes, you should pray for us, in fact you should pray for my whole church that the Chapple babies do not ruin the service.
In addition to all of that we picked up our magazine of the Best of the Knot and saw our name in lights as a Washington DC top pick. We also had the pleasure of speaking with Janie Medley from The Brides Cafe this week. It was absolutely one of the highlights of my week as this is one wonderful woman and I was so thrilled to speak with her. We will be added to her Creme de la Creme list as soon as I get her some worthy photos. I am over the moon with this news.  Happy, Happy, rainy day.

My second day in Australia started at 3:00 a.m. Michelle had arranged a hotel stay in Sydney for me and Francoise so that we could get an early morning tour of the flower market. This day was super enlightening and really fun. We got showered and hit the door by 4:00 a.m. and were at the Sydney Flower Market by 4:30 a.m. Designers must be at the gate at 4:30 a.m. to get through the door. If you are not early to market you miss your chance for a parking space and you are last through the door when it opens bright and early at 5:00 a.m. The whole process was a bit maddening for me because I felt a certain anxiousness as we waited at the gate. When the gate is opened there is a mad dash or stampede of floral designers. In addition to the many floral designers the Sydney Flower Market allows the general public to purchase blooms at wholesale price. This causes extra urgency in the purchasing and sourcing. The topic of allowing the public into source flowers caused lots of interesting conversations, those conversations will stay with me for many years.

Francoise and I were totally in heaven, the unique flowers and textures we found were incredible.

I even had the pleasure of running into a designer who follows me on social media. Being recognized at the Sydney Flower Market was very surprising. I hope this young lady sees this post and sends me an email. We were all in such a rush that we did not share contact info.

We had a blast sourcing flowers and meeting people at market.

It was totally fun to see Craig Scott at market after just seeing him the day before at his farm. Craig and his family own East Coast Wild Flowers.

Many of the native flowers we used for our photo shoot and workshop came from Craig’s farm.

Our next stop was to visit David of Linton Fresh Flowers. David sourced many of the blooms we had special ordered before we arrived in Australia. Both David and Craig had a jovial spirit and it was contagious. I am thankful I got to meet both of these men.

David shared with me a bit about the market and the cost of doing business. Each grower or floral distributor buys a space at market. There are typically 3 main days at market and I believe those days are Monday, Weds, and Friday. Some wholesalers keep their space open all week but the amount of days they are open will effect their monthly fees and or rent. The market is an extremely large warehouse and each vendor sets up their space each day before the designers get to market. The spaces are typically 9 feet wide and 24 feet long. The cost of that space is $250,000 to buy and then there are the monthly fees associated with being a member of the market. A space against the wall costs $350,000 to buy. A space against the wall would mean you could build a stationery cooler and leave some of your product at market. The above picture shows the size of one of David’s booths. If you look to the back of this picture you can see David and Michelle marking the back two corners of the stall or booth. Each day the flowers, carts, and tables, are removed and taken back to The Linton Fresh office spaces or warehouses. The amount of work that goes into this whole process is extremely overwhelming. I would guess that there were at least 125 vendors at the market.

The flower warehouses are surrounded with meat and veggie wholesalers as well. There are also restaurants and hardgoods suppliers at the market. After our purchasing we headed to Scala Cafe. All during our flower sourcing people kept saying, I will see you at Scala’s, it appears a trip to Scala’s is a must if you visit the Sydney Flower Market.

The visit to market was amazing and truly enlightening. Many of the growers showered myself and Francoise with presents. I would like to thank everyone for making my first Sydney Australia flower buying experience an incredible one. Thanks also to Laurence who shared some of his amazing product with us.

 

 

I am in the car headed to North Carolina for Pete and Rebekah’s Knot Dream Wedding. Pete and Rebekah were both injured last year in the Boston Marathon, after a year of recovery there is going to be a wedding. The van is packed with floral supplies, ladders, altar structures, and my beautiful willow and moss stands that Evan made for me. We also have bundles of blooming peach branches from our mini orchard. I am traveling today with Peter. He is the man at our studio that keeps us going. Well the other man besides Evan. Evan is home taking care of our tribe of children. Peter and I are headed to Bervard NC, where designer Eatherley Schultz of Floressence Flowers will be hosting me and the Chapel Designers. Her studio is becoming the floral command center for the Knot Dream Wedding, which is happening at the Biltmore Hotel. Rebekah and Pete will be marrying in just a few days. We will be gathering at Floressence with Holly Rutt of Sweet Pea Floral, Peggy and Hunter Sherwood of Sherwood Events, Janna Avery, Callista Designs, Trish Van De Merkt, Kristi Turbyfill, Amy Dunlap, Amy Lynne Originals, Anna Stouffer, Urban Petals, and Sherry Donnelly, Gertie Maes Floral Studio.These designers are all members of the Chapel Designer wedding and event design group I started four years ago. This adventure, this amazing opportunity to design as a team of Chapel Designers is truly exciting. I know we will have a blast together and I am feeling thrilled about the whole event. We are going to have an inspiring and creative week, but what do floral designers need most? That’s right flowers, thankfully farmers all over this country have been gathering up their precious blooms and sending their stems to North Carolina. Rebekah and Pete will have all American grown wedding flowers and this is a very exciting thing. Many people do not know or think about where their flowers are coming from. Quite frankly just like everything else in this country, they are typically coming from somewhere else, as in another country. Which means the farmers in this country are suffering. Since I am a farmers daughter this is something I am very sympathetic about.

Several weeks ago Kasey Cronquist CEO and Ambassador to the California Cut Flowers Commission and I began speaking concerning my event for the Chapel Designers in NYC. During those conversations I shared with him Rebekah and Petes wedding story via the Knot Dream Wedding. Kasey immediately jumped on the band wagon and assured me he could and would source the flowers we needed for this wedding. Honestly I was in shock and also a little overwhelmed. How could all of these farmers and designers from as many as 10 different states come together to bring this wedding to life. Well it’s happening, it’s just one amazing miracle after the next, one incredible act of kindness after the next. The kindness of the people in this country is often not highlighted we tend to focus on the negativity or the tragedy. Tragedies like the Boston Marathon. I will confess one thing further. I don’t watch the news. I can’t, I simply and totally can’t. I did not see one speck of the footage from the Boston Marathon bombing. On Sept. 11th 2001, I quit watching the news. It’s not that I am unconcerned for others, it’s that I physically and emotionally can’t handle that kind of grief, and senseless loss. I can truly feel other peoples pain and loss, just hearing the stories through other people is as much as I can bare. I am just to fragile or sensitive. Yep that is right, tough girl Holly can’t watch the news.

I choose to focus on taking care of my family, others in my craft and community, and I would rather try and make a difference where I can. I choose to believe in goodness and kindness, I believe in Spring, and I believe in new beginnings, I believe in hope, and I believe in family. That is why I love my job as a wedding and event floral designer.

A million thanks to Butch. Butch owns B&S Cold Storage, he very kindly gave us a cooler. The cooler will protect the harvest of the many cut flower growers in this country. The amount of fear and stress he erased for me is immeasurable. Butch is truly a wonderful man, and he made me believe even more in kindness. His kind words to me yesterday will never be forgotten. It’s interesting how a stranger in your life can have such a profound impact. I told him I would thank him endlessly on social media for his kindness, and he said “that’s okay mam, as long as God knows what I am doing thats just fine with me”. He said he believed in giving and that what you put out there comes back to you. Yes Butch you are one in a million!! Thanks also to Frank Arnosky who is sending Texas bluebells and ranunculus to NC, our bride Rebekah is from Texas. I have never seen a Texas Bluebell, I have to admit I am super excited about this. Here is a list of the farms that donated to the American Grown Knot Dream Wedding, without their support we would not have the precious blooms I love so much!!

CaliforniaGrownFlowers
California Pajarosa
California Floral Greens 
CamFlor
Cuts of Color
Dramm & Echter 
Eufloria Flowers
Green Valley Floral
Joseph & Sons
Kitayama Brothers
Mellano & Co 
Myriad Flowers International
Ocean View Flowers
Oregon Coastal
Rose Lane Farms
Roseville Farms
Seattle Growers Wholesale Market Cooperative
The Sun Valley Group
Texas Specialty Cut Flowers

A special thanks goes to the truly incredible Marcy Blum who suggested that I be the floral designer for this wonderful wedding. Many thanks to The Knot for believing in me and the Chapel Designers. We also are very grateful for the supplies and terrariums that were sponsored by Syndicate Sales. We are all dream makers!!