You may have noticed I have skipped a few blog posts, but in addition to being in full throttle wedding season, I am still trying to be a nice host to my French floral designer Elodie. With our work schedule the way it has been, its been hard to get out of the flower shop and show Elodie a bit of the United States. Here are some photos that show just where we went and what we did last weekend.  Our weekend started on Friday night at the Thomas Birkby House. By the time Elodie goes home she will have assisted in close to 30 weddings. I think she will certainly have a good feel for an American wedding.

Our first wedding of the day featured purple and dark burgundy tones. This wedding was for Lysa at Rose Hill Manor. We got to work with our dear friend, and past bride, Cara Berger. Cara is an event planner and her business is called Celebrations by Cara.

We decorated grapevine wreaths with seeded eucalyptus, fall leaves, purple carnations, black baccara roses and brown hypericum berry. The wreaths were placed around lanterns that the bride had purchased. Centerpieces were placed on brown pin tuck linens.

I also added fresh flowers and greens to the unity candle. This is an area that people typically forget to order flowers for and we often place extra loose blooms in this space.

Corsages were created with tiny black beauty roses and mini red orchids.

Our next stop on Saturday was Whitehall Manor,  this was for our bride Lauren. Oddly enough she also chose lanterns and their colors were similar to our first wedding. They chose deep burgundy wine toned reds, or claret tones, the flowers could bend slightly to a reddish orange, but unlike Lysa's wedding, we did not move towards purple. Lauren used the same pin tuck linen but her accent color was navy blue.

Here are some of her bouquets while they were "in the cooler".  I missed getting a shot of the bouquets when we were setting up the reception.

I really liked this claret red tone with the navy linens and I loved the unique twist it gave to a Fall wedding.

This wedding was beautiful and I loved being at Whitehall on such a gorgeous Fall day.

On Sunday morning we were up bright and early to provide flowers for SaraBeth at The Belmont Country Club.  Our delivery was at 9:30 a.m. 

Her all orange bouquet was magnificent, we used Don's orange dahlias, orange yarrow, orange tulips, orange crocosmia, two shades of orange roses, orange globe amaranthus, orange ranunculus, and orange spray roses. This was an awesome orange bouquet.

Maids carried bouquets of orange roses, pink mokara orchids, green cabbage roses, Don's magenta toned dahlias, green hypericum berry, and orange spray roses. The flowers were bright, clean, and happy, against the maids dresses.

Boutonnorrieres featured hot pink orchids, and orange spray roses.

Low centerpieces were created in compote bowls, green hydrangea, orange roses, spray roses, purple stock, magenta dahlias, green roses, and orange tulips.

Elevated designs were created with spider mums, orange lily, wine toned snapdragons, purple asters, green button mums, spray roses, stock, and full sized roses.

We decorated the wedding cake and enhanced the head table.

I always bring a bucket with me called my doctor bucket. These flowers are my extras, in case of an emergency.  If I don't need them to fix any pieces I often will touch up undecorated areas. Using my doctor blooms on the head table was a great finishing touch to this lovely wedding.

We raced back home to the flower shop in time to pack up wedding flowers for our neighbor.  We designed 11 centerpieces, bridesmaids bouquets, bouts, corsages, altar flowers and a bridal bouquet but the family picked up the designs.

Here is Maria's bridal bouquet. We affectionately call this bouquet the Washingtonian Bridal bouquet.  This bouquet was featured in one of their past issues. It is certainly easy to replicate one of your own masterpieces. This bouquet is always so lovely.  We are also proud of the fact that, when you hit the link to the Washingontian Bride and Groom magazine, you can see another one of my fabulous bouquets.

This awesome bouquet is the cover page of the Washingtonian Bride and Groom home page. This was created last year for our bride Doreen and was photographed by my friend Kristen Gardner. It is such a pleasure and a honor to be on the Washingtonians best of list.

We got just a few shots of Maria's flowers "in the cooler" but all in all we killed it again this weekend.  We did a total of 5 weddings and each one was truly lovely.

Happy married life girls we loved doing your wedding flowers.

If you missed yesterdays post, back up, and get acclimated, because I am onto the reception decor. The amazing wedding of Mackenzie and Adam progressed to this fabulous tent area, that was designed next to the pool. The tent was constructed at the venue on Wens. My incredibly capable husband spent the better part of Wens. night at the venue wiring the tent with electricity. We as a team learned so much about just what it takes to make everything work for an event of this size. Lucky for me, Evan was once a master electrician and he has always handled all construction projects for our family. I knew he would be able to master this tent, and of course he did perfectly.

 

In this picture if you look very closely you can see our 4 year old Sam in the middle of the tent, Evan is also in the picture pulling wire. Not only did we manage this event, and provide all decor, Evan wired the tent for the D.J., the caterers, and the lighting company.  Evan was also hired to do the pin spotting by the family. The lighting company we were working with was booked solid for this holiday weekend. The best they could do was provide the lights on Thursday but we would need someone to actually set the pin spots on the floral designs the day of the wedding. Evan took on that task as well. I know, he is awesome!!

On Thursday we managed the arrival of the portable restrooms and Friday we helped the rental company with placement of chairs, china, linens, and furniture. We had ceremony chairs, reception chairs, tables, lounge furniture, plus all of the furniture I brought in from my booth at On A Whim Antiques. Oh, we also rented wine barrels from Fabbioli Wine in Lucketts.  We used the wine barrels to create an unique cake table and a candy bar. A friend of the brides family created tabletops for the barrels.

In addition to our flower order we at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTD. were paid a fee to style the event. This meant I could come up with some really clever and unique pieces to make this wedding special and also truly put my stamp on this event as a designer. Evan got literally roped into bringing my first vision to life. I decided that I wanted flower arrangements floating in the pool. The designs not only had to float but they also needed to provide candlelight when it became dark. Here is a great shot of Evan trying to anchor my pieces into place.

My daughter Hannah actually climbed into the pool to get this photograph. In fact Hannah took almost all of these photographs for me.

Evan's next mission was to hang a floral design from the center of the tent. We had a canopy of twinkly lights in the tent, and they swirled up to a center spot. On my last furniture run to On A Whim  I spotted this white wicker basket across the room and I had it in my hands in 3 seconds flat. I knew instantly upon seeing the basket, it would make the best center, centerpiece.

 

Evan also put up lights for the owner of the mansion and actually did an emergency plumbing job in the mansion house. Yes, we could say Evan was worth his weight in gold this past weekend and I am so grateful he was with me on this job.

My next really fun surprise for the bride and her family was super cute kettle popcorn stand. I used vintage crocks, kettles, and even our antique strainer to hold the popcorn. The large kettle had plain popcorn, we also had toffee, caramel, and peanut butter flavored popcorn. Paperzest made me cards for each flavor. The family had designed a candy bar and I thought this was a fun addition to this sweet area in the tent. The door and the table were from On A Whim Antiques.

 

It just so happens that my dad sells kettle corn at his farmers market called Heiders Country Store. I know my resources are ridiculous.

 

The candy bar was designed by the family. They used several of my containers and I came behind them with flowers and decor.

 

The reception tables, well they were just divine.

 

I used vintage crocks, antique scales, and wooden boxes that were made by my brides grandfather. Grandpa's wooden boxes were just amazing to design in, and I just kept thinking how proud he must have been to see his boxes at his granddaughters wedding.

 

I love the linens, love the chargers, love the glass, and china, and of course I love my flowers. 

 

Every guest napkin had a treatment of rosemary and orange globe amaranth. We had 17 round guest tables and these surrounded a 20 person oblong head table.  We placed a purple dahlia in the napkins at the head table.

 

Over the winter, I found this rustic vintage scale. I knew the moment I saw it, it would be used on something very special, I could see its future and perhaps mine. The scale has an awesome bowl and I was dying to create an arrangement in the container.  When I did my first consult with Mackenzie and her mom we all became enthralled with using this scale as an inspiration for the look of the wedding. The scale became the center design on the head table and it was placed right in front of the bride and groom.

The head table also featured two elevated designs, lanterns, vintage bottles and the wooden boxes made by the grandfather. The head table was truly a masterpiece.

 

We decorated the buffet with old shutters and fabulous florals in either huge tins or wooden baskets. I even brought old crocks for my friends at Celebrations Catering to use. This gave the buffet a really fabulous look and I was really happy that I thought to provide those, until I had to take them home dirty. The horseradish sauce certainly smelled lovely, but cleaning the crocks was not so cool. Now about the food, and catering, I love Douglas and the staff of  Celebrations Catering. Many thanks to Douglas who put up with my crazy ideas and helped me to execute the look of this wedding flawlessly. Douglas and his team have always been so supportive of me, and my vision, and I am thankful that they were with me on this effort.

 

Thanks to my staff and family, a total of 19 people helped to make this weekend work. In addition to this wedding we provided flowers at The Belmont Country Club, Whitehall Manor, The Strathmore Music Center, and Raspberry Plains. My only regret is that I was not able to get to my other weddings, but I made every single bridal bouquet and approved every single design. In spite of a very busy weekend, I did not let anything leave our studio that could not proudly be called a Holly Chapple Design.  There are times that I think my standards are simply ridiculous, but in truth, I would not want any of my brides to receive anything less than the love, and attention, that goes into our work.

 

There were so many fabulous other things about this wedding that I am dying to share, like our killer farm table bar, our old vintage washstand that held the drinks at the bar, and our really cute lounge, but we will have to leave those pictures up to photographer Genevieve Leiper. I seemed to miss those shots.

Thanks for hanging with me on this post, I know it was a whopper, but it was a baby I was dying to share. We are event designers!! Many thanks to this remarkable family for having faith in me, and for allowing me to be a part of your big day. Happy married life Mackenzie and Adam, we loved doing your wedding flowers, and your event design!

Shannon's wedding was at Morven Park this past Saturday. The wedding was designed and planned by Pam Barefoot of A Trendy Wedding.   This celebration was absolutely a pleasure to bring to life; all of the little details throughout the wedding were amazing. After months of planning and preparing, we can proudly say we provided flowers for this remarkable event.

 

Designer Debbie created the above sketch of the table layout; this gave us a map to use during set up of the centerpieces when we arrived on the job. Shannon had two 40 foot long tables, a 24 foot long head table, and 9 rounds that were in the center of the tent.  To ensure that we had the look correct, we lined the flowers up on my living room floor. Thank goodness my living room is 40 feet long.

 

Our meticulous planning paid off because the tables were absolutely, perfectly designed.

 

Each table had 3 of these elevated designs that were created by wrapping a pilsner vase with moss and vine. The pieces were stunning, but  moving the arrangements to the event proved to be absolutely terrifying. My husband Evan built me a wooden grid for arrangements of this stature, but it seems we did not tie the designs onto the wooden structure tight enough. Normally Evan loads big stuff for us, and I am always saying, "Be more careful. You will break the blooms. Can't you be more gentle ." Well, on this day "we girls" packed the truck, and we very gently and lovingly tied the designs to the wooden harness, being oh-so careful not to damage a blossom. Due to the fact that we are sensitive to the flowers and how fragile they are, we simply did not tie them up the way Evan does. When the load left the flower shop it swayed and threatened to topple over just feet out of our driveway. My poor son Alex was driving the vehicle when the chick loading job failed.  Evan got the freak out 911 phone call to come to the rescue at the bottom of our road.  He proved to me that my designs are much more sturdy than I believe, and that if  we had just slammed them into the truck and tied them down properly, it would have been a whole lot better than barely tying them down, which gave them the freedom to literally fall over in the van. In other words our efforts to protect the designs caused major trouble. Lucky for us we were hours ahead on set up, and we had time to reload the truck. I have to say it was quite a "Chapple moment" to have my whole family on the side of the road trying to repack the totally full Holly Chapple flower van. 

Several weeks ago we got cable TV, and ever since we became reality TV show watchers of the TLC wedding drama shows; drama has been following us. Our chaotic situation was due to karma because Abby and I both sat giggling over our first reality shows; at that time Abby commented "these shows are absurd. How can you have all this crazy stuff go on? Glad that doesn't happen to you." Ha, we should have knocked on wood right then and there. Since we became TLC watchers just 2 weeks ago, our deliveries have been way more exciting. To prove my point even further, as I stood inside the beautiful clear tent, I saw two of my tall pieces get tangled together on our working station, and one fell over. In my head I was screaming "NOOOOO!" Luckily there were 3 people standing at the table, and they started catching the designs as they began to fall over. Honestly, it was like a bad dream. The morning had been so ridiculously calm I should have known a storm was coming. In addition to that stress, since the tent was a clear tent it acted like a greenhouse. In all of my years of designing I have never, ever, seen my flowers wilt on the spot. Each piece was truly beginning to bake under the magnifying glass of the clear tent. We removed all of the flowers from the tent which was considerably hotter than the great outdoors and started refreshing the flowers. I always bring extra flowers, and on a job this size we had buckets of loose flowers and we simply replaced any blossoms that were in trouble. The tent was air conditioned, so as the sun changed position over the tent, the air conditioning was finally able to cool the tent. I questioned sharing this story with you all, but the truth is we handled everything perfectly. We have been incredibly fortunate with our many successes, and I attribute that to being fully staffed and always buying enough blooms to ensure a quality event. Skimping is not something I know how to do…

 

Our amazing bridal bouquet!

 

Low centerpieces were huge mounds of hydrangea, roses, coxcomb, orchids, stock, dahlias, carnations, and moss.

 

We placed a green orchid at every place setting on the head table.

 

The ceremony took place under this amazing tree. We created this full wreath that was made with over 450 blossoms. We used purple carnations, hot pink carnations, roses, and coxcomb to create this wreath.

 

This planter was used to create a table for the programs. We cut foam boards and covered them with moss to make a flat surface.

 

We placed petals down the aisle, and we inserted roses into the ground to give them a little height above the petals.

 

Cocktail tables were unique designs created with cloche vases, bird cages, or lanterns.

I adored this window box that was used as a wish box.

 

We filled smaller iron planters with the same moss boards and place cards were inserted into the moss.

 

We turned this plant stand into a cupcake table by using a circular saw to cut boards that were cut to fit into the stand. The boards were then covered with dry preserved moss. This piece took hours to create, but it is now a part of our inventory. I have to admit when my bride Shannon and planner Pam brought this to me my first thought was "Oh freak, how in the world am I am going to turn that into a flat moss table for cupcakes?"

 

The cupcake stand and these beautiful silver pieces were all on display in the dessert tent.

 

As you can see this was one amazing and beautiful event and it was a total pleasure to work on.  Designing with Shannon and Pam was truly wonderful and I am so glad that I was chosen to be the floral designer.  I can't wait to see the photographs the Regeti's captured from this big night!!

 

One of my favorite weddings this year, was held at the Stables in Bluemont. I loved working with my gorgeous bride Katie, and her fabulous FOB  who also acted as the wedding planner.  Katie's dad is a NYC lawyer and he ran a very organized and beautiful event. It was awesome to have a dad this involved and if he ever wanted to give up being a big city lawyer, he could easily become a top DC wedding planner. He found me after all… ha, I just could not resist saying that.

 
Katie is a horse lover so she naturally wanted to have her wedding in a barn.  The Bluemont Stables were perfect for her. I love those purple cowboy boots. Not every bride can pull that off.

 

We used green cabbage roses, green hydrangea, green berry, purple lizzy, lavender phlox, white stock, mini white callas with the purple center, white lizzy, queen annes lace, and green hypericum berry as the featured flowers of the day.

 

Photography taken by  Joe Portnoy.

 

I hope you enjoyed our barn wedding. We have a fabulous weekend ahead of us and it will surly produce some amazing pieces for us to share, so keep watching. 

 

This weeks creative and inspirational designs actually began late on Saturday night. Yes, Saturday night after doing 7 weddings, and in spite of my exhaustion. My daughter Hannah challeneged  me to come back into the flower shop. She wanted to see if I could create boutonnieres like they do on ETSY. I thought she had lost her mind pushing me back into the shop but we actually had a lot of fun. I think she wanted to see if I could be as cool as the designers on ETSY, and I made her proud. Each one of the boutonnieres were created with dried elements, feathers, or goods from the flower shop. 

 

I really love these pieces and I am always amazed that I can do this stuff.

 

My next big thrill for the week was my trip to Don's Dahlia's. I have been missing Don since the last frost and saying goodbye to him and the dahlias last year was truly depressing. Happy days are ahead, the dahlias will be blooming in full glory in just a few weeks, lucky for me I was able to get a few early bloomers for this weeks designs.  I love Don and seeing him again was so exciting. Here are a few of the goodies I claimed and some of the designs I created with them.

 

This bouquet features hydrangea, and asclepias, yarrow, coreoposis and gooseneck loosestrife from my garden, Don's dahlias, scabiosa pods and a peony left over from last weekend. I designed this for a photo shoot that I was doing with Amber Karson Events and Photographer Abby Jiu. The shoot took place in PA, at a Frank Lloyd Wright home called Kentuck Knob.

 

This centerpiece was the coordinating design to the above the bouquet.

We had a blast creating several different looks for this shoot and I can't wait to show you the real images taken by Abby Jiu. For now you will have to live with these sneak peeks. The below bouquet featured several of Don's dahlias and a whole host of others, such as black mini callas, red roses, black scabiosa, purple hydrangea, red bouvardia, purple allium, purple carnations, and red hanging amaranthus.

 

The boutonniere was a mini piece of art as well, it featured the black purple calla, the scabiosa and the red amaranthus.

 

We also tucked Don's copper colored dahlias into this fabulous design of cream hydrangea, orange unique roses, sahara roses, hypericum berry, spray roses, and vendella roses. Don't you just love this piece?

I am off on a little mini vacation with my husband so there is no "in the cooler" this week. I am finding all types of new inspiration on our little trip, I just can't seem to shut my mind down. Have a great weekend and a great fourth of July.

With our growing inventory it became very clear that we needed a new shed. My business has completely filled the flower shop and the whole basement.  Evan and I purchased this shed in Lisbon MD. The arrival of our new storage space,was quite an exciting step for Holly Heider Chapple Flowers and for my little boy Sam. We now have enough room for all of our inventory and we will soon begin to offer some of our props as rental items.

 

The shed was delivered by one man.  He had a remote control device that actually shimmied the trailer around and then slowly the shed fell into place. 

 

Sam and designers Debbie and Jessie all had fun going inside for the first time.

 

With only two small weddings last weekend we were able to create all of the designs and  put them safe "in the cooler".  Once the weddings were finished we started the process of cleaning the shop and moving into our new shed. We removed tons of vases, lots of shelving and most of the furniture. A crew of men including my husband painted the shop over the weekend while we delivered the weddings. Today we have to get the rest of the stuff out of the shop so that we can clean the floors. Big Ughhh…

 

Here is the new color and some of our big mess.

 

This is the part of the post where I want to gag, I am embarrassed to admit that I do not like the color we painted the room.  When I left for the wedding delivery I returned to find the room half painted, at that point I knew I was not happy. When you have a team of men standing around they really don't care about your creative thoughts, they look at you like "come on lady  are your kidding me,  you don't like it". It took 6 people working all day on Sat. and 3 on Sunday to get the room painted. Guess what I have to live with it and every day I will be annoyed because it was almost right. If this had been for a client, I would have ripped the room to shreds. Since it is only for me, I will have to be grateful the room is at least clean and fresh. This happens all of the time when we are designing flowers, when I look at something and realize it is not perfect, I just add another element or remove whatever is offensive or quite frankly start over. It drives the designers crazy, but they understand my need for perfection and always oblige.  The painters and my husband Evan were not as willing as my flower shop girls, and honestly I did not have the guts, the funds, or the time for a redo.  First mistake I made was, picking the color in 5 minutes on the internet, but that is how my life goes sometimes. I did not know I was painting on Saturday, I got offered a team of men on Friday at 4:pm and all of a sudden I was off to the paint store. Picking paint takes time and a plan. It also takes an amazing eye, and for the life of me, in spite of the fact that I am extraordinary with color, I just can't seem to pick paint.  Perhaps I am only good with natural things. I am hoping when we get some fun furniture into the space that we can soften up the very bright green glow.  If not, you will hear me screaming in DC.

Here are a few of the designs from the weekend. The camera was buried in the shop when it was time to leave for the deliveries so we only have a few bouquet shots.

 

This bridal was created of yellow gerbers, hot pink gerbers, yellow callas, cream hydrangea and hot pink gloriosa lily. The lily was imported from Japan. Even with the volcanos last week, we were able to get every single bloom we promised. Super big success. 

 

This next bridal was created with lilac, pink peonies, purple carnations, hot pink ranunculus, purple freesia, lavender and dark purple stock, pink mokara orchids and hot pink roses. The colors were magnificent, the photography is not.

 

 

Maids carried bouquets of green viburnum from my garden, green cabbage roses, green spider mums, green berry and green hydrangea. My shop is about the color of this bouquet.

It is time to start a new week and begin life in our new shop. As many of you know, I lost a dear friend last week. I am trying to be grateful for the color I can see, the lunches I get to pack, and the true pleasure of just being alive.

 

When I meet with a bride, the first thing I like to figure out is their style. Brides either like clean designs that are 1 to 3 substantial blooms or they prefer designs that are loose, airy, and wispy.  Clean designs are created by massing usually just one type of flower together. Girls who like things wispy and airy like filler flowers.  When I begin a discussion about "filler flower's" brides often do not know what I am talking about, then I mention baby's breath and everyone knows what baby's breath is.  Baby's breath was the original filler flower. This filler was so over used that everyone turned away from it  in search of other varieties of fillers. With the vintage garden look being so popular today you will see a huge return to baby's breath.

 

Wax Flower- this is available in pink, purple, and white.

 

Berries are a huge filler used today. Hypericum berries are the most popular one at this time.

 

Viburnum berry- is  an awesome dark purple blue berry.
 
  

 

This is Scotch broom, it is available in pink, yellow and white.

 

This is Limonium we use this filler for weddings that are using purple or lavender tones.

 

Feverfew, I love this dainty little white blossom.

 

The dark pink flower in the front of this picture is a fun hot pink branch called Leptospermum.

 

This shows pink cottage yarrow in the background and white wax flowers.  Yarrow is commonly seen in bright yellow, but it comes in different shades of pink and white as well.

 

This is Jasmine vine and it is available in this white tone or pink. 

It is the use of filler flowers that give designs a more natural, less stark and contemporary feel.



 

This is one amazing setting for a wedding; we love Morven Park. A huge restoration project has been under way for the last several years.  With restorations complete they are ready for weddings. If you would like to have a wedding in this historic venue, you better move fast. Only a few girls a year will be lucky enough to have a wedding at Morven Park. The grounds are truly remarkable, and the photo opportunities are out of this world.

Here is my bride Allie:

 

Here bouquet was amazing; we used fiddle head ferns, deep blue hydrangea, purple dendrobium orchids, purple carnations, blue delphinium, purple stock, purple calla lily and wax flower. I love this blue, purple and plum combination for the fall.

 

I am so glad I got this photograph of the happy couple.

 

The reception was tented and in front of the mansion. The cocktail hour took place in the gardens.

 

They had almost 30 guest tables, so we used the maids bouquets for some of the centerpieces. Here is a photograph of the bouquets all boxed up and leaving for the wedding. The girls wore navy dresses, so we used more lavender shades in their bouquets. Lighter toned flowers gave the girls more contrast against their dresses. The girls carried lavender roses, lavender stock, purple, orchids, purple carnations, blue delphinium, and wax flower.

 

Here you can see the maids bouquets being used as a centerpiece; we also created two other styles of centerpieces. 

 

We displayed 20 vials of flowers on the head table.

 

This was a beautiful wedding, and I was so happy to be back on the grounds of historic Morven Park. This estate is one of Loudoun's great treasures and a perfect place for a wedding.

Happy married life Allie; we loved your wedding.

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

Our reversible bouquet!!!!

 

Our flower orders began last week with bouquets for a photo shoot. I wanted to get two looks out of one bouquet, so I made the front completely different from the back of the bouquet: thus, the reversible bouquet. I think this could really catch on. What bride wouldn't love having two bridal bouquets. Very cool, and super fun.

 

We created this bouquet for the same photo shoot; we loved the color of the dark purple vanda orchids. The shoot took place in a vineyard and the grapes were at perfect, purple, peak. It was a stunning combination with the flowers. We hope to see these designs published.

 

We were elated to create this piece for a former United States Vice President. This was our closest presidential experience. I do have mini dreams of having Holly Chapple Flower designs in the White House. To achieve this goal, I would probably have to abandon a few children while I chased my dream. Since I LOVE having my big family, that is not a goal I will pursue. Right now, I have it all: great family, great brides, and an occasional celebrity.

 

We created these autumnal designs for Suann of Simple Song Design.  Suann is going to help Holly Chapple flowers get a face lift. We are going to have Suann create new business cards, new marketing material, new labels and tags for our retail space at On A Whim Antiques. We are also getting gift cards with our logo, just in case we get another presidential order. Suann is a letterpress designer, and her work is amazing. You can also follow Suann's blog; it is truly inspiring.  Suann also gave us a nice mention in her latest post.

 

These designs were created for a luncheon in DC. We blended terra cotta colored roses, black magic roses, green hydrangea and deep browns together to make these pieces. They were sharp, elegant and sophisticated. LOVE that fiddle head fern.

 

We have three weddings to bring to you as well. I just didn't want you to miss all of the very beautiful non wedding pieces that happened last week.

Oh, one last thing, to further aggravate my son Alex who says I use the word love too much, I have decided to use bold type every time I use the word love.  If all of the other bloggers can say "I heart" this, then I can boldly say I love this. Love you Alex.

Holly