This post is going to be about the flowers, lots, and lots, of amazing flowers. Here tulips, and hyacinthus are waiting in racks for the customers of the day.

Anemone

Anemone

Hellebores

Ranunculus

Ranunculus

Sweet Peas

Sweet Peas

Dusty Miller

Oranges and Avocados

Fringed Tulips

Fringed Tulips

Peach Tulips

Poppy

Cherry Blossoms

Orange Pin Cushions Protea

Burgundy Peony

Brazilia Berry

Succulents

Cabbage Roses

Roses of all shades.

Blue Hyacinthus, pink peony, peach tulips.

Our designers studying rose varieties and making notes. Above Courtenay of Courtenay Lambert Florals.

Isha Foss of Isha Foss Events

Liz from Fleur:ology

The walk through the flower market with “The Chapel Designers” is one I will always remember, next year I hope others will join us!!

All of the amazing images were taken by the super talented event planner, stylist and now photographer Vicki Grafton of My Simple Details.


Holly

Since my very first employee many years ago, I have been teaching and or sharing my knowledge, love, and passion for floral design. I am constantly asked via email, twitter, and facebook, how I do, what I do. I willingly and happily answer these requests because I believe in the beauty of helping others. My business continues to grow and develop because I have been guided by other designers that are operating bigger businesses than mine. I am always reaching a little higher and looking to someone else for guidance and or inspiration. Those business owners who have willingly helped me or taught me, are also the reason why I help others. It is  important to share resources, and technique with others in your trade. Its like a huge support group. One of the greatest things I have discovered, is that many of us are searching for answers to the same questions. Just realizing that other designers need help or guidance took away a lot of my stress. As a business owner I felt like I should know the answers to everything. Realizing that we all need some help and guidance at times was very freeing.

Weeks ago I twittered "hey floral designers, who wants to meet me in NYC?" much to my surprise quite a few designers responded with an affirmative yes.  Knowing I had friends in high places I went to the amazing and awesome David Beahm and asked if he would host our group for a design class. Being the incredible person that he is, he agreed to teach a design class and I get to help. Our little group is now up to 20 people traveling to NYC, 16 students in total, some Holly Chapple employees, and a photographer.  In addition we will be shopping the NYC flower market, I have obtained a discount for the Chapel Designers at one of the major supply stores, we have a tour scheduled with Ovando, and many of us will be able to go to a taping of Martha Stewart, this trip is turning out to be truly incredible. 

It is clear that this trip is much needed, not only now, but in the future. Last Wens. just before I left for Texas we named our group, Chapel Designers. We now have a name for our group of floral designers that cater to the wedding industry. I bought the URL, got my twitter code and, Chapel Designers is now for real. I hope that this trip to NYC is the start of many adventures to come for the Chapel Designers.

Photograph by Anne Robert

This is a fun little love story about Kristin and Jeffrey!! This lovely couple married last Spring at the Thomas Birkby House. I provided the flowers and I of course fell in love with Kristin. Are you feeling the love yet? Kristin's sister Jen, is a graphic artist and she happened to be creating all of the paper products with Kristin for this awesome wedding.

We had so much fun working with this amazing pattern created by Kristin and Jen that we also fell in love with this sister duo.

As event designers it was wonderful to have so many fabulous paper products to work with. Kristin's wedding was one of the first weddings that we (Holly Heider Chapple Flowers) officially styled. We gathered props from everywhere, but it was the paper products that really gave this wedding it's signature look.

Working together on Kristin's wedding made this fabulous sister team realize that they loved creating paper products with personality for weddings and events and they loved working together. So the wonderful and very loving Jeffrey allowed Kristin to leave her big time high profile job, to start a career she loved!! So this wedding story is also the birth of LilyPadWeddings.

Here are some of the incredible designs being offered by LilyPadWeddings.

Isn't this a great LOVE story?

A big huge thanks to the amazing photographer Michelle Lindsay who captured not only the beautiful paper products but the wedding as well.  You are awesome!!

Today was quite the day, we are quickly moving back into full throttle Holly mode. The day started with baby Grace at 6:00 a.m., once I had her settled I packed lunches and I prepared for my first client of the day who was coming at 8:30 a.m. I had a floral design student arrive at 10:00am and then we went into designing. My first piece of the day was Lynda's bridal bouquet. I knew Lynda when she was 7 years old. I used to date her brother and I spent a lot of time in their home when I was young. Her family was absolutely the reason why I wanted a big family. In fact Lynda was the 7th child of the family and I have 7 kids as well. Her family seriously had a big impression on me. I adored this young lady and I recently reconnected with her in SFO. She literally saw that I was in CA. through Facebook and we agreed to meet. It had been at least 27 years since I had seen her but we had a blast meeting as adults. I promised her that when she married I would do her bridal bouquet. Being true to my word I FedExed my first bridal bouquet to CA. Yep California, lets all hope, wish, and pray that the bouquet makes it safely to the little girl I knew and loved.

I created Lynda's bouquet of wine toned callas, black magic roses, and black beauty roses. The bouquet was placed in a paper mache bucket.

We stuffed cotton into the center of the callas to protect the lily, we wrapped the bouquet in cotton t-shirts and stuffed the bouquet into a box. We actually stuck the bucket to the bottom of the box with putty, hoping it would make it more secure. We wrapped cotton and paper all around the bouquet to keep it tight and snug.

We also placed a grooms boutonniere in the box.

Making this bouquet was such a pleasure and I am hoping this story has a happy ending. I am sure I will twitter the results tomorrow. I am so excited for Lynda and I am so glad I got to be a part of her wedding.

These lovely designs of yellow and gray were created for our friend Jamie of Simply Chic Events.  

Next we started designing for tomorrows wedding. During this time my student just watched the comings and goings of a day at Holly Chapple.

These designs will be placed in silver compote bowls

I designed a bouquet of gray feathers, white roses, sahara roses, blue hydrangea, silver brunia, and dusty miller for tomorrows bride.

Huge balls of blue hydrangea were created for my silver stands.

Here are the pieces hanging "in the cooler".

We also had a visit from my man Don.

Don is doing an exhibit tomorrow and we created a centerpiece for his table using foliage's and branches from his property. Seeing Don was such a happy thought. We LOVE Don and I am ready to see him at my door every week. He is my favorite neighbor! Yep I will say it again we LOVE Don!!!!

We also had a visit today from photographer Genevieve Leiper and my past bride Kristin ( a story about her is coming soon.) The house was hopping all day long. Throughout the day I was able to answer questions and share knowledge with my student. We did a final consult at 5:00pm and sometime after 6:00pm my student left. When I had a few minutes to reflect on the day I was blown away by all that had happened.

My last big project of the day was ordering flowers for my sisters wedding. Next week I will be designing in TX. Being the nontraditional bride my sister just sent me pictures of the dresses and the colors of the wedding today ( I could kill her). Yep this one will be the challenge of a lifetime. She keeps saying "its no big deal, you can do this, it's only 25 tables." I can already hear the fighting and the screaming. Where are my scissors? Vases you needed vases?

Happy night!!!

Last May I designed the flowers for Alison and Matt's big wedding at the Meridian House. Alison was one of the easiest brides I have ever worked with.  Alison knew exactly what she wanted and I happened to be one of the things she wanted. Alison found me through the Washingtonian's best of list but my blog happened to be one of the very reasons she booked me. In fact Alison booked and deposited Holly Heider Chapple Flowers without a consultation. My blog gave her the inside look to what we do here, and she loved what she saw. 

Alison is one of the most beautiful brides I have ever seen. Every detail was so perfect. I remember standing in the courtyard of the Meridian House watching photographer Matt Mendelsohn get these shots and thinking WOW, like really, she is the quintessential elegant bride.

Alison chose a bridal bouquet of white peony, pink peony, lily of the valley and white ranunculus. The maids carried hot pink ranunculus, green hypericum berry and light and pink peony. Every blossom was chosen by my amazing bride.

The rooms of the Meridian House simply glowed. Elevated designs were created with white dendrobium orchids.

Low centerpieces were designed with white peony, green viburnum, mini green hydrangea, and white stock. The mantels were designed with clusters of peonies, and candlelight.

A traditional wedding cake for the bride.

A fun cake for the groom.

Many thanks to Matt Mendelsohn Photography for these lovely images. Applause and praise should also go to Design Cuisine for the catering and Ritzy Bee events for planning services.

Happy married life Alison and Matt!!! It was a honor to bring you my flowers.

2010 was an amazing year for Holly Heider Chapple Flowers. I have been working in the wedding industry for almost 19 years. In the last 2 1/2 years, my business has rocketed through the roof.  I attribute so much of that success to social media, but mostly I need to thank the photographers. I would have no proof of my talents, no record of my work, and certainly no media coverage if the photographers were not supplying me with images. Thank you to every photographer that not only captured my work, but willingly shared their images with me. Each of you helped us reach the place we are today. I was going to compile a list of all of the photographers that I am grateful to but that seemed like a daunting task as I feared I may forget someone.  A list is also not necessary because those of you that have helped me are huge portions of my website, and my blog. You are a constant recorder of my career and my time with my brides. I love, love, love, getting images of my work. I love having pictures of my brides, and I love having documentation of my art. My art is perishable.

I do not want to be overly dramatic, but I have worked very hard to get where I am – 19 years worth of  blood, sweat, and tears. Yes, we cut ourselves in the flower shop and we bleed. We certainly get hot and perspire, and we cry with joy and even fear  -all for the love of what we do. There are no words to express how truly grateful I am for those images or how badly I need them. Without new and fresh quality images, my work looks old, dated, or even of poor quality. One of the biggest problems I hear consistently from fellow business owners in the wedding industry is the struggle to get images from the photographers. There are some photographers who simply believe that sharing their images with other vendors is not worth their time. Nothing is more powerful than another vendor singing your praises, and sharing your work. Unsolicited referrals or accolades from fellow vendors are the strongest recommendation possible. I understand how hard it is for photographers to get images to the vendors of the day, but we little vendors do have big voices and we can tell the world about you. We make referrals and we also get things published. Some of my finest work last year was photographed by photographers who have not sent me images, I have asked repeatedly to no avail. It makes me sick to know that I may only have the images I took. These particular weddings were some of my biggest events last year, and if added to my portfolio, I could show another level of design we are capable of.  The next worst thing is images that are watermarked.  I literally was given images last year that were watermarked right through the center of the bouquet and the centerpieces. Guess what, those images never made my website, or blog. They will not be seen by my clients and I can't submit them for publication.  I was told by wedding industry pros who were critiquing my blog and website that I needed to have all watermarked images removed. At first that seemed harsh, but they explained that my space is about me. I need to have clear beautiful images that portray my work.  I do always give photo credit or even links whenever possible. I understand that having your work out there in the wide web without a logo can be frightening, but honestly the great feedback you will get from your fellow vendors probably outweighs any potential downsides.

Two brights lights is a great way for photographers to share their images if they are looking for an easy method. Simple emails of the images also work perfectly, I can drop the images right into my iphoto. I don't expect to receive discs or hard copies but I do truly appreciate those magnificent gifts when they come.

Several budding floral designers have come to me asking how they can grow their businesses. I repeatedly caution them that it's about their visual presence and that it's essential that they get good images. So often smaller businesses have difficulty obtaining images of their work. Young businesses need the support of our industry- it's important to remember that no matter how big and recognized we become as business owners, it is right, and truly appropriate, to help the next new industry superstar. We all will get so much further by assisting those around us rather than by fending only for ourselves.

Aside from the actual wedding ceremony, nothing is more important than the photography. Photographers rule, they capture the day and they make things last forever. Oh the power, but I will never refer a photographer that will not share their images with other vendors. If I don't have the images, I can't help spread your name around. Weddings are a team effort, so let's help each other out. Once again many thanks to all of the photographers that have helped me, I will be referring you wholeheartedly and lovingly.

I just had an amazing shipment of cabbage roses arrive. In truth it was a bit of an error, the box was supposed to be pure white but luckily for me a mixed box was pulled from inventory instead. I actually was dancing with glee in the flower shop because of this mistake I have found several new varieties I will be able to use this season. BTW the white roses will be here in just a few hours, but I get to keep all of these glorious roses. A gift just for ME!!!

Sunset garden roses!

Pink Ohara

White Ohara

Lemon Pompon

Caramel Antike (spelled like this, not a typo).

Vitality

Mamy Blue

I am in love with all of these wonderful new varieties of garden roses or cabbage roses. My favorites are the ones with a high petal count and the four quartered section in the interior of the rose. The white rose in the picture below is called Patience this rose is a David Austin rose. David Austin is a brand of rose just like Gucci, Coach, or Ferrari and each rose has an individual name just like you and me. 

Patience

I wish you could stop by for a visit, the smell is heavenly…

www.hollychappleflowers.com

 

 

 

Style Me Pretty just launched a new on line digital magazine called E-Glossy. The magazine features the top 20 weddings of the year, " the best of 2010". I am pleased to bring you the wedding of Kaitlyn and Benjamin which can be seen on page 108, or here. This wedding was chosen from over 1,000 weddings by the readers of SMP. I am obsessed with the images from this wedding, the dress, the paper, and yes my flowers.

Kaitlyn carried a Holly Heider Chapple bouquet of white cabbage roses, white milky way roses and white majolica spray roses.

Possibly one of my all time favorite pictures ever.

Centerpieces were created with white football mums, and masses of white carnations. Orange roses and petals were used floating in cylinders of water.

PaperMoss designed all of the paper products for this wedding. Make sure you visit the original blog post with Style Me Pretty to see the rest of the amazing paper details from this event.

Thanks to photographers Three Blondes and a Camera, Jennifer Lust Photography and Laura Ashbrook photography.

I am in Love with this wedding.

We are over the moon, totally thrilled, and really proud that 3 of our weddings have been chosen for the annual issue of Southern Living Weddings. This fabulous issue features 25 weddings and 3 of those events were events that I had the incredible pleasure of creating flowers for. All three weddings were designed and styled by the amazing team at Ritzy Bee Events, and all 3 weddings were photographed by the one and only, Kate Headley Photography. It seems everything we partnered on last year was a complete and total hit.

I also had flowers from a fourth wedding make the bouquets and boutonniere section. My bouquet is the bouquet in the bottom left corner, and my fabulous bout is also in the left hand bottom column.

See the story of Allison and Chris…

Jessica and  Eric…

and Betsy and Hunter in the newly released Southern Living Weddings.

Another Happy Dance for us here at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTD!!!

 

We are so pleased to share the wedding of Heather and Jon which was featured in the new issue of The Knot.

Many thanks to Three Lights Photography and event designer Vicki Grafton of My Simple Details for making this such an awesome and note worthy event.

Our Holly Heider Chapple bouquets were truly delightful and inspired.

One of my favorite things about this wedding was the use of mini burlap clusters in the maids bouquet. The bride loved brown scabiosa pods, which look like this…

but the pods were unable due to season, so I created mini burlap clusters to mimic them.

I thought my little burlap wanna be pods were freaking awesome.

Mothers were given bouquets of lavender and white freesia. I love, love, love, mini bouquets for the mothers. Give the pin-on and wrist styles corsages to the grandmothers.

Vicki styled this table with props from her house and mine. My birch boxes are a personal decor item that I let Vicki borrow. Evan bought them for me last Winter and I could barely let them leave the house.

The wedding party was seated at this fabulous king sized table.

Vases were wrapped with burlap, and designs were created with white freesia, hydrangea, berry, and peony.

Maids bouquets were also added to the tables for additional decor.

This wedding was stunning! I am so glad I got to work with such a wonderful couple and such wonderful vendors.

We are also happy to announce that we get to keep our best of weddings title for 2011 with The Knot. We are seriously kicking some floral you know what.

Happy married life Heather and Jon, your wedding was awesome!!!!!!