Kristin and Jeff married this past Saturday at the Thomas Birkby House in Leesburg VA. Krisin's wedding is one I have been dying for, simply because every little detail was designed. The above image was taken by photographer Michelle Lindsay , and I am mighty excited about seeing the rest of her work. The rest of the photography was taken by me, but  I am definitely getting better, that or this wedding is simply so hot, it made even my photography look good.

 

The bridal bouquet was created with orange and more orange. We used callas, ranunculus, tulips, two shades of roses, orange gloriosa lily ( this was the first time I have had them in orange) , pin cushions, and freesia. The bouquet was bound in bark wire and we finished the design with a broach from each grandmother. I LOVED this bouquet.

 

Maids carried bouquets of green spiders, green cabbage roses, green euphorbia, green dianthus, and green button mums. We added orange snapdragons, orange roses and orange ranunculus to make them hot.

 

When I met Kristin It became clear that she wanted more than just wedding flowers, she wanted theme enhancement and development. We absolutely love styling an event and because of our work with Krsitin and our many photo shoots, we are ready to offer  the "Finishing Touches Package".  If you are having trouble bringing everything together or finding those last little details that will make your wedding memorable, let us help. We have an endless supply of props and resources, and the wonderful On A Whim Antiques store. Here are some of the fun things we did to make this wedding special.

 

This fun station was created for guests so that they could leave a note for the bride and groom. Post cards and stamps were on hand. The post cards were designed by Kristin's sister Jennifer (superstar). Guests traveled from near and far for this wedding. One of the bridesmaids was from France and she did a reading in French, so the wedding had a underlying theme of travel.

We at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTD brought the camera, world globe, vintage suitcase, and of course the flowers, and we set up the display.

 

We also brought these fun little world maps.

 

These antique globes were bought at an auction with Kristin in mind. We used  our props to decorate small cocktail tables inside the mansion. Here are some of our sexy boutonnieres all lined up and ready.

 

We decorated the aisle with my antique blue mason jars. We used over 50 blue jars on this wedding. Yes, I have a major stash of these antique jars.

 

 Kristin bought these awesome lanterns and had them installed in the tent.

 

The lanterns totally matched and enhanced the theme of the paper products designed by Kristin's sister. 

 

Are you drooling yet?

 

We brought in burlap, maps, lanterns, baskets, suitcases, and flowers to decorate the buffet. Without our props and decor the buffet would have been completely functional but totally not designed.

 

Our centerpieces were designed in my antique blue mason jars, but to make them unique and larger we tied 3 jars together with twine. The taupe tone of twine and burlap was yet another design element in this wedding

 

Every place setting had a bright green spider mum. Total eye candy !!

 

Whoops, I forgot to show you the place card board. This was designed by Kristin.

 

One of my favorite designs of the night was this awesome piece. Kristin had decoupaged her monogram but had no way to display them, so I created this super cool arrangement. 

 

We brought a few extra suitcases just in case and I love how they looked at the bride and groom table.

This wedding just absolutely made my heart sing, I want to be involved from beginning to end so I hope you will consider having us style your wedding or provide those "finishing touches".

Happy married life Kristin and Jeff, I loved being a part of your amazing day.

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.

 

Holly Chapple literally grew up around flowers. Her parents were landscapers and had greenhouses at their family home, instilling a love of flowers and design in their daughter. Holly decided to use her knowledge and passion to grow her own floral design business, Holly Chapple Flowers. She has been a floral designer now for 18 years and is one of the most sought-after, beloved floral designers in Washington D.C and Northern Virginia. Read on to learn more about Holly and enjoy the beautiful images of her work!

Holly Chapple is based out of Lucketts, Virginia but is available for floral design throughout Washington D.C and Northern Virginia. To Contact Holly Chapple, visit her website or call 703.777.8227.

Weddings Unveiled: Tell us a little bit about Holly Chapple Flowers.
 
Holly Chapple: I grew up in a family of landscapers so I have been surrounded by flowering plants all of my life. I married at the age of 21 and the property we bought was loaded in old time classics like peonies, lilac, and hydrangea. I started designing just for the love of arranging and I am self-taught. I would go hunting for unique elements that would make my pieces special and also affordable. People started asking me to do weddings. This was the perfect solution for me because I knew that I wanted to be at home with the children.

WU: How did you become a floral designer? When and how did you begin Holly Chapple Flowers?
 
HC: I would design for my parents at Christmas as a child in their green houses. My first real contract was the Washington International Horse Show. I had never designed professionally and I won the entire contract for the horse show. I was responsible for huge arrangements in the riding ring as well as centerpieces for all of the sponsors and the winners of each class. The contract was enormous and I had to find many different wholesalers to pull off the event. After successfully doing that for years I knew that I could do anything and people started asking me to do flowers for their weddings. I was searching for a way to stay home with my children and it looked like the perfect solution. I started the business almost 18 years ago when my second child was born. I am still home based and I have 7 children now, ranging from 23 years old, to my 1 year old.

WU: Describe your wedding style.
 
HC: Mostly I am proud of the fact that I am versatile. I can change from contemporary to garden in seconds. If I had to choose a favorite it would be lush, rich, mass, floral design. I am in love with garden classics and after all, it's how I learned to design.

WU: What inspires you?
 
HC: I am a total blog addict. I also love social media because it connects me to fellow wedding designers across the country. My gardens and nature are a total inspiration and the love of my many children and husband pushes me to reach new heights.

WU: How do you keep your ideas fresh?
 
HC: I am not afraid to try new things. I never think "that won't work." Instead, I always think "how can I make this work?"

WU: What was your favorite wedding and why? 
 
HC: My sister Lisa's wedding because I convinced my parents and sister that we could have her reception in my parents' greenhouse. The greenhouse had huge shade clothes in the rafters and we closed them off in sections so you could look up and see the stars or billowing white fabric. We hung white twinkle lights in the rafters and ordered the first shipment of house plants and blooming plants of the season to use as decor. My father built a stage in the corner of the green house with a waterfall for the band and for dancing. We used the checkout counter of the green house as a bar. Daddy had built it like a gazebo, so it was already beautiful. My parents had a hand-carved carousel horse in the middle of the green house. My sister is an avid horse lover, so we strapped the wedding cake onto the back of the horse. It was truly the most remarkable event I have ever seen. My parents were so proud to host the event in the family greenhouse.

WU: What makes Holly Chapple Flowers different from other floral designers?

HC: We use so many unique elements. My personal gardens are a huge benefit but it is the attention to detail that is remarkable. So much love and care goes into the designs. We know exactly what the bride is dreaming of and we hear her and execute her wishes.

WU: What would be your ideal wedding assignment or dream wedding to design?
 
HC: I would love to start doing destination weddings. I think it would be amazing to cut from tropical gardens.

WU: Tell us three things you can't live without. 
 
HC: My family, my flowers, my Apple computer.

WU: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?
 
HC: Keep doing what you're doing, because it works.

WU: What is the best advice you can give to an engaged couple?
 
HC: Advice as far as planning would be to fall in love with your vendors. Advice on the marriage side, remember your wedding is about the marriage not about the day. You have years to make all of your dreams come true.

Images courtesty of Genevieve Leiper Photography.

 

 

 

POSTED BY WEDDINGS UNVEILED MAGAZINE AT 10:00 AM 0 COMMENTS 

LABELS: DETAILS AND DECOR, INTERVIEWS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a full throttle Holly post, and I will try to touch on all of the many wonderful things that have been going on, are going on, or will be going on this week. I hope I don't make you tired, but her it goes.

 

This is my beautiful and very sweet bride Khanh.  Someday soon I will share all of her wedding pictures with you, but for right now we are saving them.  We have big plans for her lovely images taken by photographer Laura Ashbrook. Khanh is really on the blog today because of the wonderful letter she wrote on behalf of her friends.  Read below the moving letter Khahn sent to us, her friends are the next winners of The Blessing Bouquet.


"I would like to nominate my friend's family for one of your blessing bouquets.  Last month they found out that their 20 year old son has a bone marrow failure disease.  Basically, his immune system is attacking his own blood cell-making capability.  He is going to need a bone marrow transplant.  This has been very difficult news for his family to swallow since finding a bone marrow match is very different they finding a blood donor match.  It has been a roller-coaster ride for the whole family.  Just a few weeks ago they told them that there was no one in the whole national database of 7 million donors that was a bone marrow match for him.  Despite the earth-shattering news, the family put all their trust in the Lord and just 2 days later,they found someone out of the country who is a match!  While this was wonderful news, this is only the first battle, and definitely not the biggest.


This family is taking each and every day in stride.  Whenever anyone asks if there's anything they can do for the family, they just say that they would like everyone, if they're comfortable, to register to be a bone marrow donor with Be the Match at www.marrow.org.  Although it may not help their son's situation, it may save the life of someone else going through something similar.  Holly, thank you for your consideration!  I know that they would count a bouquet from you as a blessing along this daunting time in their lives."

I've attached a photo of my friends mom after I dropped off the bouquet.  She couldn't stop talking about how beautiful it is!  She absolutely loved the lilacs in it because it reminded her of the lilac bush she had when they lived in Colorado.  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for having such a generous heart and selecting this family for one of your lovely bouquets!

 


Also attached is a photo of me (khanh) about to eat some of South Street Under's ciabatta bread.  I took your advice and asked for a loaf to have with dinner.  The woman there was extremely nice and gave me the loaf at no charge!  Completely unexpected and unnecessary, but I'm completely grateful!  After coming home from visiting with our friends that won the bouquet, I told my husband that I want to move out to Leesburg because everyone out there is just so nice and genuine!

 

 Thank you again for the blessing bouquet!  Meeting you has been a blessing!!

Khanh

Many thanks, to Kevin Malon owner of Tuskies and South Street Under  in Leesburg Va. for your very generous support of the Blessings Bouquet. I love you and I love your restaurants you have a heart of gold.

 


The next fun thing I am sharing about is the B-List blogger conference which is taking place this weekend. We are providing flowers for the event tonight and we are very excited to be a part of this amazing evening.  The top wedding bloggers in the country are gathering and we get to provide the flowers for their kick off event at the Torpedo Factory. I will be working with the extraoridinary Design Cuisine once again, and you can see a little teaser of some of the decor on their blog.  Many thanks to Maria Cooke for bringing me in on this event. 

Here are some of the orange ranunculus "in the cooler" waiting to go to the B-list event. They are super sexy and I can't wait to get them out of the cooler and get to the event.

 

Here are the designs for this weekend " in the cooler" 

 

We also had a visit from one of my past MOB's and one of my favorite customers from the village of Waterford. They wanted to get some lilac before I hit the flower and garden show. The lilac from my garden is a favorite at the garden show.

 

Speaking of the garden show. In addition to the weddings, and our events tonight we also will be at the Leesburg Flower and Garden Show all weekend long. We have tons of lilac, roses and my viburnum is peak this week. Viburnum is the beautiful bright green ball you see in the bouquet above. Our gardens are rocking right now, and we can't wait to see you at the garden show. I will be on wedding delivery Sat. but I will be at the show on Sunday. My daughters Abby and Hannah will be running the booth on Sat. so be sweet and stop by for a visit.

 

Have a great weekend, and I will see you at the B-list conference, a wedding or at The Leesburg Flower and Garden show. Hope your weekend is full of flowers.

Our family is constantly growing and changing. Each year brings new opportunities for us and we are so totally blessed. My business is very similar to my family, in that change is a common thread. One constant is my husband Evan. He has been standing behind me, this family or Holly Heider Chapple Flowers, helping to make everything work. He has let many of his own dreams of having a business go, in support of me and the family.  Strangely enough everything seems to be coming full circle. My husband is incredibly smart, I mean really, really smart, like blow your mind smart. He is great at business and he can build anything and build it beautifully. Over the years he has tripled the size of  our home, built decks, walk in coolers, patios, created many gardens, and he even built a chicken coop that we call a condo. He also loves to cook and he is extremely proud of the fact that he is the father of 7 children. Last year he came home with a business license in the name of Chapple Enterprises.  He said he chose that name so that he could make, bake, grow, or do anything his heart desired. He has been waiting for a sign that it was his turn.

Meanwhile Holly Chapple Flowers is on a little roll, and I am longing for props and rental items for my business. I have lots of things I want and need, and I need someone to provide them. I am not quite sure why it has taken us this long to get to this place but about two weeks ago I asked "Chapple Enterprises"to build me a few things and this is what happened.

 

I have wanted birch bark vases for years. I see them on the internet but none of my wholesalers sell them. One wholesaler told me that the only way to get the vases is to buy the birch and have them made. I discussed the project with Evan and before I knew it, he was fast at work.

 

I love this picture and seeing that 23 year old wedding band!

 

Look what I have now!!!

 

This weekend he built a Chuppah with the birch. We are having a seamstress design the top of the Chuppah. I will wrap flowers and vine around the birch legs for my weddings.

 

 Two weeks ago my bride Melissa told me she needed a way to display her place cards. We dreamed of a huge easel that would be able to hold a fabric covered board. We wanted to be able to pin up the place cards and flowers on to the board.

 

Look what I have now. I have a huge place card board that I can wrap in burlap or any fun fabric I want. The whole easel collapses so that it is easy to deliver. The kids and their toys do not come with the rental of the easel.

Since I was on a roll as far as asking, I also requessted large wooden stands that I could elevate flowers on. I wanted the boxes to be painted with chalk board paint. He started that project also this weekend. The boxes are not finished yet, but the first coat of paint is on. Here is a picture of these.

 

Much to my great surprise, he has also made the boxes magnetic. I never even thought of that. So I will be able to put magnets on these vases and write on them with chalk. Is this killer or what?

Over coffee Sunday morning, Evan mentioned to me that I might be able to create something fun out of copper wire.  Next thing I knew he was pulling copper cabeling out of the basement and making little trees. First he stripped the plastic coating off of the wire to expose the copper.

 

All of a sudden he is handing me  little copper trees and piercing them with flowers.

 

I think the little trees he whipped out in 2 seconds really have a lot of potential. I could totally take this concept and turn it into an amazing design. We even talked about hanging the copper trees from the ceiling of an event.

Evan was a husband, a father, a master electrician, a builder, a chef, and a telecommunictions engineer, now he is a business owner. I don't quite know how we got here and why it took us so long but perhaps he figured "if you can't beat em join em" or "two heads are better than one".  When we were dating I used to call him "Mr. Wonderful"  he was named this because he could do anything.  This is certainly one more wonderful possibility. I have often thought we were a match made in heaven. We have an unlikely and remarkable story but it just keeps getting better and better. Please let us know if you need anything built for your wedding or if you would like to rent any of the amazing designs we are creating.

 

Last night we had the pleasure of providing flowers for the Julianne Smith Garter Girl launch party. Julianne has just launched a new website and a new line of garters. I neglected to get a picture of Julianne last night, so make sure you check out her video here. Here are some of her fabulous garters, and the flowers we designed for the event.

 

I chose to create pave designs, which meant that the flowers were flush and flat in the containers. This would give Julie a flower pillow to display her garters on.  Tall flower arrangements would have totally taken away from her fabulous garters. Instead the flowers acted as a platform for her work.

 

This design had wire arms that come out to hold the garters. Designer Jessie had lots of fun bringing my great idea to life. All of the vases had submerged lights hidden in the base of the designs to give the garters a little glow.

 

This shot is of the flowers glowing the whole way home.

Don't forget to visit Julie for your wedding garter. You can have one totally customized, so it is a complete reflection of your wedding day. The garter is also a great place to use a little of your grandmothers or mothers wedding dress lace.  

Have a great day!

20 years ago I got my start as a floral designer at the first Leesburg Flower and Garden Show. My mother and father operated a garden center called Heider's Nursery. He built and started the green house on route 7 that is now Meadows Farms. I would help  mom and dad with their booth. We also used to bring the gazebo into the center of town for the fair. It was one fun long night.  I would bring flowers from my garden and people started asking about my wedding services. Being a young mother I took the leap to start Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTD, so that I could work from home with what would become my very big family. This year my daughters Abby and Hannah will repeat history and handle the family booth just like I used to do for my parents. I will be out on wedding delivery. I will be at the show on Sunday and I will also be speaking about flower arranging. Now that is something I know just a little about, that and birthing babies. 

See you at the flower and garden show.

 

I posted earlier this week that we would be giving away a bouquet each week and it would be called the "Blessings Bouquet" .  You can read the post I wrote here. In true Holly style, I just said I was going to do it, slammed the post up and went about my day. I did not really think it all through, I mentioned in the post that I would get back with everyone in a few days with some rules.  I intended to start the giving next week on April 7th. I wanted to allow myself some time for development of my really great Idea.  However I actually looked at the calendar wrong and put up the date of April 1st.  I got several requests almost immediately and all of them pulled at my heart. I told the designers in the shop I could not choose  one winner because I loved all of the requests so much.  Designer Debbie said in her North Carolina draw "well let me look at them and I can decide". Ha!  She was just as moved as I was and choosing a winner was not possible.  We decided we would send out 3 bouquets this week, it is Easter and the start of Spring. So much for all I learned the last few weeks about running a more profitable business. Now I am giving flowers away.  So for the future here is the plan.

1. The bouquet must be picked up by either the recipient or the giver on Friday's at South Street Under. Kevin Malone the owner of both Tuscarora Mill and South Street has graciously allowed South Street Under to be the spot for the bouquet pick up. In addition he is offering a cookie, or brownie bar, as an extra treat to the winner. Please do not submit a request if you can't pick up the bouquet at this location.

2. Requests for the bouquets will be posted on the blog so that the readers can help vote.  If you would not like certain parts of the request posted please indicate what parts you do not want published. You are welcome to alter the names or give code names if you need to, to protect the anonymity of the recipient.

3. The winner will be chosen by someone outside of Holly Heider Chapple Flowers and the votes from the readers will be factored in. We can't handle the stress of picking the winner.

4. We would really like a picture of the winner with the bouquet.

5. We will only be picking one winner from now on, if your request is not chosen we highly suggest submitting your request again.

I also wanted to share some fun pictures of family day. I took two days off this Spring Break to play with the kids. One of the days we went bowling. Yes bowling, I know it sounds so dorky but in truth we had a really fun time. 

 

Sam

 

Eli

 

Sam and Eli fighting.

 

Riley, Holly and Hannah

 

Baby bowler Grace

 

Grace and Evan

 

Evan's smooth moves.

 

Abby and Grace

 

Our killer shoes

 

Me and Grace

 

Hannah after her strike

 

Abby trying for a strike

 

My strike celebration!

I hope you have a wonderful Easter. Spend lots of time with family because they are the greatest blessing of all!!  To our  man-child Alex if you read this, we miss you. I hope life is treating you well at the Lithuanian Embassy. Lots of love to you and your fiance Mallary.


 

Years ago my husband and I were facing a significant loss. A mother in the community said to me that she "hoped I had blessings along the way". Quite honestly I thought she had lost her mind. We had lost a baby in second trimester, and we were going to the hospital to try and deliver. Yes this is a heavy story and I will skip some of the emotional details because I want to get to the good stuff.  Much to my surprise, there were many blessings along the way. It was during this hospital stay that my husband and I realized that we have an incredible community, of friends, and family all around us. This community was and is willing to do anything for us. This difficult time in our lives, showed us that we have support we did not even know we had or miracles and blessings in our lives. Knowing this makes life so much sweeter. 

Here is what I want to do, every Thursday we are going to give away a bouquet. I want to know who you think needs to "feel the love".  Please submit your requests on the blog under comments. You can also email me if you prefer at flowers@hollychappleflowers.com, put blessings bouquet in the sub title line.  I will give you a list of more details and rules in the next few days, but for now be thinking about who you know that needs a reminder that there are " blessings along the way"

Our first winner will be next Thursday the 1st of April, this will be a great way to make  April fools day special. The winner will be chosen on Wednesday March 31st at noon. You have until then to submit your entries. The winner or submitter must be able to get the bouquet in Leesburg. I will get more details on that soon.

 

One of the last things I did in San Francisco was hit Britex Fabrics. Britex Fabrics has been in business since 1952. This four story fabric store is freaking amazing. I found endless amounts of beautiful fabric and lace but I was there for ribbon and trim for my bouquets. I love to embellish the stems with jewels, lace or fluff so this store was like heaven.

 

This was one of my most favorite pictures from the whole trip. This wonderful salesman was happy to show me this fabulous piece of fabric. It was available for purchase for the very discounted price of 1,996.00 and it was for a whole 3 yards of fabric. I thought that was such a steal I almost brought it home for a tablecloth for me and the 7 kids.  Not!!

 

This is Daniela from Bella Designs, she was actually the floral designer that told me about this fabulous store. I think we spent a total of almost 2 hours there.

 

My lovely sales rep. spent forever helping me find just the right trims and jewels. The wall behind her was endless, each little box behind held a different  design, there were more styles than you could imagine.

 

We even purchased buttons for some of the bouquets.

 

I have several platinum and yellow weddings this year. I wonder which one of my lucky brides will see these first. All of these trims will be available for purchase at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers.

 

Just one more reason, why my trip to San Francisco was such a success.