If you follow this blog, you know we are totally in love with weddings. We also happen to do corporate events as well. In fact we love these almost as much. On a corp. event we are given more creative freedom; it is a lot of fun to work on these events. Many of my past brides also remember me when it is time to handle functions or holiday decor at their places of employment. It is the highest honor when one of our past clients returns for more Holly Heider Chapple creations.

 

On this particular event we did flowers on the mantel and at the podium. I was given the linen color, and then the rest was up to me. We were totally allowed to create, create, create. 

 

I used my new favorite rose called combo, cream hydrangea, antique green hydrangea, seeded eucalyptus, scabiosa pods, fiddle head ferns, twigs and ornamental grasses from my garden. The room was stunning.  We love working with this client, and we are so glad we are asked back each fall.

Think about Holly Heider Chapple Flowers when you are planning a corp. event.

Holly

We have been very busy creating centerpieces for the holidays. Our evergreen arrangements are now being offered at On A Whim antiques in Lucketts, VA.  We have designed pieces that are perfect for Thanksgiving, as well as the Christmas season. Many of the designs are very natural and primitive in nature and speak more of winter than the typical holiday type of decor.

I love evergreen designs because they will last through the holiday season into the New Year. We use pine cones, pods, berries, ornaments, twigs, feathers and ribbon to make the pieces unique. We omit the use of fresh flowers so that you can enjoy the designs for many weeks.

 

I also have awesome antique furnishing in my little space at On A Whim. We are also offering other decorating elements for the holidays.

 

On A Whim has multiple dealers, so each space is completely a reflection of that designer. You will be thrilled with all of the choices in this store.

 

Come visit On A Whim Antiques, and you will love every square inch of this wonderful store.

Holly

Guess what's "in the cooler?" Evergreens! This week we began the process of preparing for the holiday season. We do not have any weddings this weekend, so it was the perfect time to dig out all of our holiday decor elements. We have boxes of gold pine cones, natural cones, berries, pods, fruit, twigs and ornaments, all of which needed to come out of storage. Next we began harvesting the evergreens from my property. I have blue spruce, white pine, boxwood, yew bush and cedar. I also cut fraiser fir from our first Christmas tree  that we planted 22 years ago. 

Once we got everything organized, we started making designs to take down to On A Whim antiques store. We thought it would be a good idea to get a jump on the holiday season.  We still have some really special weddings this season, so we wanted to get ahead. Here are shots from our space at  On A Whim antiques store in Lucketts, VA. I will be providing designs at my booth throughout the holiday season.  These first pieces are very natural in design and would be perfect for the Thanksgiving table as well. Evergreen designs last well into the New Year, so they are really a great long-lasting purchase. We also filled the space with beautiful antiques.

 

The tree is loaded with ornaments for sale.

 

Come pick up some Holly Heider Chapple Flowers designs at On A Whim.

Holly

 

The Athenaeum is the home of the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association–it's a gallery and a fantastic social space for events and weddings located in Alexandria, Virginia.  We created this "wedding" photoshoot for them so that they would have some images to show their space off.  Here is a list of the team that  pulled this all together; imagine what we could do with your real wedding:

Location: The Athenaeum

Flowers:  Holly Chapple 

Hair: Abbey Castellano, Parlour Salon

Paper (+ model):  Nole at Oh So Beautiful Paper 

Photography: Kate Headley

Styling: Maria at Ritzy Bee Events 

Styling: Kelly Seizert, Design Cuisine

 
I loved being a part of this photoshoot. I used so many interesting textures and blossoms to create these designs. Fabulous people, fabulous flowers: that equals a really great day.

 

The bridal bouquet was created with privet berry, hypericum berry, combo roses, white freesia, white gooseneck, Queen Anne's lace, green sweet william, mini dahlias from Don, seeded eucalyptus, spray roses, brazilia berry and a collar of magnolia leaves.

 

The centerpiece was designed on a white cake plate. I love the bright white of the stand against the flowers.

This was a really fun event.  The girls that worked on this shoot are just awesome and everything we do seems to be perfect. I could spend every day creating events just like this. I loved this.

Holly

 Tiffany and Danny had an amazing reception. The lavish centerpieces and the decor throughout the property of the The Thomas Birkby House was truly perfect. Every little detail was seen to on this event, and so the finished look is truly incredible. Danny and Tiffany personally made all of the tissue flowers hanging from the tent ceiling. Actually, I think some family members and friends may have come over for a paper party.

Guests were given a time-line of the day during the ceremony.

 

To ensure that the food and service throughout the night was flawless; they hired Windows Catering.

 

Signature drinks were served.

 

We used hundreds of cabbage roses on this wedding and countless stems of hydrangea and spray roses. The color and fullness of the centerpieces was one of favorite parts of the wedding.

 

I love this picture of Danny and his groomsmen. 

 

The candy bar offered many different sweet options.

 

Guests danced late into the evening.

 

Again many thanks to Chris and Adrienne Scott photography for sharing these images. This wedding is just so lovely to have a glimpse of .

Danny and Tiffany, it was such a pleasure to be a part of your wedding. Happy married life, and we loved your wedding.

Holly

Tiffany and Danny married this past summer. It was absolutely one of my favorite weddings of the year. Every little detail was perfect as a result of Tiffany and Danny's excellent planning and creative eye. . Many thanks to Chris and Adrienne Scott who were the photographers. Their work is truly amazing, and I am so glad they captured Danny and Tiffany's wedding for us all to enjoy.

 

The wedding and reception took place at the Thomas Birkby House in Leesburg Va.

 

I love this picture of my groom Danny, he is busy directing people where to go. 

Ready and waiting.

 

Here is my beautiful bride Tiffany.

 

The bridal bouquet was created with pink and yellow cabbage roses, green hydrangea, and antique green hydrangea, pink snow berry from my garden and spray roses. We wrapped antique lace around the stems of the bouquet. This bouquet was so rich, elegant and classic.

 

Every guest was given a brown stone, and they were asked to leave a message for the bride and groom.

 

The couple wanted chandeliers hanging from trees at the ceremony area. This was a beautiful touch.

 

The ceremony took place under an arbor adorned with all the flowers of the day.

 

We lined the aisle with shepherds hooks and lanterns. The finishing touch was a very thick line of rose petals.

 

We used larger lanterns at the altar. This looked fabulous with the mini lanterns that were hung down the aisle.

Wait until you see the rest of this wedding. We will post the rest tomorrow.

Holly

This is my bride Kathy. I have just a few images to share, but  I will put up a full post when her photographs come in from my friend Stephanie at Cleverly Candid.

Kathy wanted an all orange bridal bouquet, so we used orange roses in three different shades. Freesia, tulips, crocosmia, and dahlias were the other  ingredients in this bouquet. Kathy was thrilled with her bouquet and assured me all the flowers of the day were exactly what she was hoping for.  The maids had a combination of red spray roses, yellow gerbers, green hydrangea, orange roses, and solidago. We added blue delphinium to the bouquets to complement the maids' navy blue dresses. 

  I loved the reaction I got from this bridesmaid. 

 

Here is the halo we created for the flower girl and the boutonnieres for the men.

 

Our centerpieces were created with the same wonderful mix of flowers that were used in the maids bouquets. The wedding and reception took place at the Belmont Country Club.

 

Our next wedding delivery took us to The Regency at Dominion Valley. This particular wedding was very special to me because I simply loved the groom. My couple has been married for 3 years. They even have an adorable little girl named Abby.  They have it all, but they had never had a wedding. The groom decided he wanted his wife Deidra to have her big wedding day, so he gave her this wedding. Here are a few photographs that I have of this event.

 

The bridal bouquet was created of black magic roses, black beauty roses and accents of gold.

 

Daughter Abby was the perfect flower girl. We made her a mini bouquet that matched her mothers bridal.

 

The ceremony took place in the ballroom at the country club.

 

Our centerpieces were a full mix of fall flowers. We used the black magic roses, burgundy hypericum berry, circus roses, yellow solidago and seeded eucalyptus.

 

The cake was also done in fall flowers and leaves.

 

Happy married life girls. We loved helping you with your weddings.

Holly

 If you have tried to reach me before, you may have realized I am a little hard to get on the phone. I am always on the go or designing for a wedding. Kristin and her mom were very persistent and patient. Luckily for me we finally connected, and I got to  help design the wedding flowers. I am really fortunate that they hung in there because this was an awesome mother and daughter and I loved working with them. I wish I had a better picture of Kristin's dress it was totally amazing.

 

I created the bouquet with combo roses, estelle roses, circus roses, mambo spray roses and hypericum. I also painted green sweet william a deep burgundy to give the bouquet  texture. I used my camilla tree leaves to collar the bouquet. Kristin told me she wanted a Holly Heider Chapple bouquet, which meant she was giving me a little creative license. It also meant I wanted her to have something from my garden. This time of year, that gets a little tricky, so the camillia leaves worked perfectly.

Here sister was the maid of honor. The maids carried smaller versions of the bridal, but they did not get the circus roses. Again, I loved these dresses. Super cute, with a fabulous olive green color. The hem of the skirt is tucked up under the gown, which makes this cocktail length gown really fun. 

The wedding took place in downtown Leesburg at the Presbyterian church. The reception followed at the Briar Patch Bed and Breakfast in Middleburg.

 

We made this fun piece for the place card table. I was also given flowers that were made out of pods to add to this piece.

 

We have been drying flowers for weeks for this wedding. My family wanted a combination of fresh and dried. There are lovely lanterns that are provided at the Briar Patch Inn, and the family wanted to use those with a wreath around the base. We hoped if we used some dried elements that the wreaths would be enjoyed and used for a long time.

 

We used pods, berries, grasses, hydrangea, butterfly bush dried, seeded euc, roses and many others to design the wreaths.

 

We created beautiful elevated designs for 6 of the tables. My iron stands were amazing in this space.

 

The bride really wanted a cornucopia, but we just did not know where to put one. We surprised her by creating this piece for the cake table. The bride's mother brought the basket to me the week before the wedding.

 

This was such a gorgeous fall wedding. Thanks to the Posh Planner for making everything so easy. I can't wait to see the real images from Saskia Photography.

Happy married life Kristin; we loved your wedding.

Holly

 

Kathy is getting married tomorrow. She confessed to me that she has been blog stalking and waiting for her night " In The Cooler".  I started "In The Cooler" by accident. I thought is would be fun for brides to see what this place looks like on a Friday night. Somehow it became a weekly thing; little did I know, brides would catch on and start… sneaking. Knowing that my brides will peek tonight makes me really nervous. The flowers are actually sleeping, and they have not gotten there finishing touches. I mean, how do you look when you're sleeping? Honestly, you can never tell how beautiful the flowers are when they are "In The Cooler." It is really dark in the cooler, and really cold, and in general not a great place to try and take pictures.  So remember when you are peeking, your flowers will be beyond beautiful on your wedding day. Every flower has been touched, loved, and designed to perfection. We are going to have a great day tomorrow. I have some really great brides and some awesome stories to tell. I also want to say we are in love with one of our grooms. He is giving his wife, yes wife, her dream wedding. My couple married 3 years ago and never had their wedding. Tomorrow is their big day. I am also head over heels for one very persistent mom and bride, and I am so grateful that they did not give up on me. I promise all the flowers this weekend will be worth the wait.

 

As usual there was laughter: lots and lots of laughter. 

 

We created wreaths with dried elements and fresh flowers. Carrie got a little Carried away. Get it?

 

This is our new favorite rose and we love, love, love,  this rose.  This was the first time we used her in bouquets, and we are thrilled with her performance. We  spent a lot of time smelling the roses tonight. 

 

Helen made the maids' bouquets while I worked on the bridal bouquets. "Made the maids," that sounds a little odd.

 

Friday night dinner at restaurant Fleur Chapple is becoming legendary. We have had so many late Friday nights that Evan has been very kindly making us fabulous dinners. I am starting to wonder if we are having late nights on Fridays just because the flower shop girls are hoping for a meal from Evan. I think they really want to have his big unbelievable dinners.  Tonight he made us red snapper and beef. We could either roll up the meat and rice in the lettuce or put it on tostadas.  Evan made fresh salsa for us to use with the tostadas and we used hoisin sauce for the lettuce wraps. 

 

Whoops, I forgot the fresh squash.

 

Next time we will take the pictures before we start digging in. After dinner we worked on boutonnieres and corsages.

 

We are leaving the mess for the morning and  heading up to bed; we start loading up the flower van at 9:00 am. We will be out for delivery all day long.

Night, night.

Holly

This is Margaret's wedding story. A picture is worth a thousand words …. 

 

Many thanks to  Paul Morse Photography for sending these images. Please check out his website and see his very extensive resume that includes his time at the White House. I also want to thank Liz Denny for her magnificent event planning skills. Liz was the social director for the Cheney's for 8 years, in addition to her event planning she owns Peridot Paper.


I loved this wedding.

Holly