After 6 full days of cleaning, we have moved back into our flower shop.

 

Do you think the floors were a little dirty? This photograph shows Evan and our son Riley hard at work, this was at about 9:30 in the evening on Monday night. 

 

Our always entertaining boys, took this opportunity to turn one of the potting benches into bunk beds. You can always count on Elijah and Sam for a little extra help.

 

We had piles of flower shop stuff all over the house. After days of sorting everything is back in its new space. The shop clean up was way harder than I had bargained for, and I spent two of the days with a fantastic migraine. Give me a wedding any day, this cleaning stuff is horrid. However, we now have a beautiful clean space. All props are in the new shed.  Not one cardboard box is visible in our shop ( until the flower delivery today) and we now have a pretty and functional space to work in. The pretty part was really important to me and the flower shop girls.  Evan most certainly thought making the shop pretty was insane.

 

I love this antique frame and print, I have been holding onto this for almost a year. I am so glad I got to finally hang this lovely print.

 

We have four work stations but some are big enough for several girls. Notice we still have a few problems like, this station has a drawer that always wants to be open. Annoying.

 

This is the mega work station, four women can stand at this table and we commonly do. No one wants to be away from the main table.

 

Work stations 3.

 

Station number 4.

 

Now for the pretty. I bought these white corner cupboards to soften the space around the cooler and to hold my favorite vintage vessels. I of course bought everything at On A Whim right here in Lucketts. I can always count on Mary Alice and Donna at On A Whim to help me find just the right pieces.

 

I adore this jelly cabinet I found in Mary Alice's booth. It has a ton of storage and it is perfect for my wedding magazines. It also holds a ton of milk glass.

 

I also grabbed this little blue stool. I just had to have it, it sits at the end of the big work station and will hold designs we finish or buckets of extra flowers. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, this

 

I am off to DC for a consult, flowers are coming first thing this morning for our bride Libby. I can't wait to show you what we have in store for her.

 

I am very excited to share these super sexy designs we created for the B-list bloggers conference. The kick off party for the conference was this past Friday Night in Alexandria at the Torpedo Factory.  I worked with the constantly creative Maria Cooke from Ritzy Bee Events and the always stupendous Design Cuisine to bring the evening to life. These images and the music for the event were provided by Elan Artists.

 

The B-list is a group of the top pro wedding bloggers in the country, having them all gathered in DC was awesome. The party had a slight graffiti theme, and this is why I wanted my husband Evan to create me new vases. I thought it would be really fun if I could write the bloggers names in chalk on vases. Evan trumped me by making the vases magnetic also. This meant I could create magnets with the bloggers logos and stick those on the vases as well as write on the vases. I was so proud of his designs, Evan hit a home run with these.

 

The Torpedo Factory was an incredible venue for an event and the night was truly remarkable. Design Cuisine really knows how to impress a crowd.

 

Truly the best cream of basil soup in the world.

 

OMG, I think these are pop rocks. I heard Design asking staff members for the Pop Rocks. I was so busy all night I never understood why in the world they were looking for pop rocks. Now that I see this picture, I think I understand.

 

 

Design Cuisine styled for different tables and named each place setting accordingly, I brought the flowers to match the looks. Billy Balls and hot pink ranunculus were used on this table to showcase rentals provided by DC Rental. This table was named the Dandy.

 

This table was the naturalist table, here we used lavender, seeded euc., orange ranunculus, thistle, hyacinthus and lambs ear.

 

Our Purist table was designed with white tulips, white ranunculus and green viburnum in one of my vintage containers.

 

This tables was the rebel, we used one orange pin cushion with several deep purple mini callas and fiddle head ferns. This design was totally contemporary and very cool.

 

I also made these little scrolls with the B-list logo and the names of the bloggers attending the event.  I hung the scrolls from the flower arrangements or displayed them on tables.

I have a little more to share with you on this event and my whole whirl wind weekend.

I will get back as soon as I get todays designs completed and meet with my brides.

 

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.



 

In this storm…

We have designed and delivered amazing flowers to our bride. 

We have received over 5,000 stems for one of our favorite non-profit organizations. 

We have filled and prepared  140 vases for our client. 

We designed pieces in the vintage containers I have found.

We have prepared for power outages.

We have made homemade chicken salad and bread.

We have tended to the children.

We got our first phone call from someone with  Martha Stewart.

  I have always hoped that someday Martha Stewart would take notice of our home based flower shop. This year it honestly was my goal. I got that call today, of course the call came in the middle of the largest snow storm to hit the DC area since 1922.  The executive saw my website and wanted me to deliver flowers for her mother in law. Nothing would have made me happier than to design a Holly Chapple for her. However I am afraid I will not be able to deliver. We are completely snowed in. For now I am just going to be really grateful that my bride has her flowers, that my flowers for this weeks event are safely in the cooler, that we still have our power, and that everyone is safe. Martha please, please, please, find me again. 

 

White freesia

 

Brunia
 
 

 

Green cabbage roses and green button mums.

 

White cabbage florets.

 

Arbratonoides

 

Eryngium or blue thistle

 

The amazing bridal bouquet. My bride was so thrilled and relieved when she saw her bouquet, she said I completely made her day. Notice her family cameo is the crowning glory.

 

The grooms boutonniere. This bout is my favorite part of Tricia's wedding story (besides the snow of course). Notice the little black stone on the bout. That is Tricia's necklace she was wearing this the first time the groom kissed her. He bent over and asked to see her necklace and then went in for the kiss. So sweet.

 

Maids bouquets have little hints of pussy willow. I loved these bouquets and know they were stunning with navy dresses.

 

Each centerpiece was designed in a different vintage compote bowl. The bride collected them for the wedding.

 

Vases lined up for this weeks event. I need to get 140 centerpieces to The National Harbor.  I think I will be missing the flower shop girls more than ever.

 

Thousands of carnations will be used on this job and yes I will make carnations look beautiful.

 

Just for me!

 

I have been gathering vintage containers for my brides, I took sometime yesterday to play with my new vessels. 

 

This is what I saw when I opened the sliding glass door.

 

Our cars and our dog.

 
 

Please remember me Martha, I live and breathe flowers, family, and fun.

I loved receiving these images from my bride Jackie, her flowers were a bit of a challenge. Jackie wanted to honor her mother by using essentially the same flowers she had used in her bridal bouquet.  The challenge was to take those same flowers and make something that would also reflect Jackie's style.  Baby's breath was commonly used in bridal bouquets in years past, so much so that most people still cringe when it is mentioned. I could see on Jackie's face she was worried about the baby's breath but that she wanted to use the flowers for sentimental reasons. I assured her we could make the bouquet reflect her style. Her mothers bouquet was essentially a huge puff of baby's breath, with gardenia's and stephanotis, it was also cascading. I suggested we create a natural stem bouquet with cream roses, stephanotis,  gardenias, and then place a small subtle collar of the baby's breath around the rim. The natural stem bouquet is the most commonly used bouquet at this time. All the flowers are gathered in the hands of the designer and the round shape is formed. The stems are left on the flowers and then wrapped in ribbon. In the olden days we chopped off the stems and put the flowers in little plastic bouquet holders. I am very proud of the final results, this bouquet ended up being a really lovely blending of two generations of brides.

The photography was done by Hyon Smith. The wedding took place at Whitehall Manor in Bluemont Virginia.

Maids carried clusters of the same cream rose with masses of white freesia.

 

For the centerpieces she went with the calla lilies because they were more contemporary and reflected her personal style.

 

It was fun to get these images and realize we had really helped to make these flowers work. It also made me really wonder if we will be seeing a return of baby's breath. With such a huge movement towards vintage and simplicity, I am willing to guess baby's breath is on it's way back. History repeats itself, don't they say.

Last year proved to be a really remarkable year. I had wonderful brides, and I also worked with some extraordinary vendors. One of my favorite things was meeting new leaders in the industry. Last year I had the pleasure of working with Paul Morse on two weddings. Paul Morse was the White House Deputy Director of Photography for 6 years.   Here are some images from one of our weddings last October. Thank you, Paul, for sharing these with us today. 

 

These photographs are such a treat. This time of year I have serious flower withdraw. It is also fun to see how diverse the trends were last year. I would consider this bouquet of all white mini calla lilies and white cymbidium orchids to be more contemporary or sleek and clean in design. We were constantly switching styles last year from sleek and clean to organic, earthy or woodsy to very vintage. It is fun for me to see how well we are able to handle each girl's desires. This wedding is simply stunning.

 

The maids carried the same style of bouquet but with peach callas. We wrapped the bouquets with bear grass to define the lines.

 

I love seeing the wedding. I always miss the really good part.

 

The wedding took place at Whitehall Manor, which is truly one of my favorite places to work. It is a pleasure to be on the property. Whitehall is simply perfect for weddings.

 

Look at this photograph of my bride and groom. I am in love with this picture. 

 

We did two styles of centerpieces. Our elevated centerpieces were large open cut white callas; we wrapped the base of each stem in green wire. I love the way it looks with the napkins. The low centerpieces were bowls of white dendrobium orchids with floating candles.

Beautiful day and beautiful evening.

I love being a part of a wedding that is truly lovely. Thank you Lauren and Jerry for allowing me to be a part of your day. Thank you Paul Morse for capturing the wedding and to Whitehall for always being just so beautiful.



 

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

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

–

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

Tiffany-

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

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

  The centerpieces I will showcase today are the rest of the designs created for the RSVP Catering event.  Some are very elaborate, and some quite frankly are simple gatherings of vintage items.  When choosing centerpieces for your wedding, first you will have to consider the overall look of your wedding.  The next most important decision will be establishing a budget for those designs.  Consider using vintage items picked up at antique stores or raiding the family china cabinet.  Using just a few blossoms in a creamer or a tea cup can look very fashionable without screaming budget.  Mostly use your thinking cap, and have fun.

  We took this cloche vase and stand right off my mantel and created this centerpiece.  Very unique, very easy and very beautiful.

  Sometime when you have upgraded linens or patterned linens you can save on your centerpieces.  This vessel was straight out of the kitchen and we used lemons and limes to bring this design to life. It is such a clean look.

  How simple and sweet.  From July until the first frost, Dahlia's are an awesome flower to use for DIY flower arrangements. Seek out local growers and farmers markets.  This teapot was purchased at a yard sale for .50 cents.

  A vintage candy bowl, again hit grandma's china cabinet.

  Totally clever for a barn wedding or outdoor barbecue. I have a collection of cow bells, believe it or not.

  Clusters of wheat and Billy Balls, also known as Craspedia.

  More local Dahlia's, displayed in a very fun vase.

  This buffet piece was created of all carnations. Yes, carnations. Designs created with carnations big or small can look just delicious.

  These lovely centerpieces are certainly for a larger flower budget they have close to 75 roses in each piece. We added 15 stems of Astilbe and 10 stems of Spray Roses just to push it over the edge.  These pieces are super yummy.

  We created this design as a entrance focal piece but in truth it would work really well on a buffet also.  Notice there are actually Artichokes in this design.

I would like to thank RSVP catering for allowing me to showcase my work.  I also am thankful for getting to work with their very talented designer and sales person Izzy
 ( Elizabeth Shotwell ).  Very wonderful evening, very awesome experience.  Thanks also to Jill at Washingtonian Magazine for coming by and taking a peek at all our hard work.

Holly

This is my new friend Izzy. Izzy is a event designer and planner for RSVP catering.  Izzy contacted me about working on a event she is planning. We hope to show potential clients all of the many different options available for their table decor.  I love this image, because it really shows the careful consideration and work that goes into planning a event. Here we are talking about flowers but it is also a sea of swatches, vessels and flying ideas. I actually love this part of design, this is the infancy stage of a really great event. I loved working with Izzy, her eyes actually glazed over when I came up with a idea that appealed to her. It was like watching a shop aholic when they hit the shoe rack.

In addition to the floral centerpieces we will be using some fun props and decor. I also have a small booth in a little antique shop in Lucketts called On A Whim.  Using vintage props and containers opens up a whole new world of ideas. This photo makes me smile, because for some reason the new Washingtonian Magazine Bride and Groom was out on the table. That is my lovely bouquet on the right page. I love seeing our work represented in such a incredible magazine.

We laid out the potential vases, or containers on the linens to get a feel for the overall look. I am very excited about showing you the end result in the next few weeks.

Holly