Peggy married several weekends ago at Rosemont Manor in Berryville, Virginia. Peggy was one of the many brides who used our Petals To Go program. In an effort to stay on budget Peggy picked up her flowers here at our house/flower shop. As you can see this worked out perfectly for Peggy and although she was on a budget she had our Holly Heider Chapple Flower designs at her wedding. LOVE THIS!!! Petals To Go brides must always pick up their flowers and we reduce the amount of consultation time for these brides as well. If you are interested in this program please let us know. Peggy carried a bouquet of amnesia roses, dark purple dahlias, purple stock, scabiosa pods, red orchids, purple clematis, and umbrella fern.

Peggy found these birch vases on Save On Crafts and we did the designing!! We just loved how these centerpieces turned out.

Here is a note from our happy bride…

Hi Holly,

Here are some of our wedding photos that include your beautiful flowers. I would be honored to have them be apart of a blog post on your site. I stalked your blog while I was planning our wedding because I was so excited with every post to see how beautiful your work was. I couldn’t wait to see my bouquet and all of the other flowers that you gave me such excellent guidance in choosing, and of course you did not disappoint. I adored my bouquet and everyone wanted to take the table centerpieces home! Thank you so much for working with me on our budget, it was truly a perfect day made ever so much more beautiful because it included your flowers.

Our photographer was Robert Holly,
Our wedding was at Rosemont Manor in Berryville,

Thank you for sharing your fabulousness with us brides on our special days!
Peggy

Happy married life Peggy and Rob, it was an honor to do your wedding flowers!!

Last week I had the pleasure of helping with an event called Cooley For The Cure. Chris Cooley hosts an auction and the proceeds go to fight cancer. The girls from Events In The City were chosen to handle the event and luckily for me, Holly Heider Chapple Flowers got to help. Many thanks also to Clyde’s Willow Creek that hosted the event, and also to Kristi Odom who captured these amazing images. Meeting Kristi was a true highlight of the evening. Meeting Chris Cooley was pretty awesome also. The above picture is one of my favorites of the evening. This is a picture of Chris and his mom, as Chris’s wife looks over them. Love this photo!!

Clyde’s is such an amazing restaurant and event venue!!

My favorite design of the evening was this hanging fall floral arrangement. When I did the walk through for the event I learned that the table for the auction items was going to be placed in the center of the patio. The patio features a huge trellis that encases the whole terrace,  so a hanging arrangement was screaming in my head and it worked like a charm.  In fact I would love to design a wedding in this space. I would most certainly do hanging arrangements here again.

Our designs for this night were perfectly fun and autumnal and not pink!!!

We used burgundy mums, free spirit roses, helios roses, yellow dill, seeded euc, blue delphinum, and berry to create these designs. Some of the designs also featured sunflowers. This event was actually designed on a Sunday after 7 weddings. We have been rocking it and finding time for charity. I am mighty proud of that.

Redskin fans turned out in big support of this event and in hopes of winning a piece of Redskin memorabilia. Many other local businesses also donated items to the event and it was awesome to see such community support.

Here is a fun picture of the event planners from Events In The City with Chris Cooley. From left to right that is Megan, Christie, Chris, Heidi, and Laura.  An extra big round of applause to Christie from Events In The City, this was one of her big projects this season. She is a superstar. Christie is also going to be one of my 2012 brides, so I am totally proud of her and all that she accomplishes.

I know Chris suffered an injury this week but I am sure all of the Redskin fans are thinking of him and his family!!

Our Saturday started bright and early at the 75th running of the Virginia Gold Cup Races. Holly Heider Chapple Flowers acted as the official flower sponsor for the event and we started designing each tent at 7am. Our orchid chandelier was sure to be the most unique design at the event, and we were so proud of this creation.

Isn’t this design a beauty? I would seriously love to do this piece at a wedding!!!!!

 Marriott Ranch was the caterer for the event. They met with each client and determined a general look and feel and then we had a meeting just 10 days before the races to bring the decor to life. The look of this tent was inspired by these incredible pillows and the goal was to make this tent look like a plantation house in The Keys. I loved the look and feel of this space and it truly felt like a plantation house. Palm trees and outdoor lounge furniture were used to finish the space

Once I saw these pillows I knew exactly what flowers to use. At this meeting we also agreed to add a blue linen into the tent. This was so freaking beautiful!!

As soon as all of the flowers were in place, we raced back to the studio. Our Saturday included 5 weddings in good old Loudoun County.  FYI we also provided flowers for two amazing weddings on Friday. I wouldn’t want you to think we were slacking any!!! I hope to have pictures of those weddings very soon.

This stunning bride is Caitlin and she married at Rust Sanctuary. She was in love with all white flowers. Her main request was that she have a really big bouquet and she loved tulips. White parrot tulips and white fringed tulips were flown in just for her from California. Her all white bouquet had over 100 white blooms… It was seriously amazing!! I am so glad that I was chosen to design this event. Caitlin seriously needed our resources and abilities to bring her vision to life. The details on this wedding were incredible!! Many thanks to Caitlin’s mom and dad for all of the their creations and support. Mom went shopping for all of the bell jars and dad made some unbelievably awesome teacup markers. Many thanks also to Simply Chic Jess who was the event planner on this wedding.

Her reception featured 3 king tables and 8 round guest tables. Each table had multiple designs. We filled endless bud vases, bell jars, and glass candlesticks to bring this look to life, in fact it was hundreds of vases or designs.

This was truly an amazing wedding. We left this wedding right at 4:00pm to arrive at the Belmont Country Club to design for our bride Kristine. Our design time on this wedding began at 4:30pm.

We have been dreaming of Kristine’s wedding for quite some time.  Working with this bride and her mom was wonderful. Their complete faith and trust in my was so inspiring and I felt compelled as usual to absolutely wow this family….

Her bridal bouquet was created with hot pink cabbage roses, purple roses, lavender spray roses, purple foliage’s, blue berry, purple dahlias, lavender antique hydrangea, and celosia.

Our goal for this wedding was to create something warm and lovely, classic, and romantic but formal. The berry tones of this wedding mixed with the vibrant hot pink were to die for, and the colors were all chosen by my bride. My big challenge came when I was asked to do one of my popcorn stands. I love these little stations but so far I have only done rustic popcorn stands. For this wedding I had to create a formal glamorous popcorn stand. Nice little challenge, but I rocked it. The day I met Kristine, I happened to go to On A Whim Antiques. These little gold nesting tables were calling Kristine’s name, so I bought them. I knew that I would use them on her wedding, I just did not know how. Hello popcorn stand!! In fact every decor element on this table came from On A Whim except for grandmas punch bowl!!

We even painted little chalkboards gold the morning of the wedding!!!

While we handled this wedding Designer Gaby handled our Lansdowne wedding. In fact one of our Friday weddings was at Lansdowne. Designer Linda and Whitney covered our weddings at Weather Lee Farm, and Sunset Hills Vineyard.  Our 7th wedding was at the Thomas Birkby House and it was for our dietitian bride. Her adorable veggie bouquet can be seen in my last post.

Late in the evening I made it to Sunset Hills Vineyard to capture these pictures that warmed my heart!!

In addition to all we did this past weekend we also made a pie delivery to our Weather Lee Farms wedding. My daddy makes the best pie, which he offers at his farmers market, Heiders Farm Market. This year I have been taking dads pie to events. The amazing girls from Events In The City made this fabulous sign for the pie station giving my dad a big shout out!!! This just kills me because it’s my parents hard work ethic that has made me so successful. At 73 years old my daddy works 7 days a week, and he even bakes pie. It’s because of my parents that I can handle this big business and this big family. They were self employed with a home based business and five daughters, and they taught me everything about working hard and raising a big family. Go mom and dad Heider, Go team Chapple.

As you can see this was a truly amazing weekend for us. We reached new heights and we are so proud of our designs. As we grow our focus remains on quality and customer service and seriously, perfectly, inspired designs. We did it again!!!!

You may have noticed I skipped the last two days of blogging. We have been so busy here the last few weeks that it’s a miracle I have not missed more days.  Thankfully today I have these really great images taken by photographer and stylist Vicki Grafton.  Vicki did the event design on this wedding, I did the florals, and my amazing husband Evan handled the draping. This project turned out incredibly well and once again I found myself designing with my precious roses from NYC.  Vicki was able to capture a ton of detail shots before the wedding and we are so lucky to have these incredible photos.

The bride made this chandelier featuring 1,000 cranes. This piece looked awesome with Evan’s drapes.

I love all of the details and styling Vicki provided for this wedding!!!

The plum, taupe, and gold tones were perfect for fall.

This was another wonderful Loudoun wedding, and another fabulous event designed by the Chapple team!! Go team Chapple!!  Many thanks also to Vicki Grafton for the styling and the photography. The stables at Bluemont Vineyard certainly are seeing a lot of the Chapple’s lately.

You will often see many of the DC area wedding professionals use the tag line serving DC, MD, and Virginia. I don’t typically think they mean all in the same weekend or even in the same day. Holy Holly, this was seriously one amazing weekend. What we accomplished is sickly ridiculous. I am not quite sure how we pulled it off as it was mighty stressful at times, but we provided flowers for one wedding that was picked up on Friday.  On Sat. we had a wedding that was at the Rust Sanctuary, The Strathmore Music Center in MD,  a private residence in Middleburg, VA, and we designed at the Hay Adams Hotel In Washington DC.  On Sunday we designed flowers at the barn at the Bluemont Vineyard, and we traveled deep into Virginia to Hume to do a huge event at the Marriott Ranch, yes a real ranch. In addition to that Evan did major lighting and drape decor for the wedding in Middleburg, and the barn at Bluemont. I am not lying to you, or exaggerating when I say we worked non stop every minute of every day. Thankfully our designs did not suffer and we provided our standard Holly Chapple Flower  quality, which is crucial since I was preaching last week about service. We had lots of help last week and to all of those involved thank you for your extra hands!!!

This bridal bouquet, maids bouquets, and centerpieces in birch vases, were picked up on Friday.

These bouquets went to the Montgomery family. I have been friends with this family for years so designing Betsy’s wedding flowers was quite the honor.

These flowers went to Middleburg, without Eli of course. For some reason the children consistently like to climb in the vans as we are trying to load and go…… this causes a little extra stress.

Evan spent a full week creating drapes and hanging lights for this event. It may actually be one of the prettiest event designs I have ever seen. This was a working barn/man cave before Evan got a hold of it.

I have this one iphoto image of how the venue looked the night of the wedding. This was Evans big project for the week. I can’t wait to see the rest of these pictures. Many thanks to the girls at Events In The City who allowed us to spread our designer wings. Go team Chapple!!!

Designer Debbie Headed to The Strathmore in Md, with a load of beautiful fall flowers. This wedding featured all elevated designs. We decorated 3 mantels, provided flowers for the piano, guestbook, and we even carved pumpkins for aisle decor. I so wish I had more pictures of this.

And I designed in the room with a view of the White House. The rooftop of the Hay Adams Hotel, truly boasts one of the finest views of the White House. The hotel is so spectacular and it was an honor to be on this event with the girls from Simply Chic Events. This table was set up as the altar. To the right of the table the doors were open and you could clearly see the White House as the couple took their vows. There was also a gentle breeze blowing in through the doors and the sun was thankfully shinning.

Clusters of flowers were tied to the chairs going down the aisle and the look was fabulous.

The bridal bouquet featured cabbage roses, and cafe au lait dahlias. This was a very lovely bouquet.

You can see the White House behind the wedding cake!! We left this event at 8:40 in the evening only to begin again designing bright and early the next morning.

This bridal bouquet was created for our first wedding on Sunday. We used our favorite special rose from NYC called silver finesse, however this rose kept getting delayed and the fear and anxiety this caused was a little more than I ever want to feel again. Due to that fact that the roses were delayed until 1pm on Sat. we were designing this wedding right up to the last minute. In addition to the silver finesse we also used plum dahlias, sahara roses, and grey brunia on this wedding. I ordered an extra count of another rose just for insurance but I got my way in the end!!  We created maids bouquets, bouts, corsages, lots of centerpieces, and we did the draping decor on this wedding as well.  Our friend Vicki Grafton was the stylist on this event so she picked up all of the flowers and set up the event.  Here is another Iphone shot of Evan’s barn decor on this wedding. Check out the drapes he sewed, you can see him holding the drapes up in the back of the barn. Go Evan, he really was the superstar this weekend.

Our next stop was the Marriott Ranch but I am going to save that for tomorrow. This post is getting too long… can you imagine how the weekend felt?

Chris Cooley hosts the 3rd Annual Cooley’s for the Cure!

Ashburn, VA — October 4, 2011 – Washington Redskins All-Pro Tight End Chris Cooley will host the 3rd Annual Cooley’s for the Cure auction to raise funds for breast cancer charities at Clyde’s Willow Creek Farm on Monday, October 10th from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. The event is held in honor of Cooley’s mother, Nancy Cooley, who is a breast cancer survivor.

General admission tickets to the auction will be $65 per individual and include food and an open beer and wine bar. They can be purchased at the door, or by going to www.thecooleyzone.com.

The auction will feature memorabilia worn and signed by Cooley as well as his original pottery and drawings. In addition to the artwork, Cooley’s teammates and friends will support his cause by donating and auctioning a variety of Redskins memorabilia, including autographed jerseys, footballs, and helmets.

Special guests from 106.7 The Fan will be onsite conducting live player interviews from Clyde’s.

Charities Supported – This year, Cooley has selected two charities that had a personal impact on his mother’s treatment.
The IIIB’s Foundation – The IIIB’s Foundation helps to comfort women through the pain associated with breast cancer surgery and treatment. They are celebrating their seventh anniversary of providing Bosom Buddy Baskets as gifts to breast cancer survivors to ensure that no woman faces breast cancer alone.
The Reinsch Pierce Family Center for Breast Health at Virginia Hospital Center provides the most advanced and dedicated care of the patient with breast disease. The first breast center in the State of Virginia to be nationally-certified by the American College of Surgeons’ National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, they combine state-of-the-art breast disease diagnosis and management with a multidisciplinary team approach, matching their comprehensive skills and knowledge to the unique needs of every individual patient.

Other sponsoring organizations include:
·      Events in the City
·      Holly Chapple Flowers
·      DC Rental
·      Clyde’s Willow Creek Farm

–       More   –

Event Details
Location: Clyde’s Willow Creek Farm, Ashburn, VA

Date: Monday, October 10, 2011

Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Tickets: $65 per person, includes food, beer, and wine
Tickets can be purchased at the door or by going to www.thecooleyzone.com

We have just this one very special image from our work just two weekends ago. I love looking at this photograph, it gives me inspiration and faith as our company moves forward with our new offerings. The drape and lighting Evan provided on this  job was truly amazing. As we approach another big barn install I had to give a shout out to my hubby Evan. Since Evan left his career of 20 years he has been working here at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers to build his own division of our studio. Now that he is self employed he is also working 14 hour days. I am totally impressed with his ability to see my vision and  then his ability to bring it all to life. The things he has accomplished in 6 short weeks are truly remarkable. Happy day Evan, I bet you will be too busy working to even see this post, but I love you and I am proud of you. We rock!!!

Lindsay and Devon married this past Saturday at Breaux Vineyard. Lindsay and her groom were absolutely stunning and the wedding party looked magnificent. The tones and colors of this wedding were perfect.  When I saw Lindsay’s dress, I was in awe.

The beading on her gown was perfect with our decor and everything was sparkling so beautifully.

The bridal bouquet was created with silver brunia, silver dusty miller, silver finesse roses, white dahlias, white cabbage roses, sahara roses, spray roses and calcynia heather. A brooch from the brides family was added to the bouquet for the finishing touch.

The maids bouquets were created with Don’s Dahlias, silver brunia, dusty miller, seeded euc, sahara roses, plum ranunculus, plum scabiosa, spray roses, and silver finesse roses.

Bouts, were created with hanging amaranthus, spray roses, seeded euc, and scabiosa flowers.

The tables were designed with a mix of our silver stands, crystal beaded stands, and mercury glass. All of the above listed flowers were used to create the centerpieces but masses of peegee hydrangea, white hydrangea and wine toned snapdragons were added into the big designs.

I am so truly glad we at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers were working this wedding. Our flowers and our service came in mighty handy on this day.  I would like to applaud Lindsay for her calm and graciousness on this day. Due to the weather things were not quite as she had imagined them but her ability to find the beauty in the day and focus on her groom and family was remarkable. I don’t think I have ever been this proud of a bride. The rain certainly changed everyone’s vision of the day but with a glowing bride and glowing flowers, everything was magical!!  I am also sharing with you a note from my bride…

Holly,

I wanted to send you a quick email and say thank you again.  I was/still am, completely blown away by how gorgeous your flowers were. They were without a doubt the most stunning flowers I have ever seen and I am so excited that they were a part of my wedding!  I never in my life thought I would have such gorgeous flowers at my wedding. You are so gifted, your creativity is amazing!  Even though the weather that day was terrible the inside of the tent was stunning thanks to your flowers and candle centerpieces.  And, not only were your flowers amazing, but so where you.  I so appreciate your help designing the alter for the ceremony at the last minute and also helping to shield me from all the guests when I was walking into the tasting room.  I will without a doubt recommend you to anyone and everyone that I know who is getting married.  Again, thank you so so so much for helping create my dream wedding. I know that no other florist would have been able to do what you did.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Lindsay

Happy married life Lindsay & Devon, we are so happy we were your floral designer!! This was yet another beautiful Loudoun Wedding.

Today was awesome!! In a earlier blog post today I announced our Chapel Designers 2012 NYC trip. I am excited to say that we had lots of interest in the trip and many designers have signed up. The trip to NYC had us totally excited today but the real gift or buzz of the day was the arrival of almost 200 dahlias from Don. This shipment was super fun because we got to see some varieties that we have not yet worked with. We are doing an orange, hot pink, and red wedding on Sunday and because each design can be slightly different we bought the dahlias in bulk. This shipment of dahlias is the second delivery from Don this week or actually maybe it’s the third.

This dahlia was the star of the day. It was so big that we were comparing it to Gabby’s six month baby bump.

In addition to our bright colorful wedding, we have a beautiful soft peach and green wedding.

These flowers will become the bridal bouquet first thing tomorrow morning. Yep, that’s right I am waiting until tomorrow to design this bouquet.  I am such a slacker!!!

A really LITTLE place card arrangement!!

Here are the bouquets for our wine and taupe toned wedding. Unfortunately the rest of this wedding is hidden in the back of the cooler and I could not get you a sneak peak!!

We also have an orange, white, and gray wedding.

As you can see it was another full and amazing week here at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers.  Oddly enough I will end this post with Sami’s bouquet from last weekend.

This bouquet was taken out of water and given to our bride Sami at 2:30 in the afternoon last saturday. At the end of the wedding the wedding planner asked me to bring the bouquet back to my flower shop. We arrived back in the studio at 1:30 in the morning. The bouquet was out of water almost 12 hours.  3 days later my friends at Waterford Past Thymes were contracted to pick up the bouquet. When they came to get this bouquet it had been out of water for 12 hours, been used for countless photos and of course was a part of an important ceremony. It was 5 days old and it still looked incredible. This photograph and this story speaks so strongly about the quality of our designs. I am so proud of all that we create, accomplish, and design around here!!

Who wants to meet me in NYC? I am beyond happy to announce that the Chapel Designers will gather again in NYC next March 2012. This year we will meet with the always entertaining and truly remarkable event designer Tara Guérard. The arrival date is set for March 11th, we will be gathering at the Hilton New York Fashion District and a limited amount of discounted group rate rooms are available here. The hotel is situated a few walking blocks away from the flower market and the offices of Martha Stewart. We will be gathering until the 14th of March. I have included a link in this post where you can purchase your tickets. The ticket includes your involvement in the conference with Tara on Monday March 12th, we also have designated conference room time scheduled for open discussions with me Holly Heider Chapple, Jennifer Ederer of Modern Day Floral, Alicia Schwede owner of Bellafiori Events and editor of the Flirty Fleurs Blog and author of Bella Bouquets,  We will also attend the NYC flower market together on a scheduled tour, so keep posted as the activities and offerings will continue to change. I am also hoping and praying we can add in a little David Beahm. David was our coach and mentor last year and this trip would not be the same without him. This fee does not include your hotel stay, transportation or food. We hope to be adding some additional classes as well and as those opportunities develop we will post them and add them to the offerings. If you would like to read about our trip last year or follow the adventures of the Chapel Designers you can find these posts on my sidebar under the tag Chapel Designers. You can also follow the Chapel Designers on Twitter. This gathering of designers in NYC began by a simple little question on Twitter ” Who wants to meet me in New York?” The trip resulted in amazing relationships and resources for all that attended. I am certain this year will be as rewarding and amazing!!!

Here is the bio of Tara:

Tara Guérard
Founder and President, Tara Guérard Soirée
Recognized as one of the nation’s leading tastemakers, Tara Guérard has earned a widespread reputation for her exceptional ability to create spectacular settings celebrating life’s most anticipated occasions.
For over a decade, clients across the United States – from “bright young things” to celebrity hostesses and CEOs – have turned to Tara for her southern-cum-contemporary affairs and impeccably executed events. With a core business in event design, Tara has expanded her brand to include commercial and residential interior design as well as custom invitation suites and printed pieces. In response to the growing demand for Tara Guérard Soirée services, a New York studio opened in the spring of 2009 to bring Tara’s unique vision to clients from the northeast and beyond.
A noted style expert, Tara has been featured in Food & Wine, InStyle, Southern Accents, Southern Living, the Style Network, Fine Living, Town & Country Weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings and on The Martha Stewart Show, among other media outlets. Additionally, Tara is a regular on the “blog” circuit, dispensing tips and advice on a number of design related topics.
Tara’s debut book, Southern Weddings: New Looks from the Old South (Gibbs-Smith) was published to rave reviews in 2007, and her second volume, Weddings by Tara Guérard (Gibbs-Smith) premiered in early 2010, further establishing her as an authority on gracious entertaining.
Tara lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband, Russell, their sons, Aiken and Myers and Springer Spaniel, Georgia. Please visit www.taraguerardsoiree.com to experience Tara’s work first hand.

A sweet baby girl was also born to Tara just last week.

I look forward to seeing you all in New York!!