With 7 kids to consider our choices this week were beyond brave but we did it!!!! My husband Evan resigned from his full time career to start his own lighting and decor business. Evan will also be coming on board at HollyHeiderChappleFlowersLTD. to help me manage the day to day operations. Evan has been a telecom engineer and project manager for the last 19 years, prior to that he was a certified electrician. All along Evan has been creating props for my business, and recently he started doing lighting and pipe and drape for our clients. Evan has also been handling a lot of the accounting and managerial work here. Evan has constantly dreamed of having his own business and he has put his wants and interests aside so that we could have his steady income and medical insurance. Somehow this week we just found the courage and the faith to believe we could make this work. Being chained to his career because of medical insurance was killing us all. With the constant growth and opportunity right here we fully believe this was a sound choice. All of a sudden instead of feeling burdened by his career, we see endless possibilities.

Evan designed this tent decor for The Virginia Gold Cup.

Here is Evan working on one of his lighting installations.

I have never ever met anyone that I trust as much as Evan so I feel confident that our clients will benefit from his meticulous and amazing abilities. I have to admit we feel very excited encouraged and free. All week long we have laughed about the challenges we will encounter as a married couple that works together, but I really think we can do this. I wake up thinking things like now both of us will be home with the kids, Evan can help get everyone to preschool, now we will have 2 people to pack lunches in the morning, he will also have time to build me that new arch I have been dreaming of. I am so excited that we will be working as a team, and we will be able to offer our clients even more. Evan has had a business license for several years, but will now have the time to act as a sub contractor to the telecom industry, electrical industry, and run his business and support mine. With his construction experience and skills he will also be offering decor and prop fabrication and design, so if you need something built for your event let us know. We still have a lot to figure out like medical insurance and new business structure but we have had an amazing week dreaming of all of Evan’s options. I have already thought of a 1,000 things I want him to do. My daughter Abby heard me say under my breath ” I am so excited, I can’t wait until this starts because I am going to suck the life out of you” this caused a lot of laughter. Suddenly my husband is not questioning things like blogs, twitter, and even iPhones. I am so happy for my children, happy for me because I get the best partner ever, and I am really happy for our clients. This company just got doubly strong and amazing. Now we are gonna fly!!!!!!

 

Any feedback, advice, help, support or work you have will be welcomed and appreciated!!

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Desi and Rachel

Today we delivered wedding flowers to cousin Rachel who is my niece by marriage. The flowers were designed by the brides sister Desi, who is also my niece, designer Morgan from Petals and Hedges  and by me. This was a true team effort.  Desi is the landscape designer at Morgans garden center. Not only does Morgan have the garden center she is also a floral designer for weddings and special events. We have been referring Morgan and Desi for events when our studio is fully committed for a date. Spending time together designing ensures that my referral is solid.

Desi made this amazing bouquet for Rachel with just a little bit of help from me, Aunt Holly. The flowers and foliage’s Desi and Morgan brought from the garden center were fabulous and they certainly added just the right touch of magic to our designs.

The cafe au lait dahlias from California were truly amazing this week.

Vintage cake plates and old wooden boxes were used to hold the centerpieces.

It was fun to help with this very special wedding and really fun to design with Morgan and Desi.  I am sure they are still in shock from their chaotic visit to design in my studio. While we worked on Rachel’s flowers they saw me deal with the kids, do consultations, work on a photo shoot in my own yard, and supervise 3 other weddings. Yep they got a serious birds eye view of life at HollyHeiderChappleFlowers.  Without further delay here are some of the designs “in the cooler.”

This fabulous bridal bouquet is beyond beautiful, four different types of cabbage roses were used to create the bouquet. It is so full and so large that this is about a 1/4 of the bouquet. I have never seen or smelled anything like this bouquet. LUSCIOUS!!!

This wedding features the softest pinks, creams, and peaches with just a pop of silver.

Soft vintage blues and greens were used for our Oatlands wedding, our Sunday bride is going orange, yellow, and green.

Here is one last photo of a super sweet little bouquet that was left over from yesterdays photo shoot.

Hope you have a great night, and keep following we have some pretty big news we need to share!!!

Yesterday we did a fun little photo shoot right here in our yard. Some of the girls from WeddingWire were kind enough to come spend some time in HollyHeiderChappleFlowerLand. We created 5 different table designs, aeach look was so beautiful. Many thanks to OnAWhimAntiques and PartyRentalLTD. for allowing us to use some of your amazing linens and furniture.  Here are a few quick pics from one of the designs. The rest of the images will be seen soon on the WeddingWireblog.

Happy Friday and we will see you later tonight with our “in the cooler” post.

Last weekend proved to be a bit of a challenge as we were servicing several events, and of course we were dealing with the extreme heat. Thankfully it looks like it was yet again another successful weekend for us atHollyHeiderChappleFlowers.  In addition to all of the events our family was also packing for our scheduled vacation at the beach. Designing for a rehearsal dinner, four weddings, and one huge corp. party was a lot; packing the Chapple clan for the beach was beyond a lot!!!! We have safely arrived at the beach and I am claiming some much deserved family time. I may have to let some of the blogging go, but if I have free time I will give you some posts. For now here are some of the designs from last weekends amazing events.

These were the centerpieces at our RiverFarm wedding.

These designs belonged to our wedding at the Hay Adams.

Each piece was truly special and amazing and we are so proud of all we accomplished. Now I am headed to the beach.

Last fall I had the pleasure of designing these amazing flowers for Marisa. Her wedding weekend happened to be the busiest weekend in the history of HollyHeiderChappleFlowers. In my mind and even in my iphoto gallery it’s called the seven wedding weekend. Marisa’s wedding was 2 hours from our studio, because of the distance from our home, and the fact that I already had a full weekend booked I attempted to decline this event. Each time I referred Marisa to another floral designer she would circle back to me. Marisa also agreed to pick up her flowers if I would just design them for her. I considered here persistence a huge honor  and I jumped into the art of designing Marisa’s wedding flowers and forgot about the challenge of the big weekend ahead. As is typical things just have a crazy way of working out here. Oddly enough that very same weekend a young girl named Elodie happened to come from France and intern here. With an additional pair of designer hands we sailed through the seven wedding weekend and even found the time to make the flower delivery. This particular weekend taught me so much about who we are as a company, a family, and how we care for our brides. Today I believe we can do anything, it’s also comforting to know I have extra designer hands in France, Canada, Michigan, Kentucky, Chicago, Colorado, Tennessee, California, and Ohio. I know we can do anything, I have the friends, the crew, and the family to help me make it happen. Things beyond my imagination are always becoming realities here, who would have thought that an intern from France would land on my doorstep in the height of the fall wedding season, and who would have thought that a young mother designing flowers in her kitchen would become a nationally recognized floral designer.  Yep fun and amazing things are always happening here. Now finally, here are the flowers from one of our most beautiful weddings last year and here is my bride Marisa who taught me so incredibly much.

This bouquet is a true beauty, it featured Don’s dahlias in white and orange, seeded euc, orange spray roses, antique green hydrangea, blue thistle, blue privet berry, veronica and sea star fern. Texture and color were the reason this bride came to me!!!

We provided a handmade garland for the families chuppah. We wired, seeded euc, italian ruscus and plumosa grass to create this garland.

The centerpieces we created for Marisa absolutely made my heart sing, they were truly some of my most favorite designs last year. Our fabulous wooden boxes were found for this wedding and every time I use them I think of this bride. Marisa also introduced me to bunny tails. See the little fluffy grass, this was on my brides wish list, and it was the first time I got to design with this texture. Loved it!!!

This wedding had a super happy ending, and it’s one that I will cherish forever.

Photographs by Michelle Frankfurter.

So excited to see we are featured today on the United With Love Blog. This is great news because we are SO BUSY receiving this weeks amazing blooms that I neglected to put up a post. So hop on over to my favorite DC blog and see a little Holly Heider Chapple Flowers. 

Photography by David Abel, many thanks to this amazing photographer I am so happy to have this wedding showcased. I adored this bride and this wedding. Thanks for stopping by today!!!

As you know, I often rename my brides. This happens when there is something that stands out about the bride or the theme of the wedding. Here are the images from Library Brides wedding. Erin is a teacher who loves and adores reading and books. If I remember correctly the groom also enjoys this passion. Erin first came to me with the idea of incorporating old books into her wedding, and she also mentioned that she wanted to use library cards for her place cards. A few days after Erin left my studio I found fabulous little vintage library card catalog boxes. These were found at OnAWhim antiques, my go to spot when I need inspiration. Hence Erin became my Library bride. In addition to doing the flowers for Erin we were hired to set up and style her wedding. Which meant we took all of the amazing things Erin created and found, mixed those with our props, and created one fabulously cohesive and polished look.

Erin carried sahara roses, peach juliet roses, cafe au lait dahlias, white ranunculus, white majolica spray roses, dusty miller, silver brunia, and clematis vine. Small paper flowers and paper leaves were added into Erin’s bouquet, all of the boutonnieres and corsages, as well as the centerpieces.

Maids carried clusters of white dahlias, clematis vine, peach stock, sahara roses, spray roses, dusty miller, and greens.

We created large arrangements for the altar, lined the aisle with petals, and hung shepherds hooks with mason jars to decorate the ceremony area.

The bride created paper wreaths and decoupaged monograms. Because the bride had so many lovely details to display this was another reason why she wanted us at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers to style the event.

Designer Debbie was responsible for the set up of this wedding and I knew I could trust her to style everything beautifully and of course she did an amazing job. I loved the place card table she designed.

The tables were absolutely inspired. Each design truly made my heart sing!!! I was so thrilled with everything when I arrived to check on my bride.

21 tables each designed differently, that is a serious amount of designing on site but we succeeded.  Erin’s wedding was truly a perfect event. We loved being involved from theme development to execution, we knocked this out of the ball park.  Wait until you see what else we did this weekend!!!

It’s 12:30 a.m., and we are just calling it a day here at Holly Chapple Flowers. Many thanks to designer Debbie, who stayed super late to go over all of the flower orders and contracts for next week.  This was one busy day and we are bone tired!!!  I am envious of people who will be enjoying a long holiday weekend, we will be working, working, working!!!! Here are some of the lovely designs created for this weeks weddings, and one of those weddings happened to be today.

Now I am off to bed, tomorrow is a big day for me!! I get to go shopping with our oldest sons fiance, we are looking for a wedding dress. So exciting!!!

Katie and Mike married last August at Woodend Sanctuary. The day was captured by the amazing Kate Headley Photography and the event was designed by friend and new mommy Ashley Summers of Table 6 Productions.  Today this wedding is being featured on Style Me Pretty and you can see the whole wedding here.

Katie carried white cabbage roses, white ranunculus, whte lizzy, white freeisa, white stock, and white spray roses. The look was very soft and romantic.

Pomanders or kissing balls were created with spray roses and baby’s breath for our little flower girls.

Maids carried peach juliet roses, sarhah roses, scabiosa pods, pink spray roses, dusty miller, queen annes lace, white ranunculus and seeded euc.

Cream hydrangea, spray roses, scabiosa pods, and lots of roses were used to create the centerpieces.

The head table featured elevated designs. These designs were also the same arrangements used back of the aisle during the ceremony.

Please make sure you stop by to see the full post on Style Me Pretty, the details from this wedding were truly remarkable. Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTD. is a Little Black Book member of the Style Me Pretty blog.

Many of you know I went to NYC in March, while there I found and fell in love with Harvest Roses in NYC . I  am a total quality snob, seriously, I am pretty hard to please when it comes to the perfection I expect from a flower, after all they are a thing of nature and blemishes happen. I am in constant pursuit of new product, new ideas, and new inspiration, this natural desire for more, or better, keeps us at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers always reaching a little higher.  Thankfully I found Harvest.

This first lovely, lavender, pink rose is called Lady Moon. Her formation is magnificent!! Just 2 days ago I sat with a bride who needs these, sold, sold, sold!!

This rose is in search of a name, but for now it can be purchased under the code of HAL6113. I think the name Holly Chapple sounds wonderful for this rose, it seems to have my name written all over it!!!

This beautiful white rose is called Snowball, I am always in pursuit of a worthy white rose. She is a winner.

The absolutely orangest rose I have ever seen. They call her Orangina.

Now here is a beauty beyond belief, El Fuego. The “Peruvian wonder” designers, said this  name means “the fire” I think that is ridiculously perfect for this rose.

One last treasure, I am also purchasing my freeze dried roses from Harvest.

If you by chance need dark purple roses, black roses, or any other impossible to find option, consider using these freeze dried beauties from Harvest.

To my friends in Chicago who have yet to purchase from Harvest, I just had to tempt you to make the call to Harvest. Just don’t tell my friend Niv if you are a Bears fan, for some reason that is a problem for him. Personally, I could care less about football and team loyalties, just get me the roses!!! Go Chapel Designers!!!

If you would like to read more about Harvest roses and their varieties, check out this blog post on the Martha Stewart blog. I guess she found them first!!