In October 2009 almost 2 years ago, I provided the flowers for Lauren’s wedding at Whitehall Manor. It was one of our favorite weddings that Fall, we loved the  unique blend of pee gee hydrangea, and peach tones. Lauren and her mom Jackie, have made a point to stay in touch with us and we consider that a huge honor. Lauren’s mom Jackie is one of our all time favorite MOB’s and she is one of our greatest fans. We recently designed the flowers for Lauren’s baby shower, baby number 1 is on the way and it was so fun to get to help with that project as well. We are so excited for this growing family.  Here are some pictures from Lauren’s wedding.

The couple married in front of a huge arched window at Whitehall.

Lauren carried pee gee hydrangea, dill, sahara roses, champagne roese, vendella roses, white spray roses and white stock.

This wedding was loaded with lots of fun little details, wonderful people, and beautiful flowers. We loved this wedding and this family.

All photographs were taken by The Pro’s.

We have a busy week ahead of us with the potential launch of our new blog, the 86th running of the VA. Gold Cup and one very special bride.  We will be designing, designing, designing. I wanted to quickly show you some of last weeks creations. First up, the rehearsal dinner flowers for one of our events. They were so lovely!!

This event had a really unique and wonderful theme, but I am keeping it a secret until it's big release!

I made this lovely bouquet as an extra bridal bouquet for our Friday bride. I simply could not resist these tree peonies growing in my garden. Once I had finished the design we feared that the huge pollen area of the tree peony could potentially mess up my brides Monique Lhuillier gown. Being always diligent we decided to literally seal in the pollen. We used a paper funnel and spray on acrylic and the pollen could not budge. I loved this bouquet so much I just had to create it. Casey and Miriam got to do the doctor work of adhering the spray.

Our first wedding of the weekend was at the Sunset Room at the National Harbour.

Our bride and groom married on this pier. Photographer Abby Jiu was there to capture the day and I will share the real images from this event very soon. I loved this bride and her mom, we had so much fun designing their wedding. It was also a pleasure to work with Design Cuisine, Chris Laich, and Frost Lighting.

The Place card design.

We designed with 3 different types of centerpieces our first design was a square glass cube. All of the centerpieces featured viburnum from my garden, purple carnations, stock, baroness cabbage roses, tulips, and spay roses. Orchids were added to our taller designs.

Half of the elevated designs were in pilsner vases and half of the designs featured manzanita branches with hanging votives. This was a beautiful wedding.

Saturday's wedding was at Strong Mansion in Dickerson MD. This is such a beautiful wedding location, possibly one of the prettiest views and reflecting pools I have seen.

The ceremony is in front of the reflecting pool. The bride can walk out of the woods or come down the aisle.

I was able to capture this image of the bride and groom right after their "first look."

The bridal bouquet was created with deep red peony, purple hyacinthus, purple phlox, astrantia, blue privet berry, aggies, lavender lilac, purple anemones, and deep purple vandas.  A vintage brooch was pinned onto the bouquet.

A pink peony bud with black privet berry was used for the grooms bout.

Maids carried bouquets that consisted of all the flowers of the day.

Each table featured either our crystal stands, glass votive holders, mercury glass, or vintage glass containers.

Our place card table was to die for…

and the cake was simply stunning.

We may be blogging a little less this week but we will be here working, working, working!!

HC

As I anxiously await the next issue of Bride & Groom by Washingtonian Magazine, I am reminded how much fun it was to work on the last issue. You may not know this but we were asked to supply the bouquets for their big photo shoot in Waterford VA.  The shoot was titled Chapel Belles and being a Chapple, I thought that was very fitting.

We invaded the dark and sleeping little village of Waterford at 6:00 am. This is known as "Call time." The props, dresses, makeup, and flowers were all set up in the basement of the Church. Let me also say that Editor in Chief Jill Hudson Neal and most of the Washingtonian staff were also on site at 6am, extremely impressive. Knowing how much work goes into one of these shoots gives me a whole new and huge appreciation for this fabulous magazine. As models, artists, editors and directors got acclimated, scaffolding was built next to the church so that lighting, smoke machines, and photographers could all get where they needed to be. Waterford is a a small historic community in Loudoun County, and the residents are known for being very particular. It was so fun to see the people of the village a buzz with all of the excitement. Villagers gathered on porches to drink coffee and watch the production as if it were a movie.

In the basement there were racks and racks of dresses, tables of makeup, jewelry, props and of couse my flowers.

I was requested to bring some white maids bouquets and I think some pink bouquets. This shoot was always to be about the dresses and the bouquets were merely props, but I wanted the crew to have as many options as they did dresses. So, being the over achiever that I am,  I raced home and grabbed buckets of flowers from the studio. I also whipped up some other fun bouquets. I used the leftovers from the weekend and flowers from my garden to create some more selections for the shoot. I love having lots of options.

I made taupe toned bouquets with scabiosa and seeded euc.

I loved these white bouquets and the stem treatment I used…

Burlap and pearls.

Dahlias from my man Don!!!!

Green cabbage roses, green dianthus, green amaranthus, green berry and white tulips were wrapped with bark wire.

I certainly made way more bouquets then the magazine needed but I take every opportunity I get to impress my industry and I also love the chance to create for creations sake. I had so much fun working on this and I was so happy to be able to help with something this incredible. Being on the Washingtonians Best of List as Editors pick has been one of my greatest accomplishments, and quite frankly anytime they need flowers I will happily bring them buckets full.

When I came back to clean up for the day they were finishing one of their last shoots and this image shows just how many people it takes to bring something like this together. One other fun little side note, editor Jill Hudson is so freaking beautiful that she was actually an extra model for this set. It was so fun to look up on the hill and see her modeling.

Design Army of Washington DC was the creative/art director for the shoot and this particular shoot actually won a gold award at the DC Addy's and also a silver award at the District Two Addy's. Here are the pages that were produced in the little village of Waterford. By the way Waterford is just a few minutes from my home and in fairness to all of the other wonderful florists in the DC area probably the reason why I got the gig.

Oddly enough some of my favorite images of the day were created with the additional flowers I ran home for, absolute proof that you should always put in that extra effort, it pays off ten fold. There are no excuses for not putting your heart into something and always doing more than you were asked to do. We provided the flowers for this shoot on a five wedding weekend, managed the kids, and were still able to design with passion for this. One last fun image from the day, my sweet baby Grace in the car at the shoot, but unfortunately she missed the activity.

Be looking for the next issue of Bride and Groom, follow Design Army on Twiiter and Facebook and follow me, I am Holly Heider Chapple, Editors Pick.

Photography for the shoot was by Cade Martin.

HC

 

This is it!!  This is the week that we start designing full throttle and we will be pushing petals non stop from now until Thanksgiving. We are happy to be back to work and in full swing because it means we will be surrounded by incredible blooms almost daily, but this is also the week when I try and get all of the balls I juggle back up in the air.

I juggle and I juggle a lot, but these first weeks back in charge of everything, is an awkward dance I do. It's as if I am learning to juggle for the first time. I have to get all of the balls back in the air and jump in under them and pray they don't hit me on the head. The Winter allows for a slightly calmer time in my life, as if a house with 7 kids and a home based business can ever be called calm. In the Winter months we do not have to produce or write recipes. We primarily do consultations and contracts which happened to also be a 7 day a week job. Now that we are "live" again, we will be spending days writing recipes for our "flower buys", and we will spend many days a week standing at the design tables. Add to that chores like mowing the grass, planting, harvesting, end of school year activities, and actually delivering the wedding flowers, and well, you simply have a full schedule.  It may seem from the outside looking in that we do all of this flawlessly and I will admit the designs are yes, pretty much flawless, but I am not.  Tonight I burnt the peas. I was talking with a designer who needed me, working on the computer, half way watching my baby Grace as she spun around the house, and I forgot to juggle the ball of peas, so they got burnt. In fact I was not even making dinner I was just apparently supposed to be protecting it, and I blew that job.

Wedding vendors everywhere are all getting ready for the start of yet another wonderful wedding season. There is much talk right now about the royal wedding, but no wedding is as important as your wedding, the weddings we will be crafting for you. Wedding vendors are all hands-on craftsmen and they will be physically creating something for you, so please excuse us if we are away from our desks, or at an event. We wedding vendors will be trying to get all of the balls we juggle back up in the air, and watch out because some of us are human. Luckily it's always dinner that suffers, and sometimes the vacuuming, but not your designs! I burnt the peas last night!!

HC

It's officially Spring and it's now full throttle wedding season. Here we go again!! From this day on we will be working, working, working, on bringing many amazing weddings and events to life. Great things are in store for this business and we are excited to face this season with a new found strength and an even stronger team. Big things are coming our way and we will be sharing those things with you here.  Look for a new blog to launch very soon. You will also start to see more involvement from my amazing husband Evan. We are ordering pipe and drape this week and we will be offering lighting options as well. I hope you had a truly lovely holiday and that you were surrounded by friends and family.

Photography taken by Katelyn James, styling by Janie Medley of the Brides Cafe and me Holly Heider Chapple.

HC

We are asked to do many things here, but this was my first official request for a Crown Of  Thorns. I gathered branches from the side of the road to create this wreath for church. Surprisingly enough I found beauty in this piece. This was one very painful creation and it truly made me stop and think…

HC

Many of you have asked how our French designer Elodie is doing. If you followed the blog last year you know we had the pleasure of having Elodie Perrier here. She came to live with us for 6 weeks to see the wedding industry in the United States. Over Spring break I heard from Elodie, In fact I think I wrote her when all of the kids were home and said we were missing just one of the clan. I received this note and pictures of her and the floral design studio she is working in. Elodie is working for Martin Fleurs in Nice and the pictures she sent make me dream of a trip to France.

I absolutely love that green ornamental grass in that bouquet she is holding. I would love, love, love to have that weekly here.

Her note to us…

Hello Holly and all the familly!

 

I am happy you are all gathered for holidays.

I notice on your blog you didn’t really stop working during winter. That means your business is growing! It’s a great thing.

Here you can find some pictures about my work.

I live and work in the heart of ” NICE ” in south west of France. The flower shop is called “Martin Fleurs”. It has been created in 1883 !!! It’s a very old instititution.

http://www.martin-fleurs.fr

it was not easy at the begenning, to arrive in a new city, but now, I am happy in Nice. I met great people, some good friends.

I enjoy my life here. Hey you can tell to Gaby I practice zumba for one month and I love it. So much fun, a great atmosphere between people in the class. I also started beach volley 2 hours on monday, very intense.

Regarding work I’m a bit sad not to to weddings.. We have very small ones coming for summer but nothing compare to what I have done with you!!!

 

I am very glad you will write something about me on your blog that I follow as much as facebook!

Frenchy bisous to everyone.

speak you soon;-)

 

Just so you know biscous means kiss in French, and we would always say biscous when we parted. It was one of the fun things I learned from Elodie.

These designs are so amazing…

Here is a picture of Elodie designing in our studio and another of us in NYC.

Getting to know Elodie was on of my greatest pleasures. Hopefully someday I can go to France to design with Elodie.

Elodie is one of the original Chapel Designers.

HC

It's 8:00 a.m. and I have just woken up in my daughter Abby's dorm room at JMU. I spent the night with her and my 3rd child Hannah, who will also be attending here next year. I feared I would not be able sleep in the dorm. As it turns out I had a mini vacation and I got to sleep in until 8:00 a.m.. Roommate Shelly is sound asleep in her bed and my girls are crashed on the floor. I woke up thinking "what do you want to be when you grow up?" The question is constant here "what dept. are you in, what do you want to do after school? "

When I was young all I wanted to be was a mother. I did not understand why I was expected to go to college. I remember asking my friend that very question, "why are they making me leave home and go to school, when all I want to do is get married and have babies?" Being a good girl, I did do as my parents hoped, and I left for college. I managed to finish 2 years of school before I went to work for a small airline called Presidential Airways. At the time, being a floral designer was far from my mind and not even a notion or an idea.

I married at 21 and had my first child very shortly after we married. Our goal was to try and figure out a way for me to stay at home with the children. During this time I was creating floral arrangements from my property and people began to ask me if I would do their wedding flowers.  In truth I had no idea about designing for a wedding, but I did have an inherited love and passion for flowers that my parents had passed on to me. My parents owned Heiders Nursery which was an amazing garden center. I had grown up in a family owned, home based business and I had always been surrounded by flowers. In fact Daddy still has a little garden center in Lucketts today called Heider Farm Market. It turns out that my destiny or my career found me and it's clearly in my blood. Today my husband and I are raising 7 children and I get to work at home and be with our kids. When I look back to my youth, I did not know where I was going, or how I was going to get there, but I was always certain with hard work and integrity I would find my way. Considering I could not answer the question "what are you going to be when you grow up?"  each little success is an added huge pleasure. In The last four months alone, we have been featured in Martha Stewart Weddings, Washingtonian Bride & Groom, Brides Magazine, The Knot, Southern Living Weddings, Get Married Magazine, Loudoun Magazine, and most recently in I Am Modern.  As my girls lay sleeping on the floor, I can't help but wonder what they will be when they grow up, but I have faith they will get where they need to get, and that some little seed is waiting inside of them to bloom.


 Here is my feature in I Am Modern.

 

 

HC

Tomorrows forecast is calling for rain, a 100 percent chance of rain. Luckily my brides have no reason to fear because inside my cooler the sun is shinning. We are delivering some of the happiest Spring bouquets tomorrow. Both of my brides are in excellent hands and they have wonderful backup plans so I know they will have beautiful weddings. Unlike my brides there is no back up plan for me, I will be at the Leesburg Flower and Garden Show. The show is outside, rain or shine. I have jokingly said all day that I have a date tomorrow with Noah. Oh well, lets just focus on the pretty things "in the cooler."

This amazing bridal bouquet is a super happy thought. I am in love with these yellow cabbage roses, silver brunia, daffodils, ranunculus, yellow tulips, and billy balls.

This pink fluffy dream is my other happy thought for today. Life is good when you are standing over bouquets like these. Pink and white peonies, mixed with pink and white ranunculus. Tomorrow we will bind the bouquets up and deliver them.

I told you the sun was shinning in the cooler.

We have almost 1,500 roses waiting to go to the show. We are hoping we have lots of visitors on Sunday, for now they are going to sleep in the cooler.

We also cut flowering branches from my house and grandmas in preperation of the show. I am sorry to report that I will not have any lilac this year and that will totallly cause a riot once the crowds realize I am lilacless.

 I know my brides are worried about the weather tomorrow but I know the sun will be shinning on them as they take their vows.

I guess I better finish loading up. I need to be at my booth at 6:00am.

HC

On Wens. I had the pleasure of speaking for the Middleburg Garden Club. Getting to know the ladies of this prestigious club was quite the honor. I told a brief story about the history of Holly Heider Chapple Flowers and then I discussed technique and trends in the wedding market. I brought along some of my favorite spring time blooms and designed right in the living room.

Each meeting the members bring a design and it is judged, and ribbons are awarded. This is serious business and so much fun to watch.

One of the guests told me that the flowers had to be native to the region and I believe they were all cutting from their own personal gardens.

Individual specimens were also judged. There are very serious guidelines that must be followed or your piece can’t be critiqued.  These blossoms were all to be in bottles, the exact height of the blossom, the amount of greenery used, the quality of the bloom and it’s uniqueness all contributed to the color of the ribbon awarded.

I seriously considered poaching these daffodils, look at the amazing varieties. The peach one at the very top really should be in one of my bridal bouquets.

Perhaps the largest tulip I have ever seen.

I have to admit I was very nervous about speaking for the club. I am self taught and I do not know the rules of design. Instead of letting fear get the best of me, I decided to do, what I do best, I decided to “wing it” and that is what I have been doing for years. Apparently I earned an A+ from the garden club, because the ladies asked if I have ever considered a TV show.

HC