Last May I designed the flowers for Alison and Matt's big wedding at the Meridian House. Alison was one of the easiest brides I have ever worked with.  Alison knew exactly what she wanted and I happened to be one of the things she wanted. Alison found me through the Washingtonian's best of list but my blog happened to be one of the very reasons she booked me. In fact Alison booked and deposited Holly Heider Chapple Flowers without a consultation. My blog gave her the inside look to what we do here, and she loved what she saw. 

Alison is one of the most beautiful brides I have ever seen. Every detail was so perfect. I remember standing in the courtyard of the Meridian House watching photographer Matt Mendelsohn get these shots and thinking WOW, like really, she is the quintessential elegant bride.

Alison chose a bridal bouquet of white peony, pink peony, lily of the valley and white ranunculus. The maids carried hot pink ranunculus, green hypericum berry and light and pink peony. Every blossom was chosen by my amazing bride.

The rooms of the Meridian House simply glowed. Elevated designs were created with white dendrobium orchids.

Low centerpieces were designed with white peony, green viburnum, mini green hydrangea, and white stock. The mantels were designed with clusters of peonies, and candlelight.

A traditional wedding cake for the bride.

A fun cake for the groom.

Many thanks to Matt Mendelsohn Photography for these lovely images. Applause and praise should also go to Design Cuisine for the catering and Ritzy Bee events for planning services.

Happy married life Alison and Matt!!! It was a honor to bring you my flowers.

2010 was an amazing year for Holly Heider Chapple Flowers. I have been working in the wedding industry for almost 19 years. In the last 2 1/2 years, my business has rocketed through the roof.  I attribute so much of that success to social media, but mostly I need to thank the photographers. I would have no proof of my talents, no record of my work, and certainly no media coverage if the photographers were not supplying me with images. Thank you to every photographer that not only captured my work, but willingly shared their images with me. Each of you helped us reach the place we are today. I was going to compile a list of all of the photographers that I am grateful to but that seemed like a daunting task as I feared I may forget someone.  A list is also not necessary because those of you that have helped me are huge portions of my website, and my blog. You are a constant recorder of my career and my time with my brides. I love, love, love, getting images of my work. I love having pictures of my brides, and I love having documentation of my art. My art is perishable.

I do not want to be overly dramatic, but I have worked very hard to get where I am – 19 years worth of  blood, sweat, and tears. Yes, we cut ourselves in the flower shop and we bleed. We certainly get hot and perspire, and we cry with joy and even fear  -all for the love of what we do. There are no words to express how truly grateful I am for those images or how badly I need them. Without new and fresh quality images, my work looks old, dated, or even of poor quality. One of the biggest problems I hear consistently from fellow business owners in the wedding industry is the struggle to get images from the photographers. There are some photographers who simply believe that sharing their images with other vendors is not worth their time. Nothing is more powerful than another vendor singing your praises, and sharing your work. Unsolicited referrals or accolades from fellow vendors are the strongest recommendation possible. I understand how hard it is for photographers to get images to the vendors of the day, but we little vendors do have big voices and we can tell the world about you. We make referrals and we also get things published. Some of my finest work last year was photographed by photographers who have not sent me images, I have asked repeatedly to no avail. It makes me sick to know that I may only have the images I took. These particular weddings were some of my biggest events last year, and if added to my portfolio, I could show another level of design we are capable of.  The next worst thing is images that are watermarked.  I literally was given images last year that were watermarked right through the center of the bouquet and the centerpieces. Guess what, those images never made my website, or blog. They will not be seen by my clients and I can't submit them for publication.  I was told by wedding industry pros who were critiquing my blog and website that I needed to have all watermarked images removed. At first that seemed harsh, but they explained that my space is about me. I need to have clear beautiful images that portray my work.  I do always give photo credit or even links whenever possible. I understand that having your work out there in the wide web without a logo can be frightening, but honestly the great feedback you will get from your fellow vendors probably outweighs any potential downsides.

Two brights lights is a great way for photographers to share their images if they are looking for an easy method. Simple emails of the images also work perfectly, I can drop the images right into my iphoto. I don't expect to receive discs or hard copies but I do truly appreciate those magnificent gifts when they come.

Several budding floral designers have come to me asking how they can grow their businesses. I repeatedly caution them that it's about their visual presence and that it's essential that they get good images. So often smaller businesses have difficulty obtaining images of their work. Young businesses need the support of our industry- it's important to remember that no matter how big and recognized we become as business owners, it is right, and truly appropriate, to help the next new industry superstar. We all will get so much further by assisting those around us rather than by fending only for ourselves.

Aside from the actual wedding ceremony, nothing is more important than the photography. Photographers rule, they capture the day and they make things last forever. Oh the power, but I will never refer a photographer that will not share their images with other vendors. If I don't have the images, I can't help spread your name around. Weddings are a team effort, so let's help each other out. Once again many thanks to all of the photographers that have helped me, I will be referring you wholeheartedly and lovingly.

I just had an amazing shipment of cabbage roses arrive. In truth it was a bit of an error, the box was supposed to be pure white but luckily for me a mixed box was pulled from inventory instead. I actually was dancing with glee in the flower shop because of this mistake I have found several new varieties I will be able to use this season. BTW the white roses will be here in just a few hours, but I get to keep all of these glorious roses. A gift just for ME!!!

Sunset garden roses!

Pink Ohara

White Ohara

Lemon Pompon

Caramel Antike (spelled like this, not a typo).

Vitality

Mamy Blue

I am in love with all of these wonderful new varieties of garden roses or cabbage roses. My favorites are the ones with a high petal count and the four quartered section in the interior of the rose. The white rose in the picture below is called Patience this rose is a David Austin rose. David Austin is a brand of rose just like Gucci, Coach, or Ferrari and each rose has an individual name just like you and me. 

Patience

I wish you could stop by for a visit, the smell is heavenly…

www.hollychappleflowers.com

 

 

 

Style Me Pretty just launched a new on line digital magazine called E-Glossy. The magazine features the top 20 weddings of the year, " the best of 2010". I am pleased to bring you the wedding of Kaitlyn and Benjamin which can be seen on page 108, or here. This wedding was chosen from over 1,000 weddings by the readers of SMP. I am obsessed with the images from this wedding, the dress, the paper, and yes my flowers.

Kaitlyn carried a Holly Heider Chapple bouquet of white cabbage roses, white milky way roses and white majolica spray roses.

Possibly one of my all time favorite pictures ever.

Centerpieces were created with white football mums, and masses of white carnations. Orange roses and petals were used floating in cylinders of water.

PaperMoss designed all of the paper products for this wedding. Make sure you visit the original blog post with Style Me Pretty to see the rest of the amazing paper details from this event.

Thanks to photographers Three Blondes and a Camera, Jennifer Lust Photography and Laura Ashbrook photography.

I am in Love with this wedding.

We are over the moon, totally thrilled, and really proud that 3 of our weddings have been chosen for the annual issue of Southern Living Weddings. This fabulous issue features 25 weddings and 3 of those events were events that I had the incredible pleasure of creating flowers for. All three weddings were designed and styled by the amazing team at Ritzy Bee Events, and all 3 weddings were photographed by the one and only, Kate Headley Photography. It seems everything we partnered on last year was a complete and total hit.

I also had flowers from a fourth wedding make the bouquets and boutonniere section. My bouquet is the bouquet in the bottom left corner, and my fabulous bout is also in the left hand bottom column.

See the story of Allison and Chris…

Jessica and  Eric…

and Betsy and Hunter in the newly released Southern Living Weddings.

Another Happy Dance for us here at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTD!!!

 

We are so pleased to share the wedding of Heather and Jon which was featured in the new issue of The Knot.

Many thanks to Three Lights Photography and event designer Vicki Grafton of My Simple Details for making this such an awesome and note worthy event.

Our Holly Heider Chapple bouquets were truly delightful and inspired.

One of my favorite things about this wedding was the use of mini burlap clusters in the maids bouquet. The bride loved brown scabiosa pods, which look like this…

but the pods were unable due to season, so I created mini burlap clusters to mimic them.

I thought my little burlap wanna be pods were freaking awesome.

Mothers were given bouquets of lavender and white freesia. I love, love, love, mini bouquets for the mothers. Give the pin-on and wrist styles corsages to the grandmothers.

Vicki styled this table with props from her house and mine. My birch boxes are a personal decor item that I let Vicki borrow. Evan bought them for me last Winter and I could barely let them leave the house.

The wedding party was seated at this fabulous king sized table.

Vases were wrapped with burlap, and designs were created with white freesia, hydrangea, berry, and peony.

Maids bouquets were also added to the tables for additional decor.

This wedding was stunning! I am so glad I got to work with such a wonderful couple and such wonderful vendors.

We are also happy to announce that we get to keep our best of weddings title for 2011 with The Knot. We are seriously kicking some floral you know what.

Happy married life Heather and Jon, your wedding was awesome!!!!!!

 

On December 24th, Christmas Eve, I celebrated my 45th birthday. Life is good, and I am so happy, but realizing another year had passed so quickly had me feeling a little sad and very melancholy. I got over my birthday blues very quickly when photographer Genevieve Leiper walked into my sister's home to surprise me with the newest issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.  Gen and I had worked on an amazing wedding in the snow storm last Feb. known as the Snowpocolypse. During that storm I was contacted for the first time from an executive at the Martha Stewart offices. I believe this particuler exec. was in marketing or website development. It was all such a blur, it's hard to remember all of the story, but the Martha rep said she liked the look of my website and she needed flowers for her mother-in-law. Well, with 2 feet of snow on the ground and more falling, I was unable to take the flower order. This was incredibly frustrating and sad for me as I have always wanted to impress and or provide flowers for anyone affiliated with Martha Stewart Weddings. But she did say that I could submit information to her if I had any spectacular weddings in the future, and she would help me get the story to the right editor. Oddly enough, at that very moment my bride Tricia was walking down the aisle and her walk would become an incredible story. Tricia and Joe married in the midst of the biggest blizzard I have ever seen. Working with them and having their wedding happen on time, in spite of the snow, was truly wonderful and miraculous. To protect my bride's flowers, we delivered all of the flowers to the reception and the hotel one day early.  It was very clear that this was going to be a real snow storm and I knew we had to be proactive. Photographer Genevieve Leiper and make-up artist Kim Reyes got rooms in the hotel next to the reception to ensure that they would be able to get to the wedding. Only hours after I spoke to the Martha rep, Genevieve began sending me images of the day, and I knew we had something worthy of sending into Martha Stewart.

Getting published or developing some type of relationship with Martha Stewart was truly my goal for last year. One month after setting that goal and one month into 2010, I had a potential wedding that would be featured either on-line or in print, and I was truly thrilled. Just days before 2011 arrived I saw my goal come into fruition. Are we ecstatic, over the moon, and just plain giddy? You bet! But, more than that, we are completely sure it is our commitment and our constant devotion that brings us to such amazing places. It's been almost one year since this wedding, and waiting to share these images has been excruciating but oh so worth it. I want and need to give a huge round of applause to photographer Genevieve Leiper who delivered some of her finest work in the middle of several feet of snow. Genevieve operates her business with the same integrity and thoroughness as we do here at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers,while always delivering amazing art. Here are the remarkable images of the day.

The Cosmos Club, was to be the site of the reception but also stood in for the ceremony as the National Cathedral had to close for the safety of their parish.

Tricia and her guests were staying at the Fairfax On Embassy Row, right across the street from the Cosmos. The bride and guests simply crossed the street to make it to the wedding. I love, love, love, these images.

This couple may be one of the luckiest couples I have ever met. To think that this beautiful ceremony site was a back up plan is hard to believe. I don't think things could have been more lovely, even at the cathedral.

My favorite part about Tricia and Joe was their attitude. Trica never panicked or moaned, she simply said as long as she could marry Joe nothing else mattered.  She kept saying, "All I need is Joe and the vicar." It was that attitude that made all of us want to work so hard for the couple.

Can you imagine standing outside in a blizzard posing for your wedding pictures?

Joe's bout was designed with an onyx pendant that Tricia was wearing the first time they kissed. Joe asked to see Tricia's necklace, and he swooped in for a kiss. Clever Joe!

Tricia's bridal bouquet began by clustering masses of of green foliage's. We actually even used evergreens that we had been hording since Christmas. We also used green hydrangea, green cabbage roses, green bells of Ireland, green berry, blue thistle, blue delphinium, blue muscari and peacock feathers.

 Great, great, grandma's cameo brooch was used to bind the bouquet.

The place card table design featured all the flowers of the day with branches of pussy willow.

Vintage compotes were gathered by Tricia and I to provide a unique look to the centerpieces. 

The venue provided incredible photo opportunities. These images of Tricia and Joe are my absolute favorites of the day.

The couple chose a coffee table book called Washington: Scenes from a Capital City by John Cleave  and Benjamin Forgey as their guest book.  The book features watercolor renderings of the major buildings, monuments, and small neighborhood snapshots. One guest found a picture of her Georgetown row house in the book!

I adored this snow globe that was given to the couple by one of their guests. The globe was purchased at the hotel gift shop and placed next to the programs and the favors.  The snow globe is still on display in the couples home today.

Joe Blumka an accordionist was the only musician that was able to make it to the wedding. Joe performs with The Strolling Strings.

You may wonder what my goals are for 2011, well honestly I am pretty content right now. Its obvious that what we have been doing is working, so are goal is to remain as devoted and as committed as we were in 2010. We  are so happy with this feature and that we have been recognized by Martha Stewart.  Mostly I am so happy to wish Tricia and Joe a very happy married life. I am SO GLAD I was chosen to do your wedding flowers. What a blessing!

Tricia and Joe's wedding was also featured on Martha Stewart Weddings' website, here.

2010 was an amazing year full of endless change and growth. I am overwhelmed by the support and love we received here at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers. I have a few more days off with the kids, but I wanted to quickly thank everyone who helped make 2010 a truly record breaking year. My brides, friends, designers, colleagues, and family members, are the blossoms in my Full Bouquet.

Genevieve Leiper Photography

Kate Headley Photography

Genevieve Leiper Photography

Sachs Photography

Mary Kate McKenna Photography

Kristen Gardner Photography

Genevieve Leiper Photography

Justine Ungaro Photography

Kristen Gardner Photography

Kate Headley Photography

Stephanie Ascari Photography

Kate Headley Photography

Kate Headley Photography

Genevieve Leiper Photography

Kate Headley Photography

Genevieve Leiper Photography

Kate Headley Photography

Genevieve Leiper Photography

Bob Updegrove Photography

Michelle Lindsay Photography

Kate Triano Photography

Genevieve Leiper Photography

Endless thanks to all of the photographers who so magically captured our year. Without your remarkable work our art would perish.

2010 was far better than I could have ever imaginged!!!

Yesterday we had the pleasure of designing with the ladies of the Woodlea Garden Club. 25 members came for a visit and a flower arranging lecture. Those who wanted to take home a holiday arrangement paid a small design fee.  Some ladies even came with their favorite containers.

We provided several different types of greenery. Some of the greens are harvested right here at my flower shop home. We lined up pine-cones, pods, berries, ornaments, picks, and ribbon. The budding designers chose whatever elements their heart desired. This was a fun and relaxing change from the hustle and bustle of the wedding season.

Even Elijah got in on the action.

The hardest part of the class was remembering that Samuel needed to be picked up from preschool right smack dab in the middle of the class. I kept begging Debbie, Myriam, and Casey to help me remember that we had to go and get Samuel. It is so easy to lose track of time in the flower shop. We look at the clock and it's hours before pick up time, the next glance at the clock always reveals we are late. In addition to floral design all of the ladies help me with the kids. You have certainly heard the saying " it takes a village" around here it takes the whole flower shop team. 

I was totally impressed with the designs that were created. It is incredible to see 20 women come up with completely different designs. Every person has their own unique vision. That is why floral design is an art!!

The ladies all had a great time designing in the shop. Evergreen designs will last well into the New Year. The women of Woodlea Garden Club will be enjoying their pieces for weeks to come, and each time they see their designs they will think of their time at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers.

After we arranged our centerpieces, we left the flower shop and headed to the dinning room. We had fun setting up a little mini brunch for the ladies. I have an amazing set of The Johnson Brothers, Friendly Village China, and it is perfect for the winter holidays. The china belonged to Evan's grandmother and it is beyond precious to me. Grammy used this china as her everyday china and I have so many fond memories of being at her table. Each plate, bowl, saucer, and platter, depicts a different winter scene. One of the guests told me it is actually one of Martha Stewarts favorite collectibles. That was a fun little fact to find out. There are many days I wish I was more like Martha.

Evan's birch containers come in seriously handy this time of year, they are one of the many things he made me for this wedding season.

Designer Casey made these really cute pillows for her house, but she brought them over to my place just for fun. Casey is going to make one really super bride this year!!

The mantel is one of the few things already decorated and ready for the holidays in our home. My whole house is in a holiday holding pattern until this weekend. We wait for the big kids to come home from college, which of course is very annoying for the little people in the family.

 My office is however ready for the holidays. I am in love with Casey's moss snowman.

Many thanks to the ladies of Woodlea who came to visit. A special thanks as always, to my flower shop girls who helped me teach, helped with the kids and helped to host a lovely party.

This post is gonna be super long, because everything was so hot!!!! Tram and Tiko are a gorgeous couple, inside and out, and I simply loved working with them. The couple married this past summer at Westfields Marriott. The amazing images taken by photographer Kate Triano are so inspiring, hence the really long post. We also happened to do some really super sexy floral designs in yellow, cream, green, and silver, so sharing them will be a pleasure.

The yellow flowers are beautiful and glorious with the silver gray tones of the bridesmaids dresses.

Maids carried bouquets of yellow football mums, yellow roses, yellow gerber daisies, yellow billy balls, and a green filler flower called bupleurum. A tiny silver thread was pulled through the designs to tie it all together.

Trams bouquet was created of yellow mini callas, yellow roses, yellow billy balls, cream stock, white freesia, and green cymbidium orchids. So striking!

Yellow parasols were used to protect guests from the summer sun during the ceremony, and they became awesome props for photographer Kate Triano.

Love the yellow shoes…

This picture is simply art and was captured in the parking garage of the hotel. I am totally impressed with Kate for thinking of this shot.

Tram's dress was absolutely a show stopper, and one of my favorites of the whole season.

Love the yellow tie and the calla bout.

The wedding party entered the reception dancing.

It made my heart sing to see my bride Tram, dancing with her bridal bouquet.

I love this detail shot of the base of the bridal bouquet. I used silver and crystal jewels I got in San Francisco to adorn the stems of the bouquet.

The reception flowers were simply beautiful. We mixed high and low designs throughout the ballroom. Silver wire and twigs were woven through the designs to enhance the silver accents of the wedding.

The ballroom looked amazing.

Lots of fun other details were a part of the wedding. Apparently this ice sculpture also served a great purpose the night of the event.

I had such a blast looking though the images of this event. The wedding was stunning, glamours, sexy, beautiful, and also really fun.

You may also recognize Tram and Tiko from our Moroccan themed photo shoot that was featured on Style Me Pretty. We got double the pleasure with this couple and I am truly grateful for the time we had with them.  Happy married life Tram and Tiko, I am so honored I got to do your wedding flowers.