Our family is constantly growing and changing. Each year brings new opportunities for us and we are so totally blessed. My business is very similar to my family, in that change is a common thread. One constant is my husband Evan. He has been standing behind me, this family or Holly Heider Chapple Flowers, helping to make everything work. He has let many of his own dreams of having a business go, in support of me and the family.  Strangely enough everything seems to be coming full circle. My husband is incredibly smart, I mean really, really smart, like blow your mind smart. He is great at business and he can build anything and build it beautifully. Over the years he has tripled the size of  our home, built decks, walk in coolers, patios, created many gardens, and he even built a chicken coop that we call a condo. He also loves to cook and he is extremely proud of the fact that he is the father of 7 children. Last year he came home with a business license in the name of Chapple Enterprises.  He said he chose that name so that he could make, bake, grow, or do anything his heart desired. He has been waiting for a sign that it was his turn.

Meanwhile Holly Chapple Flowers is on a little roll, and I am longing for props and rental items for my business. I have lots of things I want and need, and I need someone to provide them. I am not quite sure why it has taken us this long to get to this place but about two weeks ago I asked "Chapple Enterprises"to build me a few things and this is what happened.

 

I have wanted birch bark vases for years. I see them on the internet but none of my wholesalers sell them. One wholesaler told me that the only way to get the vases is to buy the birch and have them made. I discussed the project with Evan and before I knew it, he was fast at work.

 

I love this picture and seeing that 23 year old wedding band!

 

Look what I have now!!!

 

This weekend he built a Chuppah with the birch. We are having a seamstress design the top of the Chuppah. I will wrap flowers and vine around the birch legs for my weddings.

 

 Two weeks ago my bride Melissa told me she needed a way to display her place cards. We dreamed of a huge easel that would be able to hold a fabric covered board. We wanted to be able to pin up the place cards and flowers on to the board.

 

Look what I have now. I have a huge place card board that I can wrap in burlap or any fun fabric I want. The whole easel collapses so that it is easy to deliver. The kids and their toys do not come with the rental of the easel.

Since I was on a roll as far as asking, I also requessted large wooden stands that I could elevate flowers on. I wanted the boxes to be painted with chalk board paint. He started that project also this weekend. The boxes are not finished yet, but the first coat of paint is on. Here is a picture of these.

 

Much to my great surprise, he has also made the boxes magnetic. I never even thought of that. So I will be able to put magnets on these vases and write on them with chalk. Is this killer or what?

Over coffee Sunday morning, Evan mentioned to me that I might be able to create something fun out of copper wire.  Next thing I knew he was pulling copper cabeling out of the basement and making little trees. First he stripped the plastic coating off of the wire to expose the copper.

 

All of a sudden he is handing me  little copper trees and piercing them with flowers.

 

I think the little trees he whipped out in 2 seconds really have a lot of potential. I could totally take this concept and turn it into an amazing design. We even talked about hanging the copper trees from the ceiling of an event.

Evan was a husband, a father, a master electrician, a builder, a chef, and a telecommunictions engineer, now he is a business owner. I don't quite know how we got here and why it took us so long but perhaps he figured "if you can't beat em join em" or "two heads are better than one".  When we were dating I used to call him "Mr. Wonderful"  he was named this because he could do anything.  This is certainly one more wonderful possibility. I have often thought we were a match made in heaven. We have an unlikely and remarkable story but it just keeps getting better and better. Please let us know if you need anything built for your wedding or if you would like to rent any of the amazing designs we are creating.

 

Last night we had the pleasure of providing flowers for the Julianne Smith Garter Girl launch party. Julianne has just launched a new website and a new line of garters. I neglected to get a picture of Julianne last night, so make sure you check out her video here. Here are some of her fabulous garters, and the flowers we designed for the event.

 

I chose to create pave designs, which meant that the flowers were flush and flat in the containers. This would give Julie a flower pillow to display her garters on.  Tall flower arrangements would have totally taken away from her fabulous garters. Instead the flowers acted as a platform for her work.

 

This design had wire arms that come out to hold the garters. Designer Jessie had lots of fun bringing my great idea to life. All of the vases had submerged lights hidden in the base of the designs to give the garters a little glow.

 

This shot is of the flowers glowing the whole way home.

Don't forget to visit Julie for your wedding garter. You can have one totally customized, so it is a complete reflection of your wedding day. The garter is also a great place to use a little of your grandmothers or mothers wedding dress lace.  

Have a great day!

20 years ago I got my start as a floral designer at the first Leesburg Flower and Garden Show. My mother and father operated a garden center called Heider's Nursery. He built and started the green house on route 7 that is now Meadows Farms. I would help  mom and dad with their booth. We also used to bring the gazebo into the center of town for the fair. It was one fun long night.  I would bring flowers from my garden and people started asking about my wedding services. Being a young mother I took the leap to start Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTD, so that I could work from home with what would become my very big family. This year my daughters Abby and Hannah will repeat history and handle the family booth just like I used to do for my parents. I will be out on wedding delivery. I will be at the show on Sunday and I will also be speaking about flower arranging. Now that is something I know just a little about, that and birthing babies. 

See you at the flower and garden show.

 

I posted earlier this week that we would be giving away a bouquet each week and it would be called the "Blessings Bouquet" .  You can read the post I wrote here. In true Holly style, I just said I was going to do it, slammed the post up and went about my day. I did not really think it all through, I mentioned in the post that I would get back with everyone in a few days with some rules.  I intended to start the giving next week on April 7th. I wanted to allow myself some time for development of my really great Idea.  However I actually looked at the calendar wrong and put up the date of April 1st.  I got several requests almost immediately and all of them pulled at my heart. I told the designers in the shop I could not choose  one winner because I loved all of the requests so much.  Designer Debbie said in her North Carolina draw "well let me look at them and I can decide". Ha!  She was just as moved as I was and choosing a winner was not possible.  We decided we would send out 3 bouquets this week, it is Easter and the start of Spring. So much for all I learned the last few weeks about running a more profitable business. Now I am giving flowers away.  So for the future here is the plan.

1. The bouquet must be picked up by either the recipient or the giver on Friday's at South Street Under. Kevin Malone the owner of both Tuscarora Mill and South Street has graciously allowed South Street Under to be the spot for the bouquet pick up. In addition he is offering a cookie, or brownie bar, as an extra treat to the winner. Please do not submit a request if you can't pick up the bouquet at this location.

2. Requests for the bouquets will be posted on the blog so that the readers can help vote.  If you would not like certain parts of the request posted please indicate what parts you do not want published. You are welcome to alter the names or give code names if you need to, to protect the anonymity of the recipient.

3. The winner will be chosen by someone outside of Holly Heider Chapple Flowers and the votes from the readers will be factored in. We can't handle the stress of picking the winner.

4. We would really like a picture of the winner with the bouquet.

5. We will only be picking one winner from now on, if your request is not chosen we highly suggest submitting your request again.

I also wanted to share some fun pictures of family day. I took two days off this Spring Break to play with the kids. One of the days we went bowling. Yes bowling, I know it sounds so dorky but in truth we had a really fun time. 

 

Sam

 

Eli

 

Sam and Eli fighting.

 

Riley, Holly and Hannah

 

Baby bowler Grace

 

Grace and Evan

 

Evan's smooth moves.

 

Abby and Grace

 

Our killer shoes

 

Me and Grace

 

Hannah after her strike

 

Abby trying for a strike

 

My strike celebration!

I hope you have a wonderful Easter. Spend lots of time with family because they are the greatest blessing of all!!  To our  man-child Alex if you read this, we miss you. I hope life is treating you well at the Lithuanian Embassy. Lots of love to you and your fiance Mallary.


 

 

One of the last things I did in San Francisco was hit Britex Fabrics. Britex Fabrics has been in business since 1952. This four story fabric store is freaking amazing. I found endless amounts of beautiful fabric and lace but I was there for ribbon and trim for my bouquets. I love to embellish the stems with jewels, lace or fluff so this store was like heaven.

 

This was one of my most favorite pictures from the whole trip. This wonderful salesman was happy to show me this fabulous piece of fabric. It was available for purchase for the very discounted price of 1,996.00 and it was for a whole 3 yards of fabric. I thought that was such a steal I almost brought it home for a tablecloth for me and the 7 kids.  Not!!

 

This is Daniela from Bella Designs, she was actually the floral designer that told me about this fabulous store. I think we spent a total of almost 2 hours there.

 

My lovely sales rep. spent forever helping me find just the right trims and jewels. The wall behind her was endless, each little box behind held a different  design, there were more styles than you could imagine.

 

We even purchased buttons for some of the bouquets.

 

I have several platinum and yellow weddings this year. I wonder which one of my lucky brides will see these first. All of these trims will be available for purchase at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers.

 

Just one more reason, why my trip to San Francisco was such a success.

For the last seventeen years I have been very busy growing my business, not to mention having children. I have never taken the time to even consider a business trip.  One of the many ways I market my business and keep up with current trends is through social media. I Twitter, on Twitter I learned about an event called Wedding 360. This event was organized for wedding planners and event designers. I am currently in San Francisco attending my very first conference. This is a really fabulous opportunity for me to see new things and meet other leaders in the wedding industry. I will finally be meeting some of my new florist friends that I gathered on Twitter. 

Upon arriving in California the first thing I did was hit the San Francisco Flower Market. 

 

I actually purchased flowers and designed in my hotel room. I brought scissors, tape and ribbon with me on the trip. I know, crazy right?

 

I made five different bouquets. The hotel glasses were not tall enough to hold my designs, so they ended up in the bath tub in a bucket I purchased at the flower market.

 \

This little bud is Jasmine vine. I have been dying to use this element. I saw it on a fence  as I was walking to the flower market. I was so excited because I was sure I would be able to purchase the vine at the market, since it was in full bloom on the street. Much to my surprise there was none to be found. Being absolutely persistent  and craving to use this blossom, I walked all the way back carrying the bucket, my camera, and five huge bundles of flowers. I just had to have the vine and it was growing on abandoned lot, so I figured it would not hurt if I pinched just a little. Please don't tell the San Francisco Police Dept.

 

I love the way these bouquets turned out and I am glad I took the time to design in my hotel room. It is time to go to the first event of the weekend. I have more to share from my day, so I will try to post that later tonight.

Everyday I get a wonderful email from Martha Stewart with the idea of the day. I love these emails, they are very inspirational.  Today's tip was so incredible, I just had to post it here on The Full Bouquet.  This post got my mind a buzzing. The post was a step by step guide on how to make some really unique bows and then uses for them. I know we will be seeing some of these tips in Holly Heider Chapple designs this year. 

 

I love the look of this ribbon flower. I would totally love to create several of these and pin them on the stems of one of my bouquets. Can you imagine that?

 

Here the ribbon flower was used as a boutonniere. 

{Image 1,2 and 3 from Martha Stewart Weddings} 

I also want to brag a little and prove I have a bit of Martha in me. We did a photo shoot just a few weeks ago. The professional images have not been released but here are some of mine. I had designer Jessie create these really sweet crocheted flowers. Guess what, I used them on my bouquet and also as a boutonniere. Is it to bold to say great minds think alike?

 

Hope you have a great weekend, stop by the Hillsborough vineyard tomorrow if you have a chance. They are having a bridal show and some of our creations will be on display.

I am loving these images captured by Loudoun Photographer Bob Updegrove. Jessica was one of my brides last Spring. She was also the baby nurse in the hospital room, when baby Grace was born. I have fun memories of this bride, so getting her pictures was a real treat.  I love also seeing photos that show beautiful downtown Leesburg. This picture was taken in the center of town in front of the courthouse.

 

The bridal bouquet was created of hot pink gerber's and 3 shades of roses. We bound the bouquet with matching pink satin ribbon.

 

We used orange gerber's in the maids bouquets to make them slightly different from the bride.

 

I love Bob's photography. He is a hidden Loudoun secret in the wedding industry. 

 

In this storm I better remember to thank my son and husband. They have been shoveling snow endlessly so that we could function as a family and as a business. They have had to literally carve out spots for employees to park or dig out my vehicles so that I can deliver.

 

Yesterday I had one of my biggest deliveries of the year. I provide arrangements for CADCA which is our nation's anti-drug campaign. This event is usually several thousand people strong so the flower order is huge. I love working with CADCA and their annual forum, the work they do is so important. At the annual forum, coalitions  all across our nation gather to discuss  and share tactics on what is working in their communities to fight drugs.  Evan made a two story shelf system in the mini van because the Holly Chapple flowers cargo van simply would not have been able to get to the event, the cargo vans are horrid in the snow.

 

 

Part of the flower delivery was to go yesterday and the other part was to arrive tomorrow. With the next storm threatening we delivered the flowers early. Staying ahead of these storms has been crucial. We stored the flowers in a huge walk in cooler at the Gaylord Hotel.

 

There were a total of 70 red carnation balls and 70 yellow carnations with green button mums. The red, yellow, and green were the colors of the event this year.

 

Thank goodness we did take the flowers early because we woke up to yet more snow.

 

This is the view from our porch. The little red and white house out in the blizzard is Evan's poor hen house. Yesterday it almost fell over because of the weight of the snow, the kids spent hours yesterday digging the house out of the snow. It looks like they will be repeating that chore again this week.

In spite of all of this snow things still bloom. I took the time last weekend after my wedding to play with some of the leftovers. I used a new flower at the wedding called arbornotium I had never used this unique blossoms before, it is more of a pod or similar to a pine cone.

 

During the week the pod actually bloomed and that was so much fun to see.

 

This was one of the coolest blooming's I have ever seen.  The fluffy burst that actually sprung from the pod were seeds. Somehow in the midst of this storm it is wonderful to see seeds and know that things are still blooming and that they will continue to do so.  This storm has cost me many of my favorite bushes, trees, and shrubs. My favorite Camellia is broken and buried under the snow. I have used that bush more times than I can count. I loved to finish or complete my bridal bouquets with a collar of her dark green leaves. There will be losses, but there will be restoration. That is how it works.

 

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.