I pulled together some of my favorite bouquets of 2009 to create these collages.  I loved every one of these beautiful designs, and each one was made by my loving hands.

I would also like to thank the many photographers that have so willingly provided me images this year. I am so incredibly grateful when I receive images of my work. I often say my art is perishable; I can assure you I look forward to the wedding pictures as much as my brides and grooms do.  All of these images have  been featured on my blog, and the photographers were properly credited there; plus you can contact me directly if a particular image strikes your fancy. I would be happy to refer you to one of the many incredible photographers in the DC area.

Holly  

 

 

 

Our holiday season started off last weekend with 18 to 20 inches of snow. Honestly the storm was awesome because it forced us to stop, relax, and play. It was a little pre-Christmas present. 

 

The snow did however create a few issues for our animals.  Evan had to dig a trench from our house to the chicken coop in order to feed them. In fact we just opened the pen and allowed them to walk the line, so that they could get some exercise.  I love this picture. Evan got these chicks when they were one day old, so they are his little flock.

 

When the roads cleared our oldest child, Alex, made it home from college.  Thank goodness he did not attempt to drive route 81 in that storm. It is so much fun when we are all together; his arrival home officially starts the holidays for us. Alex's lovely girlfriend, Mallary, also is home, and she is a huge part of our family. They have been dating for 6 years. The baby boys adore her.

 

Here is sweet baby Grace with Elijah. Grace is almost 11 months old; this year has flown by.

 
I also celebrated my birthday on Christmas Eve, and it was wonderful. I am one of those lucky people who was born on Christmas Eve. I have never been bothered by my Christmas Eve birthday. In fact, it has always been a lot of fun. It was, however, really hard for Samuel; he did not understand why I could open presents and he had to wait until Christmas.

 

This is Nico; she is one of the people I love and respect the most.  Every day I am able to work and take care of my family with Nico's help. She is truly the most loving woman I have ever met.  I can't even imagine how difficult life would be without her help. Nico makes everything possible around here. We gave her a silver locket that had pictures of her grandbabies inside.

We also have a tradition of  decorating cookies together. This is a major undertaking as the red hots and spinkles usually end up all over the floor.

 

Notice we have a Easter bunny cookie. Sam was adamant that we needed a bunny cookie. With this many kids you just go with the flow. We always make a cookie for Santa, and that is put out for him each Christmas Eve.

 

My daughters Abby and Hannah did the most adorable thing this year.  They sent out invitations in the mail inviting their siblings to a slumber party in their room for Christmas Eve.  Evan and I received the below invitation that clearly told us we were not invited to the festivities.  I was totally impressed by their party idea, and I was very proud of the girls for bringing this fun event together for their siblings.

 

 

This is the whole family on Christmas Eve, just before we head out for church services. I always sneak back into the house and set up the first presents of Christmas. Everyone goes to sleep in new PJ's, and they are always waiting for the kids when we get back from church.

 

This is a picture first thing Christmas morn. The big present of the holidays was a puppy. She is our newest family member and the children named her Sadie. 

 

The boys had a ball in their new clubhouse that designer Debbie found for them. They also got their own wheelbarrows, shovels, and rakes. We are hoping they will help in the gardens next year. Wishful thinking right? Actually, I was also hoping our new puppy Sadie would help with the gardens as well. We had such a huge deer problem this past growing season that I thought a herd dog would possibly keep them off of the property.

 

Grace loved the puppy and her new pink pony.

 

Later in the day Grandma and Grandpa  came by for dinner and to play with the kids. Alex and Grandmother actually did a little singing which was fun to see.

 

This has been a fabulous holiday season. I am so grateful for time with my family.  We have worked very hard this year and time with the family is such a gift. I hope all of you had a fabulous holiday season, and if we will be working together next year, welcome to this very big family. 

 

Holly

This is the beautiful Historic Belmont Country Club.  This was Tina's wedding venue, and one of my favorites in Loudoun County.

The wedding photography was done by K. Thompson Photography . I love the story she told with her amazing photographs.  As always it is an honor, when I can share one of my weddings with you. Having incredible photographs just makes it so much more fun.

 

The bridal bouquet was created with white roses, white hydrangea, white freesia and white stephanotis. Pearl pins were inserted into each stephanotis blossom.

 

The bridal bouquet was our only design created with all white blossoms, all other designs were done in deep burgundy tones. We used black magic roses, black beauty roses, burgundy gerbers, ranunculus and spray roses to create the maids bouquets and all of the centerpieces.. We also lined the aisle with shepherds hooks with hanging vases of the same beautiful burgundy blossoms.

 

The ceremony was moved inside due to rain, but later in the evening they were able to catch a few great images when the rain let up. 

 

I am loving these images.  

 

I hope you enjoyed these photographs as much as I did.  This was a beautiful wedding, with a beautiful bride, beautiful flowers, a beautiful venue  and incredible photography. What a great wedding 

Holly

 

I am adoring these images from Tina's wedding this fall. Thanks to K. Thompson Photography for providing me with pictures of the day.

I have tons more to share, and I will do that later today. As most of you know, I have  7 kids. I have a little shopping to do, and that is putting it mildly.

Holly

I have it from a reliable source that we have been featured in Washingtonian Magazine.  I have not actually seen the magazine, but this picture was emailed to me late, last night. The magazine was released yesterday, and I probably will not find a copy for days. Lucky for me friends called and gave me the news. We are so busy designing for the holidays, I may never get to the bookstore.  One of our favorite weddings from last year was also featured.  In addition to that we were chosen for the 2010 Best of Wedding Vendors. We also got a nice little Editors Pick by our name.  Are we excited? You bet. Over the moon might be a better description. Thank you Washingtonian for your belief in our business. I just want to also mention that I love Editor in Chief, Jill Hudson Neal. She is a remarkable woman, and I am so fortunate to be a part of this publication. 

I also want to share the link to our very exciting blog post with Elizabeth Anne Designs. Click Here to see our feature. Elizabeth Anne Design is one of the top wedding blogs in the industry, and we are so happy to be featured on her beautiful blog. The images are from the first photo shoot that I organized, styled and planned. I am so proud of this Christmas wedding inspiration. Please visit the EAD blog and see our creations. Thanks to the many vendors that made this wedding inspiration come to life. 

 The vendors are listed below.

 

Photography – Genevieve Leiper Photography   http://genevieveleiper.com/site.html

Flowers – Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTD.  http://www.hollychappleflowers.com/   

Gown- Hitched Bridal Salon  http://www.hitchedsalon.com/

Model –  Leigh Ann from Hitched Bridal Salon

Styling –  Holly Chapple at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers ltd. http://www.hollychappleflowers.com/

Paper – Christina  M. Barbour  Paperzest http://www.paperzest.com/fluid.php 

Linens, China, glass – Design Cuisine http://www.designcuisine.com/

Cake – Kendall from Kendall's Cakes http://www.kendallscakes.com/ 

Venue- The Stone Manor Country Club http://www.stonemanorcountryclub.com/

Hair and Make up – Victoria Stiles  http://victoriastilesmakeup.com/site.html

Holly

 

 

We have had another fun packed week at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTD. We have been busy completing orders for the holidays, as well as designing for this week's weddings. In addition to the wedding work, we planned a full scale photo shoot.  A normal person would have been relieved to have only one wedding to design. I took it as the perfect opportunity to try my hand at styling a few photo shoots. Since the goal of the shoot was to create things worthy of being published, I can't display any of my creations. Keeping our beautiful designs secret until they are released is killing me. I worked with Genevieve Leiper Photography, model Leigh Ann from Hitched Bridal Salon, Victoria Stiles for makeup and hair, Christina Barbour from Paperzest, Design Cuisine and Kendall from Kendall's Cakes. The shoot took place at the absolutely stunning wedding and event site The Stone Manor and Country Club, which also happens to be a lovely bed and breakfast. Working on this project was one of the best days I have ever had, but it was also one of the hardest.  So much thought and detail went into every tiny aspect.

I actually was so motivated and inspired that after creating three completely different wedding shoots yesterday, I created one more in my front yard. My goal will be to get them published with some of the top wedding blogs in the country. So wish me luck! Hopefully I will be able to direct you to some incredible wedding blogs and you will find the product of our really amazing day.

Tomorrow is Stephanie's wedding, and we have lovely designs of white, chartreuse green, burgundy berry and a few hints of gold. We will be  heading to Winchester tomorrow to the beautiful George Washington Hotel with our killer arrangements. Here is what is sleeping "in the cooler."

 

Off to sleep!

Holly

 

 
Last weekend we had the pleasure of  providing flowers for the holiday party of the immixGroup. You may have noticed I did not blog yesterday. Quite frankly, we are still recovering. We had to get all of these enormous pieces delivered in the first snow storm of the season.  We did  an incredible job in spite of the weather, and the designs were awesome. This fabulous piece greeted guests as they arrived.

 

We created this design for one of the food stations. I loved the all white design.

 

We had another equally large design on the bar. We reversed from red to white throughout the event. The corp. offices have dark red walls and black furnishings, so the contrast of the red and white blossoms in black vases was dramatic.

 

Conference tables were decked out with these stunning all white designs.

 

One room was actually large enough for dancing and 12 different cafe tables. Half of the pieces were red and half were white. All were placed on platinum colored linens.

 

Our favorite design of the night and the absolute hottest piece was created by the very hot Debbie. Designer Debbie is amazing.

 

This floral display required  multiple cylinders to be filled with beads and submersible lights.

 

We loved working on this event. Many thanks to RSVP catering who recommended us to immixGroup. RSVP was wonderful to work with, and they pulled this event together perfectly. We are so glad we got to work on this project. We are even happier that we were able to deliver everything safe and sound.

Holly

 
 

 

This past weekend we had the pleasure of providing flowers for my bride, Anne.  Her wedding was held at Holy Trinity in Georgetown with a reception at The Fairfax On Embassy Row. When the professional images are sent to me by Freed Photography, I will share more about this wonderful wedding.

What I want to share with you now is how wonderful this whole experience was.

 

This is my bride, Anne. I love this picture of her taken by Freed Photography because it captures her care free spirit and her beauty. Anne was called "triple S" throughout the whole planning process   She wanted a look that was simple, sophisticated, and stunning. Those words pretty much embody Anne's attitude. She was such a beautiful girl to work with–always so elegant, lady like, but fun beyond belief. I have been blessed with hundreds of truly lovely brides.  When a client is kind to you, it is amazing how much more heart and soul goes into an event. I always give my clients extraordinary designs, but something a little extra flows out of me when I truly feel connected and, yes, in love with the bride. Anne was so easy to work with; she simply trusted me to make everything wonderful.  Anne deserved every single blossom, and it was a complete and total pleasure to be assisting her bring her wedding vision to life. I simply loved Anne, and we were calling her the super sweet bride by the time we were finished.

To add to the pleasure of working on this event, I got to work with Scott who is the Director of Catering and the hotel The Fairfax At Embassy Row. Anne kept saying to me wait until you meet Scott and wait until you see my venue. I have to admit I was completely smitten with the venue and Scott. This hotel is elegant but charming–very warm and inviting and clearly a magnificent historic property.  The Fairfax Lounge even displays Jackie O's piano. The hotel offers a sweeping staircase, crystal chandeliers, and a balcony over the ballroom . It is just incredible. Scott was so easy to work with, and his staff was truly top notch. 

Prior to the start of a reception, the vendors are working together to bring a room to life. I often evaluate a venue or a catering firm by their staff. If the staff is calm, smiling and happy to be on the job, I know I am working with truly remarkable professionals. At the Fairfax, the room magically came to life as the staff methodically and perfectly set up each table. There was even one very lovely gentlemen quietly singing as he polished each piece of silver.  You know the saying "whistle while you work"? Well, only happy people do that. Happy employees work hard to make each event special. It is a little secret I have noticed in the wedding industry: a place may look perfect, but if the people behind the scenes are not happy to be there, they do not cherish the venue, and then they do not cherish your special day. When the employees love their employer and their venue, they put extra effort and care into each job that they fulfill. It is hard to express in words how stressful a set up can be, and when everyone is stressed the stress rises. That stress can reach out to the florist, the cake baker, and even the musicians. When everyone is calm, kind and working together, there is magic. This hotel has the magic, and their staff, lead by Scott, is truly part of the charm. 

Here are a few pictures from the wedding until we get more images from Freed Photography.

 

As you can see the colors of the day were navy and hot pink. We used hot pink flowers galore and just a touch of evergreen on navy linens.  We used the evergreen as a little nod  to the holiday season.  The maids dresses also happened to be navy, and we bound the bouquets in navy ribbon.

 

The cake was created by Rocio Diaz from A Piece of Cake.

I look forward to sharing more with you at a later date about this wonderful wedding.

Loved this wedding, loved this bride, and I totally loved Scott and The Fairfax At Embassy Row.

Holly

As usual, there was a lot going on around here today. In addition to the preparations for my weddings and corp. parties this weekend, Loudoun Magazine came by for a photo shoot.  It seems my flowers were the perfect background for Lola's extraordinary cupcakes.  I really enjoyed my time with photographer Molly Steele and Writer Therese Howe. I love doing photo shoots, and these two ladies are so very talented. 

 

Our photo shoot worked out perfectly for Sam. 

 

I also would like to thank two lovely ladies for coming to help today in the flower shop. Jackie, owner of Petal's and Bows Flowers and Gifts in Hancock, MD, came to visit me with her friend and designer Tina. These two girls drove almost 2 hours to see our operation. They ended up spending the whole day helping us get ready for this weekend's events. If you are getting married near Hancock, I hope you will consider Petals and Bows Flower Shop. These girls were awesome, and I would love to spend every Friday with them.

 

Now here is my "In The Cooler" part of the post. It is 12:22 a.m., and I  am hoping my bride Anne is fast asleep. We call Anne "Triple S." She requested flowers that were stunning, sophisticated and sexy.  I know we will make Anne very happy today. Here are some of the designs in the cooler, and then I am going to bed. 

 

This is Lacey; she is one of my past brides. She loves my flowers so much, she uses them for corp. events. Thank you for remembering me long after your wedding. We delivered this party tonight.

 

This is one very sexy bridal bouquet; however, it is not yours Anne.

Holly

 

This photo shoot was totally over the top. Genevieve Leiper Photography actually rented a sail boat and runner boat to get these photos. I think we are all getting addicted to photo shoots.  Thanks to Victoria Stiles  for doing her makeup artistry and our couple who were actually celebrating one year of marriage. This is one hot anniversary; now enjoy the heat.

 

For this shoot I had  the pleasure of sending four different bouquets with Genevieve to Annapolis, Maryland. Working with G is simply amazing, and I absolutely love this session.

We created this bouquet with a mass of white roses, white hydrangea and white carnations. We left the stems long and used navy ribbon over white satin ribbon. A little anchor was hanging from the ribbon–so clever.

 

This is truly art. I am so proud of Gen for coming up with this incredible idea, location, and look. She is so caliente.

 

This bouquet was created with pee gee hydrangea, magnolia leaves, hot pink roses, coxcomb and burgundy seeded eucalyptus.  This bouquet was stunning.

 

We created this bouquet with ornamental grasses, white mini callas, teal shells, peacock feathers and fish net. This piece was very appropriate for the water.

 

Our fourth bouquet featured red roses, cream roses, green hydrangea, and seeded eucalyptus . We also added brown pods and berries to add interest to the bouquet.

 

 Here are some other images from the day.

 

I absolutely love this photograph. It looks like this couple had a very romantic and awesome anniversary.

Way to go Gen.

I loved this,

Holly