This week we celebrated Mothers day,watched the kids and the chickens grow in the sunshine. Prepared flowers for Fox 5 news and one other major publication. We created arrangements for our weekly clients, 2 weddings and one rehearsal dinner. I handled the whole clan while my hubby was out of town.  I am so glad he is back home safe and sound. Tomorrow we head to VA. Tech to watch Alex graduate, but first I need to create the bridal bouquet and head table pieces. Life is flying by, brides I have been working with for over a year are married girls now. Grace is 3 1/2 month’s old and I am just floored at how quickly time marches on. Here are some pictures of life at the Full Bouquet this week.

The kids got me a iPod for Mothers Day. They down loaded it with all of their awesome music. I am in love with Paolo Nutini and Blind Pilot. What blows my mind is how much music they have from my generation on their little magic music boxes.  I cant believe how much I love having this thing, now I know why they are plugged in all of the time.

These images are from the Fox 5 News broadcast.  Many thanks to Maria Cooke from Ritzybee  for including me in on this event.

The girls look like they are having so much fun.

Here are the photos from Genevieve’s photo shoot with Holly Heider Chapple Flowers Ltd.

Genevieve and I did not make it to the beach for these shots.  The very clever Genevieve shot these photos right here at the Chapple house. She brought sand and put it right up to the edge of the pool. I mean really, I would have never thought of that.   Plus who knew that my regular picnic bench would look like a dock. We have big hopes for these images and we will keep you posted.

Our wedding designs are turning out amazing as well. Here is a little preview of this weekends beautiful work.

It is time to make the bouquets, pack up the suitcases and get to VA. Tech.
Please say a little prayer for a sunny weekend my bride really deserves a beautiful weekend.

Exciting news, we were published in Weddings Unveiled.  This magazine covers a huge region and we were so glad to be noticed. This was Ann and Shawn’s wedding from last September. The wedding took place at Whitehall Manor in Bluemont VA.  We truly did a incredible job on this wedding. This wedding gets a lot of attention on our website. Check out their images on Holly’s website and look under featured weddings, Ann and Whitehall.

We really are blessed!!!!!!!!

This is my beautiful bride Allison.  My yellow bride. I loved her wedding and I am so happy to share these images, fresh in from Genevieve Leiper Photography.  We absolutely nailed this wedding or hit a home run.  A special thanks to Vicky Choy from Event Accomplished for making everything run so smoothly and to Whitehall Estate in Bluemont for always being amazing. Mrs. P, and Allison had a very definite look that they were going for they gave me so much inspiration that this was just plain fun,fun, fun.  Here are some of the clues they gave me, use bold yellow,  some cream is okay, we love lemons and waxy green leaves and then they said “Holly we trust you have fun”.

My grooms boutonniere or Allison’s grooms boutonniere was created of a yellow calla lily and yellow Freesia. All of the bouts had rosemary which my bride said was a family tradition. The bride had a cluster of cream Hydrangea, yellow Calla lily, yellow Freesia, yellow Craspedia balls, pale yellow Stock and yellow Roses.

We designed four different centerpieces, two styles of elevated and two styles of low.

This design had the cream Hydrangea and a more traditional shape.

This design was our bold yellow, with a slightly more contemporary style. We used yellow oncidium Orchids flying out the top of the arrangement.

This arrangement was our bold all yellow low centerpiece as you can see we wrapped the vase in white satin ribbon. This was a really striking look.

This was our fourth design here we used the cream hydrangea and we introduced the lemons.
In fact we went through 2 boxes of lemons for a total of 200 lemons and here they are.

My friend Rocio Diaz created the wedding cake and of course she used lemons. Rocio owns A Piece of Cake.

Here is one other wonderful idea from this wedding. The bride and groom created a cookbook of family recipes for their party favors.  The bride and her mom told me they were “foodies” and they enjoyed cooking and dinning out so they wanted to share with their guests.

This recipe is one that is sure to please. Mrs. P, shared this with me when we first met and I have served this several times.

Bacon- Wrapped Dates
Before you say “ew” to the thought of a bacon-wrapped date, give this recipe a shot. Not only is it easy and relatively inexpensive, the tongue tingling combination of salty bacon and sweet dates will be a great surprise.!!
1lb. lean bacon ( for this recipe, don’t use turkey bacon)
Approximately 36 dates
Cooking Spray/Pam
Toothpicks

Using a sharp knife, cut each piece of bacon into thirds.( Tip: just pick up the entire pound of bacon and lay it on a cutting board. You should be able to cut the entire pound into thirds at the same time.)
Spray the baking sheet with cooking spray. Take each third of a piece of bacon and wrap it around one date: push a toothpick through each bundle to secure and place it on the baking sheet. Repeat until all of the bacon and dates are wrapped.

Place the baking sheet into a preheated oven set to broil and cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until bacon is crisp and cooked through, turning over halfway through cooking time.

I am so happy I got to work on this wedding. I loved this family and loved the bright happy combination of yellow.  My sunshine wedding.
Holly

I had fun making this board, the flowers were all from a wedding last spring. We love this pink and green look  for this time of year. These pictures simply speak of Spring and all of its treasures. We at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers love this time of year. This wedding featured, Peonies,tulips,green Viburnum,green mums,Ranunculus, and of course Roses

This years garden show was blessed with wonderful weather.  I was so happy to be out in the sun with all three of my girls. Here are some pictures from our big weekend.

We worked extremely hard at the show, but I was a little disappointed in Grace’s productivity level

These are some of the awesome designs we offered at the show.

This is the Burke family and they found me at the flower and garden show many years ago. They are so supportive of my business and honestly make me so glad I do what I do. Years ago when we met at the show, she took my business card and put it right in her husbands wallet. She told him if he was ever to buy her flowers I was the place to go to. I have heard this story many times, but this weekend I actually got to see the very worn out card. Mr. Burke pulled the card out for me to see.
I have been blessed enough to share in birthdays, anniversaries, and all through that I watch their children grow.

These are some of the bouquets we made in our flower shop on the streets of Leesburg.

This beautiful, young lady holding Grace is one of my June brides.  Ayana will marry at the Thomas Birkby house.  I love this girl and who wouldn’t , check out her smile.

Here are some of my boys relaxing on the street.

Here is my husband in the Holly Heider Chapple Flower van. Notice he is not driving on the street.

Next comes clean up and then we give the town back to traffic.

This is the Cymbidium Orchid.  She is available in many different colors. For unique and contemporary designs we will use the whole stem. Here is a great example of the full stem in use and of the yellow color.

Here is the white Cymbidium used in a bouquet.  In bouquet work the individual blossoms are removed from the stem.  We tape a wire stem on to the Orchid blossom so that it can be used in bouquets or smaller centerpieces.  This allows us to spread this very expensive flower out and  use it in different types of designs.

Here we have used the individual blossoms in a centerpiece. In this design we put the orchid blossom in a water tube and inserted the tube in to the design. It is always amazing to me how a designer can make the very same flower look different.  These are of course all Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTd. designs.

These photographs just came in last night and they feature one of my absolute favorite blossoms
Peonies.  This is one of our weddings from last year. When my husband and I first married, we bought a home that was loaded with peonies. 22 years later we are still enjoying the properties bounty. The incredible blossoms in our gardens are one of the main reasons I started arranging professionally.  The Peonies simply inspired me to design.
So we can thank the Peonies and this property for the many years of success at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers Ltd.

  This week has gone by so fast it is hard for me to believe all that I have done. One of the highlights of the week was the annual award luncheon for the Loudoun County Visitors Association.  I am so fortunate to be a part of this incredible organization.  LCVA allows me to put my pride for Loudoun in to action. This annual luncheon is a gathering of some of the finest people I know, not to mention new friends I meet every time I participate.  The award for best event of the year went to the Upperville Colt and Horse show, if I remember correctly this is a 155 year old horse show and the oldest in the country and yes part of Upperville is in Loudoun.  The very dear to me Leesburg Flower and Garden Show got promotion campaign of the year.  The very highest award went to Cate Wyatt for her work with Journey Through Hollowed Ground.  She was given the Judy Patterson award for her lasting impact on tourism in Loudoun.

We all wear red, it is the color of tourism. Top left corner, I am with my new friends Mr. Felix Bighem and his wife. He is the Sales and Leasing Advisor for BMW of Sterling.  They were truly lovely people. The flowers of course were done by me Holly Heider Chapple Flowers LTd. the bottom left picture is of me with my dear friend Margaret Hubert of Tarara Winery, The amazing Heather Akres won a award for commitment to service in our industry. The middle picture shows some real superstars my friends David Weinschel of Celebrations Catering, Kate Zurschmeide of Great Country Farms, Jennifer Ritter of the LCVA, and Andrea Falzarano of Good Taste Tours . The picture at the bottom is Jason from Market Salamander winning for front line employee of the year.   It was a awesome day and I was so proud to be a part of all the fun.

So I just love these pictures from last night. I have to tell you the whole evening was just amazing.  The event industry is one really fun and talented crowd. I felt like I had been to the Oscars this was such a huge deal.  The awards were so much fun but for me its always the decor and seeing my industry in action.  The theme of the evening was the pink ball, so pink was everywhere, a portion of the evenings proceeds went to the Susan G. Komen for the cure foundation.
We entered in to the big awards tent by way of a huge popcorn buffet of course the bags were pink.

Up close is Pamela Barefoot of A Trendy Wedding and right behind her is the Posh Planner, Lisa Schulz.

Here are my wonderful friends Amy and Srinu Regeti receiving their award for Social Photoghaper of the year.

Next we are absolutely wowed with a choir like none other.

The choir lead us from the awards tent in to the Party Rentals warehouse. They are located in Laurel, MD. They hosted the whole event and used much of their rental material as decor, the warehouse was a fun location to have a event. Check out the walk we took in to dinner. You will see linens hanging from the ceilings, bins of pillows in a rainbow of colors and chair cushions in a  collage of colors.

Next we walked through a lounge area into where dinner would be served.

Check out the table decor.  No flowers but way clever.

Next came the food which was just incredible. The catering was provided by Well Dunn.

Here is Lisa Shulz and Stephanie Ascari from Cleverly Candid Photography sample the food that was so Well Dunn.

Now, what night would be any fun without dancing check out Lisa the Posh Planner on the dance floor whooping it up with Terry Perry.

We also had some very unexpected guests at this party thanks to Cast of  Thousands like

Look at all of the warming trays being lit up with votives. I so loved the Chocolate tent and its very bright chandeliers.

Here I am with the awarding winning Amy Regeti.

I also love this picture of  The Regeti’s with Doreen Tisone publisher of Engaged Magazine and my new friend event planner Alex Pare of Cherry Blossom Event Co.

We then top off the night with of course Fireworks.

I just learned how to make my very own inspiration board. I may have to play with this little craft all night long.  Actually this was a really beautiful wedding and guess what, the bride was named Sarah,  the wedding cord  was named Sara and the photographer was named Sarah. Try keeping that straight in your mind while you are creating beautiful flowers.  The smartest thing I could do was work really hard to keep Sarah happy. With that kind of plan how could I go wrong.

I hope you will visit the Stables in Bluemont. There is no other wedding site in Loudoun County with a view this amazing.

Holly Heider Chapple Flowers Ltd.


The Stables at Foggybottom also known as Bluemont Vineyard

Sara Bauleke, Belle Notte Event Planning

Sarah Hodzic Photography