This Week's Wedding and Exciting Family News

First the wedding.......................

Fall is such a beautiful season to be married. The colors of the trees and the beautiful flowers that are in season now make for such gorgeous photography. Unfortunately it was raining buckets again and this outdoor wedding became an indoor wedding at Lancaster County Winery.

Jennifer, the bride chose Mini Sunflowers, Red Roses, Orange Dahlias and Orange Gerbera for her bridesmaids. She was so happy today, it didn't matter to her if it was raining.

Her bouquet used a combination of Roses, Dahlias, Purple Lisianthus, Gerberas, Yellow Kangaroo Paws, and little bits of Curly Willow tips. Kangaroo paws are a flower from Australia that actually look like mini, mini, mini fuzzy kangaroo's paws. They look great alone too as boutts., which the Groom wore. I love the purple addition to the fall color palette. What a difference it makes!

And now for the big Steadman family news......................

~ The future Mr. and Mrs. Doug Smoker~

What a happy time for our family. Doug is the nicest guy-can't you tell by his adorable smile?

So what kind of wedding will the florist's daughter have? Hmmmm, wait and see...

Not wanting a long engagement they have chosen June 2009 to tie the knot. So much planning/so little time... Jonnaysa, where are you? Your services are desperately needed!!!

What's Happening Soon

Please join us for a truly unique bridal experience at....................
The Bridal Engagement at Spring Garden
Sunday Nov. 2 from 11:00-3:00pm.

We will be participating in this event by providing bouquets for the models and an elegant Bridal Table display.

Visit the website for details, directions and a list of the participating vendors.

www.thebridalengagement.com

Sponsored by Event Planning Network and Commonwealth Caterers.

A Colorful Autumn Wedding

I'm so excited to post this week's wedding flowers because the colors are so cheerful, this bride is the sweetest thing, and because my 4th daughter (not really, but I would take her if her mom would give her to me)-Erika was in this wedding. Erika is Jessie's best life-long friend, and we consider her a part of our immediate family, so I'll start with the picture of them.

Jessie was asked to coordinate this wedding, which she's quite good at, though doesn't do it for anyone but special friends. She also had the task of photographing the flowers and details for me, so she was a very busy girl. I am thrilled with her new hobby, and with the shots she took for my website and blog.

The bride's bouquet consists of Freedom Roses, white, orange and pink Ranunculus and large crystal- studded pearls with a collar of green Pittosporum. She told Jessie that she loves her bouquet so much she wants to take it to bed with her. Oh, thanks Chrissy-I'm so glad you loved it! She was one of those brides that said to me. "You pick the flowers to go with my red dresses. Just make it colorful and bright, I trust you." What fun that was!

Bridesmaid's bouquets were Freedom Roses, assorted colors of Ranunculus, Crocodile poms, and Monte Casino Asters.

The groom wore a white tux so he had a Freedom Rose and green Hypericum wrapped with black ribbon and a silver wire.Groomsmen carried bouquets...No just kidding. I don't know how Jessie managed to get this shot, but he looks like a really nice guy that doesn't mind having a little fun.

Here is what they really had for boutts. Orange Babe Spray roses, Yoko Ono Poms and a tiny little purple Aster with a Pittosporum leaf.On to the reception.....................Rice filled bubble bowls, pillar candles and pearls. We added petals and lots of colorful button -Mum blossoms.

Some Bridal table decor, and finally the cake. Made by Oregon Dairy.
Congratulations to Chrissy and Chillingy. May you be blessed with a lifelong happy marriage!

One for Summer's End and One for Fall's beginning

The summer has lingered into early October and we had the joy of doing one more wedding with a summer feeling. The bridesmaids wore sky blue, which is still beautiful in the fall because we always have that color in the decor of an outdoor wedding. The leaves still had not begun to change colors, and the gardens at The Stone Mill Inn still had so many flowers still in bloom.

Using blue Hydrangea, pink Gerbera daisies and Jade roses for the bridesmaids bouquets,

and white Hydrangea, white mini Callas and pink Gerberas for the bride.

The Venue offers a brass candle holder and a hurricane-so we added a little bit of blue Hydrangea florets inside and outside of the vases on some of the tables, and...............

A pair of Gerbera daisies with blue wire on the outside of some of the hurricanes.

A few extra flowers left, so we added them to the Guest Book Podium and...............

The Memory/Place Card Table. These placecards were actually also the favors.

And a few flowers added to the hi-top tables for the Cocktail Hour.

Same day/Fall Decor

This wedding features the beautiful and very expensive 'Mango' Mini Callas. This bride carried a combination of Mango and Swartzwalder (Black Forest) mini Callas. Her sister was her only attendant. She wore dark burgundy and carried Mango callas. The color choices could not have been any better! Here are a couple close-ups of these beautiful colors.The flower girl was just a teeny-tiny sweet little girl, so this Teddy Bear was just the thing. She had burgundy mini-carnations and Solidago with burgundy ribbons hanging down the back.Mother's carried tiny posies of Swartzwalder mini callas and Solidago with Nagi greens.

And one last little side note:

I attended a wedding recently where every single detail was absolutely perfectly -perfect!....Flawless. Perfect setting, perfect dresses, perfect hair, make-up, flowers, linens, lined- up ceremony chairs, programs and favors. They hired the very best photographer and the very best chamber orchestra. They didn't forget a single little decorating or musical detail.

But in observing the bride and groom, waiting for my tears to start, as they always do,... it felt empty and emotionless. The photographer had to work extra hard, trying to coach some emotion into the shots.....it seemed to me that they forgot one very important detail ...... Could they have been so caught up in the planning and details of one single, yet very important day-that they forgot to bring along the most important thing? The Love?

Rewind 2 weeks.

I just received the images from our weddings 2 weeks ago for Diana and Scott, and a few from Barb and Ross's wedding.

Diana's bouquet was Latin Lady roses with pearl-studded Stephanotis.

Her bridesmaids wore 'Claret' (bright red) dresses, and carried Virginia roses with Cherry Follies spray roses and purple Statice.

This arrangement of apples and limes with Starfighter Lilies, white Snapdragons, Purple Larkspur, Silver Dollar Eucalyptus and Bells of Ireland was designed for the Escort Card table by Joyce. She loves the large arrangements, and nobody does them better then her!

These flower spheres were made of red mini-Carnations, Yoko Ono poms and green Hypericum. They were made to hang on the chairs in the aisle, then be place on top of candle holders to decorate the high-top cocktail tables.

Barb's Bouquet was made of Engagement Roses and white mini Cymbidium Orchids. She brought to me a necklace and earrings from Ross' late grandmother to add to the bouquet. It was a precious heart-felt gesture that Ross' parents were so touched by. They didn't know about it until they saw the bouquet. Her only bridesmaid wore a smokey- blue dress and carried Virginia roses with blue pearl pins, and pink mini Cymbidium Orchids.

Beside the bouquet is part of the Head Table arrangement of Roses and green Hydrangea.Some of the guest table centerpieces were hand-tied bouquets of Pavarotti and Engagement roses. The guests could take the bouquets home and leave the glass rental vases.

This weekend's weddings were at the gorgeous Cameron Estates Inn, Mount Joy, and the Stone Mill Inn in York County. Images are still being edited and will be posted shortly. It was a beautiful weekend for outdoor weddings...far better than last weekend!