Meet Dahlia Louise

                           Since I was a child  I  wanted a little tiny house to play in, dream and create.
One day as I was daydreaming I asked Jerry if he would build me a little playhouse way out in the backyard where you can't hear the traffic.  One with a little front porch, picket fence, window boxes of flowers and of course add electricity so I could watch movies, make coffee and nap on Sunday afternoons.
  Jerry is the kind of husband that very rarely says no to me.  Anything I could dream of he typically gets right to work on.  I'm so blessed.  His answer to this request was: " Why don't we just  buy one of those pre-built Amish made ones?"
  Naaah, that won't work.  "I know!  Chris' parents had the cutest little camper in their backyard that I always wished I could see inside, but was too shy to ask.  It was a little blue Scotty- I remember the dog on the front of it."  So he says, " Call and ask her".  Chris was my best friend in Jr. High and we married the Steadman cousins, so that makes us family :)  Her answer:  "Oh sorry, that's been gone since probably the 70's, but boy my mom loved that little camper.  It was her little dollhouse.  She made curtains for it and loved to decorate it".  Darn!  I would have paid almost anything for that little tin can cottage!.

  Not more than a couple weeks passed and I was driving home from doing a wedding at Hotel Hershey  for a  sweet girl who married her famous football player fiance.  I was exhausted from a long day's work and driving home blurry-eyed but happy, when out of the corner of my eye I thought I was imagining that I saw the camper of my dreams!  I checked my rear-view mirror, hit the brakes, backed up along the shoulder and there she was!  I couldn't believe it.
   Lynne took the other van home way on ahead of me.  I'm smiling all the way down 283 when my cell phone rings.  It's Lynne.......
  "Kelly!! Oh my gosh! Did you see it??", she asks. 
 " Yep, I did.  I already stopped, looked inside, took pictures and informed Jerry that I found it!"   She confirmed it,  it's meant to be for me!

  So my new project in the wedding off-season is fixing up this little sweetheart.
 Jerry has already been working hard giving her an interior face-lift.  (I think he's trying to get his brownie points to cash in on that mountain cabin he's been long dreaming of.)

 Everyone's been saying I should name her; since I kept referring to my camper as "her".
  Ok,  since it's a vintage camper  she should have an old fashioned name.  Jerry said  "call her Louise".
  I'm embarassed to say that is my middle name.  It was given to me by my grandmother, and used often to irritate me by my late mom, my husband and my sister.  I came to despise it less when many years later I found out it was my grandmother's middle name, my favorite Aunt's middle name, and the middle name of my cousin's daughter, who is young and cool and actually happens to love it.
  Except she needs a 'flower name'.  So...... Dahlia Louise it is.  Man, it's like choosing a name for a child!  It must have some meaning.
  Oh the plans I have for me and Dahlia! She's gonna have a nice new happy place in my backyard with all the trimmings, and she's gonna go on 'road trips' with the BFF's.   She's a work in progress but she's gonna be sooo cool.  I'll have a little party in the spring when she's all prettied up and invite y'all over!

I'm hoping she gets back to looking like this!

  Maybe I'll post before and after pictures, but ya know it's like a girl that gets plastic surgery; she doesn't really want anyone to remember the 'before' part!
  I'll get back to posting wedding flower pictures soon.  I've got my head in the clouds trying to decide how to decorate my little 10 feet of heaven on earth. 

                                      

Late Summer Perfection

Drumore Estate is my favorite venue for outdoor weddings.  There is no place prettier in Lancaster County.  The grounds and gardens are pristinely perfect, and the owner and staff have a big heart for hospitality.  Everyone, including vendors, are warmly welcomed and treated like professionals.  Kudos to Karyn and LuAnn for running a first class wedding venue that's a pleasure to work at.

 



 

 

Groom's choice for the bridal table:  Snapdragons :)

 

                
  Vintage glass collected by the bride, and homemade candles that were oh-so-pretty!

 



Beautiful linens from Special Occasions

 

 



Downtown Harrisburg Riverside

Dear Mallory and Bryan,

It was great working with you!  Thank you for giving me design liberties to create the head table canopy of flowers that has been in this 'dreamer's' imagination for a very long time.

 Thanks also to Shumaker, pdt

 for supplying the mechanics for this piece.

And to Carmen Horst, my fabulous assistant for your beautiful, long, hard work!

Bouquet pictures to follow.

Thomas Beaman was the photographer of the day.

Such a pretty flower on this cake.  Baker: unknown. ( I'll gladly post link when I find out.)

Summer Weddings 2012

Summer is fading and life is

settling down in our family after a long, hard year.  Everyone has things 

happen from time to time, and we soon find out that family is THE most precious thing we own.

I can proudly say that though we've gone through the worst of times, my wonderful team has been close by my side, working harder and longer making sure that the weddings on our schedule were given the same attention as if  "All is well'.

Each wedding, large or small, got 100% of our best.   Physicians, Architects, and an NFL player, just to mention a few of our VIPs made our year great in spite of difficulties.

It would take me weeks to write about all the weddings and the lovely couples we enjoyed getting to know; so for now I'm going to just post 'bunches' of pictures  in an effort to catch- up.

BTW:  Updating my website is 2nd on the list of things to do BEFORE spending mindless hours on Pintrest.

Now all my good friends need to hold me accountable to that little 'vow to self'!

Thank you to these great professional photographers who are all so special to me:

  Matthew Tennison

Kris McElligott

Leslie Gilbert

The beautiful bride wore a couture dress from In White  with a large flower on the front and upper shoulder.  So what to do about a bouquet?  Never in all my experience have I ever recommended that a bride not carry a bouquet.  But this time was the exception.  A traditional bouquet would detract from the dress.  So when she came in from California for her dress fitting I met her at the salon with a satin ribbon with a single Gardenia for her wrist.  Perfect!  Then as I'm designing her bridesmaids bouquet my heart was breaking at the thought of a bride without a bouquet.   Remembering that I had some Lilies of the Valley that should soon be opening in my own garden I quickly went out to check.  Sure enough just exactly what I needed! A tiny nosegay to give her just so she had a little something of a bouquet to remember.  As it turned out she said it was her late Grandmother's favorite flowers and she was so happy she said she wanted to carried it and wearing the Gardenia wristlet.  How special, and I had no idea what that would mean to her. 

Bridesmaids bouquets of pink and white peonies, ranunculus, and freesia.

The head table had additional chandeliers hung which really set off the look. Most of the arrangements were designed using  the family's silver or crystal pieces. Phalaenopsis Orchids,Peach Ranunculus, Parrot Tulips, Stock, and Garden Roses filled the table.

Elegant linens from Special Occasions and Lighting & Event Design by JDK

low table arrangements

High arrangements

Icelandic Poppies were on cocktail tables

More to come in future posts.................