Giving Thanks

For my husband Jerry,

our precious little grandsons, Hudson and Kole,

and an infinite list that would take a lifetime and beyond to write.

Truly this is a blessed life!

A Lily Wedding

Rachel and Brett's wedding was all black, white and silver with a touch of dark Red. She looked so beautiful when I dropped off her flowers, even though she wasn't even in her dress yet.

Her bridesmaids wore black with a white sash and carried bouquets of mini callas.

Rachel carried all Red Majestic Mini Callas with lily grass and silver wire accents.

They had a beautiful handmade personalized aisle runner for the ceremony that was folded up and taken to place on the sweetheart table for the reception.

The reception (sorry, no pictures).

Please check :

http://plannedperfectionpa.com as well as

http://jeremyhessphotographers.com blogs.

Rachel used beautiful, tall black vases with large white Casa Blanca Lilies for centerpieces. With napkin ring flower vases, menu cards, even the table numbers were done so beautifully using a

numbered photograph of the couple by Jeremy Hess in several downtown Lancaster locations.

Every detail of this wedding was so carefully planned and executed.

Coming up are 2 Christmas weddings.
Stay warm..........................

Engagement Party at Prince St. Cafe

Due to some crazy technical difficulties I am unable to post pictures of Doug and Jessie's engagement party details. Once I get this problem solved there will be pictures.#$*&*)*!!!!!

Grrrrrrrr! Computers!!

Another Nice Vacation

Ahh, vacation was nice, but it's always good to be home again. We're rested up and ready to plow into the holiday season. Not only holidays with the family, but holiday weddings and some winter weddings. We LOVE winter weddings! There is so much you can do with winter as the theme....snowflakes, icicles, lots of little white lights -all things white are sooo beautiful!

I was looking thru my files of well over 1000 pictures that we took of what we have done over the last 2 yrs. and I thought I'd post some of the really fun things we got to do with flowers.



Heather and Colby's wedding featured a theme of Old Hollywood Movies. So we hung little popcorn boxes on the chairs in the aisle with white Hydrangea. It really looked like popcorn!
( I can't seem to find that picture), then for the favor table; which was movie DVDs, we filled a huge popcorn bowl with more Hydrangeas.

Then we had the 'Architect" bride who was so much fun -and wanted to be creative with limes and 'anything out of the ordinary'. When I saw the mini pineapples on the flowers available list I thought "hmm....I can do something fun and different". Wouldn't be every bride's favorite, but Erin was delighted!

I honestly can't take credit for this one. Lynne and I went to the NE Florist's Convention and saw a display of high school Floriculture students design competition that really impressed me.

I had to take a picture so I remember to do this sometime for a fun centerpiece. This is Blue Vanda Orchids suspended in a narrow vase with purple aluminum wire. How cool is that?

This wedding took place inside the Rotunda at Lauxmont. Sheri, the bride, wanted to do something to create a unique backdrop for the ceremony without renting the common wedding

arch; so we suggested creating one on the wall with ribbons, clear beads, and tiny white Mini Carnations. Two pillars from the Groom's mothers' home with a piece of glass on top created the table for the unity candles and 3 Remembrance roses.

Marion Court was the site for this outside wedding and reception. Hot pink and orange were the colors of the day. First time for us to make goldfish centerpieces!

Floating on top of the water was a bright pink Gerbera daisy. Colorful bride/colorful wedding!

And one last picture of a puppy dog made of white cushion mums for Amy's baby shower tables.

I posted this in my very first blog, but it turned out so cute I thought I'd put it on again.

Our next wedding is on Thanksgiving weekend at a local church with an Eden Courtyard reception. But check next week's blog for some new pictures of another important event!

It's Wedding Central

My newly designed, post card-sized business cards have arrived and feature white Hydrangea, yellow Freesia, white Hypericum and Million Star Gyp. Yellow is the upcoming popular color for the new season. Thank you to Kristin Kauffman Leaman for coming to my shop to photograph one of my 'yellow' weddings. She's a great free-lance photographer who is a brand new-ly wed.

What a productive week! Now I know what all of you girls go thru to plan a beautiful wedding. Scores of emails, phone calls, website searches, caterer appointments, dress shopping,

searching for the right tent, jewelry, bridesmaid dresses, photographers, musicians, flowers. The list seems to go on and on. Jonnaysa of Planned Perfection has been working her little tail off this week for us, so that I can stay on top of all the other weddings in our schedule. They are all very important to us, and I promise not to miss a beat. Great job, J- we just about have all of the most urgent bookings done-amazing!!

In the midst of all of our excitement, Amy and I are keeping pace with all the brides that scheduled meetings with us to design their weddings, as well as participate in a Bridal Show in Harrisburg today. Whew! All of that in one week!

Here a few shots from our display at today's Bridal Engagement, sponsored by Commonwealth Caterers and the Event Planning Network.


Our booth display plan was to set a complete square bridal table with an elaborate tablescape down the center with place settings for 10, but had to be squished together, and scaled down to the table that was provided. This stacked Bubble Bowl centerpiece drew alot of attention and several cell- phone photographers. The bottom bowl had a garland of suspended pearls with a white Spider Mum floating on the surface, and the top bowl featured a sphere of white Cushion Poms inside the bowl. This could be used for a buffet display, place card table or a Large Bridal Table Centerpiece. We are always trying to come up with new ways to use the popular Bubble Bowl.

We provided a few bouquets for the models to carry as they walked through the show. This funky bouquet using only 3 Black Bacarra roses and black Ostrich feathers was the big attention- getter according to the model.

How unusual to find light orange tulips with lavender stripes. I loved them when I saw them and just had to use them somewhere. So I added a little bit of lavender/white Lisianthus, some large pearls on wire and it made an interesting fall colored bouquet for this model bride.

Million Star Gyp bouquet with little white Vyking poms that have a black eye. Tied with black and white polka-dot ribbon. Below is pink South American Hydrangea and Million Star Gyp.

So Amy and I are packing up baby Hudson and heading for a week's worth of Florida sunshine to rest- up after a wonderful spring, summer and fall wedding season. That's when I spend hours in my favorite bookstore's flowers and wedding section and by the pool with the piles of books on my lap- getting fresh inspiration for next year. So to all my faithful blog -watchers, please check back in 2 weeks to see what's new. We have several holiday weddings coming up, so it's not over for the year yet, just a little break for some much needed R&R.

In the meantime, if you haven't caught on yet to http://stylemepretty.com/ then check it everyday so you don't miss a single wonderful wedding idea!!

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.