Consultation Tips

        It's been a very busy week of consultations in preparation for the upcoming wedding season.  I'm very excited about all the beautiful weddings we are privileged to do this coming year, and quite frankly- I can't wait to get my hands on all the gorgeous flowers!
  I love bringing couples into my home, getting to know them and their style in order to help them create a beautiful wedding. I want you to see my surroundings and get to know me and my style to determine if you can trust me to bring flowers into your wedding day that you will still remember and be proud of on your 25th wedding anniversary.

Many Brides ask before they come...." what should I bring with me?"
Answer:  If you have the time; first do your homework.  It will make our consultation time very productive.
 * Ask your fiance to discuss with you the type of wedding that would best discribe your personalities and style. Would you like it to be dramatic or understated?  Do you picture it being formal, casual, modern, traditional or eclectic?  The flowers and designs you choose will set the tone and atmosphere as soon as your guests enter.

*  Think of the colors and flowers that you like; as well as dislike.  (ie. baby's breath, Carnations)

*  How about the style of bouquets?  Do you like round hand-tied bouquets, wildflower-tied bunches, cascading bouquets, tightly bunched solid flower bouquets, or loose & whispy bouquets with greens?

* It's always helpful to know your flower budget.  Flowers can range drastically in prices.  If you discuss your budget with your florist she can guide you toward the flowers that will fit within your budget, saving you both the time and frustration of coming up with a 'new plan'.

* Be flexible.  You may find a picture of a bouquet that you love which includes very pricey flowers.
Trust your florist to know what flowers can be substituted to acheive the same color story using less expensive flowers, but still giving you the  'look for less' that will photograph just as lovely.

* Complete my pre-consultation form.  When you book an appointment with me I will send you the link to my online pre-consult form.  Completing this form allows us to skip all the basic information, and get right to the fun part of choosing flowers.

I want a Bride to leave our consultation really 'feeling good' about what she has chosen.  If she does, then I've done the first part of my job well.  If not, I will honestly say that perhaps I'm not the best fit and I will recommend she meets with someone else.
 After all, I only get one chance to make your wedding day a beautiful one, and I do not want to fail!

Knot AGAIN

Once again my wonderful photographer friend Kris from KMPhotography submitted one of our weddings to the Knot Pennsylvania magazine.  Her work is so incredible that it gets chosen month after month.  We're just fortunate to get our work published along with it.  Thanks again, Kris!

Vendor Team:  KMPhotographyweddings.com-Photography

                   Plannedperfectionpa.com -Wedding planner

                 Rosiescreativecakes.com- Cake

Favorites of the Year-with more to come.....

I think of all 777 images of Jessie and Doug's wedding this one is my favorite.  I get to relive that happy moment when she stretched across a puddle to give me a kiss right after coming back down the aisle.    I'll never forget the happiness of this day.  I love that Matthew Tennison had his camera glued to his eye and didn't miss a single precious moment. I  also love seeing a man holding a bouquet.

Jessie and Doug adore their 5 little nephews. Just look at those cute little faces.

THE Matthew Tennison, our hero-and Sondra say cheeeze.

The perfect bridal party picture.

............what's on his mind?

He's checking out the bling on the bouquet stems!!

There are so many more fun pictures, but that's for another time.

Happy New Year everyone!

Wedding Art

Jessie and Doug received yet another beautiful wedding gift on Christmas Day:

 A painting of their wedding begun on-site by artisit Nancy Perotti.  We were so pleased with what she chose to paint and how wonderfully they turned out; what a treasure.

 Jessie and Doug really love art, in fact they first met in a high school art class, so they really appreciate this.

 Lighting their candle in prayer is a great reminder of the spirtitual significance of their marriage.

  I love how Nancy captured the details of pansies down the aisle and the hanging vases of flowers in trees.

In the shadows we can see Erika and Jessie's new sis, Sondra.

Nancy surprised us with another painting of the parade of children.

When I asked Nancy about the concept of painting on site during a ceremony she was excited about the idea, and agreed to do that for us.  The dampness in the air that day made it difficult to do, but she certainly didn't disappoint us.  She finished her work from photos she took while there and the end result was beyond what I imagined.  It meant a lot to me that she was willing to do that, and the best part is that Jessie and Doug will always have a piece of art to remember their wedding day.

Want to contact Nancy Perotti to paint your wedding?

sunflowergallery@yahoo.com

Welcome to My Home this Christmas

My intention was to get pictures of all my holiday decorating and starting with the back porch door, invite you in. (Don 't they say back door guests are best?) However I am a very, very poor, photographer and I couldn't get any lighting right with my little digital camera, so this is all I have.  Even this isn't good, but I wanted all of you blog watchers to know that I would've loved to welcome you into my home this Christmas to have a cup of coffee and some homemade sugar cookies and a little inspirational 'wedding talk'. 

This is the time of year that I really enjoy switching gears for a short time and focusing on the wonderful Christmas Season.  Then in January I'm diving into all my new wedding books (that hopefully will be under the Christmas tree), signing up for design seminars and looking for new ones to attend this winter.  I take some time to sift thru all of  the pictures I've tried to take of our work-and decide which are going to make it onto the website or blog, as well as gathering from my photographer friends some of their fabulous images of our work.

  I also love to have some of my 'wedding friends',  over for lunch to chat about all things wedding.  Last year we took a  'field trip together to NYC to a big Bridal Show, which was great fun!

 And best of all I spend lots of time meeting with brides, grooms and moms to plan their wedding flower decor.

It's been a great year and I'm so thankful for each wedding we were blessed to do.  So in closing on this last blog before Christmas (well, maybe I'll do another one-) I leave you with an image of this inspirational carved frame I have in my home.  It's one that makes me stop and think- and try hard as the New Year approaches, to remember to apply these things to my life. Hope you get something out of it too.

Merry, Merry Christmas

Best of Weddings Show 2009

Well, it was the wedding show of my dreams!  No cramped 10x10 vendor booths and a maze for the crowds to push thru.  It was wedding eye -candy to the max!!!  Such tremendous attendance and so much wedding buzz that it made all the hard work and expense so worth it. 
Jonnaysa Kirkham gets the credit for Wedding Show perfection! You wanna talk about passion, energy and attention to detail???....she had all the bases covered and was relaxed, calm and smiling all day long.

This was the Spring Display using Tulips swirled under-water with a floating candle and lovebirds.

Couples with a tight wedding budget appreciate the simple, yet unusual centerpieces.

Leslie Gilbert just sent me a few shots she took of our team's Heritage Ballroom on the third floor of the Lancaster Convention Center.  Check out her blog for the 2nd floor team's display.

This was a guest table in our Winter display.  We used white birch branches in our footed cylinder vase with crushed ice and white tulips.  Tulips are one flower that continue to stretch and grow in the warmth of candles and the lighting in the room.  These tulips definitely stretched that day!

In our Fall display we used a giant artichoke for the center of long tables that formed an X. It was filled with purple artichokes, Scarlet O'Hara Peonies, Silver Dollar Eucalyptus, Purple Intergrefolia and Parrot Tulips.

 It would be ideal for a small wedding where all the guests sit at one large table for a wedding feast, or as an over-sized Head Bridal Table.

And then of course the purple Cauliflower.

It was fantastic working with a first-class team of Central Pa. wedding vendors.

Rod Shumaker,

Renee Connors

Martine Cajas

Jeremy Hess

Cynthia Fry

Events Central

If you want to see Jeremy Hess' pictures then log onto:  www.pictage.com/758759

The event key will be: November22

As of today, Tuesday the 24th, they are still being prepared for publishing. But keep checking back in.

More images will be posted when I receive them.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  Let's be mindful of all our blessings.

Would you believe... Purple Cauliflower?

On my weekly trip to one of my many favorite  'happy places', which is downtown Lancaster's Central Market, I saw something that inspired me for one of the 4 Season's table displays at the Best of Weddings Show.
 If you come to the Show, find me and mention that you saw this on my blog and you will have your choice of flowers from any of my 4 displays at the end of the show.