Lemon- themed reception at Landis Valley

A rainy Saturday wedding at Landis Valley.  It seems rain is in the sky and mud is on the ground every single time we have a wedding there.   Amy and I in our flip-flops and Jessie and Lindsay in their cute little 'Wellies' came already soaking wet from the first wedding that day at Lime Spring Farm. ( I'll post those pictures next week). The next day Jessie came over with a gift of  my very own cute little pair of  Wellies for any future wet Wandis Walley weddings. 

  Above are a few details of an otherwise very lovely wedding.  The bridesmaids wore blue dresses and carried yellow Mini Callas.  The Bride's bouquet was all white mini Callas. So rainy I forgot to get pictures of bouquets!

-First is the Ring Bearer's box.  We painted a wooden box black and covered it with yellow button Mums and tied it up with black ribbon. 

-The next is 2 buckets of  rain- no just kidding...... it's floating flowers and candles placed at the beginning of the ceremony aisle.  The wedding was to be held in the grove, but because of rain it took place in the barn; therefore the candles couldn't be lit.  You must hire a 'candle-watcher'  from LV because of the historic value of the barn.

- The couple came to Landis Valley from West Chester and brought with them the catering company called appropriately, "Limoncello".  The centerpieces  called for yellow Lilies, and of course Lemon slices. 

We had to get out of the rain before the favors were put out, so we have no pictures, however they were bottles of homemade Limoncello liquer made by the couple themselves. 

- Yellow Gladiolas and Curly Willow branches are set in place for the Bruschetta/ Anitpasta tables, as well as tall footed cylinders of Lemons and Lilies and button Mums for buffet tables in the barn after the wedding.

       Congratulations to Tony and Julia!  I know the rain didn't spoil their wedding day one bit!

Vintage Style

Mixing it up a little bit with reception pictures first.

My assistant Lynne loves the assignment to be on "the hunt" for wedding related items.  This time she was 'head over heels' excited to be hunting down Milk Glass for vintage styled centerpieces.  She found so many beautiful pieces that she just couldn't pass a single one by.... so guess who has a 'boat-load' of great milk glass!?  Centerpiece flowers were South American blue Hydrangea, and local blue Hydrangea with green Hypericum.

                The 'Quilled' table numbers, a vintage art, were handmade by the bride and her mom. 

The Bride's bouquet was designed with green Hydrangea, White Lisianthus, and white Majolika Spray Roses and green Cymbidiums.

Bridesmaids carried bouquets of blue Hydrangea, green Cymbidium, Dendrobium and Hypericum.

3 Beautiful sisters:  Haley, Kelsey and Whitney

         Thank you for the privilege of doing another Brown family wedding.  Always a pleasure!

Another gorgeous cake by Rosie Rohrer

Just a few minutes

No time to write tonite with 2 huge weddings in the morning, but wanted to post some images that
Nicola Herring sent to me of Carrie and Chris' wedding 2 wks. ago.
The bride carried white Ranunculus, Majolika Spray Roses and Viburnum.
Bridesmaids carried Cool Water Roses, pink Majolika Spray Roses, and Alchemilla.
Groom's Boutt. was a white Ranunculus.  More later, whenever I find some free time!

Thanks for staying with me, I'll catch up someday soon.

Hot off the press.

Here are the Knot magazine pages.  Thank you to Matthew Tennison for great photography, Shumaker,pdt for awesome lighting, sound and for rigging & uplighting my hanging Tulip canopy over the favor table!

To Jonnaysa Kirkham and assistant Marah for wedding planning perfection,  Rosie Rohrer for gorgeous, delicious wedding cake, and to the Beck's for lending us their antique pick-up truck named 'Nellie' for the wedding gifts.  And the biggest thank you to God for bringing this happy couple together.

Many weddings, little time to blog

Thank -you blog watchers for taking the time to read my posts.  I have been sooo busy that I have had so little time to blog the past 2 wks. four weddings.   Blogging takes lots of time,  but I will catch up soon.
  One fun bit of blog-worthy news is that Jessie and Doug's wedding was just published in the latest issue of
The Knot magazine.  We've had several pictures of our work in the magazine in the past, but there is nothing like the thrill of seeing my own daughter and son-in-law in there.  Thank you to Matthew Tennison for submitting his images!

Wedding Story

  I just had a wonderful mini vacation in New England with my best girlfriends, and now back to work this week on some great weddings.  While I'm not doing weddings, I'm still thinking about them everywhere I go..........
 Sailing along on a Schooner in Newport, RI on a beautiful, sunny day I'm noticing white tents at many of the beautiful clubs along the coast; one of which was the site of the JFK wedding.  I tried to imagine being a guest at the wedding and how beautiful it must have been.  The sails taking us gently across the water  was so very silent and peaceful, until the boat leans so far it feels and looks like we're going to tip over! 

The ship had a captain and 2 mates, one big strong sailor- guy who loved to tell stories of the rich that owned the mansions on the hill; and a petite, but strong young 20-something girl who could handle the sails as well as a man.  Noticing a wedding ring, I felt compelled to asked if she was married at one of those exquisite resorts up there, and that's when I heard a wonderful wedding story. ......................

  She and her husband were actually from the California coast, but employement brought them to Rhode Island.  Her husband is a ship builder, and she a sailing mate.  In California; unlike Lancaster, engagement parties are the norm- and expected.  Big engagement parties with formal invitations and large guest lists, and are hosted at great places.
  This couple was having such a difficult time with planning the wedding because they just wanted to keep it simple and personal with lots of sentiment.  Everywhere they looked, it just didn't feel quite like what they wanted.  Then it came to them!  They decided to create a wonderful surprise.  They contacted their minister, told him their idea and he was in favor.  Then they called the DJ they hired for the engagement party and he gladly jumped on board.  Then the bride needed to tell her mom their idea, fearing she would be against it.  Much to their delight she was very supportive and very excited.  Now keeping the secret was the hardest part. The only other person she finally told was her very best friend.
  The night of the engagement party came and the atmosphere was charged with fun and excitement as all the guests arrived and greeted the couple.  Music was very light and happy, guests were mingling, eating, drinking and dancing.  They didn't seem to notice that their hosts had slipped away. 
   Then music stopped and changed completely to a very romantic slow song.  Through the crowd comes the beautiful bride in her wedding dress with a bouquet of flowers and her dad holding her hand.  The guests step aside as she passes, with tears running down their faces, gently touching her as she passes by. Her groom comes from the other end to meet her in the center of the room. Right there in the Museum they were married.  No bridesmaids or groomsmen.  Just their friends and families as their witnesses. The music changes again and they immediately have their first dance as husband and wife.  Butlers immerged with trays of champagne and caviar.  Then a beautiful wedding cake was wheeled out and cut. The guests were stunned and the celebration went to a whole new level. The photographer caught every special moment.  With so much love surrounding them they would not have changed a thing about their wedding.
  " So no wedding gifts?", I asked.........
 Wedding gifts continued to arrive at their home  for many months following with thank you notes to the couple for making the experience so meaningful to them.
  Now, who doesn't just love a good wedding story like this!?

Happy color, Happy day!

The setting is a beautiful property where the bride grew up.  Leslie Gilbert photographed the day.

The bridesmaids wore 'Raspberry Lipstick' colored dresses, so the bride chose purple and raspberry flowers.  We used Stock and hot pink & Red Peonies.Colorful centerpieces using oranges, grapes and all sorts of flowers went so well at Casa di Fiori at Leola Village.The bride's bouquet was hot pink Peonies, Orange Mokara Orchids, green mini Cymbidium Orchids, red Spray Roses and purple mini Callas.

The aisle was lined with daisy heads.  The flower girl carried a sphere of white daisies.  Lots more pictures to follow later.