Yasmine's Wedding on May 15, 2010

I really had a wonderful time working with Yasemine and her fiancee's mother Jhisook. The look they wanted was very elegant and simple, and we used my signature flower, hydrangeas! Her bridal bouquet almost looked exactly like mine (I added queen anne's lace and crystals to mine), so I especially liked it!
The men wore sprigs of hydrangea in blue, while the groom wore ivory hydrangea.

The ceremony was held at Deerfield Presbyterian Church, also where my wedding took place! We added hydrangeas at each gathering point where the tulle was draped along the aisle.


I love her "love birds" theme!

Hydrangeas in clean , clear cubes set the tone for the reception. The dinner was held at Lucia's Restaurant in Vineland, NJ, a MUST for great food and a gorgeous atmosphere! We have been fans for years, definitely try it sometime! You will feel like you are in the center of a town square in Italy where many locals sit outside and savor their food and wine. That was one of my favorite experiences while traveling in Europe, and the owner of Lucia's captured it, because I felt that the first time I walked in.

Yasmine's cake was so pretty! This is similar to what my cake looked like (only mine was a table with a massive amount of flowers and a cake hiding amongst the mounds of hydrangeas). We carried with the "love birds" theme and tucked roses and hydrangea around the topper, and also added tiny groupings on each tier. This is my favorite look, romantic and soft!

Choosing the RIGHT Florist for your Wedding

So, are you in the midst of wedding planning and still haven't booked a florist? Let me share some insight that may help make things go a bit smoother. Recently, I met with a florist at a networking event that was explaining her wedding business to me. She offered packages (which I do not) and said how she will let the bride pick the number of bouquets or boutounnieres needed, but because its a package deal, the bride can't choose colors or flowers. She said she uses whatever is left in her cooler at the end of the week. Im sure my face went from a pleasant expression to horrified. Please, please, please don't choose someone who will do this. This is where you hear horror stories later and have photos to remember potentially horrible dead flowers forever. As a professional who takes great pride in my work, because it is truly a form of art, please don't put your trust in someone who has no appreciation for your needs, or who doesn't treat floral design as art. Anyone can play with flowers and call themselves a designer. Its a particular few who appreciate the actual art of designing with colors and texture, and will take notice of the small details that will make you treasure your flowers for years to come. I am a firm believer of "You get what you pay for". If you have a tight budget, which 99% of brides do I am sure, don't let that sway you from meeting with a professional. If you decide to make your flowers yourself, you can purchase higher quality flowers at bulk rates from a good florist. I always make that option available. Lastly, choose a florist who does MANY weddings in a year, not 2 or 3 in an entire year. They won't be up on trends and may talk you out of something really cool that you've seen in the latest issue of The Knot or Martha Stewart Weddings. A professional floral designer can utilize flowers to create anything and not tell you "That can't be done". In the world of "floral designers", I can honestly say I have met a handfull who are truly talented. So please be careful when someone offers wedding packages for your flowers, but then said "It's a Surprise" when you ask what they will look like. Just had to share this before it kept me up at night...

Toni and Gene's Wedding on May 2, 2010

I had a blast working with Toni and Gene! Gene's niece, Kristin from Bel Momento (btw BEST wedding planner EVER!) sent them my way and I was so excited to meet them. We did a very elegant and simple theme with clean lines and soft color. The focal flower was the famous Mozart mini calla (which isnt too mini) and we used them for the centerpieces and bouquets. I did 3 submerged callas in a tall cylinder topped with a floating candle and wired them with silver bullion wire to compliment the silverware and silver ribbon around the girls. The photos below are done by Laura Perry from Laura Leigh Photo and I LOVE her work! She is the sweetest girl ever and it was awesome to finally meet her for the first time! She does absolutely stunning work! If you like her and you need a photographer, CALL HER! But that's if you still need someone for 2011, because 2010 is booked. Congratulations Gene and Toni! Wishing you two many, many happy years together!

2 Sisters 1 Great Photographer!

Today I talked to Melissa, she owns Issy Schmid Imaging and she did an amazing job on Dani and Jimmy's wedding last weekend! Then I realized Melissa did Dani's sister Alison's wedding last year, and so did I! So I am so excited that I will be getting some new shots for my site! I'd like to add some now so you can see how great the pictures are!



Above is Alison and her bridesmaids from her wedding last year. These colors look awesome!


This is Danielle's cake from The Sweet Life Bakery! It looked totally gorgeous!

Danielle and Jimmy after the ceremony! Congratulations guys! I had such a blast working with you guys, so happy everyone liked everything! Another thanks to Melissa for doing such a fabulous job on the photos! Keep an eye out for new pictures on the site soon :)

Three Weddings In One Day, a Crazy, Happy Success!

Today was a very busy day with myself and my girls on the road and all over the place. All of the weddings were awesome and all a little different. Two weddings were fellow Sacred Heart grads and the third was an out of state couple whom I met over a year ago. In a crumbling economy like this one, I feel so blessed to be this busy, and also so happy to share my creative energy with so many!

Above are the altar flowers for Chris and Robyn's wedding up in Moorestown at Trinity Episcopal Church, the most gorgeous church I've been to!

This is a photo of Jimmy and Danielle's centerpieces at Merighi's Savoy Inn in Vineland. We did a single submerged calla with a floating candle and votives at the base of a beveled mirror. Very clean and simple! Her hightops were submerged orchids with floating candles in a shorter cylinder.


LOVE LOVE LOVE their cake! Jill at the Sweet Life Bakery created this gorgeous cake! Danielle wanted a soft cascade of hydrangeas, roses, orchids, and awesome uhule fiddles just at the top, totally cool!

Katelyn's wedding was in East Vineland and her reception was at the Seaveiw Golf Resort and Spa by Dolce in Galloway. LOVE this place! She wanted a lot of clean white with elegant silver containers. Above we used orchids, hydrangeas, Vitality garden roses, parrot tulips, hyacinths, and many other blooms to accent.

The other half of her tables were made up of 3 mint julep cups (some tables with small cups, some with high cups) filled with single varieties in each. Some were just orchids, stock, hydrangeas, garden roses, spray roses, or hyacinths. The room smelled so great!

Chris and Robyn had their reception at Lucien's Manor in Berlin, in the Venetian Ballroom. We also did 2 centerpiece styles. These were small simple ivy bowls filled with stock, roses, hydrangeas, freesias, and sweet peas. The other were large vases that were double the size and contained the same flowers.

Danielle's ring bearer carried this pillow made of only Yoko Ono lime button mums, wrapped with chocolate double-faced satin.

A close up of Robyn's bridal bouquet. These hydrangeas are my FAVORITE!

It was a wonderful day and everyone was happy! It is so rewarding when you hear everyone in the room kinda squeal in excitement! It totally makes my day! Congratulations Katelyn and Bobby, Jimmy and Danielle, and Robyn and Chris! I loved working with you guys!

Melissa and Derek's Wedding on April 2, 2010

I Cannot wait for the professional photos to come back from Douglas Photography because I KNOW they are going to be fabulous! The girl's bouquets looked awesome against the simple black dresses and we used all the colors above in the arrangement on the purgola at Running Deer.

The card table had all the same flowers, along with tinted water to add interest. I used jasmine vine draping down and it smelled wonderful! Spring is here!

Elia's Wedding on April 3, 2010

What a gorgeous weekend for 2 weddings! We did Elia's wedding, which took place in Wilmington, and Melissa's, which took place at Running Deer in Pittsgrove. Both brides were ecstatic, and so was I! Posted below is a photo of Elia's bridal bouquet. LOVE LOVE LOVE the dark blue hydrangeas! They are my favorite:)

Running Deer Bridal Show Highlights

Above is a hot pink ranunculus boutounniere that I made with cherry blossoms, pussy willow, curly willow, ginestra, and soft, white feathers to accent. I love this because although it's unusual in texture, its completely natural.


This is my favorite bouquet because I used peonies, garden roses, ranunculus, and hot pink hydrangeas. I added hot pink pins on the lime ribbon to bring out the ranunculus, and gave them diamonds in the center to give them even more attention!


Thin, lime bullion wire is a cool way to add interest to a spring hand-tied bouquet of daffodils, garden roses, and parrot tulips.

Cindy's Wedding on March 28, 2010

I had a great time playing with the flowers for Cindy's wedding. She did a cherry blossom theme and usually fresh cherry blossoms need to have perfect timing, and her definitely did! We incorporated them in her centerpieces (at The Rushes in Woodstown, NJ) and her ceremony area was adorned by two huge vases of cherry blossoms in full bloom (photos to follow)! I'd like to share some pictures of what I did from her wedding. The photo above was a close up shot of the wrist corsage I did for the children in the bridal party (we did 3 girls) and each of these wrist corsages were made with a long double-faced satin ribbon. This way the girls could simply tie them on their wrists and the size was perfect no matter how little they were:) I love these because they are fast and I can use ANY ribbon. Congratulations to the new Mr & Mrs! I LOVED working with you guys!


The groom's boutounniere was simply made with white hyacinth blossoms and eriostomen.




The kissing ball for the flower girl was made with garden spray roses, hyacinth blooms, and sterling range blooms.




I love this romantic garden rose corsage. I acquired garden spray roses from Europe and accented them with hydrangeas, ginestra, and sterling range blooms.


Cindy's bouquet had white peonies, white parrot tulips, and white hyacinths.

Melissa and Derek's Wedding on April 2, 2010

Melissa & Derek from Steve Williams on Vimeo.

Check out this FABULOUS video by Steve Williams! What an awesome gorgeous day for an outdoor wedding in April. Melissa was really happy with her flowers and Derek said his videographer was great, but I think great is an understatement! My wedding video was no where near as good as this!

Some pics from Lauren's wedding on September 27th

I just got some great pics from Marge at Artistic Images in Sicklerville. Lauren's wedding was in Avalon at The Golden Inn. I would love to share some photos with you. Lauren was so great to work with, totally open to suggestions and cool with whatever!


Lauren's flowers were only Mango and white mini callas, seeded eucalyptis, and curly willow loops tucked into her flowers. Everything was very natural and clean. Love it!

If you are looking for a great husband wife team that take awesome pictures, then you can be confidant you'll have fabulous pictures! Check them out at www.artisticimagesnj.com!

Heather's Wedding in Pittsgrove and Scotland Run Golf Club on March 20, 2010

Heather's card table flowers were in a tall glass vase filled with "ice" and blue lights to give the look of cold icy water for her winter wedding theme. The 70 degree day didn't quite go with the theme, but I don't think anyone seemed to care. A touch of spring makes everyone happy!


All the centerpieces also had the blue lights so there was a hue of the blue glow, once the lights were dimmed and the sun went down. The main flowers used were blue hydrangeas, blue delphinium, white stock, and white roses.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this natural arbor. I originally did this look in 2005 for my sister-in-law's wedding, and so many people have requested it since. I love it because it makes such a great entrance piece for the biggest moment of the ceremony, the bride's walk down the aisle! My head designer Danielle made these pieces and she added some orchids and also some FABULOUS pussy willow branches from a friend of my mom-in-laws, who lost her bush in the bad weather. Thanks Pam!



Heather's bouquet was a cascade of solid white mini callas, probably about 80 something of them, and a hint of light blue delphinium to break up the white. The professionals are coming! Compliments of good friend and great photographer Gale Caulford (856.765.9505). She did my wedding in 2004 and I love her work!

Bridal Show Samples

I wanted to put up some pictures of some popular pieces that I did for some recent bridal shows.
I like posting these photos so that my brides get some good ideas from previous things they saw at the shows or just want to see something new. One thing I totally always try to do is to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! Why do the same old thing when there is a way to put a twist on it?
This bouquet is my favorite because I love all things natural and organic. Instead of going for the bling, why not use natural elements and textures to embellish your bouquet. So above I used alot of different flowers for spring. I wanted to bring in the purple because its popular so I used my favorite purple fiddles, lavender roses, lavender hyacinths, and purple moon carnations (yes, I don't carry carnations for daily use, let alone weddings, but for the color its perfect). Since brown and purple are going in the same color direction, I added curly willow, since the oak tone compliments the fiddles. To bring out the blue tones, I used hydrangeas and anemones. To compliment them with an organic touch, I used peacock feathers because 1) they bring out the blue and add a cool teal shade, and 2) they match the oak shade of the curly willow. For a touch of peach I added hypericum berries and daffodils with a peach throat. The fresh greens makes all these colors pop. This is how my brain functions on a normal basis...its the artist in me I guess.



This bouquet has bling, but also a natural element and soft texture with white albino ostrich feathers added around the rim. Romantic red garden roses are more interesting than the typical standard red rose, but the shade is classic and timeless. These popular crystal hairpins (make a GREAT bridesmaid gift) add bling and a fun sense of style. LOVE IT!



This photo has a lot of SILVER, as in mosaic vases and clean silver fluted vases (available for rent). For the display, I did a red/silver/white theme. The white is incorporated with phaelonopsis orchids in the centerpiece, and white ostrich feathers in the bridal bouquet. There are 3 smaller centerpieces that can be used separately, or grouped together. I used the red garden roses again, and incorporated some fresh ivy and ornamental raspberries for interest. There are white cherry blossoms coming out of the tall vase, but they haven't opened in time for this show.

This photo is from the Chelsea show in AC a few weeks back. This look is HUGE right now. I do a lot of submerged flowers with the floating candle. This time I let the orchids poke out of the top of the vases and I almost like this look better. Again, these can be used separately or grouped together.