Poppies!

 

This was the setting for a recent wedding that we designed out at Hamilton 12-

This is an iron screen from Mancino Iron--it was covered in smilax and orange tulips.

 

These are the tables just waiting for the reception--

They featured the iron votive trees with a few suspended blooms dangling from whimisical ribbons and the other tables featured wheat grass with blooming poppies. The table runners were made by the brides mom. This wedding was filled with details--check out Shannon Cunningham or Sherry Hammonds, both photographers in Austin, their blogs have some awesome, awesome photos. I can't even begin to describe the details that went into this event.

 

Iceland poppies and tulips in wheat grass. This was the first time in my 20something year career that I worked with poppies. I was up for the challenge, they were a very integral part of the design-invitations,cake motif-how could I not incorporate them. Thanks Stephanie and Jeremy for allowing me to be part of this great event. I'll share the note I received from Steph's mom later.

Happy Birthday Shannon!

Happy Birthday Shannon! Hope you have a great day-  Shannon has been part of our staff for over four years, we can't wait to eat cake with you!

Fresh flowers on cakes

 

Thought I would get Monday going with a bit of sweetness, possibly because we consumed too much cake last night at Lindsay and James wedding!

I was lucky enough to sample the above cake this past fall-- it was as delicious as it was beautiful.

 

Fresh flowers can be the perfect finishing touch.....

 

or not.

Winfield Inn

 

A few shots of The Winfield Inn-- we will be designing the wedding of  Becky's daughter Lindsay this Sunday. Becky is one of the designers on our staff!

We'll bring back pictures-- colorful, lanterns hanging, custom made linens--it will be beautiful!

 

 

Fruits and flowers

 

Fruit and flowers are a  great complement- the trio of vases with the lemons  and floating candles are a casual centerpiece.  These were at The Top of the Oasis recently. The citrus-y scent is always so refreshing and unexpected.

 

A more elaborate of use of fruit-used to create a base for this floral "chandelier" of hanging candles, orchids and rosebuds. This centerpiece was placed on half of the tables- brown and pink linens completed this look.

 

A simple vase of apples paired with  submerged green spide mums. Simple and elegant-sometimes a statement is best made with a few great elements!

Texas Wildflowers

 

During this time of year we get alot of requests for wildflowers-

we do not use alot of native varieties, they are not grown for commercial use.  We will sometimes come across a local farm or two that will have some excess inventory.  For a wildflower look, we go for a more casual arrangement,usually of bright colors and almost always incorporating blue( think bluebonnets.)

 

This is a bridal bouquet designed a few summers ago-- this prop is located out at Star Hill Ranch.

Star Hill Ranch is a great venue-the owner Adam has relocated a variety of buildings and restored them in a vintage style.  Off the  top of my head, there is a saloon, a schoolhouse, a chapel, a brides house and others.

 

This centerpiece accompanied the bridal bouquet above, a simple galvanized bucket filled with summery flowers, daisies, lisianthus, larkspur, delphinium-perfect for a summer brunch or BBQ.

Details

 

This was a low colorful centerpiece we designed a few weekends ago.

I love the size of this container, it is low but has enough volume and size to stand up to the all white linens in the room.

 

White linens,white chairs just say wedding to me--but I will always suggest color,especially in a room with a lot of natural light.

 

The details on this table was perfect-- the pink cardstock that was tucked into the napkin(the bridesmaids were wearing this same color) . The guests were instructed to write a wish ( the instructions were in the small 3x5 frames along with a small glass holder with a few pens for each table) and leave it in the bowl near the entrance.  A well thought out and executed detail!

The peonies are here!

 

Peonies can be so unpredictable, when will they be here, will they be open?We were so excited to get a few white blooms for one of our brides this past weekend-- and lots of other white flowers, miniature calla lilies, stock,roses,tulips and ranunucla--the ribbons that are exposed will be used to tie in her grandparents wedding rings.

 

Just a few bouquets before they hit the delivery van--bridesmaids were wearing coral--one of our most challenging colors-not alot of flowers in that particular  color range-- we like to pair it with soft butter yellow- these gerbera daisies were perfect along with stock,hypericum berries, ambience roses, and apricot parrot tulips.  A nice spring collection and thank goodness the rain held off!

Blogs!

 
 This was a centerpiece we designed for a wedding a few weekends ago at The LBJ Wildflower Center-- you'll see it again in a future post.  For more pro pics of this wedding check  out ryangreenphotography.blogspot.com-Lindsay and Jake at the Wildflower Center. Some really gorgeous shots of a super happy bride and great scenery.

Remember these phaleanopsis--you can see more photos at

Hookedphotoblog.com.  Lizzy and Ryan at Vintage Villas,  a really creative look at this wedding. 

Tulips in the fall

 

Tulip bouquets in the fall? Yes, it is possible- there is a fall crop of tulips available, usually in the fall tones-reds, oranges, yellows and then as we get closer to the holiday season reds and whites. Tulips are a great flower - they make  a small, sophisticated bouquet when used alone--they do need to be handled and treated properly--when you see those tulips that are floppy and over bloomed they were not handled correctly--these are flowers for the professionals! We do not recommend them for bouttonieres, although I see them in magazines all the time, I'm guessing it is in a different climate!

 

The bride's bouquet featured red tulips, mango miniature calla lilies and dahlias along with bears grass-- the bride loved bears grass. ( You might recognize this photo from a recent postcard or our current ad in The Knot-Texas magazine.)

 

A few chair markers  along with a carpet of petals.

We will be discussing petals and the cost of petals in a future post.

 

The arbor at Villa Antonia-- I love the angle of this shot-- I wish I could give the proper credit to the photographer who provided these photos, I do not know who it is? This CD arrived in my mailbox a few months ago-- thank you to whoever you are, let us know if these are your photos!

Hot, Hot pink

 

Last spring we designed this all PINK wedding-- and I do mean pink!

The Bridal bouquet featured hot pink roses and stephanotis that were accented with pink rhinestones.

Remember I said pink!
 

Some of the tables featured this low glass square with hot pink roses and petals.

The linens were black, so these really made a statement.
 

This was part of the head table- pink submerged roses, stargazers and pink petals all on top of the black linens.
 

This "ringbearer pillow" was designed with pink roses-- committing to a certain color or a specific flower can certainly make a statement. 

Thanks to Allison over at Focal Point for the photos, this wedding took place at Vintage Villas.

Chuppah in black and white

 
 
 We designed this wedding in April a few years ago. It is amazing how timeless the color combo of black and white remains. The brides only request was " no roses"- you would be surprised at how many times we hear this.  So yeah for us ,we just used all the other great spring flowers--parrot tulips, anemone, sweet peas, stock and freesia.
 

The bridesmaids were all were stunning in these black  strapless gowns. The bouquets were very simple, hydrangea with white anemone- I will say I have a love/hate relationship with anemone- when they are gorgeous they are great-- when they are not, they are NOT! Honestly, these photographed much better than I thought- they seemed a little fragile.

This is one of the most exquisite cakes- simple and sophisticated. I am always intrigued by the hexagon shape-- seems so unique.  Here the bridesmaids bouquets were put to good use after the ceremony.

A very simple chuppah. This past year we have designed a few varieties of this Jewish wedding canopy.  It seems they are either are very simple or very ornate-- White fabric, white flowers create the setting for this outdoor ceremony at The Austin Country Club.

All of these photos are courtesy of Pam Hults- AlaVoie Photography.   Other vendor colleagues included- wedding coordinator, Barbara Hearne of Barbara's Brides and the baker, Michelle's Patisserie.  A great team from the Austin area.

"Something borrowed,something blue"

 

Seems like we are seeing a lot of shades of blue this year- thought I would share what we do with blue!

The bridal bouquet above was designed in all shades of white with just a touch of light blue.

The flowers included hydrangea,lisianthus,sweet peas, stephanotis and a touch of tweedia.

I know that this element was the "something blue" for this bride.

 

There were 10 bridesmaids all wearing the same dark blue dress, I think this is called "indigo", a rich vibrant blue and since this was a mid July wedding we selected vibrant summer selections for the flowers. Dark blue, red, orange, green and yellow were featured in the bridesmaids bouquets.

 

And one of our all time favorite roses--circus! A perfect bouttoniere, notice the dark blue tie--I love the traditional necktie in a color for the guys!

These photos were given to us by the bride (thank you!) but were taken by 

Tyler Schmitt of Schmitt photography.

2009 Year of friends and family weddings

This is our niece Brittney along with her (and our) friend Karie. This is hours before Karie's wedding!

4 Aggies and a Bearkat!

The important part, flowers! Karie was married at Houston Oaks,a golf club in the Houston area-the color scheme was chocolate brown and turquoise with all the flowers in shades of whites. Miniature calla lilies, roses, gerbera daisies and lilies completed the day.
This is the year of friend and family weddings:
my nieces Jeanna and Allison, Karie, Keiths best friends Sheila and Andy (can't wait to see the photos!) and Becky's daughter Lindsay! We have 3 down and 2 to go.