Tiny wedding

Yesterday I delivered a tiny but lovely wedding to the Tabard Inn in DC.  I loved everything about this wedding, the venue, the color story and of course the bride and groom.  They chose a personal and intimate way to celebrate their marriage and I was so pleased to be a small part of it.

Something a little different

Pieces for a dinner last night.  A bit of a tropical theme playing off of the tablecloth.  Red Protea, varigated Corydeline leaves, Vendela roses, green Anthirium, Aralia leaves and some other stuff.

First looks

I am working on a tablescape for a tiny wedding tomorrow.  The bride wants a tablescape with both milk and mercury glass.  I made a very long tan linen runner for the table, we will put an arrangement of doilies down it and then a tablescape of flowers and votives.  The flower colors will range from cream to yellow to peach to pink with a little burgandy thrown in.   I am using garden roses and peonies, I think this will be good.

Party at Landon

Landon had a thank you party for their volunteers the other night and I did the flowers.  I am loving the combination of coral, pink and creamy yellows.  I am really taken with these new (to me at least!) Teddy Bear gerbers - they are really lovely....  I also used astilbe, pierus (from the garden), cream lisianthus, baby green hydrangeas and a bit of blue hydrangea to tie things in with the tablecloth.  Such fun...

Color play

I love this color scheme - was playing around with some left overs - Combo and Faith roses and a lovely pink black eyed Gerber.  It reminds me of wearing a camel hair coat with a pink scarf.

Having a Kaffe Fassett moment

I adore Kaffee Fassett.  Adore is not even a strong enough word.   He is such a genius of color that I often wonder why I don't just carry around several of his books when I need to think about color schemes...If you don't know his work, please google him and you will see what I mean.

I have been trying to style my photos a bit - for years I have just taken photos against a blank background so I can have a record of my work, but as I look at the work of others I am waking up a bit.  I know, always a little late to the party.

Anyway, today I had a bride coming and wanted to have something on hand to show off.  I made a little piece from corals, pinks, creams and a little creamy yellow and of course greens to show off and then thought about presenting it on one of my antique quilts.  I loved this vivid color scheme and instantly thought about Kaffe and how he uses color.   I think this works pretty well.  The first photo is from my IPhone and the second from my Canon Rebel.  It is interesting to use different devices to see what you get..

Rachel's flower arrangement

So Rachel is 5 about to be 6.  Her family moved from Manhattan to the suburbs and her dad is planting up a storm and filling the yard with flowers and shrubs.  A few weeks ago Rachel made this centerpiece for dinner and it was so cute I just had to post it.

Spring arrangement

I made this little piece for a Senator's book signing on Capitol Hill.  The event took place in a beautiful row house right near the Capitol.  I love the pop of the coral spray roses mixed with the pink parrot tulips and larger roses....and my favorite geranium leaves for greens - they are so frilly and beautiful - they add just the right touch.

Wedding bouquet

A quick snap of yesterday's bridal bouquet - one of my favorite color schemes - grey, cream and yellow. 

Holton Reunion

This year went by so quickly and it is amazing that it is Holton Reunion time already.  Last night there was a dinner party at one of the original school buildings on S St. NW in Washington.  The home owners have been gracious enough over the last years to allow alumnae back to see the transformation of the school into a home.  This is one of the centerpieces.

On the worktable

Just a quick pic of a piece before we rushed out the door.  These little arrangements were delivered to the UMD at Shady Grove yesterday for a party.   I love the combination of a yellow lime rose, white, green berries and grey dusty miller with a pop of coral from local quince blossoms...the yellow gloriosa added a great textural accent.

Spring luncheon

20 small posies to give away at the end of a thank you luncheon at Holton.  I used Malibu roses, blupurem, scented geranium leaves (my current favorite foliage), pink wax flower and pink astilbe.

Bridal Shower

Today I delivered some flowers to a beautiful house near the Cathedral.  I usually shy away from using blooming branches - it is so difficult to precisely pinpoint when they will come into bloom - particularly without a cooler.  Anyway, I got a couple of different lots - white cherry, double pinks, redbud and magnolia.   I was on pins and needles for a few days watching the white cherries and ended up using them for some large floor urns and a combination of things including some wonderful flowering quince I found in my inlaw's yard.  That combined with fabulous cream and pink parrot tulips and a large protea did the trick.

Blooming Dogwood

The wholesaler had some wonderful dogwood branches with immature flowers last week that I had to have.  There was so much material in each bundle that I am still using pieces as the blossoms mature.

I made these two pieces last week for an event at Landon and really love this open natural way of designing.  In addition to the branches I used ranuculus, a few roses, baby green hydrangeas, and some beautiful parrot tulips.

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An Event at the Canadian Embassy

A few weeks ago I delivered flowers to the Canadians for their Naval Ball.  The color scheme was gold and more gold.  I obliged by using shades of browns, golds and oranges to perk up all that gold.
In order to make a gold vase, I crimped layers of gold mylar into a clear glass bullet vase.

Potomac Wholesale spring open house

IFDA, my local floral designers group, had a table at the annual Potomac Floral open house a few weeks ago.  4 members of the group brought in work to decorate the table and demonstrate the range of our floral interests.

I made this bride bouquet for the display.

 I used a European round holder and tucked individual round eucalyptus leaves in with a new rose called Early Grey.  I also used individual brunia berries and a few succulents.  Something a little different to show off.

Pippen Hill wedding

I did this wedding last year in Charlottesville at Pippen Hill Winery. It was an incredible setting - and just a lovely day.  The bride wanted a muted color story for the ceremony and then much brighter colors for the reception.  We complied with a pale blue and apricot mix for the ceremony, then bright golds, fuschia, blue and yellows.   We also (we meaning my husband and our great friend Blaise) made and installed a birch tree chuppah.  It was engineered within an inch and luckily so - it was very windy. Thanks to Jack Looney for the lovely photos.

Votive Centerpiece

I made this piece at Christmas with my new aluminum low urns from Accent Decor.  Such a nice simple centerpiece that will last all season!  I used gold votives and gold and silver xmas balls for a nice glittery look.

Valentines Day

With all this awful weather I told my clients that they could get their delivery on Wed or maybe not until Sat.  A few opted for yesterday so I ran around town.  This piece is for one of most loyal clients - we did the arrangements for her wedding years ago and now 2 little girls and many Valentine's Days later we are still together.  For her piece I used pink parrot tulips, Blushing Bride mini protea, pink ranuculus, lambs ears, mini green hydrangea, geranium leaves and tree fern.  Very Constance Spry yes?

Messing around

I love this container but rarely use it...anyway, I had some nice sunflowers and odds and ends and came up with this piece....

Free style ikebana

I love ikebana - the type of thinking involved does not come easily to me - I spend a lot of time in class thinking and consulting with my teacher Kyoko turning materials this way and that to find the perfect position for elements.   

Last night she provided some beautiful sweeping branches and we created arrangements with them.  I liked the idea of the branch floating above the container and worked with Kyoko on mechanics to make that happen.  The horizontal aspedistra leaves enhance the floating aspects of this piece and the tulip and brezillia berries give it some stability.

More pictures from Becky's wedding

Leo Druker took these wonderful photos of Becky and Greg's wedding in early December.  She was a beautiful bride and it was such fun to work with her.  She collected lots of elements to use in the arrangements and I was happy to oblige.  She wanted a wonderful color story of bright pinks and rose with grey and cream.

Sara and Kiran's wedding

Yesterday Sara and Kiran got married yesterday at the Carnegie Institute in downtown DC...
The color story was gold and silver with blush and cream roses.  These are just some quick shots of the bouquet and the cake table decor with a gold branch with hanging votives.