Posts Tagged ‘Musings’

Floral Artistry 2011 Year In Review

Friday, December 30th, 2011

If you’re anything like me the end of the year may have snuck right up on you.  In 2011 we celebrated our 10th year in business and announced that we’re expecting a baby in the Spring, got a sweet little arbor pic in this article in The New York Times (page 2), made these super cute flower shoes, had 280 re-pins of my floral designs on Pinterest, and had a lovely “Unveiled” feature in Vermont Vows magazine (see pages 62-63 below).  We also worked with fabulous clients and vendors who made our 10th season both memorable and fantastic!  (You can check out some of our feature weddings here.)

It was a wonderful year full of flowers and I am looking forward to 2012.

Congratulations to all the newly engaged couples who are just embarking on their planning process and Happy New Year to all the newly weds who are celebrating their first holiday season as a married couple!

Here’s a peek at our Unveiled feature in Vermont Vows.  (Click image below for a closer look.)

♥♥ Thanks for stopping by my blog today!  I will see you next year with tips and ideas to help jumpstart your planning.

Plan Your Wedding On Pinterest

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

Pinterest is an amazing tool for putting together inspiration boards for your wedding decor.  If you’re planning a wedding and aren’t on Pinterest yet you should request an invite today.

See a bouquet you like on a wedding website?….just “pin it”, create a “bouquet board” and voila, you now have an organized inspiration board.  Not only is it neat and tidy, but Pinterest keeps track of the original source where you found your inspiration.  Start following wedding pinners (like me, Alison Ellis) and your computer screen will be filled with endless wedding inspiration every time you log on.  For real…it’s awesome.

As a pinner I get a little surge of excitement when someone repins one of my pins.  This is my most re-pinned bouquet so far!

…And this mason jar has been my 2nd most popular pin!

So join the cool kid club and get yourself on Pinterest to make planning fun, easy and organized!

Image via Wikipedia

Floral Artistry Season 10 Wrap Up + Big News

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

We are about to complete our 10th wedding season in business over the next few weeks and we’ve worked with more than 200 couples on one of their most important life events.  We think that’s pretty cool.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with some great clients including 5 sets of siblings, a Vermont wedding photographer, the daughter of a famous comedian/actor, the niece of an iconic movie star (I’ll give you a hint:  he was known for his dreamy blue eyes & “cool hand”), roller derby girls, medical students, lawyers, two MTV producers, teachers, coaches, a professional hockey player, a couple who met on Match.com, UVM alumni, Middlebury College grads, members of the armed services, friends, former co-workers, entrepreneurs, wine connoisseurs, world travelers and a bride turned wedding planner.

So what’s next?  People often ask me what I do during the winter months.  While ‘hibernating’ may seem like the obvious answer I’m actually quite busy starting to work with my couples for the upcoming season.  This winter I’ll also be busy getting ready for our biggest change yet–a new baby due in April!  We’ll be taking this spring to prepare for baby and will resume our wedding work in June.  2012 is sure to be our most exciting year yet!

It’s been a pleasure and an honor to work with so many fantastic clients and vendors.  I thank you truly for all your support over the years.  Of course, I also get by with a little help from my friends who’ve made up a great team for me over the years.  Special thanks to Courtney (my amazing boutonniere and corsage maven), Casey, Abigail, Jessamy, Theresa and last, but not least, my husband & sidekick, David.

We’ve still got a few events left before we officially “wrap it up” for the year so stay tuned!

Here are a few of my favorite bouquets from my 2011 season.

Vermont Vows 2011 Fall-Winter Issue Is Here!

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

The new Vermont Vows Magazine is here!  It’s eco-friendly and it’s awesome…I rave about it here…

Check out my behind the scenes feature on page 62!  Get your copy at vtvows.com and get inspired!

 

Perfect Arranger: The New Floral Frog

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

I took a trip down to Hildene in the spring for a site visit for a wedding {by the way you can see Beth & Danny’s Wedding here} and whilst I was in their super fun gift shop I could not resist buying this “Perfect Arranger” which is what I’d describe as a newer version of a floral frog.  The weave of the stainless steel coils allows for stem to easily be maneuvered inside of a bowl or low dish and submerged in water.  I think they’re pretty cool.  They’re rust proof and dishwasher safe so ✔check and ✔check!

I know what you’re probably thinking…I’m such an experienced designer that flowers must bow in submission at the mere sound of my clippers…what would I need with a floral frog?!  This is the kind of tool that can help transform a silver candy dish or gravy boat into the perfect flower vessel.  I look forward to using it in many different ways!

Flowers in Beautiful Italy

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

In Italian the word for flower is fiore.  That’s one of the words I learned before Dave and I embarked on a 10 day excursion through Rome and Sorrento…well, that word and one sentence, Sono allergica alla penicillina, “I’m allergic to penicillin,” since my husband and I could both use that phrase in a pinch.

There are a few photos of the two of us on vacation, but most of my pictures are of flowers…and the view of Mount Vesuvius from our balcony in Sorrento!  There were some truly beautiful flowers throughout our travels–magnolia trees lining the streets in Rome, terra cotta pots on rooftop gardens, basil nestled on window sills, and my personal favorites are bouganvillea and jasmine–so I was more than happy to see them {and smell them} in full bloom!

Bouganvillea bloomed everywhere!

Like, seriously…it grew everywhere!!

Wisteria on marble seems like the quintessential Italian scene.

These yellow flowers on Mount Vesuvius were called broom bush by a local.

Poppies grew everywhere!…even out of rock walls and cracks in the pavement!

Oleander in pinks, whites and yellows could be found throughout the landscape.

A red garden rose in an Italian garden…smells so sweet.

This is one of the last shots I took in Rome.  A balcony overflowing with flowers is SO Italian.

This hydrangea display in Capri was over-the-top gorgeous.  It’s got such an incredible wedding feeling to it.

Here are some more floral details I couldn’t resist sharing!

A post with Italian blooms would not be complete without a nod to the lemon.  Lemon groves were numerous in Sorrento and trees even grew in pots!  One night we had an amazing dinner at a restaurant called Donna Sophia in a garden that was in a lemon grove lined with a wall of jasmine and hydrangea.  The scent of lemon and jasmine was absolutely divine.

And even though the olive trees weren’t in full production here’s a shot of Mount Vesuvius with olive trees in the foreground.

So that’s the floral tour of my Italian dream vacation.  I hope you enjoyed my pics!  I’ll be dreaming of jasmine and lemon for the rest of the day!

Selling My Soul and Starting A Fire

Monday, May 9th, 2011

I’m Selling My Soul this week and I am soooo looking forward to it.  Don’t worry, I haven’t gone off the deep end right before my busy wedding season kicks into high gear–I’m going to meet some sexy, sassy, business savvy-to-the-max women in NYC this week for Selling Your SoulDanielle LaPorte + Marie Forleo have me all psyched up about being authentic in my business + the inherent value in bringing all of me to the table.  ‘Cuz as Danielle would say, “Self Realization Rocks.”  To sum up…It’s gonna be awe-wait for it-some.

I recently finished Danielle’s Fire Starter Sessions and if you’re an entrepreneur (or Solopreneur much like myself!) you are guaranteed to find several gems of insight that you could quite possibly turn into pure gold.  If you already rock, you can learn to rock harder.  If you’re doubting the direction of your venture, you’re bound to find a compass.

I’m excited to hear what Danielle and Marie have to share and I’m stoked to hear what the other 139 soul sellers in the room want to know, too–their burning questions are sure to be interesting to me–BUT in truth, I am probably equally pumped to wear my fave pair of heels.  This may sound shallow, but in Vermont the opportunity to wear fabulous heels is few and far between and besides, when the weather is nice enough for open-toed shoes I’m either setting up a wedding or wearing my cowboy (or girl?) boots.

You can get your very own copy of The Fire Starter Sessions HERE!  Light your fire, baby.  It may very well be the best $150 you’ll spend.  Seriously.

And…here are those fab heels I told you about.

Check out Marie Forleo’s site (Where Women Entrepreneurs Live Rich, Happy & Hot) and Danielle LaPorte’s (White Hot Truth:  because self realization rocks) for sagacity and do-it-today, do-it-now biz tips that will get your mojo risin’!

Most Watched Weddings

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

Just in case you forgot William and Kate tied the knot on Friday, April 29th and there are estimates that 2 billion people were watching at home.  This is far more than 750 million who viewed the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 which had previously been the most viewed wedding in the world.

Do you know what the next most-viewed wedding was?  Believe it or not…drumroll please…Luke and Laura on General Hospital.  Yep, a soap opera wedding has held its own amoung the royals.

What strikes me is that Luke and Laura’s flowers were very similar to those selected for William and Kate’s wedding.  The bridal bouquets are both small in size, designed in bouquet holders and include lily of the valley.  The royal wedding party wore lily of the valley in their lapels just like Luke’s boutonniere.  30 years later the flowers still hold up! 

Check out a video of Luke and Laura’s wedding on YouTube here.

It will be at least another couple of weeks before my lily of the valley are in bloom.  Here’s a shot I took of convallaria in my garden.

What Marriage Means to Me

Friday, April 29th, 2011

In a week where I’ve read the words fairytale wedding and princess more times than I can possibly count I started thinking about what being married really means.

The other night I was dishing leftovers into a tupperware while my husband watched a basketball game and as I glanced over and noticed his eyelids were closed with the remote firmly in hand I thought to myself, “I am going to do this countless times in my life”, and I felt really, really good about that.

The mundane moments of life and marriage can cause us to debate whose “job” it is to take out the trash or unload the dishwasher and I think that’s a trap that’s easy to fall into.  I figure if I were livin’ life solo I’d have to take out the trash and do the dishes myself anyway so I’m not sure why I sometimes feel that my husband should be doing it for me.

Partnership should be a privilege, not a chore.  And trust me, my husband has heard more than once that he could do a few more tasks around the house, but the point is that after the fairytale wedding day is over it takes some work & commitment to live happily ever after.

What marriage means to me is that we’re in this thing together; we’re on the same team and share the same goals.  Remember this after the fanfare and excitement of your wedding is over.  There’s a lot of every-day to live–be good to each other.

Happy Birthday Ella!

Monday, April 25th, 2011
[Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie,...

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Today is Ella Fitzgerald’s birthday and I think she deserves a shout-out.  Maybe a scat-out?  Anyway, Ella was amazing and her voice is out-of-this-world gorgeous.  Her vast collection of songs and albums speaks for itself, but you only have to listen to Ella’s voice to feel her power. 

You’ll find Ella Fitzgerald on i-Tunes here and you can become a fan on Facebook here.

If you don’t own some Ella get some already, would ya?  And if you’re gonna sing Happy Birthday, swing it!

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