Thanksgiving: Celebrating the Harvest

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick peek at the flowers I created for a private home today. Entertaining over forty people for Thanksgiving can be daunting, but a lovely space and flowers in the colors of the season help create the perfect setting to celebrate and give thanks. What guest wouldn't love to sit down to a beautifully set table?

More on what flowers and materials I used tomorrow - for now, whether you are just getting ready to serve a crowd or you are just finishing up, I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Summer Garden Blooms

I used to have a rather extensive cutting garden where I grew the flowers one would find at the farmer's market or a roadside stand - zinnias (always), sunflowers, salvia, tithonia, euphorbia, just to name a few. I experimented a lot over the years and I loved being able to go outside and just cut a bunch of flowers for the kitchen table.

This wedding was reminiscent of one of those bunches I would gather on a hot summer day. With the main colors of red, yellow, and orange, I mixed in some greens, purples, and white to soften.

The bride, who hails from Germany, especially loved gladiolus, as she grew up next to a flower grower and acres and acres of gladiolus fields.  The simple and bright lines of the flowers were in perfect contrast to the plain light wood of the altar.

Materials pictured include: sunflowers, zinnias, stock, buplorum, gladiolus, larkspur, white hydrangea, gerbera daisies, freesia, orange roses, solidaster, yellow roses, ivy, salal.

Welcome, Baby

Here is a look at a Christening party I did in the spring for a baby boy. I so love this because not only is it unexpected (as in, it's not blue), but it is a fresh twist on the newly popular combination of yellow and silver/grey - the pop of turquoise-y green milk glass is cheerful and different.

The vintage glass of my client played well with the burlap-and-log look we designed for the cake and cookie table. Vintage can look rather stayed and, at times, dusty and tattered. This was the exact opposite - it was fresh, clean, and fun and the perfect way to celebrate a new son's christening.

Materials pictured include: white hydrangea, yellow ranunculus, dusty miller, branches, and lemons.

Garden of Eden

This wedding - from late spring - gave new meanings to the words lush and abundant. Each - and I mean each - centerpiece was a unique design with different colors, flowers, and textures and each centerpiece was surrounded by smaller vases and candles also unique in color and design. The final look was intricate, layered, and a dazzling interpretation of a spring garden.

The bride works for the Philadelphia Horticultural Society and flowers were of paramount importance. She had a distinctive look in mind as she wanted all up high arrangements and a dizzying variety of flowers for a one-of-a-kind elegant and lush garden wedding.

To help draw the eye, we selected five different color waves - yellow, peach, pink, purple, lavender - across fifteen arrangements. (I tried to capture each table below.) The bridal table and surrounding areas were kept all white to frame the bride and groom. What a beautiful room on a spring evening.

The bridal and maid of honor bouquet were especially beautiful - the most precious of spring flowers in lavenders, purples, and whites.

Flowers pictured include: cream hydrangea, green hydrangea, cymbidium orchids, peonies, stock, larkspur, wax flower, cool water roses, versilia roses, cinnamon roses, skyline roses, anna roses, freesia, lily of the valley, lisianthus, calla lilies, oncidium orchids, ranunculus, snapdragon, amaranth, dendrobium orchids, green viburnum, snowball viburnum, mixed greens, mossed branches, and grasses.

Nosegays for Mothers

Bridal Bouquet

Maid of Honor Bouquet