Idyllic

This wedding was one of my favorite collaborations ever. Allie found me online and contacted me about a May 2014 wedding. When we met, I discovered that Allie is a successful up and coming artist with a studio in Hagerstown, MD. Also, her fiance, Mark, is studying agriculture and his dream is to be a farmer. I loved it. They would be getting married on a historic property along the Chesapeake Bay in Leonardtown where they had lived for a while after college at St. Mary's. Allie's vision was at the same time elegant and delicately rustic. Loose and garden-y but absolutely classy. I was thrilled to be working with her. I loved Allie's artistic style and could not wait to see what she came up with for me to do.

The day of the wedding came after a day of heavy downpours and it was perfect. Sunny with scudding clouds, a light breeze, not too warm but not chilly. A gorgeous day for a drive down to the Eastern shore. I wish I had gotten pictures of the church which was beautiful, but I did get a few of the reception site which was stunning.

The main house. There are multiple buildings on the property.

Love.

Bride and Groom chairs decorated with peonies and garden roses.

A flower garland on the dessert table with peonies cut from the grounds.

Stunning view from the back porch of the main house.

Table centerpieces were made of seeded eucalyptus, salal leaves, queen anne's lace, champagne garden roses, peach spray roses, thistle, white hydrangea.

The bouquets were garden roses, queen anne's lace, italian ruscus, spray roses, peonies, dusty miller and Allie's bouquet had white sweet pea and ranunculus.

Isn't Allie an absolutely stunning bride?

I was so honored to be a part of this special day.

Congratulations Mark and Allie!

wild beauty

I absolutely loved putting these flowers together for my friend Megan's wedding.

Megan wanted lots of greens contrasting with gorgeous garden roses and ranunculus.

Her colors were muted pinks and corals with gray and gold.

The overall effect were flowers just plucked from the garden and the fields - a little bit wild and untamed. I loved it and I think she did too.

Thank you James and Megan for allowing me to be part of your beautiful day.

I wish you ALL the happiness in the world!

gorgeous photography by Yan

Champagne and lace

I looooved these flowers for a wedding in June.

The bride requested something romantic and soft, especially using garden roses. Her colors were soft pink, peach and champagne. The weather was perfect for her beautiful outdoor ceremony.

The arbor where the couple said their vows.

I used pink, peach and champagne roses, jasmine vine, silver dollar eucalyptus, salal leaves and amaranthus.

The bride's bouquet was a mix of peach and pink garden roses, pink spray roses, dusty miller and jasmine vine.

I wrapped the bouquet with gold satin ribbon and cream lace.

The flowers looked beautiful with the bridesmaids dresses.

.soft romance.

I am so excited to post these photos from a wedding I did back in June for Andrew and Emily.

I knew from the moment I read Emily's first email to me that I wanted to work with her. Her writing was exuberant and joyful ... and made me think of gardens and poetry.

Meeting with she and Andrew in person, my suspicions were confirmed: Emily is a beautiful girl on the outside, but her beautiful, gracious spirit spills out and touches everyone around her making her even more lovely.  I wanted to create flowers for Emily that were a reflection of her spirit and she wanted a romantic, garden wedding that honored her family and friends.

She gave me lace from her mother's wedding dress and a locket that was her grandmother's to use on her bouquet. She had 7 bridesmaids, 4 flower girls, 2 ring bearers and a house party of 6 close friends. There are a lot of special people in Emily's life.

I could go on, but here are some of the gorgeous photos all by Katie Stoops Photography.

The wedding coordinators were A. Dominick Events,
 the church was All Saints Church in Chevy Chase and the reception was at Old Anglers Inn.

Congratulations Andrew and Emily!
It was an honor to be part of this beautiful day.

.fairy tale.

I got the email from Kristen titled, "flowers for a fun August 9,2012 wedding?"

and my heart did a little skip.

I've known Kristen from afar since she was a little girl

and over the past few years have watched as she has blossomed into

an amazing wedding photographer.

As someone who is "in the industry", Kristen has been exposed

to all sorts of weddings and I knew she would have something pretty special in mind.

And I also felt very honored that she would trust me with her flowers.

Well she did have something very special in mind and when

we started exchanging emails and finally met at her house so she

could show me what she was envisioning, I was so excited.

Kristen's theme for her wedding was "vintage Disney".

Lots of color, milk glass vases, antique tins, BIG bouquets

and many types of flowers - but only certain ones.

Kristen definitely had her list of flowers she didn't want me to use.

While I love it when a bride doesn't have anything specific in mind and lets

me get creative, I love it too when a bride has a very specific vision and 

has thought it out in great detail and is passionate about it. That was Kristen.

 For the reception, which was outside under a huge tent,

there were 12 long tables and each table had 11 little centerpieces.

Six milk glass vases of all shapes and sizes and some antique tins filled with succulents.

 The vases each held a single type of flower.

The overall effect with the sparkles and glitter and colors was like a bright, happy fairy tale!

While Kristen wanted lots of color in the bouquets, she

also wanted the overall feel to be pinky/coral.

For her bouquet I used peach garden roses, peach stock, purple anemone,

blue delphinium, billy balls, seeded eucalyptus, salal leaves, coral coxcomb,

orange ranunculus, coral zinnias and dark pink hydrangea.

It was beautiful and just what she was hoping for.
Wow - isn't she a gorgeous bride?!

The bridesmaids had smaller versions of Kristen's bouquet and they

looked gorgeous with their champagne colored dresses.

Kristen and Caleb make such a beautiful couple

and I was so honored to help make their day magical.

Here's to a sparkly,wonder-filled life together!

photography by Shannon Lee Miller

.romance.

I was so excited to receive these pictures in my inbox from the amazing wedding I referenced in an earlier post. The bride, Natalie, had a vision and it was sublime.

She rented farm tables and mismatched chairs and china from Maggpie Vintage Rentals and
made an amazing ribbon backdrop for the outdoor, woodsy ceremony.

She wanted her flowers to be natural, muted, organic and vintage looking.
I was more than happy to oblige and the results were stunning.

 Natalie asked me to make flower garlands for her hair and for her two maids of honor.

 

I love the way they complimented the hairstyles.

The bridesmaids carried smaller versions of Natalie's flowers.

 Definitely a unique wedding. Love it!

Such a gorgeous reception.

Natalie's bouquet of David Austin garden roses, black cosmos, lavender daisies, peach stock
seeded eucalyptus, fresh lavender, orange gomphrenia and white lisianthus.

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Toops!

It was pure delight to put these flowers together for your special day.

photography by