Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Flowers in The Big Apple


After leaving Jersey we packed our bags and headed off to the Big Apple for The Chapel Designers 2012  "conference".  I was honored to attend last year when Holly Chapple tweeted "meet me in NYC"  and a group of floral designers from all over the country came together for a few days in NYC.  This year Holly did it again but bigger and better.  We had a group of 40 amazing designers from all over the country that specialize in event floral design. Holly worked amazingly hard to create 3 awesome days packed full of meeting the best in the industry and learning how to improve our business. 

We started our flower marathon at Matthew Robins' office where he greeted us with champagne and welcomed us into his beautiful studio. As a welcome gift Holly gave each one of us Matthew's new book Inspired Weddings, which he later individually signed. We were also so lucky to have Matthew design for us while sharing his experiences in the industry.  I also want to thank Florabundance for providing all the flowers for Matthew to work with.   

 
 

Monday morning we all woke up bright and early to start our day with Tara Guerard of Soiree.



Waiting for us were these adorable tote bags filled with goodies along with a booklet with all our names, faces and info and a brief schedule for the week. Thank you Wedding Chicks for the totes!

Tara was an absolute joy to hear speak.  She shared valuable information about her business practices and how she  achieves a home life balance with 3 kids one of which is an infant. 

Tuesday morning started out with a stroll through the flower market. This place is the ultimate mecca for a flower junkie.







A few of the Chapel Designers at G. Page
It was then off to Martha Stewart's office for a tour of where all the magic happens. Unfortunately no photos were allowed past the reception desk.  

Wednesday, my last day in NYC fast approached and I was off to the Flower School New York for a hand tied bouquet class with Ariella Chezar.  It was an honor to learn from such a passionate designer.  What impressed me the most about Ariella was how calm she was, although she said sometimes it takes her up to two hours to complete a bridal bouquet she never seemed frustrated. 


My Bouquet



Ariella showing us how to add ribbon for a finishing touch.



After the class was over I had two hours to kill before my train back to DC. I ended my amazing NYC Chapel Designer trip surrounded by thousands of yards of beautiful ribbon at M&J Trimming