Floral Compote Design

The Chapel Designers never stop inspiring me.  While in NYC a large group took a compote floral design class at the Flower School New York with Ariella Chezar.  After a few days of being home twitter was a buz with information and questions on finding the perfect compote, black, white, silver, brass, you name it we all wanted to get our hands on more compotes.  So about a week ago we were all so excited to see that Martha shared our love with the compote as well, and raved about how they lift up the flowers to the perfect height and created a lush shape for a round table.

Isha Foss of Isha Foss Events threw out the idea that we should all create a compote design and all post our design on the same day.  That day is today!   The flowers in my design are from my garden and are designed in a pewter sugar bowl that I found at a yard sale years ago.  It's small in scale and fits perfect on my living room coffee table.  I almost didn't attempt this design since I had just returned from vacation and was worried I didn't have flowers to use but with the encouragement of all the other Chapel Designers posting their amazing designs I felt inspired to go out in my yard and find beauty in what I had to work with.  

For more compote designs and to see how many different and beautiful ways you can design in a compote check out the follow Chapel Designers blogs (hover over name for link to blogs)  

Isha Foss Events

Alluring Blooms

Floral Verde LLC

Celebration Florals

Grapevine Floral Company 

Flirty Fleurs Chuck Graham

Holly Heider Chapple Flower LTD

Petals and Hedges

Modern Day Floral

Fleur:ology

Exquisite Designs

Bare Root Flora

Courtenay Lambert Florals

Sweet Pea Floral Design

True Florette Floral Design

Petals and Promises

Simple and Sweet

Two days after leaving NYC I had this small intimate courthouse wedding in DC.  This bride wanted to keep things simple and beautiful and I think she achieved it beautifully. She wore a short navy blue lace dress to the courthouse and then changed into an elegant evening silver dress for her reception at Charlie Palmers.  Her colors were yellow and white with accents of gray and she loved craspedia which you will see used throughout all the designs.  

Congratuatlions Stephanie and Justin, I hope you have many happy years together. 

 

Bridal Bouquet

Maid of Honor Bouquet

Cocktail table and escort table

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. 

The Williams go to Jersey

Third time is a charm.

Williams & Kaufmans - 2008

When our friends announced three years ago that they were moving back home to Jersey we were sad to say good bye but promised we would come visit soon.  Soon turned into two years later and still no visit.  We knew we needed to get something on the calendar so three months in advance we scheduled a trip in August.  We were all ready to go and then Huricane Irene showed up and we had to cancel.  That's ok we said we'll reschedule for October and then a freak snow storm hit.  Really!  I was starting to think the universe wasn't on our side here but we were determined to make it up there. I knew I would be in NYC in March for a Floral Design conference (more of that to come) so I suggested we come the weekend before and then I would head into the city. 

We made it!... after 7.5 hours of sitting in DC/Nova traffic...Baltimore traffic and then Philly traffic we arrive at the Kaufman's casa!  Hooray!  

After enjoying NY bagels for breakfast we headed off to the park.   Virginia had a great time swinging on these awesome swings!

Then it was off to have lunch and take a tour of their town, Ramsey. This town couldn't get any more cute, railroad and all!

Aimee and Adam took us to their favorite sandwich shop, Porto Alegre Cafe. 

    

...and then we made a stop at the local cupcake shop, Baked in a Cup

The rest of the weekend was spent catching up and just hanging out like old times.  Virginia had an absolute ball with their puggle Rylie.

The Kaufmans are also expecting their first child mid April so the unsolicited parenting advice was flowing as well as a pitch for them to purchase the Ergo baby carrier.  We even had Virginia model it.  

Thanks Kaufmans for a great time and we can't wait for our next trip up to Jersey.