Two weddings

I had the pleasure of assisting with two weddings this past weekend. They were very different: one was indoors, one was outdoors. One was more casual, one more formal. However, both included the color yellow. Yellow has been a popular accent and feature color this year, the first time in many years that I can recall.

Let's take a peak. Literally- I only managed to snatch photos here and there. And, of course, my camera battery died, so these are from my cell phone.

This is the indoor wedding ceremony structure called a chuppa (there are many spellings of this word). The wrought iron structure was custom made for Pieter Bouterse Studio and is a gorgeous piece on its own. A wrought iron chandelier was hung in the center. Its candles had special bulbs that flickered as a real candle would.

We are almost done with its decor here.

Here are a few closeups. Some of the flowers we used included garden roses, hanging amaranth, bittersweet vines and hydrangea. The brighter yellow flower spikes hanging toward the bottom are oncidium orchids.

Yellow snapdragons were used to mimic the wrought iron shafts radiating from the center.

The attendant bouquets were made of deep burgundy / purple dahlias and calla lilies, with a collar of yellow gloriosa lilies. The handles were wrapped with a deep burgundy leaf. Unfortunately, I was not able to photograph the bridal bouquet.

 

The outdoor wedding was very fortunate to have perfect weather. The late afternoon was about 70 degrees and sunny.

Here is the bridal bouquet. You are looking at roses, hydrangea, dahlias, gloriosa lilies and gardenias. Aren't the colors fabulous? I love it when a bride is a bit more daring.

 

The attendant bouquets featured cymbidium orchids, kangaroo paws, roses, calla lilies and calcinia.

The ceremony took place outdoors, down by the pond at the bride's home. The dinner and dance tent was set up close by. Here is a slightly out-of-focus glimpse of the gorgeous, midnight blue sky and tent with clear sides.

The tables were squares and rectangles, the flowers were set in clear cubes and votive candles twinkled from numerous sources on many levels.

A magical evening!

An intimate wedding

There are some weddings that get to you. The large ones are very impressive, but it is difficult to create the atmosphere that each guest is very special and that, without their presence, it wouldn't be the same. When the wedding takes place at your home, with only your very best friends and family in attendance, each guest is treasured and pampered. Such was the case with the wedding we had the pleasure of working on this week.

The home was built at the end of the last century on a tree lined street bordering Lake Erie. Just beyond the trellis in the back of the property, where the ceremony was to have taken place, is a view of the Rocky River emptying into the lake. I say was to have taken place because the (welcomed) rain prevented that from happening 30 minutes before the guests arrived. Much scurrying about by the catering and decor staffs enabled the ceremony to take place on the front veranda. The guests' chairs were a tight squeeze, but the setting was just as beautiful and very cozy. To respect the client's privacy, I did not take photos of the ceremony or guests. The setting was "created" at the last moment, preventing any opportunity to record it without guests present.

Cocktails were served in the foyer, living room and dining room. Guests were invited to the third floor for the dinner and dance portion of the evening. The Ballroom has always been a part of the home, with many parties held there over the years.The next three photos were taken 2 weeks before the wedding.

Wonderful transience Art Nouveau windows!

Aren't these delightfully elegant little fixtures?

This was the guests' first glimpse as they ascended the staircase.

This ceiling floral sculpture was created with a frame of sycamore maple branches and a new mini chandelier that matched the other light fixtures perfectly (lucky find). The flowers included three varieties of hydrangea, fresh bittersweet vines, garden roses, astilbe, date palms and my favorite, deep purple clematis.

The lighting in the room was actually like this- more ambient for a dinner party.

 Some closeups...

The date palms are the green pods on ochre stems.

Here are two room views. The tables were rectangular with a bronze undercloth and a hand-embroidered silk overlay. Cream linen napkins were folded on the gold beaded glass chargers.

The centerpieces were a variety of silver containers, silver candlesticks and silver leaf flecked votives placed "randomly" down the center. 

Some of the flowers featured were astrantia (the little purple and cream star-like flowers below), rose colored lisianthus (upper right) and echeveria succulents.

You can also see below the green lotus pods, berzillia (to the left of the lotus pods), dahlias, bittersweet and garden roses.

We really liked the caterer's food presentation in the tablescape.

Below you can see the delicate purple clematis. It is a ground clematis that does not vine and only has 4 petals in the flower instead of six.

I hope this gives you a few ideas for the next party that you host. How have you decorated your home for that special event? I would love to hear your ideas!

Don't forget- you have until midnight Monday night, August 23rd (I extended the deadline by one day), to enter my 100th post celebration giveaway for the hydrangea wreath. For further details, see here. I will announce the winner on Tuesday, August 24th. Comment often!

Special events decorator: Pieter Bouterse Studio

Draping for Days

As you've guessed by now, I wear a few hats.

This week I was back assisting Pieter Bouterse Studio's special events business. My assignment was to turn some pieces of wood, expertly engineered in a twelve foot dome outline, into a sumptuously draped, wedding ceremony structure.  I had two days and two assistants.

We worked in an empty room behind the Grand Ballroom, right next to the back of the main stage. If only we could have worked on the stage from the beginning, but we were not able to get into the Ballroom. This presented us with some logistical challenges. We The crew of guys had to move the (heavy) dome up 4 feet onto the stage and through the stage opening on the morning of the event to finish the draping and decorate it with flowers.

The first step was to cover the wood structure with a cotton batiste to give the silk something to rest on. It was a good thing it was not standing 10' in the air yet! Do you see those six door panels behind the dome? That is where the dome had to go through to get onto the stage.

Here we are starting to put on the panels and drape them. We worked with an absolutely beautiful,  heavyweight cream silk, used for wedding dresses. Silk holds its shape and is lovely to drape. We used over two hundred yards of silk.

Panels were cut to size, gathered at one end and placed through the doughnut hole and onto the dome.

We had just enough to tuck under the dome bottom, gather and tack.

This took us an entire day to do.   

The next morning, we raised the dome to about 6' high and began the draping around the entire circumference. Lots of pins and staples. And, yes, the entire structure gets dismantled the morning after the event.  

The panels were cut very long, as they would not only cover the poles, but also drape back at each corner. At the end of the day, we gathered all of the panel ends into the dome so that we had easy access to the legs the next day for the big move.

The dome made it through the stage opening with one fourth of an inch clearance. Whew!

After we finished the fabric, we applied the flowers and crystal garlands. The "back line" consisted of the crystal garlands with dendrobium orchids attached to them, interspersed with dendrobium leis from Hawaii.

The photos are not in the best focus; to even have one or two without someone in them was a challenge and they had to be taken quickly. (If it had been up to us, those ugly light fixtures would have been placed elsewhere!)

The flowers on the poles are hydrangea, snapdragons and dendrobium orchids. Great color on those dendrobs!

These are the aisle stanchion flowers, but I didn't get a chance to photograph them. They were silk columns, topped with these flowers and connected by draped silk swags.

Ta-Da!!

By now, the dome is down, the fabric has been removed and is rolled back up for the next event.

Such is the life of special events!

For further information, contact Pieter Bouterse Studio.

Sneak Peek

During the busy season, for years I have assisted with floral decor for my loved one's special events decorating company. He does tiny events and huge events. It is always crazy, usually fun and filled with the most fabulous flowers. This past weekend we had a rather large wedding...

At 5 a.m., as the second of two monsoon-like storms was rumbling through the area, we were not so sure if we could pull off the tent wedding. It goes to show you that there are just times when it was meant to be.

The weather had been warm and muggy the previous week and it was finally going to cool down. Unfortunately, that usually means stormy weather. Well, it came. As in cats and dogs! Even at 12 noon, as we were applying the flowers to the ceremony arches down by the pond, it was still drizzling. The tents dried out and at about 2 p.m., the sun came out, the skies turned blue and we were a go for the wedding.

Here are some photos of the celebration prep. Names, locations and details remain private. Please note that these are primarily "before" shots, to allow for the client's privacy.

P.S. The rain returned as cocktails were ending and continued the rest of the evening. !

The entrance arch, leading to the lavender-lined path down to the ceremony beyond.

Arch closeup of the blue and purple flowers used: lisianthus, monkshood, clematis, delphinium and white Casa Blanca lilies

The bridal bouquet of Vanda orchids and lily of the valley (just peeking through). Nice "vase"!

The lighting focus on the night before.

As you might have guessed, purple and white are the colors! The "look" the client requested was for clean and fresh and lots of candlelight.

Small centerpiece closeup

Guests are in cocktails right now.

Almost ready!