Real Weddings Carissa and Todd, The Elms, Excelsior Springs

Carissa and Todd's wedding was a true collaboration.  When I showed up to our first consult Carissa's mom, Dana, had already collected all the vases for the tables.  Talk about prepared!  Their event was taking place at the newly remodeled Elms Hotel, in Excelsior Springs.  A beautiful historic spot, with an outdoor space for the ceremony.  Unfortunately it was rainy and humid on the first day of September, but we made due in the ballroom with a beautiful ceremony (all the decor for the ceremony was created by Dana).  We were really happy with how everything turned out, and Carissa and Todd loved it, which was the most important part (and Dana as well).  

A big thank you to Dana and Carissa for collaborating with us on this lovely event, and to Morgan at Cornerstone Photography for the images.

Carissa carried a classic, romantic bouquet full of ivory dahlias, ranunculus, and garden roses.

Instead of traditional pin corsages we made brooches out of fresh flowers and incorporated vintage rhinestone jewelry for a bit of sparkle.  Bouts were textural with ranunculus, scabiosa pods, and berries.

The bridesmaids wore beautiful poppy orange dresses and had bouquets with garden roses, dahlias, and ranunculus.  

The ceremony took place in the grand ballroom, and all the decor was provided to us by Dana, the mother of the bride, we just set it up.  Loved those beautiful fabric flower pomanders!

Half of the tables had vases provided by Dana were filled with twig balls for a touch of brown, along with fluffy white hydrangeas, beautiful orange roses, and touches of pink, and accents of sparkling crystal.

The other half of the tables had pomanders in orange, peach, and ivory.  We wanted a sort of ombre effect.

If you notice the place settings Dana also made napkin wraps and menue cards for every guest, and butterfly escort cards as well.  

The sweetheart table was covered in a gorgeous ivory rose linen, super fluffy, and romantic.  We just added the flowers for a little touch of color.

Vintage glassware and tons of candles filled the mantel.  We supplied the blooms.

And although I had absolutely nothing to do with the cake, I just had to include it because, yes, Dana, the mother of the bride made it as well (she bakes cakes).

Such a lovely day, we were happy to be a part of it!

xo ~ Emily

Real Weddings: Hilary and Andre, Californos in Kansas City.

I'd just like to start by saying Hilary and Andre are brave.  Why you may ask?  Well, here in the midwest the summers are HOT, and this past summer was extra warm.  When Hilary told me they were planning to get married in July, my first thought was, you're crazy girl.  However despite the heat their day turned out beautiful.  I can honestly say that their color combination was totally unique, unlike any wedding trend we've worked with many times before.  Bold plum, hot orange, soft peach, and touches of lime green, with tiny hints of yellow.  Bold colors, which as you know are our favorite!  We got to work at one of our very favorite KC venues, Californos, and our flowers were captured beautifully by Carter Photography.  Thanks for choosing us Hilary and Andre, we loved being part of your day! 

xo ~ Emily

All photos by Carter Photography and emmy-ray.

Both the bridal and bridesmaids bouquets contained burgundy dahlias, white hydrangea, orange ranunculus, fever few, purple and peach stock, and beautiful bright green cymbidium orchids.  To make her bouquet extra special Hilary also had large purple throated cymbidiums, so gorgeous!  A collar of seeded eucalyptus added texture and interest to each bouquet.  

The boutonnieres were made up of orange ranunculus, plum mums, yellow fever few, and a bit of seeded eucalyptus.  Each was wrapped in beautiful raw silk ribbon from Midori.  

For the Love of Flowers: Sarah and Brian

Oh boy, I can hardly contain myself and my excitement for today's post.  First it was one of my favorite weddings of 2011, and two it was for my dear friends Sarah and Brian.  There's a lot of pictures here folks, so bear with me (although they're all full of sweet wedding inspired goodness, so it's definitely worth it).  

I've known Sarah since college.  The weird thing is that we didn't become good friends until my very last semester, but I'm glad we did.  She's creative, generous, and I truly enjoy traveling back to visit her.  She definitely found her match with Brian.  They're such a complimentary couple, and when they're together it's easy to see how at ease they are, and how much they love each other.  

xo ~ Em

 

Sarah loves fall, so she definitely wanted to celebrate the colors of the season in the decor for the wedding, without making it stereotypical.  We went with lots of textural blooms in oranges and reds, and then added in some peaches and golds to soften things up.  She's also collected milk glass for years and years, so it was an easy choice for the containers.

For each table we mixed in ghost pumpkins, gourds, candles, and succulents for a multi layered effect.  Sarah is a talented graphic designer and created all the escort cards and table numbers herself.

For the personal flowers we used the same mix of flowers, but without any of the greens except a collar of dusty miller.  I wrapped the bouquets in off white silk ribbons and jute.  The men wore boutonnieres with a golden spray rose, billy balls, succulents, and dusty miller.  

I also created some bridal accessories for Sarah including her birdcage veil that she wore for the ceremony, and then a headband with pleated silk pinwheels for the reception.  She even had a dress change (I told her she was like a celebrity).

I absolutely loved their cake, isn't it gorgeous!  They held their event at the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs.  It was an amazing old hotel that is supposedly haunted.  As lovers of all things vintage it was the perfect spot for Sarah and Brian.  They had their ceremony in a beautiful chapel in the middle of the woods.  

I snagged this sweet picture of my friends Shad, David, Maria, and Vladin right before the ceremony.  Miss hanging out with these guys...

A big thank you to my friends Sarah and Brian for letting us be a part of your guys big day.  We had such an amazing time!

xo ~ Em

For the Love of Flowers: Leftovers

One of the best parts of doing floral arranging?  There's never a shortage of leftovers to enjoy...