Onteora Mountain House - Kelly and Dan

We did flowers for a wedding this past weekend at Onteora Mountain House. The weather was gorgeous, partly cloudy with almost no humidity. September weather is great. We had the pleasure to work with a wonderful photographer whom I have raved about before named Cappy Hotchkiss. She found some really cool spots where I followed her to photograph the bouquets and boutonnières. It was an old swimming pool converted into a fishpond with Lily Pads. We have been working at Onteora for years and I had no idea this place existed. I will post Cappy’s shots when I get them. Check out Cappy's Blog post from this wedding -http://cappyhotchkissphoto.blogspot.com/2010/11/floral-design-steven-bruce-design.html

                                                     Reflection of fish swimming in the pool.

Kelly and Dan, the Bride and Groom were both really sweet and surprisingly calm. They had their dog with them and Steve made a corsage for his collar, as he was a Groomsmen.

We alternated the centerpieces with olive colored ceramic Urns and low dishes with pillar candles and clusters of flowers.

The Urn arrangements had purple and green Kale, peach/orange Dahlias, purple Stock, ivory Roses, Ivy and Seeded Eucalyptus. For the low dishes, we used purple Delphinium, peach Snap Dragons, Ivy and Orchids.

The Cocktail Table arrangements were really nice. They were in black Deco style Urns and had purple speckled Orchids, purple Lisianthus, lavender Roses, lavender Stock and Ivy.

Cocktails

The Boutonnieres had white Ranunculus, lavender Freesia, Orchids and Ivy. By the way, as you can see direct sunlight is not good for photos.

There was no bridal party, just the Bride and two Mom’s Posies.

For the Bride we used lavender Stock, lavender Roses, Amnesia Roses, purple Lisianthus, Orchids, and lavender Freesia. I used pretty brown ribbon.

Bride and Moms

The Brides Bouquet by the pond

Another angle

Both Moms got purple/pink Cymbidium Orchids, lavender Roses, purple speckled Mokara Orchids, lavender Stock and ivory Ranunculus. I used Taupe ribbon for the Mom’s.

Mom

other Mom

Sometimes we have to bring our daughter Scarlett when setting up a wedding. Even though she is two and weighs 30 pounds, I still wear her on my back and boy does my back hurt. Nevertheless, it is fun for her, she loves seeing what Mommy and Daddy do. I always leave before the wedding starts so many couples do not mind. After a while, Scarlett wanted to sit in the car. I got these cute photos of her holding a bouquet (gently I might add)

Scarlett Lily

We had these nice birch branches made into cardholders and stumps into containers. This Registration/ Escort card table display is simple and pretty. In the stumps, Steve used peach/orange Dahlias, purple/ green kale and white and purple Delphinium. He scattered green Cymbidium Orchids around. We had dried Spanish moss on the table.

Registration Table

The ceremony area was really pretty. We used our metal arch with metal branch. It was decorated with a summer mixed Garland and Curly Willow. The flowers we used were Delphinium, Roses, Orchids, and Snap Dragon. We had two Urns on top of handmade metal stands (made for us by a former assistant to Richard Serra’s for a previous Bloomberg LLP job).

Aisle Chair

Ceremony Area

The couple wanted perennial plants that they could take home after the wedding and plant in their yard. We found large Hibiscus, Lavender and lavender colored Aster. Then Steve added Orchids and Ivy. By the way, I love how Steve put these “plant” arrangements together. They have a beautiful sculptural feel to them.
It was also a nice opportunity to do something different. We have done plant arrangements before; it is a nice alternative to floral design.

OK I may be posting too many of these aisle chair arrangements but I cannot help myself. It is so hard to choose which ones to post. They all have something slightly different to them. The flowers we used were peach Dahlias, purple Lisianthus, purple Stock, Amnesia Roses, peach/yellow Parrot Tulips and Ivy.

We drive through the Ashokan Reservoir when going to an Onteora job. I find so much peace and inspiration there. I stopped by with Scarlett to take in the view and to take photos. I spotted a Blue Heron standing by the shoreline. It’s also nice to end each Blog post with a Hudson Valley inspirational photo. I think I may start doing that from now on.