City Life Cy Twombly, Bloomberg, Vera Wang

I was just looking through the many photos of our past work and our life in Manhattan, where I grew up. I thought I would never leave and actually moved to the Hudson Valley kicking and screaming. I am so happy I made the move full time but the city is also in my heart and will never leave me. We just could not deal with the stress and the dual life styles living between upstate and Manhattan. During our city life we had the pleasure of being Vera Wang’s In-store Floral Designers for 4 years, doing the Opening Night Dinner for the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center for 4 years as well as their spring Gala’s (see our client list on our web site) and doing all the in house events for Bloomberg LLP as well as parties for Jones New York. We continue to do events for these companies as well as city weddings. Ninety miles in not a big deal and we welcome all city opportunities.

I wanted to flash back to show case some of these events.


Another reason for this Blog post is to thank all of you who flattered us by thinking we got Chelsea Clinton’s wedding. It would have been nice if they used more local vendors as I can think of many other vendors we work with they are completely capable. Since Vera Wang designed her dress and was in the spotlight walking around Rhinebeck, I thought I would feature some of our work. Then I am adding some photos from other corporate clients. The following is from Vera Wang

The following is from Jones New York

The following is from Bloomberg LLP.

The following is from the Opening Night Dinner for The New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center - just a few examples.

for George Clooney

The Darjeeling Limited

The Queen

The following is from Issey Miyake and Jo Malone, Deal & Deluca, Mercer Kitchen....

Issey Miyake for the Christo Event "The Gates"

Steve at a Jo Malone flower event

Dean & Deluca in Central Park

San Demenico

The Mercer Kitchen

On other posts I will show some Museum work and photos from Los Angeles and Chicago life.

The Garrison - photo shoot

On Tuesday, we did flowers for a photo shoot at The Garrison. They are redoing their web site. The old web site does not do the place justice. We had discussed the possibility of a feature on their website and jumped to the opportunity. It’s a nice collaboration and great exposure. We designed a table arrangement for the larger table and then for a Sweetheart table. We also added a bouquet. I helped Jennifer O’Toole, one of the Banquet Managers pick out the linen, and chargers. I had her get Raffia and Irish Flaxen Linen. The arrangements in the photos below are on Raffia linen. We have used both style linens on weddings and events. Both are really pretty. The Raffia has a nice texture, has more of a rustic feel while the Irish Flaxen is actual linen, and is more elegant. You can see examples of Irish Flaxen on an earlier post (May 29th at the Garrison). The Chargers were Rattan and we used gold Mercury Glass Votives.



For the larger table we used peach Stock, purple Hydrangea, peach Garden Roses, peach Calla Lilies, blue Delphinium, green Cymbidium Orchids, Chamomile, and Ivy in a white glass square.

large table

I really love the arrangement on the Sweet heart table.

When we were in Paris this past April, we saw many floral prints on containers and “Liberty” prints on fabric. Here I wrapped Liberty printed fabric on a concrete square and tied it with rope. I think it turned out really nice. I like the organic yet industrial feel of the concrete and the warmth and vintage feel of the fabric. It adds a nice touch. I’d like to see this print as bouquet ribbon.

I also like how Steve made this arrangement in a “French” style. We used ivory Roses, white Godetia, green & blue Hydrangea, ivory Stock, Scabiosa Pods, blue Delphinium, green Button Mums, Allium, peach Calla Lilies, green Cymbidium Orchids, white to pale yellow Wax flowers, Cosmos, Fiddlehead Fern and Ivy. There were some flowers that we could not get but would have loved to use such as Scabiosa flowers and Tweedia. I also would have loved to use Raspberries on the branch.

you can see the napkins with herbs

There were also two smaller companion pieces with peach Roses Eremerus, and Ivy.

Then Steve tied Orchids to brown rope Vine another nice touch. You can see also see this on a previous post (July 30th wedding at the garrison).

Each napkin had a pocket fold with a menu card, Chamomile and flowering Oregano tied with Raffia.

a closer look- you can see the fabric and texture of the linen

Finally, we took this great opportunity to make a bouquet. In this bouquet we had green Brunia (look like berries, you usually see them in silver), Scabiosa Pods, peach Garden Roses, peach Zinnia, peach Snap Dragon, white Lisianthus, flowering Mint, white and pink Wax flowers, blue Delphinium, ivory Stock, Chamomile and Cosmos. I tied it with Green tea ribbon and rope.

To see more photos- check out  Matthew Lee, the photographer for this shoot- Cy Creations. He does great work.

http://www.clycreation.com/blog/?p=8131

Onteora Mountain House, Oak Hill and Otesaga -First August Weddings

I cannot believe this weekend is over. We survived three weddings and they all turned out great. I did not get to take photos of the ceremony or bridal party for any of the weddings but I got my staged ones. The following are bouquets and boutonniere photos from all the weddings. I will show you the actually weddings except for the one I was not able to go to in Cooperstown. I will have to wait until the photographer sends us the photos.



This first couple got married in a church. For these bouquets and boutonnières, the Bride bought the ribbon. I need to talk about ribbon for a bit.


First, I love using special ribbon; it is a personal touch that adds to a great bouquet. It’s like the icing on the cake, a perfect ending to a great story. I don’t think many brides value a good ribbon choice. It is actually important. I do like the corset look that I do and it comes naturally to me. I also like when I layer the ribbons and colors and use pins. Vintage looking ribbon such as in the Brides, bouquet (below) is an elegant choice and this one means something to the bride. She also picked out her MoH’s ribbon as well as her Groom and his Best man.


I would like to learn how to do nice bows like in Martha Stewart magazine. No one taught me how to do ribbon, Steve claims his fingers are too big to tie ribbon or is this an excuse?


In this Brides bouquet we have white Scabiosa flowers, white Ranunculus, Scabiosa pods, white Veronica, white Lisianthus, ivory Stock, white Dahlias, Green Tea and Quick Sand Roses tied with Lace ribbon with buttons. The Maid of Honors bouquet was similar to the brides.

The Grooms Boutonnière had Dusty Miller, Ranunculus, Nigella Pods and flowers and faux String of Pearls (because it would not hold up in the heat). The Best Man had similar flowers, I tied them with the Brides ribbon. The photos are on my garden kale.

I shot This Brides bouquet at Onteora Mountain House. I really love this place. It’s great to shoot anything. I find it so inspiring.

This is one of my favorite spots to shoot on the rocks in their rock garden. This Bride only wanted a bouquet for herself. I love this one. It’s super fresh and clean looking. I believe many brides will like it too. Steve used white to green Lisianthus, white Scabiosa flowers, white Dahlias, white Veronica, green Hydrangea, ivory and Green tea Roses, ivory Stock, Lady’s Mantle and Muscari. I tied the bouquet with Green tea ribbon wrapped with a burgundy Organza and silver pins.

Because the wedding was in Cooperstown at the Otesaga hotel on a beautiful lake http://www.otesaga.com/   I could not make it, so I staged a few bouquets and one centerpiece.


This Brides bouquet is also really nice. We used Cherry Brandy Roses, white Lisianthus, red Freesia, ivory and peach Stock, white Delphinium, white Veronica, Tweedia, Muscari and Fiddlehead Fern. The MoH’s bouquet was similar to the bride with a small difference, not sure, what that difference is at this moment. There were several brides Maids and Steve alternated colors and flowers. Some Bridesmaids had purple Stock, green Hydrangea, blue Delphinium and Quick Sand Roses. All very “girlie”.

The Bride

Brides Eye View

Detail

Brides Maids

Maid of Honor

For one of the alternating centerpieces (the only one I got a shot of) Steve used purple Stock, blue Delphinium, white Dahlias and Ivy. It will be a surprise once I see the photos from the wedding. I cannot wait to see the Arch decorated and the view in front of the lake where the ceremony was. We went to Cooperstown to do a walk through and the Hotel was amazing. It is over 100 years old and is very elegant. Even though it is far from us, we would still enjoy working there.

This photo is of an Herb arrangement we did for the couples post brunch. We used Thyme, Lemon Verbena, Sage and Ivy in a box made out of twigs and moss. What a cute look.

The next wedding I am posting was at Onteora Mountain House - http://www.onteora.com/
 (see above bouquet)


For the ceremony, the couple wanted to keep it simple. We used Vendela (ivory) Roses on the aisle and hanging vases with white Stock, green Button Mums and white Godetia.

At the entrance of the Reception pavilion, we hung the couple initials mossed. I tried to find larger letters but could not find them anywhere. Hanging beneath them were floral sprays. We opted to hang them below because of the weight.

The couple wanted us to use lemons and limes in the water and our signature lemon votives. They smell so nice when burning. The flowers we used for these centerpieces were white Dahlias, white Godetia, white to green parrot Tulips, green Hydrangea, ivory and white Stock, ivory Roses and a yellow Cymbidium Orchid in each.

For the Registration table the couple wanted Wheat Grass. We used lemons, limes, and yellow Cymbidium Orchids.

As I mentioned this couple got married in a church. Below is one of two church arrangements that were hanging on either side of the entrance. We used white Delphinium, Eremerus and Millet. The container with a handle is really nice.

The Reception was at Oak Hill - http://www.livingstonwedding.com/

for more of this wedding please check out this photographer's Blog -http://www.monikabroz.com/blog/2010/08/a-fantastic-fete-of-earthly-delights-lisette-paulo.htmlThere were two sets of long family style tables on either side of this newly renovated barn. (See earlier posts for an Indian wedding we did at oak Hill, the rehearsal dinner was in the same barn).

We used our low metal dishes full of ivory Stock, yellow and Green Tea Roses, white Veronica, white Godetia and Nigella Pods.

 We also had 22 slightly rusted soup cans tied with fabric and rope. In these, we simply used white and ivory Stock and ivory Lilies.

Cocktail arrangements had ivory Stock, yellow Roses, Nigella Pods, white Veronica and white Delphinium. That is it for now. Tomorrow we are doing a staged photos shoot for the Garrison’s new web site. I will be posting those photos as well as our Saturday wedding soon. Keep checking in.