Real Weddings: Shauna and Brent

Shauna and Brent were married on a beautiful September day at one of my favorite venues: Historic London Town and Gardens.

Shauna carried a classic white bouquet made with locally grown dahlias and scented geranium. A beautiful, jeweled broach added a pop of color to the bouquet wrap.

The wedding colors were shades of orange, gold and green. The style of the wedding was rustic and natural. (My favorite colors and style!)

The guys boutonnieres were made of small succulents, orange gomphrena and a little splash of white statice.

Two lush ceremony arrangements were placed on the deck where the couple said their vows. The colors looked so vibrant against the blue of the sky and the Bay.

Sweet, pint sized mason jars filled with dahlias and zinnias hung from the ceremony chairs. A great added touch for the center aisle.

The reception tables were decorated with potted herbs, succulents and in this case, salad greens.

Even the cake got gussied up with flowers! Orange dahlias and zinnia added a great pop of color to this classic, beautiful white cake.

We’re so grateful to all of the growers that provided flowers for Shauna and Brent’s wedding including: Locust Point Flowers, Belvedere Farm, Plant Masters and Wollam Gardens.

Special thanks to Nathaniel and Rissa from Balance Photography for these beautiful photos. I can’t  tell you what a joy it is to work with this super talented couple.

Finally, congratulations to Shauna and Brent. Wishing them a lifetime of happiness.

How We Got Started: Happy Anniversary Jen and Dave

Back before LoCoFlo started, my friends and I did flower arranging as a hobby. We fondly call this time “back when we didn’t know what we were doing”. What we lacked in know how we made up for in enthusiasm (which is still with us today!) Six years ago today, LoCoFlo co-founder Jen Reese married our friend Dave Bryant on a beautiful May afternoon.

In planning for the wedding flowers, we were ambitious and brimming with creativity. We decided shortly after the engagement, that we would grow all the flowers (tulips) ourselves. Of course, we waited until it was snowing (it was literally snowing) to put in the last bulbs. We chose early and late blooming bulbs figuring we’d hit the jackpot and they would all bloom at once.

No such luck! Here’s a glimpse of some of the tulips we planted at my house blooming about 6 weeks early! (they all bloomed WAY early)

Since this was long before we knew any flower farmers that had early Spring local flowers, we decided as a last minute plan, we would order flowers from the wholesaler. Carla, Marina, Dave’s sister Amy and I loaded up Marina’s station wagon with hydrangeas and roses and headed over to the reception spot to put the flowers together.

We also cut Carla’s peonies from her house and found a few bunches of local tulips from a farmer we all used to work for.

Chalk it up to extreme naiveté, but Marina and I were in way over our heads with the timing of things! We totally underestimated the amount of time it would take to make 7 bouquets, 7 boutonnieres, loads of tables arrangements and decorate the reception site…not to mention deliver everything AND get to the ceremony on-time to see Jen and Dave get married!

Good thing Jen’s family was staying at the bed and breakfast at the reception site. We went around and knocked on doors trying to enlist help!

Jen’s dad and cousins helped hang the tulle (they didn’t quite understand the concept of “draping” but at least it was up!)

More cousins helped with the “kissing balls” and table arrangements.

Oh yeah…and Marina was pregnant!

We gave ourselves about 5-6 hours for everything!

Despite everything…we made it to the church on time. More importantly-everyone looked beautiful, the flowers looked beautiful and it was a WONDERFUL day!

And we are STILL laughing about how we pulled it all together!

Happy 6th Anniversary Jen and Dave!

Book Review: The 50 Mile Bouquet

I have not been this inspired by a book since Amy Stewart’s Flower Confidential in 2007. Flower Confidential inspired me to start Local Color Flowers back in 2008 and the 50 Mile Bouquet is going to inspire me to grow LoCoFlo into the business I always envisioned.

The 50 Mile Bouquet is a beautifully written and photographed book about local flower farmers, designers that specialize in using locally grown flowers and clients that choose to buy local for their weddings and special events.

The grower section was great to read because I ACTUALLY KNEW some of the growers! How cool is that to see people you know in a book?

Much of the book focuses on the progressive growers in California, Oregon and Washington State. I loved learning about a urban LA flower farm called Silver Lakes Farm that grows beautiful flowers in the middle of Los Angeles! I’ve already referred two west coast friends to them! I was super excited to read about Flora Grubb and the Cutting Garden, an amazing spot that my dear friend Susannah took us to the last time we were in San Francisco.

While I LOVED reading about the growers, I was truly inspired reading about so many amazing designers that value local flowers…many of whom, like me, have built their business on buying local. I suddenly felt less alone when I read about designers with untraditional spaces like Lila B. Design, that works out of a loading dock in the Mission in San Francisco. (made me feel better about our garage studio). I felt less like a freak when I read about the ladies at Artis and Greene who have totally rejected floral foam and chemical preservation of flowers. I knew I was on the right track when I read about Max Gill, the floral designer from Chez Panisse that forages in his Berkeley neighborhood for interesting design ingredients.

I actually cried several times while reading the book because I felt so…included! I was so proud of these growers and designers I was reading about and I was proud of the community we are building at Local Color Flowers. I was proud that we are building a business on beautiful local products and inspired relationships with our growers and clients.

If you get the chance, read the 50 Mile Bouquet! You won’t be disappointed!

Mother’s Day Rocks!

Only 2 weeks until Mother’s Day and LoCoFlo is excited to offer all sorts of goodies for special moms in your life.

Sending a beautiful, locally grown flower arrangement is a great gift for Mother’s Day. Local Color Flowers will head out to local flower farms and pick up May’s best blooms. With the weather being so weird this season…that could include some early season peonies! 

If you love local flowers and want to share them throughout the seasons, you can give the gift of a Flower Subscription. Subscription members will get flowers every season, every month or every week (your choice!)  This is a perfect way to enjoy the bounty that Maryland has to offer throughout the year!

If you really want to give a gift that keeps on giving…how about an herb garden or terrarium made with locally grown herbs and succulents?

To find our more or to place an order, head over to our website and fill out an order form. Deliveries or pick ups available on Friday, May 11 or Saturday, May 12. Get your order in today!

Saying Good-Bye to a Flower Farmer and Friend

I was saddened today to hear about the death of my farmer friend Mel Heath. Mel was a big part off why Local Color Flowers was so successful in our early years. Mel’s beautiful farm was located in Cockeysville. He was our closest grower for our first three years in business and we bought flowers from him almost every week. Mel was a meticulous grower. His farm was beautiful - without a weed in sight- and filled with some of the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever seen.

Mel was also a teacher. Before he “retired” and became a flower grower, he taught for 35 years throughout Baltimore. The teacher in Mel is what I valued most. He always took time to walk through the farm with me when I came to pick up flowers. He would tell me the botanical and latin names for everything he was growing. He explained (time and time again) why he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) sell me more of his prized peonies even though they looked beautiful on the plant. (Cutting peonies too early in the plants life will sap the energy out of them and make them grow back weaker each year).

Mel and I were  always in sync with our schedules. We both got up early and got to work early. Sometimes I would head out to the farm as early as 6am, just as the fog was starting to burn off and the sun was coming up. I loved seeing Mel and the flowers on these early Friday morning pick-ups.

One of my other fond memories of Mel was being invited out the farm a few winters ago to make wreaths and other creations out of Me'l’s barn full of dried flowers. Kathy York of Scarborough Farm and her aunt Sue, me and Mel, a few of his neighbors and Eric the farm manager spent a glorious day laughing, staying warm by the stove and being creative.

Mel decided to stop flower farming at the end of 2010. It was a big loss for Local Color Flowers and our clients. It was a big loss for me personally as well because Mel was moving to South Carolina to retire.  I was sad, but I also new he was moving with the woman he loved to place that he loved and would be happy.

LoCoFlo really is not just a job…or just a business. It is really a community of folks…growers, designers, clients, friends and more that love flowers, and love the earth…and I dare say….love each other.  I’m grateful for having known Mel Heath.

Celebrating Same Sex Marriage at the LGBT Wedding Expo This Sunday at the Hippo!

Local Color Flowers is excited to be part of the upcoming Marry Me In Maryland LGBT Expo this Sunday! It’s been a long road to getting Same Sex Marriage legalized…now it’s time to start planning your wedding!

The Expo is taking place at Club Hippo located 1 West Eager Street in Baltimore from 1-5. Load of vendors will be on hand to help with wedding planning A-Z.

Come out and visit Local Color Flowers booth! We’re excited to meet everyone!

Local Color Flowers WINS the Awesomest Booth Contest at borrowed!

So…in case you missed it…Local Color Flowers was part of a super great, creative wedding show extravaganza on April 1. Not only did we have a ton of fun meeting so many great people, we WON the Awesomest Booth Contest.

"We're so delighted to announce that the attendees at borrowed on April 1st have chosen Local Color Flowers as the winner of the Awesomest Booth Contest! As the winner, Local Color Flowers will receive a free booth at the next borrowed event of their choice. Ellen & her team put together a stunning, cohesive display that was true to their brand, featuring their new birch pole chuppah and a variety of local, seasonal blooms."

-Natalie Fava, organizer of borrowed

Unlike other shows, where the planners give you a table, chairs and pipe and drape dividers, the folks at borrowed gave us…nothing…except a taped off spot on the floor.  The idea was to make the space a creative and unique as possible. (oh yeah…and we won!)

Carling and Jen and I have a great planning meeting a few weeks before the event. Our only jumping off points were “something that looked like a barn/farm” and Eric’s idea of having “I Do” statements.

Since our space was really small, we decided to set up our new, improved, birch pole chuppah and decorate it with flowers and antiquey signs. We didn’t really have room for a standard table so we made a custom table that would have holes in it for our chuppah poles. Carling made the antique signs which looked great and were an easy, visual way to tell people who we were.

Once we had all the pieces, Eric and I did a dry run of everything. We loved it!

Our final display was filled with beautiful local flowers, flowering branches, herbs, succulents and more. We hung most of the arrangements because of the limited space…it looked (and smelled) awesome!

Thanks to everyone who helped make our booth so fabulous including all the growers and the LoCoFlo team!