Real Weddings: Samantha and Brian

On April 4th, Samantha and Brian wed in Baltimore's Mt. Vernon neighborhood. The cherry trees were blooming on a windy yet beautiful sunny afternoon. Brian and Sam like to brew their own beer, so it seemed natural that they picked The Brewer's Art on Charles Street for their ceremony and celebration. Frank Hamilton is the photographer who beautifully captured this day.

When I talked with Sam, she said she wanted the flowers to be all spring colors and flowers. She had 13 bridesmaids, each able to choose their own dress, color and style. When we delivered the flowers to the Peabody Court Hotel, I heard one bridesmaid comment that it was amazing that we had managed to have every dress color represented by a flower color in the bouquets.

Sam's cascading bouquet was filled with tulips, gerbera daisies, ranunculus, anenomies, daffodils, bluperum, veronica and amaranth.

The bride's maids bouquets were hand tied with celadon ribbon, utilizing the same flowers that were in Sam's bouquet:

Brain and Sam's wedding was our first for our 2009 season, which was fitting, as they were referred to us by our first ever Locoflo wedding, Leanna and John.

Real Weddings: Nathalie and Cory

Nathalie and Cory are both artists who were interested in having a Green/DIY wedding. With a great eye for color and texture, Nathalie shared with us her vision for her bouquets. Mostly green with some splashes of yellow, purple and white; succulents; herbs; very textured and natural.

For the bouquets we used yellow gerbera daisies, white and purple stock, iris', hens and chicks, rosemary and lavender.

The table arrangements were in vintage mason jars on top of wood slices cut by Cory's dad.We used the same flowers, herbs and succulents in the mason jars as in the bouquet with the addition of yellow lilies and hosta leaves.

The wedding took place on a hot, sunny Sunday afternoon in April at the beautiful Woodend Sanctuary. The photographer, Jocelyn Mathewes of Studio Mathewes perfectly captured the love and natural beauty that surrounded this couple on their special day. Check out Jocelyn's blog to see some more pictures and video of the happy couple.

Viva la Mexico!

I love Mexico. I've only been there once, to Mexico City and Zihuatanejo, but I loved it. I loved the food, the people, the language, the flowers.

Today Marina and I worked on a really cool gig with one of our fave green event planners, Lori Hill. The event was called Experience Mexico Meetings. It was a party of sorts to encourage meeting planners to plan meetings in Mexico. We were asked to provide 3 large banquet arrangements.

What struck me most about this event was the location. The Mexican Cultural Institute on 16th St in DC is a jewel. I felt a little like I had just walked into the Palacio Nacional with all the beautiful murals, and carved wood and tile. I actually think I was teary for a minute-I loved this building that much.

The first arrangement was a bouquet of white viburnum, purple baptisia, sunflowers, calla lilies, gerber daisies, snap dragons and stock. This arrangement stood about 3 feet high.

The second arrangement was actually my favorite. All the same flowers were used, but it stood about 4 feet high and was made in a coppery, bird bath.

The final and largest arrangement was placed on top of a glass "vase" that was filled with lemons. (not grown locally but grown on the east coast and purchased locally).

We left before the party started. Too bad, because I remember in Mexico City, folks sipped tequila with orange slices after lunch. That would have been a great way to spend the afternoon, but we had to get back to Baltimore to start preparing for a wedding on Sunday.

Charm City Bride

I came across a great new blog recently called Charm City Bride. Lauren Wenchel is creating a one stop shop for all things weddings in the Baltimore area. Charm City Bride is a great resource for anyone planning a wedding in Baltimore. It includes vendor referrals, stories of real weddings and loads of wedding planning resources.

You can tell that Lauren had a design background. Her inspiration boards are gorgeous! Colorful, creative and inspiring, Lauren has collages for everything including cupcakes, shoes, cocktails, dresses and flowers! (Check out the LoCoFlo collage she made!) I can tell you that Marina and I are envious and can't wait to meet with Lauren to get some ideas on how we can do our own electronic inspiration boards. Be sure to check out Charm City Bride!

First Peonies of the Season

This morning I woke up early and headed out to Bridge Farm Nurseries in Cockeysville, MD. When I pulled in at 6:05 AM, Mel Heath, the owner of Bridge Farm was out cutting peonies for our order. Since Mel doesn't use greenhouse or high tunnels, peonies are his first big crop of the season.

Mel is serious about peonies. He takes such care in growing them. He loves those plants so much, he often ops not to cut them, even though he could sell the blooms, because he knows the plant is too young to thrive after a cutting. From the barn, all I could see were rows and rows of peonies, and Mel's orange cap sticking up between rows.

Using locally grown flowers means we use what's available when it's available. From week to week, we never know what it will be. This uncertainty is the key to creating unique, one of a kind arrangements. I picked up 220 pink peonies this morning, along with some beautiful apple green viburnum and bleeding hearts. These are the flowers we'll use for our Mother's Day arrangements. Check back for a look at the finished products.

Year One done, Welcome Year Two!

First off, I just wanted to say "Hi".  Ellen has been putting up some great blogs, I wanted to join in on the conversation.

Last year Flower Mart was the official launch date of Local Color Flowers, it's hard to believe we've been in business for a year, but also hard to remember life without Locoflo. 

Today Ellen and I had a full day of Flower Mart preparation, welcoming Year Two.  We calmly put all the pieces together that we had been thinking about for months.  A new back drop for the tent, new pictures to show off, a dry run of tent set up, and arranging flowers.  I sewed, cut art board, designed the "show" arrangements, and overall loved being in our shop creating with Ellen. Which is for me one of the most fun aspects of this venture, creating beautiful floral pieces.  We are really excited about this weekend's festival.  Come on out May 1st and 2nd to Flower Mart to see our work! 

We had a friend pop over to visit, which was so lovely, Cathy commented on how much our workshop fits Locoflo.  Cathy has been one of our greatest cheerleaders from the beginning of Local Color Flowers.  She helped on many of our large projects over the past year,  in which all the floral preparation that happened, took place in kitchens and dinning rooms, so I'm glad Cathy came to see the new workshop.  The new workshop that needs a new cooler... stay tuned for that story...

LoCoFlo at the White House?

So, it turns out the White House florist is retiring after 31 years on the job. Nancy Clarke has been making flower arrangements for the White House since 1978 when she started as a volunteer. (Who knew you could volunteer to work on flowers at the White House?)

After reading about Ms. Clarke's retirement, I started thinking-wouldn't it be cool if Local Color Flowers could get that gig? How would it work? Marina and I (and Eric and Bart and Finn) would have to move to Washington. We would plant a cutting garden on the south lawn, near the organic vegetable garden the First Lady planted last month. We would need a hoop house (that we could share with the veggie gardener if he wanted to extend his growing season) and a greenhouse to ensure we had locally grown flowers year round. We'd probably still have to buy from other growers, so we would pull in the growers that we use that service DC: Woolam Gardens, Farmhouse Flowers, Lynn Vale Studios and others.

While Nancy Clarke did amazing work, it was mostly in a traditional style. Wouldn't it be fun to see arrangements with ornamental peppers and kale and artichokes and crazy curly willow and that crested celosia that looks like a brain. Wouldn't it be great if the First Family committed to using locally grown flowers in the White House? Wouldn't it mean the revolution was in full swing if two girls from Baltimore became the White House florists?