Wedding of Melissa and Andrew

My apologies for not blogging in a while, I know I promised you I was going to be better at this! Things have just been so busy around here! No complaints though!

            This week I am happy to share with you a wedding that I planned and designed at the Hotel Giraffe, a wonderful boutique hotel here in New York City.

When I met with the bride Melissa about how she wanted her wedding day to look, I wasn’t given much direction. I knew she was originally from Hawaii and wanted to feel a sense of home, but that’s about it! So, by using eucalyptus and splashed of tropical orange and yellow (something that is way out of her comfort zone), I transformed an empty room into an oasis that brought the bride to tears.

For the table arrangements, I used a variety of low and medium height square vases, which I filled with beautiful circus roses, yellow roses, green roses, calla lilies, green cymbidium orchids, and vibrant glorioso lilies. In the medium height vases, I submerged orange dendrobium orchids to add variety to the arrangements. Also, submerged below the candles I twisted a loop of bear grass for an extra something special. As for lighting, Bentley Meeker brought the outside to the inside by uplighting the room with colors of a Hawaiian sunset.

In the reception room, the focal point was a fireplace with a hideous picture of a giraffe! Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we could find many giraffes on the beaches of Hawaii, so I designed one of my signature flower arrangements, what I like to call, “a wall of flowers” to replace the giraffe photo. In the past I have done a leaning flower wall as a place for guests to find their place cards, but for this space in particular, it was perfect to use as a hanging piece over the mantle. Guests were amazed by this spectacular hanging arrangement of green, yellow, and circus roses, orange calla lilies, orange dendrobium orchids, green cymbidium orchids, yellow spider mums, bear grass, moss, and other tropical elements. 

Outside on the patio where the ceremony was held, which we later transformed into a cocktail area, was a massive mirror, which we used as a focal point for the ceremony and dressed it with a garland of eucalyptus, spider mums, and roses. A mirror at the end of the aisle was something very unexpected, but was great for guests as they could see the expressions of the bride and groom from every direction.

Now onto personal flowers. The bride’s bouquet was carefully assembled with yellow and cream roses, cymbidium orchids, eucalyptus, and leather leaf. (On a personal note, we never use leather leaf but made an exception because the bride specifically requested it be used in her bouquet). For her twin sister the maid of honor, we created a smaller bouquet with all of the same elements and placed a cymbidium orchid in her hair behind her ear, something that she and her sister used to do back home in Hawaii. As for the groom’s boutonnière, I kept it simple but still reflective of the bride’s bouquet, so I used a cymbidium orchid, a small yellow rose, a loop of bear grass and some leather leaf.

One of my favorite moments at the wedding was when Melissa presented her father with his boutonnière. When she was a little girl, her father would place a gardenia on both her and her twin sisters’ pillow at bedtime. Now, to Melissa, gardenia’s have a special place in her heart, so I made sure that her father got the most gorgeous and beautifully fragrant gardenia we could find for his boutonnière.

Overall, I discovered that you can bring Hawaii to New York City by using subtle touches of tropical elements and had a blast designing it! Until next time, (which I promise won’t be long) cheers!

             

All photos courtesy of Cappy Hotchkiss Photography