Halie married Billy in Purcellville, VA on a hot August day at Shadow Creek Weddings and Events. Halie’s bouquet is one of my favorites and she is one of the sweetest brides I have had the pleasure of working with. We had so much fun creating the ceremony floral arch and the barn reception was cozy and candlelit. The love in the room was absolutely palpable - this is one of those weddings we wish we could have attended ourselves!
Photos by Sam Stroud
When Alicia Lacey approached me about this DC elopement shoot, at DAR Constitution Hall, I was SO excited to work with the amazing vendors and colonial exterior of the building. The building is rich in history and aesthetic and the light blue tulle gown by Sweet Caroline Styles was a perfect contrast to the grandiose white columns.
As seen on Wedding Chicks
Female Model: Carolina Ferreira| Photographer: ALICIA LACEY PHOTOGRAPHY | Paper Goods and Calligraphy: THE LITTLEST PAPERIE | Cakes & Catering: LEXI JEWELL | Fashion: SWEET CAROLINE STYLES | Film Lab: THE FIND LAB | Male Model: YOUSEF NIKZAI | Gold Heels: JIMMY CHOO
Photo by Sara Beth
My very favorite flower job so far was when a clothing store hired me to make 200 farmer's market-type bouquets for their grand opening. I brought the flowers to the store and gave them away to the first 200 customers. I rolled this huge, wobbly, cart, overflowing with flowers through the mall parking lot. I lugged it up steps, squeezed it onto the elevator, pushed it through the long hallways, got lost, pushed it through the long hallways some more and squeezed it into the tiny store. For the millionth time in my flower career, I found myself thinking, "what that frick!?!?" I get myself into the most awkward situations.
The store opened. After each person completed their purchase at the register, I enthusiastically offered a bouquet. "Would you like some flowers?" I beemed. Without fail, the person looked around the room, like "who? me?" Then they looked at me dubiously, wondering "how much is this going to cost?" "Its free!" I exclaimed "thanks for shopping!". Again, they would look around the room, an expression of happy disbelief washing over. "uh thank you?!" and I swear, they would blush. Then, light up. Out of the store they went, quietly smiling or showing the flowers to their husband, or cradling their little bouquets. EVERY SINGLE TIME. Free flowers brought a few moments of complete joy to each person who received them.
wrapping the bouquets to hand out
Mostly locally grown blooms were handed out
wrapping bouquets fast!
First of all, what a brilliant idea that the store manager had! People loved the flowers and once word got out, the place was packed! Secondly, it got me thinking. I have been pretty disheartened by so much ugliness in the world these days. Flowers are beautiful. Spreading flowers seems like a pretty easy (albeit small) way to spread beauty and kindness.
Since that day, we have been running an experiment giving flowers to strangers whenever we have them to give. After a wedding or event, we generally have a bucket of leftover blooms in the back of the van. It kills me to throw them away, but honestly, after the work of an event, the thought of somehow getting the flowers presentable and to someplace like a nursing home or hospital is overwhelming. So, when we stop for gas or go into a restaurant for dinner or even in the parking lot at the venue, we look for someone passing by. It is so easy to grab the leftovers, snip the ends and wrap a rubber band around the stems. "Would you like some flowers?" we ask. "Who? me?" they look around. "They're free!!" we declare. The joy sets in. The lady at the Chick-fil-A drive through window... beaming, "AAH! Let me get a vase!!". The guy in the parking lot of the mall took the flowers, turned around and gave two dozen roses to his love who flung her arms around his neck. The elderly couple at the rest area smiled, then held hands as they walked back to their car. The bar tender posted this on with the caption "my weekend work at the winery has allowed me to meet people while I am so far from home and these flowers made my Saturday!" (we had no idea she was away from home!)
So it totally works! Will you join us? If you are a florist with extra flowers on your hand, or a gardener with extra flowers on your hands or a regular person with... yep... extra flowers on your hands, try giving them away and tag #kindnessblooms with a story. Maybe we can spread some moments of complete joy and kindness.
love love
What a flower, beauty and fun filled weekend this little family had in Hillsville, VA! We hung by the river, I did some fun Mother's Day arrangements using flowers from my mother-in-laws garden and we all got to relax a little!
As the mom of 3 YOUNG kids, I sometimes (read several times a day), feel myself going nuts!! It is so easy to get bogged down in the tediousness of the bijillion diaper changes, tons of meals & snacks which turn into tons of food & crumbs everywhere, LAUNDRY, errands, etc. of each day. Often, when I look up and out of our little bubble, I find hurt and hardship and sadness going on in the world. Despair and a feeling of being simply overwhelmed can sometimes totally overtake me!!
It was in one of these moments of feeling drained of hope, that I stumbled upon a picture (on Pinterest...of all the productive things I could have been doing during nap time!) of the most beautiful bouquet I had ever seen. It was wild and fresh and lush and made me smile. I found more and more beautiful flowers and smiled a bit more and more. Hey, by the time the babies woke up, I was magically feeling refreshed.
I don't want to ignore the hard parts of life but I do want to choose to see the beauty of life more. For me, flowers are a way of helping me see the simple beauty that DOES exist.
As I have started to pay more attention to flowers, I am finding them everywhere! I find myself smiling when I see them growing wild on the side of the road. I find myself loading the kids up to go search for them in the woods. I find myself giddy with excitement as the little seeds that we planted are popping up. Then, I look up and see my daughter giddy with excitement! She is outside in her bare feet, the babies are playing in the grass and we are all here, enjoying the beauty of the spring day. And I, gasp, am truly in the moment, enjoying the sweetness of getting to be the mother of these three beautiful babies.
So, I have become flower wild! I have been reading flower books, taking flower classes, talking to flower farmers and designers. I have been planting and arranging and selling :) as many flowers as I can.
Yes, there have been late nights arranging, nap times filled with "work" and a Saturday spent begging my tired husband to hang with the kids while I till the beds. But, there have been many more family tromps through the woods gathering flowers, kids with muddy feet digging in the dirt and cold beers with my husband at the end of a productive day.
In the end, my hope is that this little business of mine will not be something that I do in addition to being a mother. It is my hope that it will become my style of mothering. I hope that it will help me live in the moment and to appreciate and see the beauty in these fleeting days of being a mom to 3 YOUNG kids. To focus on the good and to bring as many flowers into the lives of my little family and in turn, into the lives of as many people as possible!!
So, please follow along in our adventure. I hope this will be a place to find a little piece of beauty in a day that may need it :)
love love
Kim of Kim Newton Weddings is one of my favorite people to work with so when she asked me to do the flowers for a photo shoot with Sam Stroud at Shadow Creek, it was a no brainer! As usual, my first stop was to my local flower farm (Plant Masters in Laytonsville) to see what was blooming. No matter what the project, my first step in the flower sourcing process is to look around to find something locally in peak bloom. Then I pretty much base everything else off of that. In this case it was lilac that had just popped. The day of the shoot was FREEZING and the second that we took that lilac outside, it totally DIED! but I love how everything came together!
Planning by Kim Newton Weddings
Photography by RJ Goodwin via Sam Stroud
Location Shadow Creek Weddings and Events
Gown Fabulous Frocks of Alexandria
Hair & Makeup by Deidre Thompson
@sophiefelts
Come behind the scenes with us.
