Happy New Year to Everyone

Wow! How did it get to be January 10, 2013 so fast? Where did the time go? I guess when you are busy at work and you add Christmas cooking, shopping, decorating, Christmas parties, decorating at church, and other such things, the time just gets away from you. And, before you know it, it's New Years and you are still cooking, going to parties, undecorating at home and at church, and celebrating with friends. Amidst all this "busyness", I've been meeting with brides for their upcoming spring and summer weddings, developing proposals, planning bridal show exhibits, planning Easter flowers and a workshop for St. George's Flower Guild, and working on the expansion of my business to include coordinating event decor. So, that's how it got to be January 10, 2013!!!!!

Expansion of my business from providing just floral decor to include providing event decor, is just so exciting! I've been resourcing the best linens, china, chairs, customized printing sources, and other resources for unique and elegant details to make weddings by Jane Guerin, flowers some of the most memorable events ever. This is so, so fun!!!! But designing flowers is my love, and I've been busy designing.

Let me share a few of the events I worked on starting in early December. On the 8th, I had the unbelievable pleasure to design the florals for a Black-Tie retirement party for 5 local physicians. These individuals have had outstanding careers, and the event to send them on to another chapter in their lives was destined to be fabulous. The thought and planning put into this event by the fellow partners and their wives was unbelievable. They asked me to come to the house where the party would be, to help brainstorm and develop a design. One of the first and most fun ideas that I recommended was to put up a "radiology" Christmas tree in black and white in the foyer. I had a vision, but I had no idea what a fantastic job these women would do. The finished tree had white ornaments along with small "xrays" hung by silver hooks all over the tree. They also found silver frame ornaments, which held the practice logo, and were engraved with the physician's name and date. How fabulous is that?

All day long while I worked on the florals, the re-enactment of the Battle of Fredericksburg ensued. I watched "Conferderate" and "Union" soldiers walk around town and outside my shop with their rifles on their shoulders. The house where the party took place, was right in the midst of the battle that morning, and soldiers ran through the front and back yards of this house. As the hosts got ready for the party, they watched the "Union" troops put the bridge over the Rappahannock and cross the river to begin the fight. Really!!!! It was a special event and day, and one that I'll remember always. 

Take a peek at the white flowers. Black Tie/white flowers.....of course! Oh, Foode' catered, and I was told the food was phenominal!

 

The second beautiful event for which I had the honor to provide the flowers was a company Christmas party that was held at the Columbia Firehouse Restauranat in Alexandria, VA. The company is an Engineering firm that designs and manufactures equipment that travels into space on rockets and satellites....lots of smart, lovely people! The employees could not have been more gracious!

The Columbia Firehouse restaurant staff were unbelievably helpful to me. They let me in the restaurant early and insisted that they unload all the arrangements for me. The food they told me, was a blend of French and southern........my kind of food. The menu for this party looked out of this world! The room was decorated with a huge fresh Christmas tree with tiny white lights and no other decoration. My arrangements were white with seasonal greenery, "snow tipped" pine cones, and finished with a band of green velvet ribbon. 

Here are a few images.

A third event was a staff Christmas party held at, truly, one of the most gorgeous homes in Fredericksburg. I have had the pleasure of designing centerpieces for this party for three years, and I hope to do many more for them. The hosts are just very dear people, and I love having the opportunity to do their Christmas flowers!!

The dining room is red, so we usually always use red, but to make it more sophisticated, like the hosts, we add pink to the design. I just love how these arrangements turned out. I just wish I had a camera other than my iPhone to capture the images. Take a peek.

 

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I'll blog some more tomorrow! Until then.....

A Nod To Fall and To The Contemporary

I was honored to be asked to design an arrangement for the Open House of the new office for a Fredericksburg physicians' group. The office waiting area is a very open space and reminded me of the space designed by I.M. Pei for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Of course, the space at UAB was on a much larger scale, but I remember that the space was designed with the patient as the focus.

It is Fall, and we wanted the arrangement to reflect the season, but we really wanted the design to reflect the open, contemporary feel of the office. I decided to use lots of curly willow branches for texture, lots (40 stems) of orange/red mokara orchids, and collar this with calathea leaves. I used a very large cylinder and tied green raffia around the top. Take a look!

Another contemporary design was inspired by the combination of old and contemporary in one of Fredericsburg's most historic homes. The event was a fund raising cocktail party for Stratford Hall, a beautiful, national treasure. I loved the look!!!!!

 

Wedding at the Kenmore Inn

I was lucky enough to design flowers yesterday for a very lovely couple. The bride was beautiful and had exquisite taste. Her dress was just beautiful, and her flowers were so elegant. She wanted pale blue and white so I used creamy white roses, creamy white callas, blue hydrangea, blue delphinium, white freesia, white wax flower, white chrysanthemums, clematis, variegated Italian Pittosporum and round Pittosporum. The centerpieces were made with most of the same flowers designed in a white cast iron urn. I also designed a blue hydrangea wreath with blue Midori ribbon trails to hang on the wall in the parlor of the Kenmore Inn.

The groom looked dashing in his dress Marine Corp. uniform. His chest was covered in medals - a couple for service in Iraq, one for Afghanistan among others. Anna, his bride, is an Engineer and in the Marine Corp, also.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, and and best wishes for a long and happy life together!!!!

I cannot wait to get the photographer's photos. I'll post as soon as they are available!

Update on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 at 9:32AM by Jane

You know, there is just no comparison to the photographs of a professional. May I share the gorgeous photos from Anna's Blue and White Wedding? It was a classic, and these beautiful photographs reflect the elegant feel of the day.

Some Lovely Bouquets for Some Lovely Brides

I have had such a busy wedding season this year, that I've not been consistently updating my blog. I think I need a "blogger". Is there such a thing? I have captured a few pictures of some very lovely bouquets from this wedding season. (There are oh so many more. Please stay tuned!) I hope you like them!

Each one of these weddings was so special! The brides and their families were just a joy to work with, and I wish them all the very best!!!

Rustic Chic at Stevenson's Ridge

What a fun "Rustic Chic" wedding I did today at Stevenson's Ridge. What a darling bride, what adorable friends, what a great venue, what a fun, fun day!!! I just had to blog about this cute, special wedding!

Now, I have to say that I have lost sleep over this wedding, specifically over the burlap curtains that the bride wanted hung from the wooden pergola at Stevenson's Ridge. Of course, when we were talking about the idea, it seemed like it would be a "piece of cake." As the day got closer, I began to fret. I went to the venue several days ago to closely examine the pergola. Now mind you, I have decorated this pergola several times in the past, but I have never had to engineer any of my arrangements, and I never closely examined the structure. Long story short, I could now build that exact pergola - I know all the measurements and the complete design. See the very cute result of all of my worry and engineering knowledge. This is the side of floral design that goes unnoticed - the mechanics that are involved.

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The bride's dad made wonderful rustic boxes for the centerpieces. I know he must have loved doing this for his "little girl". See the results of his labor of love.

I have to tell you that this little vase of September Whites caused me to lose sleep as well...really. The bride loved chamomile, but we can't get that right now. I used September Whites, which has a completely different growing style, but it has a similar bloom. The first design attempt, albeit on the right track, was not it. The second attempt was not it. I thought about it all night, and when I walked into the shop the next morning, I immediately knew how to achieve the look the bride wanted! That is the amazing thing about floral design...the final look sometimes just evolves through trial and error (and lost sleep)!!

The bride loves dahlias and ranunculus. (See the ranunculus on the Sweetheart table above.) The ranunculus are just coming in again, but we were lucky to get what we wanted for the sweetheart table. The dahlias were phenominal. See her bouquet below.

The maids bouquets' were lovely pink and yellow roses with seeded eucalyptus and Italian varigated pittosporum.

The boutonnieres were precious. 

I'll post the photograher's pictures at a later date, but see the bridal party below.

Happy married life Shannon and Ryan! You dodged the rain showers, thank goodness, and I know you will live happily ever after!!!!!!!!