At this past weekend’s wedding, the bride made a special request for synthetic flowers due to various familial allergy issues. And I accepted the challenge. I had several guests comment that they had to feel the flowers because they didn’t believe they weren’t real. She wanted yellow roses and white calla lilies, and since the bridesmaids were wearing teal, we pulled all the colors together with peacock feathers! Here’s a sample:
Bride and Groom
Cake Decorations
Up close of Cake Decor
Reception Tables with Cake Decor
Reception Centerpieces (the groom hand crafted and polished the wood rounds under the vases).
A special “Grandparents’ Arrangement” to honor each grandparent who couldn’t be there.
A closer look at the Grandparents’ Arrangement
Tossing Bouquet (a smaller version of the bridal bouquet)
Corsage
Mother of the Bride’s Corsage
Boutonnieres (the only difference for the groom’s was a silver ribbon, to match the bride’s bouquet)
Adorable Flower Girl
A closer look at the Flower Girl’s Basket
Bridesmaids carried 3 simple long stem roses (the groom also handcrafted the bridesmaids’ necklaces!)
Choir rail of greenery and dogwoods with candles
A closer look at the choir rail at the front of the church
Tulle Pew Hangers with glittered teal stems and peacock feathers, wrapped with a silver ribbon to coordinate with the bride and groom
Another Corsage
One more Corsage
If you’re in the Greenville, South Carolina area and would like more information about having customized flower arrangements created for your special day, contact us at TheArtisanHoneybee@gmail.com.
This weekend, I had the opportunity to do flowers for our good friends Ben & Ashley’s wedding. It was a beautiful setting at the Lodge at Table Rock State Park, and the flowers were so much fun to work with–full of natural beauty and rustic charm, just like their backdrop. So thankful that the snow and ice cleared up to make this beautiful day possible. Bryan and I were able to get some really nice pictures, so here’s a look at the day.
The Bride and Groom
Bridal Bouquet with Burlap and Lace – Blush Spray Roses, Pink and Plum Ranunculus, Lavender Stems, Waxflowers, Button Mums, White Hydrangea, Summer Pinks, Silver Brunia, Pink Astilbe, Purple Stock and Snapdragons, Blush Larkspur, White Alstromeria, Globe Thistles, and Heather
Bridal Crown of Waxflowers and Summer Pinks
The Beautiful Bride, Ashley with a closer look at her bouquet and crown – she could not have been more beautiful (or more happy) – some even said she looked “as gorgeous as an elven princess” – and I agree*
Congratulations, Ben & Ashley! What a beautiful wedding! God has truly done an amazing work in and through each of you, and I can’t wait to see how He will use you together as a couple for His glory in the days and years to come! We love you!*
The Lodge at Table Rock
Guestbook table arrangements of White Hydrangea and Lavender Sprigs
The Ceremony (one of Ashley’s friends did the tulle and arrangement over the fireplace, as well as the reception hall decorations)*
The Bridal Party
Lovely ladies with their lovely bouquets on the bridge outside the lodge*
Bridesmaid’s Bouquet – White Hydrangea, Cream and Blush Spray Roses, Pink Astilbe, Heather, Purple Stock and Snapdragons, Plum Button Mums, Globe Thistles and Sprigs of Lavender, wrapped in burlap
Bridal Party at Table Rock State Park*
Boutonnieres and Corsages
Corsage of White Larkspur, Blush Spray Roses, Plum Ranunculus, White Alstromeria, Waxflower and Sprigs of Lavender
The Boutonnieres for the guys featured Globe Thistles, Silver Brunia, Lavender, and Fresh Mint and Sage Leaves, wrapped in burlap*
Mother of the Groom’s Corsage – Plum Ranunculus, White Alstromeria, Cream Spray Roses, Waxflower and Sprigs of Lavender
Mother of the Bride’s Corsage – Pink Ranunculus, Cream Spray Roses, White Alstromeria, Waxflower and Sprigs of Lavender with Burlap
Corsage of Plum Ranunculus, White Alstromeria, Waxflower and Lavender Sprigs
The Reception
The bride made this beautiful banner and garland, and I brought some extra flowers for her friend that did decorations on site to fill in the garland.*
Reception Food Tables – arrangements featured White Hydrangea, Blush Spray Roses, Silver Brunia, White Alstromeria, Waxflower and Sprigs of Lavender
And, My Favorite, The Cake
Last but certainly not least, a Floral Cake Swag and a Cloud Base of Baby’s Breath – featuring Pink and Plum Ranunculus, Blush Larkspur, Cream Spray Roses, Purple Stock and Snapdragons, Lavender Button Mums, Heather, Summer Pinks, White Alstromeria, Lavender Sprigs, and Fresh Mint and Sage Leaves*
If you are in the Greenville, South Carolina area and would like more information about floral arrangements for your next event, contact me at theartisanhoneybee@gmail.com.
(*Note: Pictures with an asterisk were taken by Bryan McKinnon; other pictures taken by Melissa McKinnon. All copyrights reserved.)
Here are some of the pictures of the flowers from the recent wedding I did. This wedding’s flower lineup included white hydrangeas, calla lilies and roses, blue delphinium, purple statice, peach wax flowers, green hypericum berries and grass…oh, and blue thistle! I have to admit I was a little nervous about this particular combination of flowers, but it turned out to be a beautiful mix!
The following pictures are courtesy of Joshua and Candace Spencer of Lotus Creative Studios:
And here are a few extra pictures I took. The best part was secretly adding the bride’s grandmother’s brooches into the bouquet–a special request of the mother of the bride that made it extra special for her daughter:
The last few weeks could be characterized by copious amounts of coffee accompanied by fabulous fellowship and foodie adventures, intermingled with thoughtful musings on articles and video clips. Check it out below.
“The relationship between coffee and well being” – picture courtesy of Stephen Altrogge
Day 214: Friday, August 2, 2013
Had another wedding today. Picked up the various pieces on Wednesday, started working on them on Thursday night, and finished up Friday morning–and actually got a full night’s sleep on this one!
This weekend’s wedding flower lineup included white hydrangeas, calla lilies and roses, blue delphinium, purple statice, peach wax flowers, green hypericum berries and grass…oh, and blue thistle!! It turned out to be a beautiful combination! Here’s a sneak peek. I’ll post professional pics soon.
Day 215-216: Saturday and Sunday, August 3-4, 2013
More house projects. A FaceTime “coffee chat” with one of my best friends, Katie. Church. And a “breakfast for dinner” get together on Sunday night as a send-off for three of our friends who are moving away from Greenville–two to work with a church in NC (while the husband pursues ordination with the intent towards chaplaincy), and the other to teach English abroad. It was a really good time…though we will miss our friends.
Day 217: Monday, August 5, 2013
On Monday, a friend from church dropped off their first batch of eggs from their farm! Of course, that automatically meant I “had” to have eggs for dinner. So we made a batch of sausage gravy and served it over toast with a farm-fresh omelet filled with onions, peppers, goat cheese and basil, topped with arugula. So delicious! You know the eggs are fresh when they yolks are perky and deep orange. I was super excited to start getting these each week…that was, until a coyote (or neighbor’s dog) got into the chicken coop. Sad day…because these eggs were amazing! We savored egg dishes the rest of the week!
Day 218: Tuesday, August 6, 2013
One of the video clips I was fascinated by this week is below. Talk about “trash to treasure”–this “Landfillharmonic” clip is amazing! Makes me thankful for all that we have:
Day 219-220: Wednesday through Thursday, August 7-8, 2013
I had some perfect peaches, so I decided to make peach pie to share with our Shepherding Group. It turned out pretty good, but I’m still working on my pie not being too runny. After Shepherding Group on Wednesday, I made stuffed peppers for the first time in ages. I found several recipes online and adapted them to be my own unique creation–recipe here.
On Thursday, I heated up the stuffed peppers and took them to lunch with my friends Shannah and Annette. Annette brought a corn salad and a cucumber salad; Shannah shared a fresh spinach salad with homemade maple vinaigrette and homemade peach pie with latticed crust and all–it was perfect!
I had plenty of leftover stuffing left that didn’t go in our peppers, so on Friday, I used them to fill hard corn taco shells–and they were fantastic! I topped the tacos and stuffing with fresh arugula, cilantro, and a dab of sour cream, along with the avocado sauce.
Day 221-222: Friday and Saturday, August 9-10, 2013
Friday lunch with an old high school friend that I was recently reunited with through work. Had our friends Kevin and Melissa over for dinner and games–recently we’ve been playing a lot of Dominion with them, but tonight they taught us a new game, Elder Sign–which is really fun! (Definitely on the Christmas wishlist 😉 ). Saturday was more work on the house. Helped the couple moving to NC pack up a bit and said final goodbyes (not that we won’t see them again soon). 😉 Lunch with my folks and sister–my parents were picking up my sister’s boys for a few days at the farm before school started. Then ran some errands and ended the day with having my sister Michelle and her husband Alan over for dinner (with only the new baby girl). We just made simple sandwiches and she brought some potato salad–and we taught them to play Dominion. It was a lot of fun! We should do that more often.
Day 223: Sunday, August 11, 2013
First Sunday not teaching in the children’s ministry for several years. It was kind of weird trying to figure out which Adult Life Application Group we fit best into. We ended up in Marriage Foundations, since we know a lot of the people in that class, and we really enjoyed it. We want to visit a couple more before we make our final decision–though any of them would be really good, I think.
Day 224-228: Monday through Thursday, August 12-15, 2013
Monday was a hugely successful day: got all my data exported and submitted for conversion at work! AND we got the majority of the insulation put up in the new room! Phew! I just have to say…if I “had” to install insulation in a hot room on a hot day, at least I got to do it with my hot husband! 😉
Read a really good article on marriage: God Loves Odd Couples. Marriage isn’t about being “perfectly compatible”…it’s about reflecting Christ. Very encouraging article.
Tuesday, I had my semi-annual dentist appointment, followed by a free birthday cupcake from Chocolate Moose–no, I didn’t tell the dentist where I was headed after my cleaning, and, yes, he did tell me I won a “mouth of the month” award! After work, I went on a long walk with a good friend, Jan. She’s a fantastic young mom of two and even though we aren’t able to get together as much as we’d like, every time we get together is always refreshing and uplifting.
Wednesday night after church, I had two friends over. Great night of fellowship with sisters in Christ who love Jesus, the Gospel and the power of Redemption! Enjoyed precious gifts of conversation, edification, good coffee, and orange cinnamon rolls.
Thursday night was dinner with some more friends, Ben and Ashley, whom we haven’t been able to catch up with in forever. Forgot that the 2 1/2 cups of coffee that I drank at dinner tonight was NOT decaf. Fail.
Day 228: Friday, August 16, 2013
Nothing like James Galway and fresh coffee on a rainy morning! I love classical flute! It’s been far too long since I played. After work, I grabbed a few ingredients and we headed over to our friends Daryl and Adrianne’s house. It was my first attempt at from-scratch banana pudding with meringue topping! I added freshly grated nutmeg and soaked the bananas in a little lime juice before adding them to the pudding with the Nilla wafers. While we made the dessert, the guys watched the grill and practiced their target shooting. It doesn’t get more Southern than this:
Day 229-230: Saturday and Sunday, August 17-18, 2013
Progress on the house…windows and door are finally in in the new room! …along with framing, wiring, insulation, and subflooring! Plus new white posts instead of green rails on the front porch! More to come, but excited for the progress so far!
Sunday, we stopped by Panera and Starbucks for breakfast before church (wanted to use my free birthday drink). Caught up with several friends at church. Afterwards, we used some more birthday “freebie” e-coupons (World Market, etc.), then lunch with Bryan and an evening of hanging out…just the two of us! It was kind of a perfect day!
Day 231: Monday, August 19, 2013
Today I turned 32 years old. And the word that comes to mind is…blessed. I had a fantastic birthday! Tim and Debbie took me and Bryan out for lunch today, my friend Tami brought by a cute little flower pot to the office, the sun came out, and Bryan’s taking me out again tomorrow night for a nice dinner…plus lots of phone calls, messages, and emails that made me feel loved and appreciated. So thankful for the family and friends God has brought into our lives. As you can tell if you read the above post, it’s a busy stage of life for us, but it’s so rewarding and fulfilling!
This past weekend, I had the privilege of coordinating our friends Shane and Kara’s wedding reception and creating the custom floral designs for their special day! Praise God for my wonderful husband was a huge help and kept me sane during the long hours of hard work. Here are some of my favorite shots:
Bouquets and Corsages – featuring hydrangeas and roses tied with purple ribbon
The Bridal Bouquet – featuring Picasso Calla Lilies, Dark Purple Anemones, Status, Cream and Purple Delphiniums, Cream Hydrangeas, and Purple Status, wrapped with a satin cream ribbon
Mother of the Bride’s Corsage – Picasso Calla Lily, Cream Rose, Green Hypericum Berries, and a Dark Purple Anemone, to match her daughter’s bouquet
Grandmother’s Bouquet – enter the Purple Status
Boutonnieres – featuring cream roses, green hypericum berries and dark purple ribbon
The Groom’s Boutonniere – featuring a Picasso Calla Lily and green hypericum berries with dark purple ribbon
Reception at the Hollytree Country Club in Simpsonville, SC
Submerged Purple Delphiniums with Clear Glass and Submersible LED lights
Centerpiece Vases placed on round mirrors with glass votive candle holders – dark purple napkins in the glasses, piped butter on the bread plates, bride and groom decorated cake pops with name cards at each setting, and elegant table number signs brought the tables together
Up close view of the centerpieces
Large Buffet Arrangement of Submerged Picasso Calla Lilies and Cream Delphinium with Purple Water Pearls, Clear Glass, and Submersible LED lights, atop a lifted light box. This was my favorite arrangement.
Bride and Groom Cake Pops
Lavender Bud Sachets for tossing as the Bride and Groom left for their honeymoon
I really enjoy the event coordinating gigs and love creating custom floral arrangements, especially for brides! It’s an opportunity for me to revel in the glories of my Creator and His handiwork in all the details of each blossom and bud and leaf–not to mention, it’s fun! Let me know if you’re in the market for a florist or event planner.
This morning after church, I stopped by Publix to grab some fresh flowers to add to the pumpkin that’s been on my front porch for the fall. I cut the top off the pumpkin and scooped out the seeds before adding water and the fresh blooms. Something about fresh flowers in my house makes me smile!
Lunch consisted of Potato and Leek Soup, a hearty slice of Five Grain Bread, and a Salad with Granny Smith Apple Slices, Dried Cranberries, Walnuts, Feta and a Balsamic Vinaigrette. It was delicious!
After lunch, I went over to my friend Jan’s house for a walk. Six miles later, we had pretty much caught up on the last month of life! Yes, I said six miles! I am definitely going to feel that in the morning! I came home, showered, and woke Bryan up in time for us to make it to church for a wonderful message from Ephesians 6.
Coming up this week: Homemade Pumpkin Puree, Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, and Pumpkin Pie from Scratch!
I was reading these two passages and noticed a striking similarity in figurative speech.
I Peter 1:24-25, “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.
Psalm 1:1-3, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked…but his delight is in the law of the Lord…He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither….”
Humans are frail; God is mighty. Without the word of the Lord, we will perish; with the word, we flourish. It’s our choice: will we depend and delight or depart and die? I Peter deals much with suffering and how we overcome it, looking to Jesus, who suffered ultimately for us. No matter we go through on earth, God is bigger. Nothing surprises him. He is good, and we can trust Him…and if we endure by depending on and delighting in God, we will overcome.
One of my dear friends got married today. It was around 80 degrees, which is a little high for October, but it was perfect. The wedding was at their church and they hosted a picnic reception outdoors in the shade. It was beautiful! Congratulations to Philip and Sarah! I wish you both the best!
Beautiful Ceremony
The Happy Couple
Cupcake Kisses
Adorable Decorations
Roomies from Summer 2004 at the Wilds
Beautiful Flowers
The Reception
Balloons and Lanterns lined the path into the reception
Love running into old friends: Kim and I were roommates summer 2000
I was reading these two passages and noticed a striking similarity in figurative speech.
