The Official December Wedding Photos!

Back in December I shared a wedding I had the pleasure of doing the flowers for on December 11, 2015.  At that time, I had only my own photos of the flowers and the setting up of the flowers to share, which was great but, I have been hoping for the professional photos.  I wanted to see real people holding my bouquets! Thankfully, this week, they became available to me and now I can finally share them with you.


Here is the beautiful bride, Laura.  She only wanted white roses with a bit of "sparkle" for her bouquet.  She was right.  The bouquet looks so elegant.

 The Topsfield Commons in Topsfield, Massachusetts; the site of the blessed event. 

Here you can see the "sparkles" for the bridal bouquet.

Lovely

Here we see the bride, her lovely mom and sister.  Such a wonderful picture!

The happy couple

There weren't any professional photos that truly showcased these two large arrangements around the fireplace.  Luckily, I had plenty of pictures of my own...

The Bridal Party

More of the Happy Couple

Funny Poses

I loved making the flower girl bouquet.  It was so cute with touches of stephanotis added in.

So sweet and beautiful

Photo Credit: Boston Boutique Photography

I can only take credit for the flowers here.  The take-home gifts were all made by the bride and her family.  What a neat idea!  And it photographed sooo well!

This truly was a lovely wedding for me to be a part of, mostly because the Mother-of-the-Bride is a good friend of mine, but, also because Laura, the bride, was so nice and so lovely.  It was a joy to work with her.  I wish Laura and Ben all the best!!

Linking With:

FindingSilverPennies

LoveofHome

TheScoop

Children's Easter Tablescape

I wanted to show you what fun I had when I found some "treasures" in my stash of Easter decorations.  As I started looking at them, my mind began to race and before I knew it, I had a pile of all sorts of things that I thought could work together to make a very cute children's Easter tablescape.

The cute and cuddly lamb and bunny were the first things to give me sparks of inspiration.  I thought they were so adorable and would be perfect for anything involving little kids.  Their sweet faces and soft "fur" are so tempting for children.  I used the bunny, which is actually a basket, for the main part of the centerpiece.  I filled the basket with brightly colored plastic fillable eggs.  Filling the eggs with little treasures makes for perfect take-home gifts at the end of the party for the guests.  The little lamb was there for moral support for Mr. Bunny, as he peeked around the metal cake server.  The cake server was a great way to elevate the center of the centerpiece.

You may have seen my Versatile Bunny Banner post.  Here, I am taking my own advice from that post and using the separate stenciled panels as place markers.  Included at each place setting is an egg holder filled with jelly beans.  Who can resist jelly beans?

I so glad that the stenciled panels were finished ahead of time.  It made for a quick putting together of the table.

You can see where Easter napkins I had stored away were utilized, as well.

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I added another lamb decoration from my supplies.  This one isn't as cute as the plush lamb but, he still manages to find a place somewhere in my house every Easter.

Something as simple as plastic Easter eggs add so much color to the overall look of the design.  Lots of fun and I didn't even have to go out and buy flowers!  Plus plastic eggs don't have a shelf life like flowers do.  (Of course, flowers are still my favorite accessory but, for this day, colorful eggs worked wonderfully!)

I didn't think any children's party table would be complete without  some kind of goody.  Sherbert pink cupcakes ended up being the sweet of the day.

I mentioned in my previous post that I really liked my bunny banner and wasn't sure it was going to make it into my  Etsy shop.  Well, here it is and I haven't added to the shop yet!  It seems I've grown very attached to it. 

If you would like to make a similar children's Easter tablescape, here is a list of the items I used:

One Plush White Bunny Basket

One Soft and Fuzzy Lamb

Wooden Lamb Pulling Cart

Plastic and Wooden Easter Eggs

Plastic Grass

An Elevated Cake Server

Ceramic Egg Holders

Easter Napkins

Stenciled Bunny Place Markers

A Bunny Banner

Plates, Glasses and Silverware (All part of my personal collection)

Jelly Beans

Cupcakes

You might be surprised by what you find in your house.  It could be fun to experiment and make a tablescape of your own!

Linking With:
The Scoop

The Joy of Little Gifts

I know that favors or "little gifts", as I like to call them, are becoming "out-of-favor" at events these days and I can understand why.  They add to the expense of what is normally already a costly affair and, to be truthful, most guests don't always take them home or even seem to care about them.  BUT, for me, they still add something to a party and selfishly...I just love creating them.  A display of favors can also make a beautiful decoration on the table or in a neglected corner of the room.  So defensively, I feel they have value.  Also, I find if you add yummies to the favors, guests are far more likely to take them home and secretly enjoy them.

        ~So here we go with my "little gift" parade~

These favors below were given out at my "Springtime in Paris" Open House which launched my new event planning/floral design business.  The "Merci" tags were free printables from Celebrate Magazine.  The plastic bags were filled with white, pink and chocolate meringues and tied with black and white striped ribbon, along with the "merci" tags.  Kind of lovely!

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You can see how I made these "Tree Bark Favors" here.  These favors were part of an engagement party where the groom was an arborist (tree guy).

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I brought these gifts to my garden club as a "thank you" to my board members who had served with me while I was club President.  I thought they looked Garden Clubish.

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I'm just throwing in these patriotic favor bags from my Etsy Shop.  I thought they were very cute but, alas, no one has purchased them yet.  I guess I was alone in my thinking.  Haha!

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Scavenger Hunting Bags from my Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt.

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St. Patty's Day Favors!

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These spring glass planters were Easter gifts for members of my family.  Surprisingly, one has rebloomed this year!

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 TheTussie Mussie.  You can find the meaning of them here

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These are Safari Gift Bags.  I actually did sell these at my Etsy Shop!  I thought they were adorable.

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Baby Shower Favors with an Elephant Theme filled with animal crackers

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This was my Valentine's Day Gift Banner.  Each bag is filled with treats!

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These three favors were voted on by my Facebook friends to see which one they liked the best.  I honestly can not remember which one won.  I think it might have been the "Welcome Baby" one.  {Here is a not-so-subtle hint~I would love it if you "liked" my Facebook Page if you happen to visit  :) }

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Finally, these are the most recent batch of "little gifts" I have delivered this year.  In January, my daughter's kindergarten class made handmade birthday cards for me.  I was so touched.  It was so cute!  I wanted to return the favor (so to speak!) and when I was invited to visit their class a few weeks ago, I brought along these gift bags.

I filled them with animal bracelets for the girls and

 little slinkies for the boys.

Here they were on their way to the classroom.  It was such a fun experience.  The kids loved their presents and giving them made me feel good, or should I say joyful?

As usual, I place NO JUDGEMENT on those of you who do not want or like to have favors at your parties. Sometimes, I don't have the time or the desire for them either.  But, most of the time, I enjoy making these little presents and giving them out to my friends and family.  My daughter would probably tell me this represents something to do with my "love language" or something deep like that. Whatever the reason, I hope the custom of giving little gifts (favors) at special occasions never goes away totally because, I for one, love them and think they bring a bit of JOY to whoever receives them!

Linking With:

findingsilverpennies

SundaysatHome

InspirationMonday

StoneGableBlog