Orchid Glam at the Taj, Part I

Whilst everyone was tuned to the Royal Wedding on the 29th Apryl and I were working away on a wedding downtown at the Taj. Set on their roofdeck with beautiful views of the city up across the Public Garden and around the other way, up all of Back Bay and overlooking the Charles.

White phalenopsis orchids with silver, glass, white, and black. Photo by Petalena.

I think many a couple has been a bit confounded by what to do for flowers and decor in this space with its bold black and white floor and metal-exposed ceiling. Our fantastic client decided to embrace the black and white, so we carried the theme throughout with gorgeous long arching stems of white phalenposis placed in tall vases and surrounded by mercury glass stemmed candleware. Although we were tired and ready to go by the end of our set-up, I wish we could have seen how glow-tastic everything looked in the evening.

Table detail. Photo by Petalena.

We’re pretty huge fans of basically any kind of orchid. Period. But these long arching stems of huge pure white phalenopsis were just so gorgeous, so chic, such an elegant look…

Roofdeck, Room View. Photo by Petalena.

I have a few other pretty pics of the ceremony but the colors are all lovely pinks, so I’ll do another post on that shortly.

Whooo-hooo, 2011 wedding season, here we come!

Floral Design and Photos by Petalena

 

Photos from February’s Petalena Flower Class

We had a lovely and colorful Petalena Flower Class focused on ranunculus and anemones in late February. Documentary photographer Ashleigh Stanczak joined us and captured the whole thing with her wonderful eye.

Just a few pictures here on the Petalena blog, the rest are at home on Flower Class with Petalena.

All in a row. Photo by Ashleigh Stanczak.

Photo by Ashleigh Stanczak.

Pretty and lush student arrangement. Photo by Ashleigh Stanczak.

Interested in Flower Class? Join us on March 26th for flowering branches and more…

 

Plum, Burgundy, and Silver

We have another pretty wedding to share from late summer (with another gorgeous color palette too). Our last post highlighted pales hues of late spring apricots and ivories punctuated with deep color. This wedding, was saturated with late summer colors all the way through!

Bride's Bouquet. Meghann Gregory Photography.

Apryl created this gorgeous bouquet using late summer purple clematis, pink and white-tipped dahlias, burgundy dahlias, purple-black scabiosa, and dusty purple-pink hellebore. We’re also super psyched because this lovely photo by Meghann Gregory Photography of the bouquet is going to be part of a bouquet feature in Bride’s Boston Spring/Summer issue!

The happy couple at Willowdale. Meghann Gregory Photography.

Meghann took this wonderful photo of the couple – all of the photos of the two of them are like this – so happy, loving, and excited to be there together.

Groom's boutonniere. Meghann Gregory Photography.

I love this photo of the groom’s boutonniere because it really shows the play of the color palette, different tonal purples, silvers, and burgundy. We loved these little pincushion style dahlias, just perfect size-wise for a boutonniere.

Entry Arrangement. Meghann Gregory Photography.

Above is the arrangement for the entry at Willowdale. We found a lovely large mercury glass vase (they can be a little difficult to find sometimes!) and filled it with long arching branches of seeded eucalyptus, ornamental grasses, purple smokebush, silvery antique purple-green hydrangea, sterling roses, burgundy dahlias, and pink dahlias. A fun, slightly wild arrangement!

Petite bud vase. Meghann Gregory Photography.

Meghann captured a lot of photos of the small little details, which we love! Here one of the small bud vases on the cocktail tables, filled with a dahlia, clematis buds, and privet berry.

Placecard Table and Blossoms. Meghann Gregory Photography.

This is a pretty and simple option for couples who want a bit of decoration on a place card table but might not have room for a whole large arrangement. It works particularly well here because of the pin-tucked pewter table linen and beautifully handmade placecards.

Table design. Meghann Gregory Photography.

The tables in the tent at Willowdale feature two styles of decor. Seen above at Table 1 is a lantern and bud vase style. Square dark pewter lanterns were surrounded by three tall  mercury glass bud vases and five mercury glass votive for a super glow-y look.  This photo also gives a nice view of the couple’s create table numbers: each number corresponded with photos of the couple when they were that age.  Subtle touches like giving the photos a black and white, sepia-toned treatment softens the photos and helped them blend stylistically with the table design.

Centerpiece design. Meghann Gregory Photography.

The other table design featured a low pewter urn filled with silvery antique lavender hydrangea, burgundy dahlias, and touches of pink and deep purple. Purple napkins gave an extra accent of color.

Bud vase. Meghann Gregory Photography.

Our final photo to share, again of a sweet little bud vase. Thank you to Meghann for all of these lovely details and to Amy and Phil for letting us help create something beautiful for your day!

Florals & Decor by Petalena

Photography by Meghann Gregory Photography

Venue & Catering by Willowdale Estate

 

Peach, Raspberry, and Violet

Petite Spring Bud Vase by Petalena. Photo by Krista Photography.

With the quieter months of winter (and negative zero temps in Boston today!), it’s nice to have time to reflect on the design work we did over the past season.  Today we’re sharing some beautiful photographs by Krista Photography of one of our spring weddings which is also currently featured in The Knot Boston Magazine’s “Real Weddings” section (page 68).

We worked with our wonderful bride Sylvia on this color palette – creating soft lovely bouquets of blush, apricots, and ivories and saving up some deeper more dramatic punches of color for the reception.

Pretty bouquets all in a row. Photo by Krista Photography.

We just love this photo of our client in her beautiful gown, looking so happy!

With bouquet. Photo by Krista Photography.

Bouquet, detail. Photo by Krista Photography.

In this up-close photo of the bouquet you can see some of the specific flowers a bit more – pretty soft white ranunculas, lush full white and soft blush peonies, and a few tendrils of white sweet peas peeking out here and there. These really are some of our favorite flowers, so purely and exquisitely beautiful – even just one of these flowers in a little bud vase is perfection.

Centerpieces waiting to go out to the tent. Photo by Krista Photography.

Even though this wedding was in May, it was that unseasonably HOT day in Massachusetts where temperatures were something like almost 90 degrees? Crazy! With the wedding taking place in the lovely tent at the Commander’s Mansion in Watertown, we kept everything cool inside until the last possible moment. Even though this was not where the flowers ended up, I still like this photo, they are almost like ladies-in-waiting, sitting on a beautiful old side board.

Entry Arrangement at the Commander's Mansion. Photo by Krista Photography.

Apryl and I were so pleased to see this nice photograph of the entry arrangement. While I have a somewhat snazzy camera for Petalena, I do have a tough time getting decently attractive photographs of bigger arrangements, I can make them, just not photograph them! Apryl found this vintage looking tall vase with a nice bronze-y patina and I put huge branches of dogwood and apple along with long stems of ivory lilac, apricot parrot tulips and coral peonies.

Centerpiece at the Commander's Mansion. Photo by Krista Photography.

Peony gorgeousness. Photo by Krista Photography.

The two photos above are table-view and then up-close detail of the arrangements by day. Below, the arrangements by night. Such a different feel. I can’t decide which look I like best, probably the evening though since there is nothing more beautifully flattering to people and flowers like candlelight! And that coral peony, well, it’s just perfection.

Centerpiece by candlelight. Photo by Krista Photography.

Candle centerpieces aglow. Photo by Krista Photography.

The centerpiece designs featured two styles, seen above and at left. We scored lots of pretty crab apple branches at the flower market and incorporated those with white lilac,  some spirea, fringe-y white tulips, apricot parrot tulips, and Juliet garden roses, and hot coral peonies.Half of the table designs were a collection of pillar candles with the garden roses and peonies tucked in along the base for a romantic look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chair Flowers for the Bride and Groom. Photo by Krista Photography

We of course love the pretty details. While we know it might feel like unneeded luxury to add something like flower and ribbons to the chairs for the bride and groom, we do think those special touches really make a difference in an event feeling unique.

View of the tent at the Commander’s Mansion. Photo by Krista Photography.

 

Jennifer Cox of Esq. Events, the event planner for the wedding, said it best, “Many weddings have elaborate themes but this wedding proves that sometimes all it takes is a beautiful color palette to create a beautiful wedding.” She wrote a lovely little piece about the details behind this wedding in the Prepare to Wed newsletter.

 

Florals by Petalena

Photos by Krista Photography

Planning by Esq. Events

Venue by Commander’s Mansion

 

Yay!

Happy day, Petalena received Best of the Knot for 2011!

Best of Knot, 2011.

Thank you to all of our wonderful clients from 2010 who we worked with and made pretty things for!

xo- Petalena

 

 

Wintertime and thinking green…

We wanted to share a few pics from our fall wedding featured in the last two blog posts but this time of the place card arrangement we did. Completely unconventional and very much with the look of bringing the outside in. Live orchids, ferns, and plants designed with moss and barks we hunted for during the summer.

Woodland Placecard Design. Petalena, 2010.

We absolutely love doing these kind of designs, they feel more like wild art installations than anything else. So much fun to create, lucky, lucky us.

Another view of Woodland Placecard Installation. Petalena, 2010.

What we like about these designs too is that virtually all of the material can be saved and turned into potted containers by our clients or the venue.

Photos & Design by Petalena

 

 

 

Pretty little details

I finally off-loaded the last of our fall 2010 weddings from le snazzy camera onto the  laptop, so let the photos commence! These are two pretty details of the bouquet featured in our last post. I love the light and the feathery maidenhair ferns that edge the bouquet…

Bouquet detail - dahlias and hellebore. Petalena, 2010.

Bouquet detail. Petalena, 2010.

Petalena

 

Purple, Green, and Silver: An Elegant Farm Wedding

Just a few lovely photos by Ciras Photography from a wedding we did in October with a great couple who wanted elegantly organic wedding flowers at the Warren Center in Massachusetts. With a color palette of purples, green, and silver – we were able to pull in a lot of gorgeous purple blooms and green foliage to create the design.

Bouquets of burgundy, pinks, and purples. Photo by Ciras Photography.

Our bride’s bouquet was lovely affair with large purple dahlias and hydrangea for the big flower forms, and lovely French ranunculus with fantastic green tufts at their centers. Hellebore, a favorite bloom of ours, comes back into season in the fall and we love using it for it’s pretty arching shape that lends a looser or natural look to a bouquet.  Purple-pink astrantia is another very petite and unique bloom,  reminds me a bit of allium, with its slightly spiky and sculptural look that is great for texture.

Groom's Boutonniere. Photo by Ciras Photography.

A boutonniere for the groom (above) was just a perfect little pom-pom style dahlia paired scented geranium foliage and a fiddlehead.

Bridesmaid and Bouquets. Photography by Ciras Photography.

Bouquets for the bridesmaids were smaller scale than the brides with a bit less of the deep pink touches, and bit more of the purples. The tonal purple bouquets against the deep pewter color of the dresses was striking and dramatic.

For the ceremony, we dressed up a white garden trellis with pears, persimmons, amaranthus, and hydrangea in tonal purple, ochre, and green hues.

Ceremony Arch. Photo by Ciras Photography.

Photo by Ciras Photography.

The reception, inside the Warren Center, was festive and colorful with napkins in purple and green, gorgeous table numbers, and our flowers too.

Table Flowers and Card. Photo by Ciras Photography.

Table numbers. Photography by Ciras Photography.

Our heartfelt thanks to Joyce and Andrew for having us help create such a special day for them, congratulations!

Thanks to Ciras Photography for sharing all their wonderful photos with us!

Florals by Petalena

 

Petalena featured in The Knot Boston Magazine!

Great news at Petalena as 2010 draws to close and we say a grand helllooo to 2011! One of our lovely weddings from last May is featured in the Spring/Summer 2011 The Knot Boston magazine. To say we’re thrilled is putting mildly!

The Knot Boston - Spring/Summer 2011 Issue

Petalena feature in The Knot Spring/Summer 2011 Issue

This was a lovely wedding, oh sigh, Apryl and I first fell in love with the Commander’s Mansion in Watertown, the most dream-tastic place ever for those of us that love historic places, grand spaces, and imaginings of the lives that were lived there.

The photo by Krista Guenin of the bride’s bouquet reminds me of how lovely, soft, and romantic it was. Layers of petal-ness with cameo blush peonies, white ranunculus, and petite little sweet peas. It was so elegant and harmonious with the Vera Wang gown our bride wore. The reception featured soft tonal peaches and apricots with bursts of coral that made everything just hum.

To see more pictures of the flowers, peruse our post from the spring.

Professional photography by Krista Guenin

Petalena

 

Late Summer Pinks (and rethinking carnations)

We love lush, pretty, tumbling flowery things here at Petalena (and  maybe just a little bit over the top flowery gorgeousness too!). But we also like to mix things up, creating other styles for clients who are looking for something a bit more ’rounded’ or contemporary like this fun wedding we did for a wonderful couple for their late summer wedding in Boston.

Bride's Bouquet. Photo by Tara Morris of Hitched Studios.

For our bride, we did a bouquet of tonal pinks using about five varieties of garden roses and a few dahlias for a very pretty and rounded look.  The mounted rose bouquet style can risk looking too monotonous so we like to vary the scale of the flowers used to create a dome shape. This keeps the style from feeling unnaturally ‘too perfect.’

Bridsmaid Bouquets. Photo by Tara Morris of Hitched Studios.

Bridesmaid bouquets were a bit smaller in scale and were a bit paler with more additions of pale cameo pink roses. Pretty, pretty.

Centerpieces for the Trustee Ballroom at Boston University where slightly on the petite side and rounded in shape with the use of waterlily style dahlias, dianthus and carnations, and garden roses. Completely bright, festive, and fun!

Table Design of Pinks. Photo by Tara Morris of Hitched Studios.

Carnations have received a bad rap but mixed in together in a tonal way with other rounded floral shapes, they are absolutely fantastic. Who doesn’t love a ruffle-y edged flower that smells fantastic and lasts for weeks?

Stay tuned on carnations and other super rounded flower forms, this might be a perfect topic for a July or August Flower Class with Petalena!

 

Roger & Gallet Vintage Carnation Soap.

(Plus, I have a bit of soft spot for carnations since my grandmother used the most wonderful carnation-scented soap by Roger & Gallet.)

Thank you to James and Nicole for having us be part of your special day.
And, additional thanks to Tara Morris of Hitched Studios for the beautiful photos!

Flowers & Design by Petalena
(Soap by Roger & Gallet!)