Bouquets / Anna & Matt / Pierre Hotel / Brett Matthews Photography

Planning & Inspiration

Unique and Thoughtful Bridesmaids Gift Guide

by

Bridesmaids. You chose this group of women to be by your side on your wedding day for many reasons. They are your best friends, the ones you trust and care about most. Some you have known since childhood, others you met later in life and bonded with immediately.

 

Bouquets / Anna & Matt / Pierre Hotel / Brett Matthews Photography

Bouquets / Anna & Matt / Pierre Hotel / Brett Matthews Photography

 

From the bachelorette party and bridal shower to the dress fittings and heart-to-heart talks in between, they have been your support system during an exciting, yet occasionally stressful time. When it comes to a bridesmaid gift, thank them with something that expresses how much you appreciate all their hard work and commitment. Finding a special gift can be difficult though, and the last thing you want to do is resort to a basic, uninspired present. For the bride in need of some ideas, we put together a guide of unique and thoughtful gifts that your bridesmaids are sure to love.
Read More

Jacob & Brittany - Intimate Cliffs of Moher - Ireland Wedding - via Epic Love Photography

Planning & Inspiration

Destination Inspiration: Ireland

by

The Emerald Isle, with its fabled stretches of coastal green landscapes, offers an evocative inspiration for an utterly breathtaking wedding. Ireland conjures visions of vintage Irish lace and Waterford crystal next to the warm brown of a wooden bar. This inspiration is ideally suited to a décor that leans to the nostalgic, especially with elements such as a wedding dress or motifs that have a more retro and old world elegance.

 

Jacob & Brittany - Intimate Cliffs of Moher - Ireland Wedding - via Epic Love Photography

Jacob & Brittany – Intimate Cliffs of Moher – Ireland Wedding – via Epic Love Photography

 

Whether you wish to honor your family’s heritage or because its majestic verdant beauty inspires the romantic in you, adding touches of Ireland to your décor will transform your event into an unforgettable destination wedding. Giving attention to the defining elements of your wedding will help to thread your chosen theme throughout. Focusing on these first, keeping in mind they should all flow together, then sprinkling in the details, makes for a cohesive design aesthetic.
Read More

Pink and White Tulip Bouquets - via A Lacey Perspective

Planning & Inspiration

Springtime Flowers Feature

by

For those of us not fortunate enough to live in eternal warmth, spring often signifies the much-welcomed peeling off restrictive layers, heavy woolen wraps and full length casings that double as winter coats. We’ve traded our cumbersome snow gear for the tailored sophistication of a trench coat and kitten heels. We breathe again and our world is filled with the budding optimism of sunlight.

Spring weddings are much like the light that breaks through the dense, grey haze of winter. They are flirty and fresh, bringing the first pops of bright color after the long departed summer hues have faded. They conjure images of lush rolling hills just beginning to sprout with green carpets and cobblestones wet from a light spring rain. Flowers, just like fashion, change for the season, and springtime flowers are some of the most beloved around the world. They are colorful, fun and bring sunshine into your days. Here at Bride and Blossom, we have a few of our favorite flowers that we love to work with during springtime weddings.
Read More

Still-Life with Bouquet of Flowers and Plum - Painting by Rachel Ruysch - via Wikipedia

Planning & Inspiration

Finding Wedding Flower Inspiration through Famous Works of Art

by

Flowers have been the muse of artists for centuries. In Italian Renaissance painting, delicate botanicals bared symbolic meaning. The Impressionists painted blossoms to express their perceptions of the natural world. But you don’t have to be an artist to understand the innate power that a flower holds. Just think about the intoxicating beauty of a garden in full bloom, or how a rose is used as a gesture of emotion, communicating love or sympathy at times when words are hard to find.

The floral motif in art is vastly rich. For this reason, we thought it would be fun to curate a collection of artworks and explore how each piece can be used as inspiration for the bride-to-be who is in the process of choosing her wedding flowers.
Read More

Fairy Tale at the Pierre

by

Anna and Matt’s modern Jewish wedding at the Pierre Hotel was classic, elegant and quite romantic.

 

 

Who knew you could meet your true love among 30,000 Phish fans? That’s exactly how this lovely couple met and began to start their travel-filled relationship! After hitting it off at the concert, Anna and Matt began dating. Their mutual love of travel played a big role in Matt’s epic, romantic and picture perfect proposal! The couple visited Thailand together, and while Anna felt the engagement was coming, she was blown away by how well Matt pulled the whole affair off! He coordinated a private dinner for two on a beautiful lakeside waterfront at the Four Seasons Chiang Mai Resort, complete with live music and dancers! He nervously dropped to one knee to pop the question, and Anna gleefully said yes!

 

The couple decided that the elegant and classic theme to their wedding would find a perfect home at the iconic Pierre Hotel. Opened in 1930, this New York landmark sits at the corner of Central Park and Fifth Avenue, an address steeped with history, luxury and refinement in New York history. With its multiple and ornate ballrooms, the Pierre is perfect destination for an elegant and timeless wedding.

 

Anna and Matt brought this sense of modern elegance into their wedding florals and decor by featuring a palette of white, ivory, cream and pops of pale lavender. Their wedding flowers included multiple varieties of roses, Phalaenopsis orchids, hydrangea, and stock flower. Although their wedding floralscape featured a small variety of blooms, the sheer number of flowers in their wedding decor made for a spectacular effect on the big day.

 

Anna and Matt participated in a tradition that is growing in popularity with our brides. Before the ceremony, they did a “first look,” a private moment captured by the wedding photographer before the festivities began. Anna and Matt met in a beautiful spot in Central Park overlooking the Pierre Hotel and shared an intimate moment together. Anna took our breath away in a gorgeous Ines di Santo gown, and held a modern bouquet of white garden, cream vendela, and lavender menta roses with a spray of perfect white Phalaenopsis orchids. The bouquet was quite structural, with a cascading effect of orchids that really gave it a modern and unique look. Anna’s bridesmaids wore bridesmaids dresses in gorgeous shades of blush, mauve and champagne and carried bouquets made of garden, vendela, menta, and lavender spray roses and accented with white Phalaenopsis orchids. Matt looked dapper in an Isaia tux with a lovely garden rose boutonniere!

 

When guests took their seats in the gorgeous Cotillion Room at the Pierre, their jaws dropped at the stunning and romantic ceremony! Before them stood an enormous and romantic chuppah made of billowing draped ivory chiffon. The traditional Jewish wedding structure was dripping in white blooms including hydrangea, Tibet roses, vendela roses, spray roses and Phalaenopsis orchids. The pristine white aisle was decorated with white rose petals and flanked by gorgeous entrance arrangements and tons of floating and pillar candles, which gave the ceremony an ethereal glow. Anna floated down the aisle, which allowed guests to see the gorgeous beading and dramatic fishtail train on her dress and long veil, also by Ines di Santo.

 

Guests headed to the Grand Ballroom for Anna and Matt’s reception, where the romance continued! With such a large and opulent space, it was important for Bride & Blossom to fill the room with gorgeous flowers while still keeping the decor classic and elegant. Anna and Matt opted for three different styles of centerpieces and a sweetheart table. While all of the centerpieces featured white, ivory, cream and lavender roses and Phalaenopsis orchids, the varied styles of the centerpieces were made to compliment the size and shape of the guest tables and gave the room lots of dimension.

 

Long tables featured medium and small arrangements in glass vessels featuring roses and hydrangea in shades of white and lavender. Interspersed between the arrangements were gorgeous crystal candelabras with taper candles and low and delicate votives. On round tables, we created stunning elevated centerpieces on gold pedestals that were overflowing with cascading orchids. The third and final style featured an elevated round centerpiece of hydrangea, roses and orchids on top of a crystal candelabra with beautiful taper candles. This centerpiece gave the room classic drama, but the crystal accents kept the candelabras looking modern. Anna and Matt drank in their gorgeous reception and the love of their family and friends from a beautiful sweetheart table with a lush spray of blooms and votives.

 

The most surprising and memorable moment was when Matt took to the mic and serenaded Anna!! The band played a Phish song as their encore and all of Anna and Matt’s friends took to the stage to sing, dance, and celebrate their love.

 

Vendors:

Venue: The Pierre Hotel

Photographer: Brett Matthews

Videographer: Fred Marcus Studios

Gown: Ines di Santo

Shoes: Jimmy Choo

Tux: Isaia

Makeup: Stacie Ford Weddings

Music: Element Music

Officiant: Rabbi Avraham Ashville

 

Plaza Hotel Glam

by

Marianna and Jason celebrated their love in New York’s most famous wedding venue, the Grand Ballroom at the storied Plaza Hotel. With significance in every detail of their decor, their wedding was a true ode to the love this beautiful couple shares with one another.

 

 

Marianna and Jason grew up around the block from each other in Manhattan, but had never met before. Fate had met its match, as they reunited over a decade ago during a bad snowstorm. Jason and his friend were driving in a bad snowstorm, and offered Marianna a ride home. She refused! A few years after that, they met again at a party, and have been inseparable ever since! Jason proposed on a romantic vacation in Hawaii, and Marianna said yes!

 

When Marianna came to Bride & Blossom for the wedding flowers, she had a distinctive point of view and specific vision of what she wanted her wedding to look like. She and Jason, who did not use a wedding planner to pull off their grand wedding, wanted a timeless and elegant look that they would look back on and love for years to come. In fact, the couple opted to keep their wedding details to themselves and really enjoy the planning process as a couple. We’re sure their friends and family were awestruck by how beautiful the ceremony was!

 

The Plaza Hotel’s is absolutely iconic. Overlooking the famed intersection of Fifth Avenue and Central Park, it’s ornate crystal chandeliers, dramatic archways and gilded finishings is a look to behold. Guests entered to flowing champagne and delectable hors d’oeuvres by CPS Catering before descending into the Terrace Room for Marianna and Jason’s romantic ceremony. Marianna stunned guests in a custom Ines Di Santo gown and carried a romantic pastel bouquet featuring cream garden roses, taupe quicksand roses, blush tea roses and ranunculus. The bouquet was made more formal by wrapping the stems entirely in lace and accenting it with beautiful pearls. When Jason saw Marianna come down the aisle, he couldn’t help but get emotional seeing his beautiful bride approach him.

 

The ceremony was enchanting. With a romantic aisle lined in pillar candles and rose petals and an white chuppah made of hydrangea, stock, Phalaenopsis and dendrobium orchids, cream vendela roses and white tea roses, the scale and size of the chuppah perfectly matched the grandeur of the ballroom. Beautifully draped in chiffon and lace, the chuppah was romantic, classic, and perfect for this luxurious wedding venue.

 

The opulence continued when it was time for the wedding reception. Bride & Blossom decorated the Grand Ballroom with over 10,000 roses, Marianna’s favorite flower. Marianna chose the classic wedding flower because she felt that it represented love more than any other bloom. The March reception was lavishly decorated in shades of white, cream, blush, mauve and lavender.

 

The escort card table was made with whimsical gold manzanita branch trees, which had hand-strung ivory tea roses and pearls suspended from it, along with quicksand, amnesia and mondial rose pomander balls.

 

Their Russian heritage was honored with vodka and caviar awaiting guests when they sat down at their tables! Marianna chose ornate high centerpieces featuring 360 roses white, blush and lavender roses arranged with an ombre effect to signify a full circle, like their wedding rings. Suspended from these lush rose arrangements were romantic and whimsical bubble terrarium tea lights and crystal beaded votive holders. A bed of champagne roses covered the base of the centerpieces, creating texture, height and dimension across the room. The sweetheart table where the bride and groom sat featured a beautiful, low and lush arrangement of hydrangea, Phalaenopsis and dendrobium orchids, blush Keira garden roses and amnesia and quicksand roses in shades of lavender and taupe. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Jason’s brother Esmond, a singer-songwriter, performed his wedding speech for his dear brother and his bride!

 

Marianna and Jason ended the night on the dance floor. It was certainly a night and a wedding to remember! With classical touches of romance, elegance and opulence, this Plaza wedding was timelessly decorated and will be cherished for years to come.

 

Vendors

 

Venue: The Plaza Hotel

Photographer & Videographer: Fred Marcus

Catering: CPS Events at the Plaza

Cake: Sylvia Weinstock

Bridal Gown: Ines di Santo

Wedding Rings: Tiffany and Co. and Graff