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Ali and Chase - 06/03/17

Ali and Chase were another of my long distance planning couples. I met them a few weeks before their wedding to go over final details and enjoy a bottle of wine. I am SO obsessed with the vision we came up with, and I think you definitely will be too!

Ali carried a bouquet of white peonies, white roses, white anemone, blush roses, blush lisianthus, and succulents. 

The bridesmaids carried bouquets of white peonies, white roses, white spray roses and blush roses. It was a scorcher out but this bridal party totally rocked it!

The real star of the bridal party was their dog, Boomer. When I saw they were bringing Boomer up for pictures, I knew I needed to make sure he fit in with his parents. I sent Ali a picture of a dog collar of greens and asked if I could make that for him. Turns out, he loved it! And isn't he the cutest?!

We chose great pew ends of white roses, blush roses, blush lisianthus, white spray roses, white waxflower, dusty miller and silver dollar eucalyptus. The pew ends were later used as centerpieces at the reception. 

The other tables had tall centerpieces of white hydrangea, white roses, blush roses, blush lisianthus, white spray roses, and silver dollar eucalyptus. Huge shoutout to my mom, who came over and helped me make the tall centerpieces!

Their cake was covered in a collection of roses. I got to eat some of it as I was tearing down the reception late at night and it was as delicious as it was beautiful!

Ali found some really amazing lanterns that we used around the reception. The place card/guest book table had a large lantern and 4 small vases in the center. Ali has a great eye for design and we came up with so many cool pieces for the reception. 

A few months before the wedding, Ali sent me this incredible photo from Pinterest for something she wanted to do for the head table.

Image from Pinterest

Image from Pinterest

I quickly became obsessed with coming up with something totally awesome for their 38ft head table. There were a lot of (terrible) sketches and flower math. I seriously LOVE what we came up with! The table was covered in a wild garland with a variety of candles down the entire length. In the center, there was a large statement piece. There were a total of 7 arrangements down the table, getting smaller as it got further from the center. We used 2 sets of lanterns at the base of the table as well. I feel so blessed that she let me create something this magnificent.

Are you as obsessed as I am? I love being able to keep up to date with Ali and Chase via snapchat. One of my favorite weekend activities is now watching snaps of Boomer beg for pancakes. I would be a sucker for that face too!

Thank you SO much to Ali and Chase for trusting me with their gorgeous wedding! They were so wonderful to work with. I wish them all the best for their future!

 

Elly and Nathan - 11/04/16

Elly is one of my brides that I didn't meet before her wedding due to them living out of town. I actually didn't meet her until the day after the wedding but we clicked from the very first phone call. Elly worked in the hotel industry so she's been around a ton of weddings and has a great eye for design!

Even though they got married in November, the weather was absolutely perfect! The wedding and reception were at Isle of Capri in Bettendorf but I'm glad they got a chance to go outside for pictures. 

The bouquets were white peonies, white roses, blush spray roses, baby's breath and silver dollar eucalyptus. Peonies are really rare in November and they did not want to open for me, but they turned out so lovely and perfectly on trend. 

The reception featured greenery, gold terrariums and tons of candlelight. It was a really romantic and trendy vibe. 

On half of the tables, there were triangle terrariums with ruscus and baby's breath around the base. On the other half, there were hexagon terarriums with roses, spray roses and eucalyptus around the base. 

The real showstopper was the ceremony backdrop that Elly and I spent months deciding what to do. It was truly stunning and one of my favorite pieces I've created. 

The design featured a variety of sizes of cylinder vases with flowers and candles. From the top down, the flowers were dendrobium orchids, white hydrangea, white carnations, blush spray roses and the small gold vased arrangements double purposed as the centerpieces for the parents' tables. 

Top images - Giraffe Photography , Bottom images - pinterest photos from bride

Top images - Giraffe Photography , Bottom images - pinterest photos from bride

After many discussions and email threads, Elly sent me the photos on the bottom and asked to do something similar. I'm obsessed with what we came up with. Our biggest issue is what we were going to sit all the vases on. We wanted the candles to really dance and sparkle so we didn't want to just use a table. We considered huge mirrors, but one this size would have run hundreds of dollars and that was out of the budget. We landed on using the glass top from my entertainment center! Never underestimate the use of random objects around the house. 

Since the wedding, Elly has started a business of her own. Lattz Travel Group focuses on romantic vacations such as honeymoons and anniversary trips. Elly is a delight so if you need help planning a honeymoon, you should check her out!

I loved working with Elly and Nathan for their special day and have been lucky enough to keep in touch via FB. I hope they continue to live a blessed and happy life together!

 

Jordan and Kendal - 09/24/16

Jordan and Kendal were referred to me by a friend and past client of mine. I've always had a rule about not working on my birthday, but I broke it for them. I am so glad I did! They turned out to be perfect clients and Jordan has grown into a friend. I've even recruited her to help with weddings. Their pictures are to die for, so I'm not even sorry for how many I'm going to post. There were too many good ones to narrow down for this post, I don't know how they decided which ones to print/order!

Jordan carried a bouquet of baby's breath, white roses, blush garden roses, white mini gerberas and silver dollar eucalyptus and a last minute addition of white snapdragons. I usually have a vision when it comes to making bouquets. With this one, I started out hating what I was doing but then I started falling in love with it

I just love special moments - like a father walking his daughter down the aisle, when a groom sees his bride coming down the aisle, and a mother helping her son get ready.

The bridesmaids carried bouquets of baby's breath, white roses, white gerberas, and silver dollar eucalyptus

Her toss bouquet was baby's breath and silver dollar eucalyptus with blush streamers.

Her flower girl had a baby's breath flower crown with blush streamers. I love this picture where she is in the middle of all the girls. You can definitely tell she was in heaven being the center of attention.

This bridal party seems like a lot of fun! The girls wore dresses with convertible tops so they could wear whatever was comfortable for them. With a color scheme of blush and navy, they were perfectly on trend for 2016.

I'm not sure if it was the photographer or these girls have natural bouquet holding talent, but with a group so large, it is refreshing that none of them were holding them awkwardly or at a weird height.

I always love a shot with a groom holding the bouquet. I love the juxtaposition of the classiness of Kendal with the bouquet and the girls chugging a beer. 

I'm truly thankful I broke my "no work on my birthday rule" for this couple. I love following their married life on Facebook and Snapchat. Their dogs remind me SO much of my own. You'll find Jordan helping me with weddings in 2017 and I'm very excited to have her on my setup team! I'm so thankful they let me be a small part of their happily ever after :)

 

Chloe and Blake - 05/06/16

Chloe emailed me in early February when she was frustrated with her selection of florists near her. Her wedding was fast approaching and she lives in the Waterloo area. We did all of our communication via email but I knew she was an awesome girl from our first few emails. She was completely prepared with everything she wanted (including flower names, quantities, and photos).

Due to Chloe living over an hour away, she wanted to come pick up her flowers a few days before. That provided me with a challenge for how to keep flowers fresh for several days without water. I learned about tupperware being able to keep boutonnieres and corsages fresh for quite some time. That has greatly made my life easier because now I can get started on all my weddings sooner (you're my hero Chloe)!

Left - centerpieces of milk glass and baby's breath, Right - Daisy bouquets for grandparent memorialsImages by Alaytra Photography

Left - centerpieces of milk glass and baby's breath, Right - Daisy bouquets for grandparent memorials

Images by Alaytra Photography

Unfortunately, like a lot of brides, Chloe learned she had selected expensive flowers that didn't quite fit in her planned budget. I drew up another estimate for her substituting some of the flowers for less expensive ones. Chloe decided to splurge for the bouquet of her dreams and save some costs by choosing the less expensive corsages and boutonnieres. They opted to not have a bridal party to be able to invite more people to their celebration (50 tables worth!)

Ringshots - Images by Alaytra Photography

Ringshots - Images by Alaytra Photography

Chloe carried a bouquet of blush garden roses, blush ranunculus, coral hypericum berry, coral carnations (mounded together for a peony look), white spray roses, baby's breath, succulents and dusty miller. It's one you would definitely want to "pin" on Pinterest. 

This wedding was amazing. Perfect weather, fabulous details (that dress and ring!!) and a couple (probably mostly bride) that knew what she wanted and where she was willing to splurge and save. I love the following picture, because weddings and the photos are so often all about the bride, but this is all about Blake. 

Since the wedding, Chloe has helped me on a project I'm working on about what people think flowers cost vs. what they actually cost. So many couples (again probably mostly brides) get swept up in Pinterest and have no idea the cost of what they desire. Stay tuned for that blogpost coming in the next few weeks!

I hope their future together is as perfect as their wedding day was! It brought so much joy to me, knowing that Chloe and her mom drove over an hour to come pick up her flowers, especially when she had never met me. Sometimes, you just click and those are my favorite weddings to be a part of. Thank you again for choosing to work with me!

 

Clare and Lucas - 04/30/16

I met Clare late 2015. She was a referral from my favorite group of people to work with: Diamond Wedding Services. I was SO excited by this because I know that Twisted Mic's would keep the party going all night and Mike from Fetography Portraits would capture my work beautifully. 

I was a little concerned when the roses came in and they were a little brighter than planned. They were supposed to be coral and blush but the blush came in more of a medium pink. When Clare saw her bouquet, she absolutely loved it! AND the brighter pink really popped with her blush colored dress. She seriously looked incredible!

Her bridesmaids were super sweet and many of them got a little teary when they saw Clare in her dress for the first time.  

Clare used medium pink and coral roses, white spray roses, navy thistle, white waxflower and eucalyptus. And can we talk about her blue eyes?!?! She seriously looked like a model! 

I found out Angelique from Laladoodles Boutiques would be doing her reception styling and rentals and knew her reception would be beautiful. I provided the flowers, Angelique provided and set up everything else. Her reception flowers were a white hydrangea and white waxflower in a mason jar. 

Images by Fetography Portraits, Event Rentals and Styling by Laladoodles Boutiques

Images by Fetography Portraits, Event Rentals and Styling by Laladoodles Boutiques

Mike always knows what I want for detail shots and I can always count on him for a new cover photo for Facebook. He did all of the photos for my website as well. So, when I say I recommend him as a photographer, it means I use him for myself as well. Its a real referral.  

Clare had my dream team working for her for her wedding. Every one of her vendors was on my preferred vendor list, that's how I knew her wedding would go off without a hitch. I saw photos of the reception from the DJ and the guests via their hashtag on Instagram. It looked like an absolute blast! I hope their marriage is as fun as their wedding!

I am so thankful she chose me to be a part of their special day. I wish Clare and Lucas a lifetime of happiness together.