One of the cool things about Greystone Fields is just how versatile the room is.  We've done a number of weddings there, and each time the room seems to adapt itself to the decor.  In one of our recent weddings, our bride wanted some very earthy, organic elements at her place settings and for decorations.  Our bride put a lot of effort into room decorations

The bride carried a hand tied bouquet of orange flame mini calla lilies (approx. price $120-$135).  Orange flame is very similar to mango, and is great for summer or autumn weddings.  The red edges and bright orange flowers pop against the light green stems, and the characteristic shape of each flower gives the bouquet a unique look.  Bridesmaids carried simple arm bouquets of several white calla lilies ($20-$30 each).

Centerpieces were composed of multiple elements, placed on a moss mat and accented with a green votive candle.  One of the floral elements was a cylinder vase filled with Bells of Ireland and dried twigs, with lily grass swirled inside the vase.  A second element was an orb of Kermit pomps perched on top of a shorter cylinder vase, with an aspidistra leaf wrapped inside.  The third element was a low bowl of orange roses and Kermit pomps, inserted into moss.

For the final element of the centerpiece, our bride made table number holders from twigs with dried leaves, and named each table for a type of plant.

The head table was adorned with three large bowls of orange roses, Kermit pomps and votive candles inserted into moss, sitting on a bed of moss and eucalyptis.  Vases of Bells of Ireland identical to those in the centerpieces were placed at each end of the head table.

Guests were greeted by a large orb of white carnations with placecards radiating outward, all resting on a bed of moss.  The driver was so thrilled to be transporting the carnation orb!

We've been a part of a number of other weddings at Greystone Fields, and we'll be posting more from those in the future.

Our manager Polly's neice was married recently, and as you can imagine, they chose beautiful flowers for their wedding and reception.  Polly designed and created the arrangements herself, but she said we could post them here as an example of her work.

Greeting the guests on the guest card table was a gardeny style arrangement of pink peonies, pink roses, pink spray roses and lavender waxflower.

The bride's bouquet was a lush hand tied arrangement of pink peonies, pink roses, pink and hot pink spray roses, lavender lilacs and blue salvia.

The head table arrangement was an absolute garden of pink peonies, pink and hot pink roses, pink snapdragons, white stock, pink carnations and lavender waxflower.

Guest tables were adorned with elevated centerpieces made with pink peonies, pink roses, pink spray roses and lavender waxflower (the bases are now available to rent for your wedding centerpieces).

Not to be left out, the bar was decorated with arrangements of pink peonies, pink roses, pink carnations and lavender waxflower in the same rustic container used for the centerpiece bases.

 

Araujo Photography has a preview video on their blog, where you can see more of the flowers and the beautiful Club at Nevillewood (gorgeous photography!).  Although the father of the bride is one of the inventors of the Frank Former, Hot Dog Man was not on the menu this night.

Our bouquet this time is a lush hand-tied bouquet of pink peonies, pink roses and pink spray roses.  This combination produced a soft, Victorian look, classic and timeless.  Approximate price, $145-$160.  Bouquet photo courtesy of Creative Imagez Photography Studio.

 

The stems were wrapped with a simple ribbon, and for a personal touch, a brooch of the bride's initial was attached to the ribbon.

The bridesmaids carried hand tied bouquets made of white hydrangea, pink roses, pink spray roses and lavender waxflower (approximate price $65-$75).

As with the bridal bouquet, each bridesmaid's bouquet was adorned with a brooch of her initial.

Centerpieces were made from the same flowers as the bridesmaids' bouquets, in rectangular glass vases surrounded by pink rose petals.  The reception was held at Westwood Golf Club.  Westwood was private, but is now a public course and the banquet facilities are now available to everyone.  Vickie sets a beautiful table, as you can see below.  Centerpiece photo courtesy of Creative Imagez.

 

This is also the wedding where we first met Hoffer's Video Productions, who as it turns out, live practically right across the street from our shop.  Funny how we had to go to Munhall to meet neighbors in our small town!

We've updated our Featured Location: The Mansion post with a video of the long driveway up to the house.  We shot the video last October, and finally got around to editing it off the camera and posting it.  The Mansion features a long, winding driveway, which is beautiful in the spring and fall, but absolutely gorgeous after a fresh snow.  Just imagine making the this trip in a horse-drawn carriage!  Check out the video and the photos at http://www.bloomeryweddings.com/blog/FeaturedLocationTheMansionButlerPA.aspx/.

Imagine a long tree-lined drive winding up a hill to a stately mansion hidden at the top.

A circular drive takes you right to the front doors, and encircles a small seating garden.

You enter through large wooden doors, into an oval foyer.  The floor is black and white marble, and your wedding cake greets you and your visitors, lit by a crystal chandelier from above.

Passing through the foyer and out the doors, you enter into one of several outdoor gardens, perfect for appetizers, cocktails or the ceremony itself.  Imagine the colors in the fall from the wooded grounds surrounding the manor house.

Steps lead down to a small sculpture garden, perfect for mingling and unique photographs of your bridal party.

Above the main entrance is a spiral staircase.  The bridal party's dressing room is on the second floor, and you'll begin your walk down the aisle by descending this staircase.  It's also a perfect setting for more photographs.  Our bride said she wanted to be on our website, so here she is, with her bridesmaids, and a little flower girl trying to peek over the railing.

From the entry foyer, hallways lead you and your guests to dining rooms at either end of the house.  At one end are a trio of smaller dining and serving areas, with one of the bars.

At the other end if a large banquet riim, lit with crystal chandeliers and paneled with antique wood.  The woodwork accents in this room are the kind they just don't make anymore.  The patio bar is behind the majestic fireplace, and doors lead out to another small patio.

The formal dining room also leads you to one more dining room, similar to the ones at the other end of the house.  Two smaller libraries, also paneled in dark wood, are used for mingling and serving cookies and beverages.

Our bride today chose a hand tied bouquet of two dozen Sweet Unique pink roses, finished with braided ribbon and pearl accents (approx. price, $110-$125).  Her bridesmaids carried hand tied bouquets of white and blue hydrangea, pale pink roses, pink spray roses, lavendar stock, pale blue delphinium and greenery, wrapped with periwinkle ribbon to match their dresses (approx. price $80-$95).

Our bride's cake was a beautiful multi-tier cake with tiny rosettes and draped fondant ribbons, accented with the same flowers used in the bridesmaids' bouquets.  The cake was made by Autumn Bupp, from Autumn's Cakes.  For her centerpieces, our bride rented our metal wire stands, and we created arrangements with the same flowers we used for the bridesmaid bouquets--white and blue hydrangea, pale pink roses, pink spray roses, lavendar stock and pale blue delphinium (approx. price $115-$130).

If this sounds like your idea of a dream location for your wedding, then you can make it a reality at The Mansion.  We've done a number of weddings at The Mansion, and it's simply one of the most beautiful wedding settings in the north Pittsburgh area.  The Mansion is located a few miles south of Butler, PA, approx. 20 min north of the Butler Valley Interchange on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  Earlier this year, The Mansion was for sale, and it looked like 2007 might be their last year.  The sale was not completed, and they are happily booking weddings and other events for 2008 and beyond.

To contact The Mansion:

Donna Mullan, Manager
The Mansion
141 Mansion Lane
Butler, PA 16002
724-586-6171 (leave message if no one answers)

One of today's weddings took us back to Heinz Chapel, and then our first trip of this year to LeMont Pittsburgh. LeMont Pittsburgh is a AAA Four Diamond restaurant, and if the outstanding food and service aren't enough, there's always "the view".  Perched atop Mt. Washington on Grandview's restaurant row, LeMont Pittsburgh offers one of the most picturesque views of any city anywhere.  At right is a view of downtown Pittsburgh taken from LeMont's lower dining room, where our wedding reception was being held.  LeMont's home page has an almost identical view taken at night.
The wedding cake was white fondant with chocolate fondant bands, and did it smell good!  We added the circus roses and petals.
Centerpieces were made from white hydrangea, circus roses, hypericum and eucalyptis in a cube vase.  How about an elegant place setting overlooking downtown Pittsburgh?
If the Steelers are more your style, simply turn your head the other way, and your wedding guests overlook the Ohio River and Heinz Field.  Bottles of wine with personalized labels were favors for adults.  The children received small boxes of chocolates.

Note: Click the thumbnails for a larger view.  The top photo is taken looking north-ish.  The Monongehela is the river toward the bottom of the photo, the Allegheny is coming from the north.    The Ohio River starts right at the fountain, and the star shaped thing slightly to the right of the fountain is historical Ft. Pitt.  The bridge in the foreground is the Ft. Pitt Bridge.

We’re featuring two locations in one this time (yes, this was a Thursday night wedding—Thursday is the new Friday).  The ceremony was held at Heinz Memorial Chapel, and featured a hand-tied bridal bouquet of white oriental lilies.

The bridesmaids carried arm bouquets made of white roses, white cymbidium orchids and white freesia.

The flowergirl carried a tiny bouquet of white cymbidium orchids.

The reception was held in the majestic Mozart Room at Heinz Hall, where we met Tony Lee from Truffles & Flourishes Catering.

Centerpieces were simple vases of two dozen Black Magic roses, surrounded by the petals of an additional 6 roses. (note: when we compress these images, the dark red gets lightened a bit--we apologize, but if we didn't compress the images, they'd take forever to load)

The sweetheart table was a romantic setting covered with red rose petals and votive candles, set in the middle of the dining area.

 

 

In a previous post, we mentioned that golf courses make good locations for wedding receptions.  We recently did a wedding at the nearby Butler Country Club, which features a beautifully manicured course, with one picturesque water hazard a short stroll from the main banquet hall; the view from the banquet hall’s veranda overlooks this hole of a thousand Kodak moments.  If your photographer finds out about the water, willows and rustic bridge, make sure someone grabs you some cookies.  You might be taking photos for a while.

Inside, to accomodate the large bridal party, the head table was set at two levels, with the higher level raised on a stage.  The projection screen was used to show a video tribute to the new couple.  A centerpiece was placed at each end of the lower table.

BCC’s usually elegant table settings were enhanced with floor length satin tablecovers, with sheer overlays trimmed by ivory toile, and satin chaircovers that were tied onto the chairs by knotting their corners.  The knots in this case were symbolic of the couple “tying the knot”.  These linens were provided (and tables dressed) by the bride, but as part of your wedding planning, we can help you arrange linens such as these.  From a distance, our stands almost disappear, giving the impression the candles and flowers are floating above the tables.

 

Below is a close-up of the centerpieces we made, containing two dozen white roses, 8–10 heads of white hydrangea, and 10 stems of spray roses, plus white petals around the base.  Four votive candles encircle the top of the stand, and eight more were placed on the table.  These stands are made from heavy gauge wire, and are very stable on a table, even when supporting heavy floral pieces.  The open design allows guests at opposite sides of the table to interact, and when the lights are dimmed and the candles lit, the flowers appear to float above the tables.  You can rent the stands and votive cups from us, and the flowers are made in removable dishes so your guests can easily take them home.

The wedding cake was a very non-traditional shape, and included floral pieces made from white hydrangea, lavendar and white roses, white spray roses and mixed greens.  The staircase and fountain were provided by Penny Bestwick, the cake baker.  White and lavendar rose petals and votive candles rounded out the table decoration.  The ivy-draped columns are part of our colonnade, which was set up around the cake table.

Non-members can hold functions at Butler Country Club, but you must be sponsored by a member of the club.

We all know that golf courses make great locations for wedding receptions.  They usually have ample parking, large banquet rooms, liquor licenses, and on-site kitchens.  Plus, golf courses have picturesque areas that make great locations for your wedding photos.  One of the newest courses in our area is Oakview Golf Club in Slippery Rock, PA.  Oakview was formerly the private Armco Golf Course, but has been remodeled and opened to the public.  Oakview’s spacious ballroom overlooks the serpentine 17th hole.

Our recent wedding there featured pink pots with bows (supplied by the bride), which we filled with white carnations.  The entire wedding was chocolate and pink, and the tables featured fanciful pink polka-dot runners and pink napkins.

While there, we ran into our friend Autumn Bupp of Autumn’s Cakes.  She was adding the pink flowers to the chocolate-frosted wedding cake (the cake itself was white, and featured a coconut and chocolate chip filling-YUM!).

Autumn has been so busy with her cake business that she’s been referring brides looking for cookies to Cookies by Rachel, down in Pittsburgh.  In addition to cookies, Rachel is also an event planner, specializing in weddings and corporate events.

For our first Featured Location, we want to share a beautiful rustic barn just north of Pittsburgh.  Betsy's Barn is part of Cheeseman Farm (warning: site plays music), located just off I-79 and Rt. 19 in Portersville, PA.  Betsy’s Barn is an authentic post barn, located amongst green fields and rolling hills.  In the photo below, a bar/buffet tent has been set up outside the barn.

The other side of Betsy’s Barn features a gazebo for relaxing, or in the case of our recent wedding, a place for a small ceremony.

Inside the barn, our bride wanted an elegant yet rustic look.  She attained the elegant part with floor linens, chair covers and sashes and fan-folded linen napkins. 

Her centerpieces were placed on squares of green gingham fabric and featured white hydrangea loosely arranged in mason jars (decorated with a handmade apple cutout), accented with small baskets of apples.  To help keep our bride’s costs down, we simply provided buckets of loose hydrangea, and she and her helpers assembled the centerpieces when they set up other parts of her reception.

For this wedding, Betsy’s antique buggy held a chapel-shaped card box.  In a previous wedding, this same buggy was the candy buggy.

The head table was arranged in a U-shape, and featured the same green gingham runners as the guest table centerpieces. 

In the middle of the U was a stunning cake fondant cake decorated with gum-paste flowers from Carol’s Cakes in Ambridge, PA (warning: site plays music).  We could smell this cake when we were taking the close-up photos of the head table, and it smelled wonderful!

Head table arrangements were made in small crates, and featured white hydrangea, pink roses, green hypericum and red and green apples.  In front of the couple was a larger arrangement, while two smaller ones were in front of the bridal party.

The bridesmaid bouquets wwere hand-tied arrangements made of white hydrangea and green hypericum berries.

The bridal bouquet was a hand-tied arrangement made from the same white hydrangea, green hypericum and pink roses as in the head table arrangements.

 

 

This month's featured bouquet is a tale of beautiful flowers in a beautiful setting.  The wedding was held at Laube Hall in Freeport, PA.  The guests sat with a gorgeous view of the Allegheny River and Freeport Bridge.

The bride's bouquet was a hand-tied bouquet and featured light blue hydrangea, white agapanthus, Bells of Ireland, white roses and white lisianthus.

Guests were seated on the lower patio, and columns were decorated with arrangements of light blue hydrangea, blue delphinium, white roses, white carnations, Bells of Ireland, and greenery.

To complete their outdoor altar, the couple rented our colonnade, pedestals and ferns, and added beautiful urns featuring the same flowers as the column pieces.

In case anyone is looking for Laube Hall in Freeport, PA, we can tell you that Internet maps don't know what they're taling about.  Laube Hall is located in the Freeport Community Park, which is only a couple minutes out of town on High St.  If your directions don't involve Community Park Rd., don't follow them.  Buffalo Valley Country Club is adjacent to the Freeport Community Park.  Even Google Maps has the location slightly north of reality (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=freeport+community+park+freeport,+pa&ie=UTF8&ll=40.709337,-79.67165&spn=0.021373,0.039568&om=1).  If you follow the link, you'll have to scroll the map up slightly to see the park.

Tags: blue hydrangea | white agapanthus | white roses | hand tied | bridal bouquet | Bells of Ireland | white lisianthus | The Bloomery | Bloomery Weddings | Butler Florist | Pittsburgh wedding florist