La Petite Fleur Blog

Grace and her husband, Thomas, are lobbyists.  They described themselves as an older couple with a Brady bunch type of family.  My daughter, Anja, thought Grace was a princess! They were so fun to work with and let me “do my thing” from start to finish.  The only thing grace really wanted were “Blue Bird” Roses because they reminded her of her grandmother’s garden.  The bride’s bouquet was the “blue” Roses, Stock, and a collar of Myrtle.  The attendant’s bouquets were bunched white Carnations, white Poms, white Wax Flower, and Myrtle.  The bouts were closed white Lisianthus, Wax Flower, and Myrtle greens finished with a silver wire stem treatment.  The altar pieces were Bella Donna Delphinium, white Larkspur, Stock, and white Lisianthus. The ceremony and reception took place at the historic and stately James J. Hill Library in downtown Saint Paul. http://www.jjhill.org/wedding_rental/ The centerpieces were fun for me as I am huge into gardening.  I pitched this idea to have white perennials that the guests could take home and plant in their garden so that every year at the time of their wedding, the flowers would bloom and they would be reminded of the great day.  I used two types of Phlox, two types of Astilbe, Lisianthus, Shasta Daisy’s, Miss Manners, Delphiuium, Bellflower, and some Silene Druett’s ground cover and placed them in simple, white, wicker baskets.  The larger baskets had a circle of Dusty Miller and all were covered with Spanish Moss, included growing instructions for each plant, and were surrounded by votive candles. 

The first two photos are compliments of photographer Andrew VonBank, Woodland Park Studio 553 Ashland Avenue Saint Paul, MN 651-224-7781

The cake was done by Grace’s Dentist’s 15 year old daughter, Tatianna, who is a cake wiz.  She made this gorgeous 3 level cake in the midst of a softball tournament.  I got to cover it with lots of Blue Roses, white Spray Roses, white Carnations, Lisianthus, Wax Flower, and Myrtle.

Thank you so much for being so trusting and easy to work with- I wish you and your family all the happiness in the world!

A review from the bride on Wedding Wire www.weddingwire.com:

Attention all brides, here is a wonderful, easy to work with, exceptionally talented florist. Carra provided all the flowers for my wedding (even the cake flowers) and they looked and smelled wonderful! She is very creative and a pleasure to work with and plan my wedding. My groom also enjoyed working with Carra! She exceeded all my expectations at a bargin price!

These first 5 wonderful photos are compliments of photographer Kris Drake.  Visit her site at www.krisdrakephotography.com today for more outstanding samples of her work.

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Lara and her lovely mom, Penny, were an absolute joy to work with.  From the first meeting these sweet ladies made the planning and the set o up of a large wedding seem easy. They wanted a soft, romantic look for their most special day and I think we achieved it by using fluffy Peonies, soft pink Roses, Stephanotis, green Hydrangea, pink Spray Roses, soft yellow Freesia, pink Rannunculas, pink mini Gerberas, sweet pink Waxflower, variegated Oregonia, Seeded Eucalyptus, Plumosa Fern, and a pop of color with bright green Hypericum berries. It was a stormy day but a beautiful ceremony and spirits of all who attended were very high. Lara and Rob were married at the picturesque Breck School church http://www.breckschool.org/our_schools/, where Lara teaches. The front doors and the pews were all decorated with swags of Seeded Eucalyptus, ferns, pink Waxflower accented with a soft green ribbon bow.

The reception was at the prestigious Minneapolis Golf Club http://www.minneapolisgolfclub.com/guests/index.html where every detail was covered. The front doors, the inside doors, the base of the cake, and the head table were all decorated with the same swags as at the church. The great 4 tiered Wuollete’s cake http://wuollet.com/was decorated with wedding flowers (I love doing the cakes!). The rented card holder (available at La Petite Fleur) was topped with an extra corsage, a sparkly bird, and a soft green ribbon bow and accented with a thick layer of pink and green Rose petals.  The too-cute centerpieces had Birch and Curly Willow sticks with a sparkly bird nested inside a mass of wedding flowers in a cylinder vase wrapped in Rainbow Ti leaves and stood next to a bird table number. There was a bit of a sweet bird theme which was carried over from the invitations, to the programs, and the little frames given as favors.  This was a top-notch wedding and I was so pleased to be able to be a small part of this wonderful day.

Have a great honeymoon and marriage!

A review from the bride on Wedding Wire www.weddingwire.com :

Carra was incredible! Meetings with Carra were fun- and full of flower ideas. When we got to the church on the day of the wedding -EVERYTHING was beyond my expectations - the flowers on the door, along the aisles, the bouquets and especially - the centerpieces at the reception. Carra made beautiful centerpieces that were gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. She was wonderful- Highly recommended for everything. Thanks Carra!

A letter from the Bride’s mother:

Dear Carra,

Although this thank you note is quite late, our appreciation for the beautiful flowers you created for Lara’s wedding is genuine and on-going. As we are enjoying the photographs, and remembering, we wanted to be sure to tell you that we were thrilled with all your arrangements. From the swags on the Chapel doors, to the pew candles, the bouquets they carried, the centerpieces and greenery roping…all of it was beautiful and just what we had pictured.  Thank you again for all your creativity and hard work! We know you have an exciting future ahead for La Petite Fleur. We are so grateful we found you, and were able to have you help us create Lara’s dream.  Thank you so much!

Sincerely,

Don and Penny Anderson

Unfortunately I was never able to meet Megan and Russell as they are from Illinois, we did all planning over the interent, and someone else delivered the flowers to the very nearby and historic Summit Manor http://www.summitmanor.com/.  Megan loves vibrant Circus Roses and the magenta Waxflowers, and thought it would have a nice addition with yellow Alstromeria or Peruvian Lily- I agree and I really hope they liked them!

I got a review from the bride on Wedding Wire www.weddingwire.com and here is what it said:

My flowers were stunning and Carra was great to work with. She was very responsive, helpful, and fun! I had every confidence in her. I received many many compliments on how amazing our flowers looked. Thanks!

A big thank you and shout out to Mark ‘Crazy Spin’ Landy who got my arse in gear calling me 3 times this week to tell me to update my site!  In Mark’s words, “Big ups and mad props!”

So here goes…

Big, good news…I quit my “pay the bills” job at the Ramsey County Jail to do what I love full time, flowers! I finally decided that I’d much rather be with people on the best days of their lives than one of the worst.  Bad news…I realized how much flower (computer) work I actually got done while I was there (don’t tell anyone) and haven’t updated my site/blog since I left.  So be sure to look at the many weddings I’ve done this summer- I loved them all!

Alicia and Benjamin were married on a hot, stormy day at the pituresque Nicollette Island Pavillion http://www.mintahoe.com/index.cfm?objectid=69AC6B76-1372-537E-D58CA5AD9A53B7F9  The bride, venue, and all the little details were all exquisite and weren’t affected by the weather at all!

Alicia used to work at my wholesaler, Koehler and Dramm. She remembered that one of the owners, Ardith Beveridge, world renown designer, still was there and asked her to help with her wedding flowers.  Being busy with designing for such places such as the White House, for the Rose Bowl, AIFD in Chicago, as well as teaching and running a whoesaler, Ardith decided to send Alicia to me.  All I can say is, “Wow!”  To be referred by the best makes me feel darn good!

Alicia had some great ideas for her wedding in my favorite palate for flowers… white and green.  She is a texture girl, as am I so her bouquet had to be classic but unusual at the same time.  We decided to fill it with white mini Calla Lilies, green Hydrangea, white and green Roses, black centered Star of Bethlehem, Freesia, Hyacinth, Agapanthus, ferns, Euphorbia, Seeded Eucalyptus, Myrtle, green Hypericum berries, and the star of the bouquet, green and white stripped Lady Slippers that were specially force-grown out of season for her and her groom- gorgeous.

The bride’s mother was so nervous about the altar arrangements, especially in the strong gusts of wind, but my husband, Kyle, and I attached those things up there securely with hanger-thick wire and they didn’t move at all! The pew decorations were charming little grapevine orbs enhanced with Hyacinth florets, green Hypericum berries, and Yoko Ono Button Mums attached with grass green ribbon bows. 

The centerpieces were half short, stout vases and the other half had tall Pilsner vases filled with fresh Limes and topped with green and white flowers with clusters of fresh grapes and limes which were given away as gift at the end of the night.

Look at the gorgeous cake.  Please note that I have available for rent this same, beautiful cake stand and have a square one too.

Thank you Kalina and Beerman family (best name ever) for letting me be a part of your most special day! And to Michael B Photography for these first 18 stunning photographs.