La Petite Fleur Blog

All these ab-fab images are compliments of Olive Juice Studios.  Please check out their other work at www.olivejuicestudios.com.  You guys ROCK!!!!

And here are my pictures:(

Attendant’s bouquet pictures I just took Wednesday morning-still looking pretty darn hot!!! 

Gretchen contacted me via email from Chicago almost a year ago.  She told me her ceremony was to be held at the very large and ornate, but very warm and welcoming Lutheran church in Saint Paul, Gloria Dei http://www.gloriadeistpaul.org/.   The reception was to be at the uber sheik and modern and wonderful and great and fabulous Graves 601 Hotel http://graves601hotel.com/weddings/index.asp  Can you tell I like this place? 

We sent pictures of bouquets and arrangements back and forth for weeks before I had the utmost pleasure of meeting her and her wonderful family at our consultation.  She brought her handsome fiance, Tom, his parents, and her parents.  It was like a party! Her father, Bob, had some great ideas for the decor. It was so refreshing to have such creative minds to brainstorm with- The 7 of us came up with an absolutely stunning plan for this wedding.

Gretchen’s mom, Susie, was a wiz with the planning.  Wow, every last little detail was covered and written down on a itinerary that you would have to see to believe.  I even told her that she was hired as my personal assistant! -She hasn’t replied on that one:)

The day of, which was GLORIOUS, I showed up an hour early to the Bride’s parents house, as I was so excited to get the day going. My husband, Kyle, and I were graciously welcomed in where people were getting their hair and makeup done, pictures were being taken, and videographers were filming- all with a comfortable, laid back feeling, not stressful at all.  Even with all this going on, Bob gave us a guided tour of their fantastically warm and stunning home, given bagels to eat, an orange umbrella as a gift-just in case it rained, and the best, a Cafe Latte Turtle Cake on the way out because they heard it was Kyle’s birthday the next day! I wanted to move in on the spot.  Such nice people!!!

Take a look at the few pictures I got and hold your breath for the professional ones coming soon from owners and photographers, Scott and Kelly, the awesomely talented, fun to work with, and best name givers to a business ever, Olive Juice. Take a look at their hip site and fanfrickingtastic work at http://www.olivejuicestudios.com/home.html.  I can hardly stand the wait!!! I didn’t take half as many pictures once I found out they were more than willing to share their images with me. I didn’t even get any of the bride’s bouquet- which was AMAZING, if I do say so myself. 

I am so thankful that I got to work with these people who not only trusted me to “do my thing” at every step of the planning process and execution for this wedding, but who also made me feel like a part of the family.  

More to come…….

Amanda, super cutie, wanted only Dahlias for her wedding flowers- so simple and elegant! Her altar consisted of an arch fashioned out of Birch Saplings with hanging votives- all of which are available to rent though La Petite Fleur. She told me that her dress had a rouching detail so I copied it on the handle treatment- that was my favorite part:) These first 6 gorgeous photos are taken by Matt Garceau from Camelot Photography.  Check him out: http://www.camelotphotography.com/portfolios/matt/photo_matt.shtml

Heidi fell in love with the Biedermeier style bouquet at our meeting and had to have Gerbera Daisies included in them.  She wanted her attendants to have a different shade of red or pink Gerberas and consistent flowers of pink tipped ivory Roses and Delphinium. Her bouquet was to have all of this with the addition of white Gerberas.  Your wish is my command and viola- Gerbera, Rose, and Delphinium Biedermeier!

I hope you liked them and have a wonderful marriage!

A note frm the bride:

Hi Carra!

I have been meaning to get this off to you the past couple of days, and wanted to give you an appropriate response.  THANK YOU, the flowers were wonderful, I will enjoy looking at the pictures remembering their beauty.  The roses were so huge!  Loved them, loved them, loved them.  One of my friends was asking about the flowers before the wedding, I gave a full description of the colors, variety of flowers, and anticipated arrangement.  Going on to say that the girls flowers were to pop with color from their dresses.  She came up to me at the wedding and was gushing at how beautiful the flowers were and how well everything looked together.  She then recalled our previous conversation of the description, and said that she just was not sure how all those colors were going to work and secretly thought that a mistake was in the making.  She was a huge fan.

Another short story, my little sister Amy (who partook in 5 weddings this summer/fall), was walking up to the table to claim her bouquet.  She spotted the one that she wanted on the way, when she arrived at the table, she was so impressed that you had labeled them, as it turns out you gave her the one she spotted on her way over.  She was very excited.

Another Amy story: Amy took her bouquet back to college where she participates in sorority.  She had a function where she needed to make something for her “little sister”.  To dress up the gift she pulled the gerbra daisies out of her bouquet.  Her little sis could not stop going on about how beautiful the flowers were and  how did Amy know that gerbra daisies were her favorite, her little sis wanted to know the source.

Everything was awesome, Kevin said everything went well at the church.    I am not sure that it was possible to serve us better.  Pre-planning all communications were timely, prompt, accurate, professional.  The flowers were awesome. If you need to send a client my way for a reference, please feel free, I would be happy to assist.  We will keep you in mind. 

Thanks much, 

Heidi McMahon

I threw together these two pieces today for meetings and hoping they’ll last till Anja’s 4th B-day party Sunday…. I used mango Callas that were just sitting in my cooler begging to be used somehow wrapped in Hops, Berries, Dogwood, and red Ivy from my back yard accented with copper bullion wire, and nestled some of Anja’s blue butterflies (she wouldn’t dare give up her favorite red or orange ones for me) in the bottom of the vases on shimmery gold ribbon and Hops.  I like them.  All the vases, candle holders, and butterflies are available for rent or purchase. Fun, fun!

Oh, I’m a lucky girl to have such a great wholesaler.  I got to be a guest designer for Koehler and Dramm’s Fall and Christmas Show where I was asked to make a bunch of small centerpieces for the high-top tables, some medium pieces, and a huge one for the front door.  I didn’t have much time to design, only a couple of hours, but the way I shopped was like I had days:) But what do you expect when they say I can use anything I want in the whole store???? It was sooooo fun! The first 9 arrangements are my work, and the rest were done by a bunch of creative, talented florists from around the country- awesome!

I knew immediately what I was making for the big arrangement for the front door as I’ve been itching to do it for months now….glorified sticks in a bucket (to honor my frined Anne) using moss, Lotus pods,  and Echevierra (Hens and Chicks) covered Bamboo in a heavenly, tall, green vase. The backdrop could have been a bit nicer but I loved how it turned out regardless!!! See above.

Theirs…

The 9 photographs below are compliments of Kirstin and Alex’s wedding photographer, Wendy Woods from Wendy Woods Photography.  You can see more great samples of her work by visiting www.wendywoodsphotography.com today- thanks Wendy!

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Kirstin and Alex are Twins fans through and through, so much that they brought their colors into their wedding!  Red and blue was use throughout to accentuate the gorgeous fall colors also used.  Kirstin is also a huge fan of Disney and showed it by attaching little Disney pins to all the bouquets- too cute! 

The ceremony was at the gorgeous St. Hubert’s in Chanhassen http://www.sthubert.org/ and the reception at one of my favorites, The Landmark Center http://www.landmarkcenter.org/rental.html not only for it’s awesome beauty, but the nearness to my house:) A huge thank you to my husband, Kyle, who set up all the centerpieces for this wedding while I was stuck in traffic- who would of thought Minnesota would close 3 of their major freeways all on the same day?

Their cake was gorgeous, especially sitting upon my intricately decorated silver cake stand, which is conveniently available to rent, as is my round silver cake stand, which is equally as stunning.

All the best!

A note from the groom:

Thanks again for everything.  You were truly a joy to work with and will recommend you to anyone in need of a florist.  The flowers at the church and the Landmark Center looked beautiful.  We received many complements. 

Thanks again,

Alex

Above Photos by TJ Boatman http://www.tjboatman.com/ as stolen off of Laura’s FaceBook page.

Laura and Miguel are a super cute couple who came to me recently for help with their wedding flowers.  Although they already had a florist included in their wedding package through their reception site, they really wanted to use my services (what a compliment!)

We met on a beautiful summer day sipping lemonade on my front porch and decided on bright fall colors that would compliment the attendant’s sangria colored dresses.  As I looked into my neighbor’s garden (see pictures from Mary and Owen wedding at They were married at Augustana Lutheran Church on Robert Street in West Saint Paul http://www.augustana.com/ and had their reception on the Spirit of St. Paul yacht which tours the Mississippi http://www.riverheightsyachtcharters.com/weddings.html.  They picked such a great day! I can’t wait, as always, to see the pictures. Congratulations you two!