What’s black, white, and…light pink all over?  A femininely modern wedding at Ashton Gardens, putting a softer touch to the popular black, white and pink wedding scheme.  Our bride Katelyn Whittington chose modern pieces like black candelabras, black square vases, and black branches and softened it all up with white and light pink  blooms and ostrich feathers.

The bridal bouquet of white hydrangea, whote dendrobium orchids, light pink roses and garden roses with white ostrich feathers.

Bridesmaids bouquets of light and medium pink roses.

Black candelabras with light and medium pink blooms and white ostrich feathers instead of candles.

Close up view!

Black vases filled with white hydrangea, pink roses and black manzanita branches.

Ceremony Arrangements of pink hydrangea, blush dendrobium orchids, and culry willow branches in black trumpet vases.

The GORGEOUS cake! I love adding fresh flowers to cakes and this one was one of my favorites. We added pink garden roses, roses and spray roses.

One of the many joys of owning a floral design company is the opportunity to design for a friend’s wedding.  So when my sweet friend Kathryn Phillips asked me to design for her wedding, I was super excited.  Knowing my friend’s fun sense of fashion and love for the eclectic details, I knew the wedding would be the same.  Oh…and did I mention she is an English teacher with a passion for old novels?  The only concern was her desire for peonies, anemones, and ranunculus…all spring flowers…for her late June wedding.  But I was determined to give her everything she wanted on her big day and with the help of our wholesale market, Pikes Peak Houston, we got in the most beautiful peonies, anemones and ranunculus I have ever seen!!  I almost cried!!!  Below are the amazing photos of that day by Susan Ross Photography.

Summer Lovin' - Kathryn and Zack

Bridal Bouquet of white hydrangea, dark pink peonies, purple anemones, orange spray roses, yellow ranunculus, and white tulips.

Bridesmaids wore varyind shades of gray dresses in different styles. The bright bouquets of dark pink peonies, yellow mums, purple anemones and orange spray roses were a perfect pop against the dresses.

Centerpieces used vintage books, varying bottles and flowers, and on some tables incorporated the bridesmaids bouquets.

Centerpiece using bottles of varying heights and colorful blooms with vintage books.

Another way to incorporate the bridesmaid bouquet into the centerpieces.

Bottles with flowers used as bookends.

Centerpiece with vintage books surrounded by colorful blooms.

Bridal cake decorated with pink, yellow and orange ranunculus!

Lovin' this idea: The bride collected cake stands and cookbooks in varying heights and colors to display the delicous cupckakes and bridal cake. Ranunclus blooms were placed in various spots for added decor.

What would a summer wedding be without vibrant colors!  Our sweet bride, Sara Logan, certainly chose flowers fitting of her fun personality.  Aqua. Bright red.  Pops of yellow and brown.  It was the perfect contrast of colors for their wedding and reception at The Grove in downtown Houston.  The Grove offers a beautiful outdoor ceremony area surrounded by trees and the glimpse of what makes Houston’s skyline.  It’s that whole city meets country feel.  Thanks to Girls with Pearls Photography for providing the lovely photos!!

Houston, TX – February 3, 2011 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce Striking Stems Floral Design, L.L.C. has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Floral Design!

Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation.

Striking Stems stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud Striking Stems for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.”

We are happy to announce that Striking Stems is among the very best Floral Designers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today.

For more information on the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire.com, the nation’s leading technology company serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 local wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire provides free online management tools creating the only market opportunity that gives local businesses control over their clients, reviews, leads and performance. Businesses that join the WeddingWire Network appear on WeddingWire.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), ProjectWedding.com and Weddingbee.com (both part of eHarmony), and Celebrations.com (part of the 1-800-Flowers family of brands, NASDAQ: FLWS).

From the minute we met with our lovely bride Kim, we knew we would have fun working with her.  We always say that flowers should reflect your individual style, who you are as a person, and that is exactly what she did.  Everything about her wedding spoke of the happy, bubbly, outgoing person she is.  Her girls wore  bright blue dresses and popped them with bold yellow flowers.  Blue dresses does not mean you have to have white flowers.  Go for color, especially if you have a colorful personality. From the yellow bouquets, to the fluffy ceremony arrangements, the spider mum and lemon centerpieces, and the cute little bottles with pops of yellow mini dahlias, billy balls and mums, everything said happy.  She lived up to our mantra and we are excited to share photos from her wedding with you.  Thanks so much to Photography by Janine for providing these shiny happy pictures.

I love when a bride puts her own twist on things.  Our sweet bride Katie left us green with envy…literally.  She took the ever popular color gray and paired it with a gorgeous green and a tiny pop of very light pink.  To create the vibrant, but soft palate we used hydrangea, ranunculus, scabiosa, kermit mums, hypericum berries and limes.  Lucky for us, she not only had a very talented photographer, Trung with Montage Photographers, but also one of the nicest ones we have worked.  Not only did he capture our designs beautifully, but he also provided us with these gorgeous photos without us even asking.  We bet they will make you green with envy!

There is something beautifully modern about using one color in many different textures.  Caleb and Leeann chose a cool gray as their neutral and made it pop with vibrant yellow textures using lemons, oncidium orchids, spider mums and one of my favorite little accents, craspedia (or billy balls as some call them).

Thanks to Nine Photography for the amazing photos!  They just added to the cool factor with their creative shots!

What does one do when your outdoor wedding is met with rain and mud?  Well, if you are a venue like Marburger Farms you move the wedding into one of your old, rustic buildings with just as much charm as the outdoors.  Thanks to Deborah Bradley, wedding coordinator, this past weekend we had the opportunity to design for a wedding in Round Top, Tx at Marburger Farms.  Naturally, when we saw the rain and the mud, we were a little worried about how it would all work.  So we strapped on our rainboots and tennis shoes and set out for the unknown.  We were pleasantly surprised by what this venue had to offer, even in the rainy weather.  There are so many spots for great photo opportunities (of to which we took advantage and had a little fun).  It really is a charming venue and we are excited to share our photos with you.

An outdoor wedding in January?  You bet!  Katie and Josh got married on a beautiful, sunny Sunday on the grounds of Burkeshire Plantation in Conroe.  Katie loved Black Magic Roses and decided to incorporate them throughout the wedding – in the bouquets, Josh’s boutonniere, on the cake, and with Black Magic petals on the tables.  She requested a little bling in the form of rhinestones and some pops of white with stephanotis.  We truly enjoyed getting to know Katie, her mom, and her sister during Katie’s engagement.  They were so sweet and easy to work with, and on the big day, all three of them looked absolutely beautiful! Thanks to Jenny of JW Baugh Photography for capturing the day with great photos.  Katie and Josh – we wish you all the best!

I think that was the question most asked of us as we made our way through the miles that make up the fields of the Round Top/Warrenton antique fair!  Most people were surprised that we have lived this close and never ventured out that way.  I could hear the slight gasp as we would tell them it was our first time there.  But, once they got over their initial shock, people were very friendly and helpful.  Our only advice going in:  wear tennis shoes and sunscreen.  So, we lathered ourselves with sunscreen, donned our comfy tennis shoes and took off walking….and walking…and walking….

Our goal:  find wrought iron pieces for the business and maybe some other containers along the way.  We were feeling a little concerned that we had come to the right place based on some of the items we stumbled across.  In case you always wondered where to find doll heads, painted mannequins and realistic pirates…they too can be found at the antique fair.

Although fun, we decided spending over $1000 on a painted mannequin wasn’t exactly the best use of our money, and we decided to continue our search.  We DID find what we were looking for (pictures to come later)!!  And, there were many things we wanted to buy.  If you have money to burn, it is definitely the place to go.  Our advice, now that we have “experience”…go with a definite idea of what you are looking for, otherwise you will become very distracted and buy things you probably don’t need.