st. clements wedding

these lovely bouquets were for a wedding done this past fall at st. clements castle. the bride, michelle's bouquet was made with patience garden roses, andromeda, orithogalum, wax flowers, star of bethlehem with feathers added as accent. the bouquet manages to look elegant without being too formal, with just the right amount of a natural "wildness".

the bride was gorgeous as were her attendants who wore matching fur stoles. honestly the affair looked like a photo shoot and i wish i had pictures of them...in any case, the attendants' bouquets were comprised of sahara roses, orange sunset colored orchids, hypernicum, chocolate cymbidium reflecting the shades of autumnal colors but still looking bright and vibrant. these deeper colors were accented with the light blue of grape hyacinths and stars of bethlehem then the bouquets were finished with step wraps in gorgeous brown velvet. hhmmmm, have i used the word gorgeous too much in this post?!

a sixpence shower

jane always loves working with the sixpence girls, talia and lindsay and had the opportunity to do so again. this time however, it was not for the "usual" wedding, but for a baby shower. it's always fun to mix it up a little bit, isn't it?

jane created fun centerpieces using gerberas, fushia, purple and green hydrangea, kermit poms and carnations.  small cocktail vases with carnations in shades of purple sat in small glass vases which were wrapped with pink wire. an interesting note about the carnations is their coloring. our supplier, florigene has bread carnations with the colors of african violets resulting in a wonderful purple palate ranging from deep intense purples to lighter mauve and lilac shades. you know how we love our purples here at jfy!  (you can follow the link and go on the florigene website to read the scientific lingo on how they do it if that floats your boat ;)

first snow

i awoke to a snowcovered landscape. it's winter! to commemorate the moment i'm sharing a lovely all white bouquet from a wedding we did this fall. it was made with white dahlias, gardenias, garden roses, calla lilies, and stock. i love the *pop* of the black center of the callas.

more ocean house

a little more detail on the gorgeous ocean house photo shoot....as i mentioned this was a collaboration between carla (ten eyck) and candace from jubilee events called "collaborate and create" which was one of their workshops which they put on periodically for photographers and wedding planners. these events give them the opportunity to sharpen or expand their skills. carla directs the photography end while candace coordinates the wedding planning. a "faux" wedding is set up and for this particular shoot, jane provided the florals. as it turned out it was the first week open for the newly rebuilt ocean house in rhode island and the reviews from jane are highly favorable! click this link to check out the beautiful property.

the specific flowers janes selected--which came out to positively dreamy effect--were purple lilac, wax flowers, ladies mantle, chamomile, soft peach garden roses, white lysianthus, apple blossom stock and maiden hair fern.

jubilee events photoshoot

seems like i fell off the edge of the planet, huh? i apologize for the silence from the jfy blog. since i last blogged i spent thanksgiving in washington d.c. (so fun!) and planned my daughter's mad hatter alice in wonderland tea party 7th birthday (turned out so good if i do say so myself!). in any case, it's been a wind down of the busy wedding season and ramping up for the holidays.

so you know how numerous times i've promised to share professional photography and nothing materializes of it? well i can finally keep my promise with these gorgeous shots from a photoshoot with jubilee events at the ocean house last may. photography by carla ten eyck.  love love love!

a new princess

a royal wedding is in the works! as perhaps you've heard (!), prince william asked for kate middleton's hand in marriage and the two are expected to tie the knot next year in 2011. hearing this news brought a flood of memories back for me as i remember as a small girl my father waking me up very very early one morning back in july of 1981 to watch lady diana (will's mother) marry prince charles. i was very much a girly girl and the royal family and princesses held a special fascination for me so i was beside myself to see it. my father himself was a lifelong admirer of the british monarchy and he equalled my enthusiasm for watching the wedding. as we watched i got a history lesson--about the windsors, st. pauls cathedral in which they were married, the monarchy etc. which was my father the historian through and through. it really was a fairytale and diana looked radiant and beautiful. i also decided i wanted a bunch of small children dressed as little lord fauntleroys and little bo peeps at my own wedding some day, just as charles and diana did. (i am happy to report i grew up and out of that little fantasy!)

it was a magical event and so special in that i shared it with my father. that time of morning felt like we were the only two people awake on our side of the pond. i knew that wasn't really the case, but there is something about that hour of morning that seems special, almost secretive and magical. in any case, i'm excited to see how this latest royal wedding will turn out. it should be a beautiful thing to see and i'm excited to wake my own daughter to watch it with me.

one thing though...william proposed with his mother's engagement ring, an 18-carat sapphire surrounded by smaller diamonds. i can't help but feel that the ring is a little, um, jinxed? that marriage ended in divorce. maybe i'm being cynical...perhaps william is simply looking at it as a cherished heirloom and he feels he is keeping his mother alive and a part of his own wedding plans. well, in any case, i hope the two truly do live happily ever after.

can you make a whole meal out of hors d'oeuvres?

from what i hear jane and sis might have tried last night with the thai chicken with peanut sauce hors d'oeuvres (provided by thyme to cook) which were served last night at naomi's studio and salon grand re-opening in west hartford. naomi (martinez), as some of you will undoubtedly know, is a very very talented make-up artist who has helped many brides look and feel better than their best on their wedding days. moreover she's incredibly nice and beautiful to boot. naomi has assembled a great team and re-opened her studio/salon.  besides wedding day services the salon provides a variety of ways to keep you pampered and beautiful from head to foot. here's the link.

it is clear that i missed a really nice evening with some good food (see above) and good people. a few of our favorite photographers were in attendance--jerome and jen braga, val mccormick and alissa dinneen. but perhaps the star of the evening was naomi's darling son caleb who charmed jane and sis. oh baby!

some of that professional photography i promised...

remember our bride bethany who had her lovely july wedding at the carousel pavilion overlooking new haven harbor? i promised some professional shots someday, and i'm happy to share the gorgeous photos we just received from sara at growing tree photography. in my last post i spoke about seeing old friends and other vendors, well, sara is a new friend and we hope to have the opportunity to work with her many times again. she is a very talented woman as these photos will attest to. katie slater acted as her second, and they did some stunning work...ok, i'll stop gushing now. i'm listening to carly simon so that's my excuse for the gushy-ness...

michelle wade photography

part of the fun of setting up weddings is seeing our favorite vendors again. we have been fortunate over the years to work with amazing people, in particular some very talented photographers. one of those people is michelle wade from michelle wade photography. this past season she shot of few of our weddings and its always nice to see her. plus, we are always confident that the pictures will turn out beautifully. i'm sharing with you some of her photos taken of two of our recent brides, liz and karin.

people

jane recently did the flowers for jenna von oy's wedding. you may remember jenna as "six" from the tv show blossom. well jenna is all growed up now and she looks the same as she did years ago.  her wedding was held on one of the most gorgeous fall days i have ever seen, bright crisp sunshine, golds and reds bursting from the trees.  honestly, she couldn't have ordered it better. the wedding and reception were held at a quaint bed and breakfast in newtown, ct. an added bonus to the flowers turning out so lovely was people magazine doing a short piece on the wedding and mentioning just for you! you can check out the link by clicking here.

i'm excited to share the photographs of  jenna and brad's wedding day with you, when, you guessed it, they come from the photographer. for now a sneak peek at jenna's bouquet will have to do. (jubilee events coordinated the wedding so you know it's one you'll want to see!)

sassy mouth photography

with winter lurking just around the corner, i wanted to share these beautiful photographs from the lyman property in middlefield which were taken by marisa balletti aka sassymouth. they are gorgeous landscapes, but luckily marisa doesn't stop with nature photography. she is also a talented wedding photographer with whom we have had the pleasure of working with on a few weddings. her enthusiasm for what she does is contagious, and aren't those just the type of people you like to work with in life?

why we do what we do

when someone does their job right, they make it look very easy. case in point: the beautiful bouquets and arrangements for jane's weddings are, almost without exception, exactly what the bride had pictured in her mind. but i'll let you in on a little secret: getting to that finished product, creating that picture if you will, can often be a crazy, maddening process. whenever you work with natural materials you can never count on mother nature providing exactly what you want. she's not a factory and she'll give you what she wants in the end. colors can vary, sometimes greatly, even if you have specified, checked with the growers, and accounted for the season. extremes in temperature can affect the flowers and their transport and sometimes flowers can be way smaller than you wanted or hugely bigger than you aimed for. and don't even get me started on deliveries on wedding days! but there are moments, happily many of them, that remind us why we do what we do. the look on our brides faces when they see their bouquets for the first time is a look and feeling that if i could bottle, would make me a very wealthy woman. we also have the pleasure of working with brides, like ismini, a recent bride of ours, who make us feel good about what we do and they pay it forward in a touching way. i'll share a little excerpt of her thank-you note to jane:

Everything was stunning!

I must also say that my bouquet left me completely breathless! I absolutely cannot tell you how much I loved it! Thank you soo sooo much! We received so many compliments, and I have friends that cannot keep mentioning the bouquet. J I, myself cannot keep thinking about it! J

The day after the wedding, we actually dropped off the remaining flowers (we kept a number of the arrangements ourselves) to a nursing home nearby….so they continued to make people happy. Thank you sincerely- your arrangements really added so much to the day.

i don't think it gets too much better than that. here are some photos of ismini and her (now!) husband jerry's wedding day. (professional shots to come at a later date)

cute find of the week

more cute stuff from etsy. you know, the "key to my heart" and all that.  i can think of a million different ways i'd use these in a wedding...incorporated into the napkin rings, into the centerpieces, as the cake topper...

ashley's spring mix

we're slowly getting caught up with the professional photography from some weddings from earlier in the season, and this one was one of our favorites. it's funny, this wedding was at the start of our busy season just when we were gearing up for weddings, weddings, weddings. it seems like it was just yesterday. then you sneeze and fall has arrived. why is it that with each passing year time just seems to move faster than the last? 

our bride ashley's may wedding was held in the mystic/groton area and the weather was custom ordered sunshine, a beautiful spring day. the flowers were naturally styled with astilbe,  fressia,  peonies, and dahlias all in white with purple sweetpea for lovely contrast.  a sweet mix for an equally sweet bride. 

thank you to joseph's photography for these adorable photos!

must have make-up

so this is a bit of a shameless plug, but this is a product worth sharing. and let's be honest, aren't the best beauty secrets passed on word-of-mouth from friends?

my sister-in-law nicole and her partner robin have over 40 years combined experience in the beauty/cosmetics world (and they are not even that old!). the first item from their new beauty line, a mascara called panthera was just released and is available at sephora. without even talking about the magic inside, the mascara container itself is a super sleek black tube with a panther head at the end. MEE-OW! the mascara formula itself was born from these two cosmetics queens' desire to create the kind of beautiful-long-lasting-deliver-results-as-promised-products that they themselves would wear. and they are no easy customers.

this long wearing mascara is just the thing you ladies need for celebrating your wedding day all the way til you board that plane for your honeymoon.

stay tuned for the rest of the ultraflesh line coming to a beauty store near you.

is it too early to share this?

more color for a grey day...

i've been having trouble uploading photos which is giving me a pain. and speaking of pain, my mother's been visiting us from california. i'm kidding, i just saw that opening and had to take it. the truth is, it's been great to have her and we've all enjoyed spending time with her. we've been running here and there and i'm beat! still i'm sad that she's going back to california today...

so, it's still grey and rainy today, and i'm a little sad about my mother leaving which calls for some color, right? here is a beautifully colorful, happy bouquet and centerpiece from one of our summer weddings...don't they make you feel good just looking at them?

table numbers

so, i'm pretty sure that jane is about ready to say, "now put the brush down and back slowly away from the chalkboard paint agna." and she might have a point, but lately i just have a thing for it, and i keep finding new uses...

i recently used it on some vases we had around the shop to organize one of our supply shelves, like this:

then i thought, what if we used these to write the table numbers on the vase itself? so i made up some prototypes...one caveat: the flowers i used were just leftovers lying around so don't judge the idea based on them...