Aldine Printing. Or shall I say Aldine impress!

I had the pleasure of going to a f-a-c-t-o-r-y today. A real, live, historic factory! It reminded me why I love NY so much. It's so rare that old machines are still used on a regular basis to create beautiful, clean, manicured paper goods. Aldine is the only specialty printer left in Soho and is a family owned business to boot.

As I stepped out of the elevator doors, and into the home of Aldine, caught a whiff of an unfamiliar inky, oily type of smell as well as hearing a hum of paper constantly shooting out one by one in a rhythmic sort of pattern. I didn't really know what to expect during my visit to this printing museum (that what I felt like anyways!) but, as soon as I saw the production room, my breathing started increasing as I laid my eyes upon these gorgeous, intriguing machines, some of which are over 100 years old. I felt like I was in the Willy Wonka factory for printers. I actually saw someone sanding the edges of these round paper invitations to make sure each and every one is absolutely perfect. I have a new found appreciation for paper products and the manufacturing process. It really is an ancient art. Aldine Press was the printing office started by Aldus Manutius in 1494 in Venice, from which the famous Plato, Aristotle and other Greek and Latin classics were printed. The Aldine Press is famous in the history of typography, and the introduction of italics. Amazing...

Sweet September wedding.

The bride and groom wanted an elegant, sophisticated, yet organic feel to their flowers. We used a soft mix of blooms including hydrangea, callas, dahlias, astrantia, seeded euch, scabiosas and more. For the ceremony we used glass cylinders with floating candles, petals and two larger arrangements using hydrangea, roses and curly willow branches.

Brooklyn Botanic gardens summer wedding flowers.

This was my other July 23rd wedding that took place at one of my favorite places to work, the Brooklyn Botanic gardens. The bride was looking for a whimsical, funky, seasonal flowers using bright colors including cobalt blue, yellows, melons and white. Together we collected the cobalt blue vintage bottles to mix in with the vintage silver bud vases and my mercury bottle tea light holders. She also really wanted to have a natural touch being that we were in the BBG, so we incorporated a natural stump riser which is always a nice way to unite the collection of bottles. She wanted her bridal bouquet to be most sun flowers and her girls to have a seasonal mix as well as wild flowers. We used hydrangea, asters, thistle, crespedia, daisies, and greens. I loved working with this bride. She had a vision, yet, totally let me do my thing too. She was relaxed, happy and totally not worried about her flowers, which is always the best complement (: Enjoy!

4th of July flowers

I couldn't help but post these flowers for this 4th of July weekend. I have these wonderful serpentine vases that I am in love with. They are so organic, free flowing and simple. In this arrangement I used Piano garden roses, white lisianthus, light blue hydrangea, red dahlias, red spray roses, red hypericum berries and dusty miller. Happy 4th everyone (:

Brooklyn Brides new site!

If you haven't already seen Brooklyn Brides new site, you are in for a treat! The resources, look, and information are top notch. They will also be joining us at the second annual Wedding event by Brooklyn Based on Feb. 27th. Come! http://bklynbrideonline.com/

French-parisian style wedding at the Montauk Club, Brooklyn.

The Montauk Club in park slope Brooklyn is one of my very favorite venues to work. It's old world beauty is breathtaking and was the perfect backdrop for my Oct. 23rd wedding. The style was a sort of darker twist on a French-parisian market. We used all warm tones which complemented the bridesmaids vintage, mix matched, mustard/gold dresses. The bridal bouquet was a mix of Dahlias, billy buttons, pheasant feathers, protea, and plumb colored roses. The center pieces were my signature mixed bottle collection on a stump riser covered with burlap. The card table was one of my all time fav's. I constructed a "bird on a wire" type card/tag holder. The tags had a tea stained look and were attached using tiny little clips. In the center of the table, I made a large arrangement inside one of my vintage bird cages. To the far right was a stack of vintage books with an oil lamp glowing in all it's glory. My bride scored a vintage mail box on Etsy.com where people would put their hand written post card into the box. Super cute wedding and even cuter couple (:

Galapagos Art space wedding, Dumbo Brooklyn

My bride was looking for a slightly vintage look with a crisp twist using bright greens and vivacious yellows. I used white hydrangea, yellow freesia, white ranunculous, billy buttons, star of david, ferns and a black handle for the bouquets. For the ceremony flowers, we used the most gorgeous white Amyrillis mixed with red and yellow berries, curly willow branches and hanging tea lights. The cocktail tables were small, so we used an assortment of containers to mix it up a bit. My favorites were these tiny little birds nest's with billy buttons, white dahlia's and china berries.

Prospect Park Boathouse wedding 8/7/10 Brooklyn, NY

The card table was one of my favorite pieces from this collection. It's slightly modern, yet swampy using a combination of Manzanita branches, and cattails in a tin can. The favors were these cute little can's that have a plant in them for the guests to take home. We placed these can's in two beds of grass for a pop of lush green. *The tall center pieces were made with Manzanita branches, blue delphinium, burgundy scabiosa, eryngium, silver brunia and succulents. *The ponds took weeks and weeks of planing. I went shopping for the perfect container for a pond and it happened to be a POT! It was a fun challenge to figure out how to confidently seal these puppies to prevent leakage and to secure the foam needed for the flowers.  Inside the pond I used, Nelumbo pods, burgundy dahlia's, cattails, blue corn flowers, eryngium, scabiosa, and succulents. We added in some green moss and some underwater tea lights to give the ponds the final touch. *The balcony was SO much fun to design. It over looks the gorgeous Prospect Park pond where you find white swans, ducks, and turtles. More importantly, the bride and groom stood up here looking down at there ceremony site and guests before their vows were exchanged. We used greens that were bound together with a birds nests set in the middle. I chose burgundy dahlias and lavender to place into the little birds nests and you really could smell the sweet scents as you stood up there!

Vintage Queen

This collection of flowers was selected as if you were looking for the freshest ingredients to cook that night for dinner. My client gave me a very clear vision of her antiquey, loose, organic, charming style. The venue is this gorgeous, country setting just outside of NYC, which lends to the relaxed feel. My favorite part of this collection is the set of gorgeous vintage milk bottles set in the wooden frame. I found these special props at the recent Brimfield antique show where I bought THREE set's of these. It would be amazing to do a long table to put all three set's with smaller alternating sizes in between. The milk bottles have tall green Vibrunum in the back, Poppy seeds in the middle and antique blue Hydrangea up front.

The flowers used in the smaller center piece contain white Peony, Poppy seeds, Artichokes, Queen Ann Lace, Hydrangea, Pink Astilbe, and greens.

Matt ♥ Danielle NYC

This wedding was was a dream. The color palette was black and white with a natural feel. The bridal bouquet was made of white callas, black star callas, fiddle heads, wave leaf and white ranunculous. The handle was a black, textured crossed hatched material with crystal pins for a slightly old world feel.