Pros & Cons: Chargers

So i have been asked this question many times.... Do i need chargers plates on my tables? Well I believe the need will be different for every party! 

They are not always needed if you have platted or buffet dinner served. I would judge it more on what is actually going on your table! 

Here is an example with....

And without!

And here is a full table with...

All three options look very elegant! But chargers can over do it!

This table just looks messy! Do not do petals AND chargers. There is just too much going on and we cant even see what the centerpiece looks like. Also when you do chargers, please do not place the napkins in the glasses. Place them on or underneith the chargers.

Sorry for the blur on this one... This table needed chargers. Its very beautiful and simple but chargers would have brought in a touch of elegance.

There are also many types of chargers. You can get them in round and square and in just about every color. They range from $1-25 a piece wither you buy or rent them. If you have 100 guests you are looking at a difference of $100 and $2,500. 

I believe that if you have alot going on your tables you dont need chargers. If you are planning simple centerpieces simple linens then yes, add the chargers!

If you are not planning on serving buffet or plated dinner, do not use chargers! It give the impression that you are planning on feeding guests. If you are just doing an appitizer reception, stick with a beautiful centerpiece and smaller tables.

The day has come!

Yesterday we had a long awaited event happen in our family. My sweet Aunt Therese was married in the Las Vegas LDS Temple to her sweetheart Brian Procell. It was wonderful and I cried of course.... I have cried at many weddings but didn't at mine.... go figure. So here are a few shots from yesterday. The reception is in 2 weeks so there is more to come!!

all the family (minus my parents)

The brides brothers and mom!

Her flowers turned out great. We used calla lilies, roses, tulips, dahlias, and snow berries. 

The bride's father died in April this year so I wanted to make sure he was close by on her special day!

my favorite picture of the day! Mother/daughter. These two are so sweet and such great friends.

Long Distance Planning

One day I got a call from a woman in Utah who was planning her sisters wedding. She found my blog and was looking for my floral services. We did all our planning through email and on the phone and everything turned out great! I finally met the sister and the brides mother the day of the wedding. The happy couple (whom I still have never met) was married May 2nd in the Las Vegas LDS Temple and then there was a reception at her parents house here in town afterwards.

I did a bridal bouquet, grooms bout, 5 bridesmaids, 4 groomsmen, 2 fathers, 2 grandfathers, 2 mothers, 3 grandmothers, and 15 centerpieces...... all while I had the stomach flu..... My sweet husband who has no idea what to do with flowers took the day off to take care of me and help me put this all together.

Her bridal bouquet consisted of lime green spider mums, dark purple carnations, purple tulips, purple freesia, and purple lysanthis. we wrapped it in a dark purple ribbon and adorned it with an antique, hand painted tulip broach I bought from a sweet older woman. 

The bridesmaids carried purple carnations and Italian ruscus wrapped in a beautiful purple ribbon.

The centerpieces were arranged in color blocks. I am really getting into this. It's a little more modern and gives the eye more to see. We tossed in the white roses we were going to use as petals on the table because it was a bit to windy for petals outside that day.

Word of Mouth

I wanted first to thank all of my previous clients for the opportunity to contribute to their special day! Second... I wanted to say thank you for all your referrals  I don't advertise in bridal magazines, so my major way of advertising is by word of mouth. So thank you for sharing your great experiences with other brides!

My latest bride was a referral! Jessica Marshall called me looking for old Hollywood  I loved doing these flowers for her... I mean who wouldn't want pearls and feathers everywhere!?!

A few days after the wedding I got a quick text from her....

      "Thank you again. The flowers and centerpieces were EXACTLY what I wanted.
        You helped make my wedding perfect." - Jessica Catledge

Thanks Jessica for letting me be apart of your great day. Congrats on becoming the new Mrs. Catledge!

*I apologize for the terrible photos. I forgot my camera so I had to take them with my phone...

The centerpieces had white hydrangea, white roses and champagne roses in them with pearls strung around. In the vase I did white feathers. The kids table had flower petals and the adult tables had black plums and tea light candles down the center.

Grooms boutonierre was wrapped to match the bride. A little bit of freesia and feathers with a champagne rose!

The grooms daughters carried long stemmed 3 rose bouquets down the aisle.

Bridal bouquet was made with white callas, champagne roses, white freesia, white roses, light pink tulips and a feather collar. The bride wanted a special wrap on the stems so I found a great pearl/ribbon that was stunning with the 1920's broach I found. I also added a few pearls in with the floral for a little bling!

Wedding Planning WARNING

In my years of working weddings in Las Vegas I have worked with great vendors and vendors who should have never started business.... At one point I worked with Griffin Events and it pains me to see what the couples went through there. I was providing floral services for their weddings when they closed their company. I was told 4 days before the company officially closed and many couples found out their weddings were canceled by watching the news....

Planning a wedding is already stressful enough, can you imagine being told a month before your wedding that your wedding is canceled and your not getting your money back????

Here is my advice when it come to weddings..... no not advice... RULES!!!!!

1) If you plan on spending more than $5,000 buy wedding insurance. It ranges anywhere from $50-$500 and is more than worth it. It covers weather changes and much MUCH more!
2) when looking for vendors get PERSONAL recommendations. Don't just go to a bridal show and hire a DJ cause he had a nice booth.... he might be awful the day of.
3) Contracts..... Read them CAREFULLY.... Venues will have you sign a contract. if ANYTHING sends up a red flag, dont sign it. take it to a lawyer or talk to the venue director. Most places will change things in the contract if you ask.
4)If you are making advance payments, (anything that is more than a month before your event date) pay with a debit or credit card. If your vendor skips out you can go to the cc company and your bank to dispute charges. Paying cash is fine with in a month of your wedding. but MAKE SURE YOU GET A RECEIPT!!!
5) Always have a plan B. This mostly applies to your venue. If you are planning on an outdoor wedding, make sure you have an indoor backup.

Watch this video about the closure at Griffin Events (Venue closes, leaves brides in cold). This is not the first venue in Vegas to do this and the way they went about it was low and cowardly. Not only wee the couples severely hurt in this closing but us as vendors as well. At the time they were 70% of my business. I had contracts with them through 2014 and now I am out all that business.

Being prepared will only make your wedding day that much easier and more enjoyable!

Happy Planning!!!

Caleb & Devyn DeGraw

YAY!!!! I have a new sister in law!

So Caleb is my husbands brother and my friend of many years. I have known Caleb longer than my husband. In fact i went to movie nights at his house before I had ever met my husband. Anyways.... we are excited these to are FINALLY getting married.... We say finally because it was suppose to happen earlier in the year.

Devyn really wanted me to do her bouquet for the wedding and i was thrilled to do so! These two have a unique style.... As she was trying to explain what she wanted her wedding to be like i could only think of one word... bohemian. So with her wedding colors this is the bouquet I came up with!

Did I mention that my these 2 were married the same weekend as my best friend, brook...? Because of this I was unfortunatly unable to attend there reception Sat night. Their ceremony was friday morning at the Las Vegas LDS Temple and after it rained for 2 days it was turning out to be a sunny weekend. 

Her bouquet was made of circus roses, yellow dahlias, pink freesia, pink rannuccules, and was wrapped in lace, twine and tiffany blue ribbon. The broach I chose was a brushed gold floral pin. The bouquet went great against her dress. Her bridal gown turned out beautiful (i picked it out). It was a sample dress I had at work and it WAS strapless.... She had a magic worker for a seamstress!

Parents with the bride and groom.

Grooms Family! This is the first picture we have with EVERYONE in it since any of us have been married... 

LOVE this pose. I saw it on pinterest and had to recreat it.... The bride is a twin! 

Eternally married but forever sisters!

Did I also mention that I had to play the role of photographer as well?

 I tried to get the important shots at least. Here are the rings.

My favorite photo of the day! Captures the beauty and love of the couple!

Congrats and welcome to the family Devyn!!!

Nathan & Audrei

On November 17, 2012 Audrei Moffitt and Nathan Powelson were married in the Las Vegas LDS Temple. It was a beautiful day out and my husband and I were both thrilled to be apart of this wedding! Audrei and my husband, Jared have been friends since HS. They have a group from HS that all still keep up and everyone was married and starting families and Audrei was the last to marry. We are excited to know Nathan better.

Audrei and Nathan live in Texas but Audrei grew up in Vegas so they decided to marry here around family. Audrei asked me to do floral and help with the day of coordination  He mom did a great job in planning the whole thing. She had a hard time letting go the day of the wedding. Audrei (and Nathan had quite a bit of say) chose a gray and yellow color scheme. I was so excited cause I have been wanting to do these colors for a while. She also wanted to add in like a sage green for accent. This was great for me!

Audrei's bouquet  was made up of Succulents, snow berries, yellow roses and spray roses, craspedia, yellow dahlias, freesia, and a dusty miller collar. It was wrapped in a gray ribbon with a huge bow. Her broach was a gold leaf wreath with pearls and i fastened it in the middle of the bow. So you know how artists have phases.... i guess i am in my "huge bridal bouquet" phase. The last few i have done have turned out rather large. i was kind of worried about this one. it wasn't very heavy it was just REALLY BIG.... The bride is rather... petite ... so i didn't want to overwhelm her..... SHE LOVED IT!!!!! In the end that's all that mattered to me. It turned out very modern and i was thrilled with it. The grooms bout was made with yellow spray roses a succulent and dusty miller. I added a white feather to match the feathers on the brides dress!

  

The bridesmaids bouquets were made with roses and snowberries and a dusty miller collar to match the bride. The bridesmaids all wore different gray dress and the MOH wore green.

The cake turned out great. I provided the baker with flowers and she placed them.

Thanks Mad Love Weddings for the photos! The did a great job on the whole wedding!

This was the sign in table. They had drawn a tree and had all the guests ink their thumb print as a leaf on the tree. So cute!! I made a few extra arrangements to be placed all over. We also had yellow  petals all over the tables.

Did I mention that all the decor was done in Mason jars? It was such a cleaver idea! So for the dinner tables we did just a spring mix of yellow and white floral. It was surrounded by gray tulle, yellow petals, jars with candles in them, and each table had a game on it.

Congratulations you two! Thanks for letting us be apart of your day! Everything was just beautiful!

Silly Me

Some times I get distracted.... so much so that i like didn't tell you hardly anything about Shanelle's fabulous floral that I did....  Course now that photos are edited as well, the rest can be shared!!! yay!

So for Shanelle's Bouquet we did yellow calla lilies and red roses wrapped with a galax leaf collar and lace ribbon. It had a lovely 50's broach on it but it broke and was lost at some point in the day... so sad! The grooms bout we did a red rose and yellow calla with a galax leaf wrapped in the same lace to match the bridal bouquet.

The groomsmen had yellow roses with lily grass to match the bridesmaids yellow rose bouquets. The Family all wore yellow calla lilies and the toss bouquet was a red rose bouquet. 

The centerpieces were my favorite and turned out so cute! We did big sunflower heads in sideways hurricane vases and small round bowls with red marbles. Then on the table we put 3 tea light candles and yellow and red petals... They looked beautiful and were just what the bride wanted! Petals are an excellent way to bring great color to your tables at low cost.

Then we also had some red sunflowers that we put together a few bunches of for the entry way and gift tables.