Real Wedding - Brad & Laura

Laura is a young woman of style and her notebook stuffed with design ideas for her wedding showed me what a great sense of style and taste she has.
I met with Laura several times before Brad came in with her for a view of a sample centerpiece - when I saw them together it was easy to see they just belong together.

Their Downtown Chicago Wedding allowed them many beautiful photo opportunities as a trolley took them around downtown, to Holy Name Cathedral to take their vows and then on to The Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel for a lavish reception.

We had fun with Laura's bridal bouquet and her bridesmaids bouquets. Laura's was a beautiful mix all in white including peony, ranunculus, freesia, calla and phalaenopsis orchids. Each of her bridesmaids carried a bouquet of one of the flowers. It was beautifully symbolic of each of the girls playing an important and unique part in Laura's life.


The Millennium Knickerbocker looked stunning that evening. We filled the cocktail rooms, restrooms and balconies with flowers, transitioning from all white to the striking yellow ballroom. Laura loves a monochromatic style (which I love too). We designed all yellow luxurious arrangements on tall square vases with hanging candles on delicate gold wire.

We chose black satin linens which created a rich backdrop for all the beauty and detail at the Knickerbocker. With pin-spot lighting and the dramatic lighted danced floor a wonderful romantic atmosphere welcomed the bride and groom to their celebration.

Laura called me, much to my surprise, the morning after her wedding to thank me for everything, she had the most wonderful wedding and I love that Gardeenia was a big part in making that happen. Laura recently wrote this wonderful review on The Knot:

"I had an upscale wedding downtown Chicago and used Gardeenia Floral Designs. Laura and the rest of her team from Gardeenia did a fantastic job. I looked into Kehoe Designs and Heffernan Morgan, but chose Gardeenia because of their hands on approach and unique designs. Laura took the time to understand the look I was going for and came up with a lot of phenominal ideas that were completely my style. I would recommend Gardeenia to anyone. They are wonderful to work with!"

BIG NEWS!
Gardeenia Floral Design Studio has opened a second location!

We are now meeting clients in our new Lombard office conveniently located just off of 355 and 88. I'm so excited to be more accessible to our downtown and west and north suburban brides and grooms.

Real Wedding - Sara & Ramon

I had so much fun planning Sara & Ramon's wedding.

After an initial meeting at the studio I met with Sara and her parents at the church and venue to go over ideas and the best way to make both spaces look fabulous.

Sara's bridesmaids were wearing beautiful blue taffeta dresses so we chose greens & ivory for an elegant contrast. Sara was very open to textures and creativity in her bouquets and centerpieces (which is one reason it was so much fun.) In her bouquet below you'll see peony, calla, lisianthus, tulip and hanging amaranthus. The shape of her bouquet was a beautiful compliment to her mermaid shaped gown. A modified cascade or teardrop flowed beautifully and looked modern and sophisticated at the same time.

Sara wanted flowers everywhere so to make the most of the flowers we designed church arrangements that would become centerpieces with a few additional touches.

Above they were placed on pillars in the church, below they are placed on tall curved vases - we added a couple of extra flowers to fill out the bottom and it worked beautifully.

At this Chicago Cultural Center wedding we wanted to keep an elegant and luxurious feel making sure to compliment the room and also realize Sara's vision for her wedding.

Place Card table arrangement in ivory & green hydrangea, lilies, stock and hanging amaranthus.

This little arrangement was the perfect touch on the highboys during cocktail hour.

Low centerpieces complimented the tall centerpieces and we added elegant, curved candles.

Real Wedding - Stephanie & Jeff

Stephanie planned a beautiful purple wedding, a deep, rich purple. Purple bridesmaid bouquets, purple bridal bouquet, purple centerpieces - and all these gorgeous purple flowers looked stunning against the rich purple dresses and table linens.

When we arrived with the bouquets it was wonderful to see Stephanie's excitement - the bridesmaids loved them too and had a lot of fun with their bouquets.

Stephanie's purple bridal bouquet incorporated some ivory to create a unique bouquet for her without sacrificing her purple.


Gardeenia created this sweet little flower girl hairclip in plum orchids. Adorable!

Since this was a Morten Arboretum Wedding we kept the centerpieces low so that guests could enjoy the view of the beautiful property through the large window. A mix of flowers created a wonderful texture in this purple centerpiece and the different purples felt rich and vibrant.

This gift table bird cage we decorated to compliment the rest of the reception decor. a beautiful place for guests to place their gifts.

20 Weddings

Since May, Gardeenia has executed over 20 weddings - beautifully I might add.

"But, where are all the blog posts showing your excellent work, giving us ideas and inspiration?" you might ask.

Well, here's how it goes -
first of all, I'd like to hire a blogger to do this for me while I'm crazy busy doing weddings. (Anyone interested in the job?)

second, I need the wonderful, professional photos that simply take time to obtain from the equally busy photographers who photograph our weddings.

We're not holding out on you - really. (And you don't really want to see my own photos - I'm definitely not a photographer - thank God for the professionals.)

But we have done some wonderful weddings at places like:

The Patrick Haley Mansion
The Millenium Knickerbocker
Chicago Cultural Center
Hyatt Lodge, Oak Brook
The Palmer House
Harry Carey's
DiNolfos
Ashton Place
Silver Lake Country Club
CD & ME
and more...

We've done small weddings of bouquets and boutonnieres as well as over the top lavish weddings and everything in between - modern and sleek, traditional, romantic - and lots of different color schemes.

So stay tuned - the posts are coming. Please be patient while I get the best pictures gathered to show you what we've been up to.

Here is something to hold you over - a great idea by one of our beautiful brides Kimberly.

Kimberly made little notes about love and we attached them to 12 roses.

Then I made an unsuspecting toss bouquet of these twelve roses with the notes.


Little did these girls know that when Kim would toss her toss bouquet there would actually be twelve roses flying in different directions through the air with sweet messages about love for each girl who caught one.
A great surprise!

Real Wedding - Kassie & Jason

Kassie & Jay had a gorgeous day for their wedding. The warm colors of their bouquets matched the warm sunshine.



Red ginger, orange spray roses, red roses and gloriosa lilies were smashing against the Kassie's bridal gown and against the midnight blue bridesmaids dresses.

The groom looked great with his pop of color to tie it all together.

Touches of bridal flowers highlighted their cake topper for a beautiful picture.

Congratulations Kassie & Jason!

Real Wedding - Lisa & Charlie

Lisa & Charlie planned their beautiful fall wedding at Narnia Estate in Lemont. The day was beautiful!! We created a romantic outdoor setting with curly willow, white orchids and thick white petals to line the aisle.

Lisa's bouquet was full of luscious white blooms including calls, orchids, hydrangea and ranunculus. Her bridesmaids carried plum & green bouquets of roses, orchids, succulents and callas to compliment their plum dresses.
The reception incorporated plum and green throughout creating a striking image.

A trio of cube vases with sunken orchids and floating candles.

The other tables included dramatic trees with orchids on the branches and submerged in the vase. These filled the space beautifully!

This head table piece was a beautiful focal point in front of the bride & groom during the reception bringing in the plum and green with orchids and roses.

OCTOBER SPECIAL
Brides who book their 2010 wedding during the month of October will receive a complimentary toss bouquet.

Call us or e-mail today to schedule your consultation!
708-921-1463

Tears of Joy

I cry every time. You would think that seeing many weddings I would not, but I do. As I watch one of my brides take her father's arm and I give her dress one last fluff I get a lump in my throat and my eyes tear up.

I guess it's because of my own emotional investment in her wedding. Being instrumental in making her most important day beautiful is not just a job for me, it's my art and my heart is poured out into each wedding. Seeing it all come together, the joy in their faces and the beauty of a marriage begun never gets dull. It's invigorating every time.

Here are a couple of my own pics from this weekend, professional pics to come and will be added to our gallery.

Look at this beautiful head table. I love the shape. The bride & groom at the top with their attendants seated down either side. This design included two luxurious arrangement on top of glass cylinders with candles of various heights (you can't really see in the pic) and petals placed down the length of the table.


This low centerpiece to coordinate with the high added some variation and interest to the space. Again a luxurious arrangement with candles of various heights. Romantic! I placed these in the middle of the room with the talls around the outside.



We placed two of these gorgeous wreaths on the church doors, a wonderful greeting for wedding guests.

SUMMER PROMOTIONAL
Gardeenia is offering a summer promotional of a free boutonniere for every bouquet ordered.
This promotional is good for weddings booked by July 31st.

We have a few 2009 dates available and we are currently booking through Sept. 2010.

Let the Wedding Season Begin

It is finally here! As we push toward May many excited brides are counting down the days. We have finalized plans for Jennifer- 5/9, Sarah-5/23, Colleen-5/30 and Rebecca-5/31. What a full and beautiful month to celebrate new life together.

Flowers we are using for these weddings include some classic spring flowers such as peonies and tulips as well as unique varieties of roses and orchids. Pink is the favorite color this month and with so many beautiful flowers in a variety of pinks, creativity is blooming. The style of each bride is unique and each wedding will reflect that. I'm excited to begin the season!

This past month has been filled with Bridal Expo Chicago. We exhibited at The Double Tree in Oak Brook on April 19th and at Georgio's on April 26th.We brought our unique iron arch to showcase at the Georgio's show. This piece creates a stunning focal point for a ceremony and photographs. It's a wonderful piece to work with that can take on many different styles and look unique each time.

We've had a great response to our 'tree'. At one show we displayed it with tulips in the hanging vases and at the other we used floating candles in the vases. For brides who want to have something different this may be it. It works great at a focal piece on the place card table, it can add beauty to a ceremony setting or variations work dramatically as centerpieces.

Here are some of the bouquets we brought to the show. They were highlighted in the fashion show which gave brides a chance to see them in action.




This is one of our bouquets that created quite a stir. An unexpected mix of amnesia roses and black feathers creating a dramatic vintage look for the bride who loves the unusual.

We are busy meeting with brides and designing stylish weddings for our discerning clients looking for unmatched beauty. Dates are filling up going into May 2010. Plan on a consultation 8-12 months before your wedding and possibly earlier for those prime dates.
We would love to meet with you!