Real Wedding - Nicole & Mark

Nicole & Mark enjoyed a beautiful day for their downtown wedding this spring.

Nicole's bouquet was filled with rich flowers and colors including roses, dahlias, callas and orchids in plum, ivory and green.

Personal flowers included callas, orchids and roses as pin-on boutonniers and corsages and on pearl bracelets.A great day for some awesome outdoor pics.
Although Mark & Nicole included color in their personal flowers they chose all white arrangements which looked bright and sophisticated in the Empire Room at the Palmer House.

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 - Allie & Tommy

I know that we are just stepping into summertime fun and beautiful summer weddings but I had to take a minute and show you Allie & Tommie's beautiful winter wedding.

It was a cold, blustery day but it was warm and cozy in Koten Chapel, Naperville. Silvery blue & white flowers and lots of candlelight invited guests to join the celebration.

Allie's full bouquet of blue hydrangea, white calla, white anemone, dusty miller and blue thistle was a beautiful, wintery mix.

Allie & Tommy took advantage of Naperville's lights to capture some very romantic shots.

Maggiano's Naperville glowed with these wintery white trees with hanging candles. A warm & cozy romantic evening and a very memorable wedding.

What's Happening at Gardeenia

Wedding season is underway and Gardeenia is filled with beautiful flowers waiting to be masterfully designed into spectacular weddings...

(Jackie, one of our awesome designers, busy doing what she does best.)

(The cooler, with recently installed shelving, filled with some of our work in progress.)

(some personal flowers being labeled and boxed for delivery.)

...and delivered in our awesome newly designed van! I love this van with it's splash of pink peonies and beautiful lettering.

It's wonderful to see Gardeenia grow. Gardeenia's team of commited people are always working hard to ensure that the quality, beauty and excellent service Gardeenia is famous for is never compromised. I'm so proud of them all - Jackie, Trish, Keenan, Steve, Naomi and Laura M.!

Gardeenia is excited to announce
THE GREAT 2011 WEDDING SPECIAL

Don't wait on this one.
The first 20 brides to book their 2011 wedding with Gardeenia
will received 11% OFF their floral order.
This is a huge savings.

Call or e-mail us today to schedule your complimentary consultation.
708-921-1463
laura@gardeenia.com

If you are a 2010 bride
there are still some dates available,
we would love to here from you.
Call us and see what specials we may have for you.

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 - Aaron & Tara

Tara & Aaron had a beautiful, blue skyed fall day to celebrate their wedding. Tara & I planned on softer hues to compliment the deep tones of the bridesmaids dresses and chocolate and apricot linens. We created a 'tree' to hang the placecards with copper baby clothespins.

This sweet couple carried matching apricot pomander and ring bearer pillow.

Beautiful apricot pomanders lined the aisle at St. Joseph.

Apricot callas, peach roses and soft green lisianthus created this romantic round boquet.

The bridesmaids carried bouquets that complimented Tara's.

Aaron wore an apricot calla boutonniere to match Tara's bridal bouquet.


The room at The Oak Brook Lodge looked warm and inviting with the chocolate linens, apricot chair ties and lots of candlelight surrounding the high and low centerpieces.

The tall centerpieces of roses, stock and fall foliage sat atop clear vases with crystals.

The low centerpieces complimented the talls with a candle trio. The room glowed almost as much as the bride and groom.
Congratulations Tara & Aaron!

Real Wedding - Julie & Kyle

Julie & Kyle's wedding was an exciting one for Gardeenia,
it was our first melding of floral design and wedding planning and I must say -
the results were fantastic.
Julie & Kyle were planning an outdoor reception under a forest preserve pavilion. Trish Stoner, Gardeenia's new wedding planner, & I wanted to transform the space into a gorgeous reception.

We used vases of curly willow branches to 'hide' some parts of the pavilion that were a little too rough for an elegant(but fun) wedding reception.

Trish brought in beautiful plum and green linens for the tables and mantle and hung white paper lanterns. Centerpieces were simple bunches of green hydrangea and vases of sunken cymbidium orchids which were a 'fresh' display on the deep plum tables.

White balls of flowers on shepherds hooks lined the walk up to the pavilion.

These whimsical arrangements in plum and green served as altar flowers and then placed on the mantal at the reception. (We always like our brides to enjoy their flowers all day and we are happy to move ceremony flowers to the reception. Altar flowers, depending on their size, can be used at the entrance of your reception, on gift, place card or head tables or your bar or buffet. )

Keeping with their plum and green colors, these beautiful bouquets were green hydrangea, plum callas, green hypericum and cymbidium orchids.

We are excited to expand our services to offer wedding planning and coordinating from day of coordinating to full planning and packages in between.

If you are looking for gorgeous wedding flowers and/or wedding planning & coordinating call us soon. 2010 is booking fast!
708-921-1463
or email
laura@gardeenia.com