Whitney and Kevin Part I

If you've been reading The Plant Shoppe's blog for a while, you might know that it's not always Betsy who is posting...it's one of her former brides! Well... actually a former bride as of two months ago. My husband, Kevin and I were married on June 11 at Sweetwater Branch Inn... and if I had to pick my absolute favorite thing about the day... at the tip top of my list would be my flowers.

When I had my first consultation with Betsy, I told her a few things about me... I wanted a Southern wedding and my dream centerpieces had something to do with mason jars and hydrangeas. For almost a year, I went back and forth changing my mind, until finally I said, work your magic, do whatever, and if it could be in a blue mason jar, I would be in heaven. Betsy took my vision and made it come true--I burst into tears of joy when she brought me my bouquet!

I hope you will enjoy a few pictures from my big day... and since my wedding had lots of things from The Plant Shoppe (flowers, sand ceremony items, invitations and place cards), I've made it into two parts.

My bridesmaids and I with our bouquets. The girls had hand-tied blue hydrangea bouquets, while mine was made up of yellow roses, peonies, and blue hydrangea.

A close up of my bouquet

The gorgeous centerpieces. Blue mason jars (available for rent from The Plant Shoppe) with hydrangeas, yellow roses, solidago, and white spray roses.



The cake accented with blue hydrangeas and yellow roses.

Ceremony and Reception: Sweetwater Branch Inn
Photographer: Bryant's Photography
Florist: The Plant Shoppe
Cake: Friend

Rachel and Phong; A March Wedding

Rachel and Phong were married back on March 20, 2011 at the Baughman Center and had their reception at the Best Western Gateway Grand. I love Rachel's bouquet, which was made up of white calla lillies with red roses inside. The bouquet was accented with some silver as well.
Her bridesmaids bouquets, which are also shown below, were made up of hand-tied roses. I'm loving all the red--so beautiful!



At their reception, Rachel and Phong's centerpieces were made up of three cylinder vases filled with floating red tulips, red orchids and red roses. I love the variety each vase brings to the table. Did you know these vases are available for rental? Contact us for more information!


Our friends at Platinum Digital Video also posted a blog about Rachel and Phong's Wedding! You can see it by and watch a video teaser by clicking here!! They posted this beautiful photo collage of the wedding and reception and we had to share it with you!

Photo posted on Platinum Digital Video's blog

Congratulations Rachel and Phong! We wish you a lifetime of love and happiness. Thank you for letting The Plant Shoppe be part of your special day!


Ceremony: The Baughman Center
Reception: The Best Western Gateway Grand
Florist: The Plant Shoppe
Cake: The Flour Pot
Videographer: Platinum Digital Video

Laura & LaMonte

Laura & LaMonte were wed February 6th. Burnt Orange, champange and gold were the colors of the day. Here is one of the Bridesmaids bouquets, made of mini calla lily, freesia, hypericum, and roses.

This incredible space created by Savannah Grande Lifestyles is where the bride and groom sat during their reception. The ferns were provided by us as rental plants.

The center of the room was a focal point for the cake. Large floral arrangements were used to accent the area.

Here is a close up of the column piece, with Abbey as a model.

The church had a trellis outside. We created an accent to match the bridal colors.

Ceremony & Reception: Mount Carmel Baptist Church
Photographer: Ave Photo-Video
Florist: The Plant Shoppe Florist
Caterer: Garden of Eatery
Cake: Diane Hollis-James

Jay's Bridal Expo

I decided to do go with the same pink & green color scheme, but in a different way. My main focus was our new rental arbor. The arbor was accented with corner floral pieces. I used most of my table for our display books.Celebrations Catering was once again very generous with lending us linens for our table. Here are the three bouquets Theresa created for the show.Here one of the brides poses for her mom with one of the bouquets.

Em & Paul: Part 2

Here are a few of the detail from their wedding. Instead of traditional favors, a candy bar was set up as the centerpiece in the main room. We provided a stunning floral piece to sit on the mantel as the backdrop for the candy. All the kids (especially the big ones) loved the candy. I know Abbey filled up three bags. Em & Paul used one of their engagement pictures as a sticker to put on the outside of the bag.

The cake was made by Aunt Laura, out of a family recipe. Chocolate cake, with a chocolate coffee icing. A small one was made for the "cutting" additional ones were cut in the kitchen and served to the guests.

Here is our Arbor, with flower pockets dangling with flowing ribbon.

Here is a close up of the pockets. Smaller pockets were put on Sheppard's hooks and used to line the aisle.

May Day Wedding Part 2

Tracy & Matt were the first ones to officially use our new arbor. The ballroom the ceremony was to take place in had one slight problem. An emergency exit door, with a huge red EXIT sign right smack dab in the middle of the wall. Tracey came to me with an idea she had for the ceremony site, and here is what we made.
On Thursday, we attached curly willow sticks to the front of the arbor, and hung material down the back. It covered up the EXIT sign, and made for a pretty background. On Friday we went down to deliver the rest of the flowers, and tucked pink flowers in the curly willow.Here is a close up of the arch, with a better view of the flowers. It was stunning (if I may say so, myself.) At the end of the night, it was a shame to take it down.

What is 84" wide & 132" Tall?

Our great new rental item. I finally bit the bullet and bought our very own Arbor to rent for events. (Yes Angela, this is the one I have been looking at for 2 years now.)

The inside opening is 6 1/2" wide and 8' tall, and with the extenders I bought it can be 8' wide and 9' tall. It is black and can sit in the grass, or on any flat surface. Terry and I took it out of the packaging today, and set it up in our storage room. Not long after looking at it, I started getting all kinds of great ideas on how to decorate it. (We will have it set up for a few days, if anyone wants to come by and check it out.)

One of the ideas I had was to hang these flower pouches from it. Even though my original idea was to hang the pouches off hooks. I think they would look great hanging from the Arbor.

Wedding Envelopes, where do you put them?

Ever wanted to know if there was something unusual you could put those envelopes you receive at your wedding in? We have all seen the small white birdcages (which we do rent), but have you ever seen a a birdcage like this? This birdcage, stand 5'6" tall, and can be decorated to match your color theme. Here Abbey, is trying to open the door, but it has been wired shut, so that once the envelopes have been slid in, it takes a big effort to get the envelopes out. This along with a few other items can be rented from us, for your special event.

41st Gainesville Wedding Expo

I wanted to thank Leah at Celebrations Catering for this picture of our booth at The 41st Gainesville Wedding Expo, January 11th, put on by Jay's Bridal & Special Occasions. I took my camera, but forgot to take any pictures of the arrangements I created. Thanks, Leah. I chose Green, Fuchsia & Burgundy as my colors. Next to me is a picture screen that we rent for events. It hold 4 - 8 X 10 photos, that looks great with engagement, family wedding pictures, or memorial pictures.