Best of The Knot and WeddingWire Bride's Choice Winner!

Oh! I almost forgot! With so much excitement, I forgot to include in my last post two exciting honors. Azalea won Best of the Knot for 2011! How cool is that?! To make things even better, my amazing brides who make my job so much fun, gave me such lovely reviews on WeddingWire.com that I won their Bride's Choice distinction, also for 2011. This award "recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate quality and service excellence in the wedding industry." A big thank you to all of my customers who helped me earn these honors! I truly love my job.

Mid-Winter Updates

I have not posted in ages but there's so much to catch up on. First, the biggest news is that Azalea has a new location! My new space, an artist's studio in Plainville, CT, is much bigger so I can now welcome a

ll of my customers to come in an meet in total comfort. I am really excited about the new location for a lot of reasons but it's still not 100% ready. In t

he meantime here's a sneak peak. The aqua walls are sort of a greener version of the sky and will make a great back drop for flowers. I have found some amazing pieces, like these old french inspired chairs and this vintage work table. Exciting!

Back in the summer, I was fortunate enough to have been asked by my friends at Emily's Catering to participate in two Kate Parker Weddings photos shoots. One at the Bee & Thistle in Old Lyme and the other at the amazing Wadsworth Mansion i

n Middletown. The endlessly talented Richard Esposito photographed the Bee & Thistle shoot for us. Mew Paper Arts created a gorgeous and unique invitation suite with escort cards (river rocks - too cute). Tara with Emily's was the team leader who decided on the vintage farm to table vibe. I so enjoyed the people, place and experience. So much talent.

The shoot at The Wadsworth Mansion was again with Tara from Emily's but this time included Imagine That Cakes (her Van Gogh-inspired Starry Night cake is SO COOL!) and Matthew J. Wagner - both a pleasure to work with. Here are a few images from our whimsical but formal concept: Last weekend I was asked by Bride's Magazine to participate in the Grand Opening of the new Alfred Angelo boutique - they have some really adorable styles these days (loved(!) this butter yellow silk bridesmaid dress) and the staff there is amazing. Here are a few pics from my day there:

Also, I was so pleased to hear from the talented Candice at Jubilee Events that the wedding of Rose and David that we collaborated on this summer was featured this week on Style Me Pretty! Check out the pictures by Stephanie Ann Photography:

In other news, here are a few photos from my recent fall and winter weddings:

Vintage Inspired Brooch Bouquet

I just got in a few new photos of a bouquet I did for our bride, Jen, last month. It was filled with her own vintage brooches, many of them family heirlooms and gifts from her (then) fiance as well as close friends and family. How cute and creative is that? Thanks to Dave from Strawberry Road for these incredible pics.

Monique and Junior

I just got in some gorgeous photos from our bride, Monique, from her May wedding to Junior at the Seven Angels Theatre. MAC Vision took these beautiful images of their day. A big thanks to Monique for sharing - you two are TOO CUTE!

As Summer Turns to Fall...

August and September flew by with lots of amazing special events and weddings. We felt lucky to participate in creating so many beautiful weddings that were truly reflections of each individual couple. We were also so pleased to be featured on the ever-inspiring blog, Style Me Pretty, as well as in Brides.com's Real Weddings. Here are a few photos of our work over the last month or two. Enjoy!

The wedding here was Jen and Kevin's at the Glastonbury Country Club. Their very personal and incredibly cool details included a vintage brooch-filled houquet, custom Chuck Taylors, feathers, and woodland elements, to name a few. SUCH nice people, too. The first images are from Strawberry Road Photography, and the last one, of their birch bark centerpieces is my own handiwork!

This one was a lovely backyard wedding of peach, orange, coral and green tones. Nathan Fried-Lipski, their photographer, was kind enough to share these images.

These are a few of Carla Ten Eyck's beautiful images of Portia and Steve's wedding at the Gershon Fox (one of our FAVORITE places to work in CT). Everything was so unique and personal! I'm also thrilled to report that this wedding and my work made it on to one of my favorites: Style Me Pretty!

This was a gift and a bit of an experiment of a style outside of my usual cofort zone. Mini white calla lilies, ornamental artichokes, calathea leaves, tulips, hydrangea and lotus pods. Fun!

Below is a tall, formal centerpiece with lots of raspberry and lime green tones from a wedding at The Rivewview in Simsbury, CT. Catherine Fiehn Photography was kind enough to share the image.

These are a few we did for various group events at the gorgeous Winvian in Morris, CT:

The first contains three tones of dahlias with date palm and seeded eucalyptus in a woven leather vase.

The next one is a classic paring of late summer's sunflowers in a simple galvanized bucket.

This one was a three part centerpiece of dark red calla lilies, tulips, artichokes and branches.

Here's a boutonniere I made and loved which picks up on the vintage/rustic trend. It's made of of spray roses, scabiosa pods, lavender waflower, seeded eucalyptus and a simple tie of burlap.

These were from a beautiful wedding at The Farmington Club. The tall curly willow tree with hanging votives set the tone as guests entered the room.

This was another Riverview event where we covered the ceremony arch in the bride's favorite blooms: hydrangea, roses, delphinium, hanging amaranthus, lisianthus and many foliages. A big thank you to Daisy Wedding Photography for these beautiful images!

I also had the pleasure of learning that a wedding we did this summer with Sixpence for Your Shoe and Bruce Plotkin is now part of brides.com's Real Weddings. Thanks, Christina and Dave for letting me share the beauty of your day with brides looking for inspiration!

Our season does not seem to be slowing down, so I'll be back worth more images from our fall and winter work soon, I hope!