Ron Ben-Israel and his unique crew of chefs and artisans have been the style-setters for designer cakes for the past twenty years, and continue to lead the industry with mouth-watering as well as astounding confectionery creations.
With winter and the holidays fast approaching, it’s easy to forget to take a moment to breathe and relieve stress trapped in the body. If you find yourself looking for a simple way to reduce anxiety, give flowers a chance to brighten your perspective. In 2005, Rutgers University conducted a study on the effects of flowers on our mental hygiene. Across all ages and genders, flowers were found to improve emotional health by triggering feelings of happiness, satisfaction, and social comfortability.
Peonies via Traditional Home
The easiest way to reap the benefits of flowers is to simply place them in your home. The results of a study conducted by Dr. Nancy Etcoff at Harvard suggest placing flowers by your bedside, so they’re the first thing you see when you wake up and start the day. Participants reported having a better outlook throughout the morning after placing flowers throughout the house as they went about their morning routines. Placing flowers in the foyer or dining room welcomes guests into your home with a burst of positivity and inclusivity.
Read More
Who knew you could meet your true love among 30,000 Phish fans? That’s exactly how this lovely couple met and began to start their travel-filled relationship! After hitting it off at the concert, Anna and Matt began dating. Their mutual love of travel played a big role in Matt’s epic, romantic and picture perfect proposal! The couple visited Thailand together, and while Anna felt the engagement was coming, she was blown away by how well Matt pulled the whole affair off! He coordinated a private dinner for two on a beautiful lakeside waterfront at the Four Seasons Chiang Mai Resort, complete with live music and dancers! He nervously dropped to one knee to pop the question, and Anna gleefully said yes!
The couple decided that the elegant and classic theme to their wedding would find a perfect home at the iconic Pierre Hotel. Opened in 1930, this New York landmark sits at the corner of Central Park and Fifth Avenue, an address steeped with history, luxury and refinement in New York history. With its multiple and ornate ballrooms, the Pierre is perfect destination for an elegant and timeless wedding.
Anna and Matt brought this sense of modern elegance into their wedding florals and decor by featuring a palette of white, ivory, cream and pops of pale lavender. Their wedding flowers included multiple varieties of roses, Phalaenopsis orchids, hydrangea, and stock flower. Although their wedding floralscape featured a small variety of blooms, the sheer number of flowers in their wedding decor made for a spectacular effect on the big day.
Anna and Matt participated in a tradition that is growing in popularity with our brides. Before the ceremony, they did a “first look,” a private moment captured by the wedding photographer before the festivities began. Anna and Matt met in a beautiful spot in Central Park overlooking the Pierre Hotel and shared an intimate moment together. Anna took our breath away in a gorgeous Ines di Santo gown, and held a modern bouquet of white garden, cream vendela, and lavender menta roses with a spray of perfect white Phalaenopsis orchids. The bouquet was quite structural, with a cascading effect of orchids that really gave it a modern and unique look. Anna’s bridesmaids wore bridesmaids dresses in gorgeous shades of blush, mauve and champagne and carried bouquets made of garden, vendela, menta, and lavender spray roses and accented with white Phalaenopsis orchids. Matt looked dapper in an Isaia tux with a lovely garden rose boutonniere!
When guests took their seats in the gorgeous Cotillion Room at the Pierre, their jaws dropped at the stunning and romantic ceremony! Before them stood an enormous and romantic chuppah made of billowing draped ivory chiffon. The traditional Jewish wedding structure was dripping in white blooms including hydrangea, Tibet roses, vendela roses, spray roses and Phalaenopsis orchids. The pristine white aisle was decorated with white rose petals and flanked by gorgeous entrance arrangements and tons of floating and pillar candles, which gave the ceremony an ethereal glow. Anna floated down the aisle, which allowed guests to see the gorgeous beading and dramatic fishtail train on her dress and long veil, also by Ines di Santo.
Guests headed to the Grand Ballroom for Anna and Matt’s reception, where the romance continued! With such a large and opulent space, it was important for Bride & Blossom to fill the room with gorgeous flowers while still keeping the decor classic and elegant. Anna and Matt opted for three different styles of centerpieces and a sweetheart table. While all of the centerpieces featured white, ivory, cream and lavender roses and Phalaenopsis orchids, the varied styles of the centerpieces were made to compliment the size and shape of the guest tables and gave the room lots of dimension.
Long tables featured medium and small arrangements in glass vessels featuring roses and hydrangea in shades of white and lavender. Interspersed between the arrangements were gorgeous crystal candelabras with taper candles and low and delicate votives. On round tables, we created stunning elevated centerpieces on gold pedestals that were overflowing with cascading orchids. The third and final style featured an elevated round centerpiece of hydrangea, roses and orchids on top of a crystal candelabra with beautiful taper candles. This centerpiece gave the room classic drama, but the crystal accents kept the candelabras looking modern. Anna and Matt drank in their gorgeous reception and the love of their family and friends from a beautiful sweetheart table with a lush spray of blooms and votives.
The most surprising and memorable moment was when Matt took to the mic and serenaded Anna!! The band played a Phish song as their encore and all of Anna and Matt’s friends took to the stage to sing, dance, and celebrate their love.
Venue: The Pierre Hotel
Photographer: Brett Matthews
Videographer: Fred Marcus Studios
Gown: Ines di Santo
Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Tux: Isaia
Makeup: Stacie Ford Weddings
Music: Element Music
Officiant: Rabbi Avraham Ashville
Nestled in the tall grass and lush trees off the coast of a small lagoon 60 miles east of Manhattan lies The Old Field Club. This elegant, old-fashioned venue was the perfect backdrop for the marriage of Alison and Sean last month, where the couple chose florals in classic, vintage-inspired colors arranged in bold and innovative style.
“I knew from scouting Pinterest and other websites that I wanted flowers that looked like they were freshly picked from the garden, particularly because the vibe of our wedding was more laid back,” writes Alison of what she envisioned for her floral décor.
Tablescape / Alison & Sean / Old Field Club / Paul Francis Photography
With their versatility, deep-rooted symbolism and timeless appeal, roses are the perfect emblem of love to grace any wedding décor. Our obsession with roses dates back to Ancient Rome, when roses were used to symbolize devotion to Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, and desire. The rose is the official flower of the United States, the United Kingdom, and even New York. Fossil evidence teaches us roses are over 35 million years old, with 150 species naturally growing across the Northern Hemisphere. It wasn’t until the late eighteenth century that we began to breed roses and create thousands of hybrids in a wide range of colors and shapes.
Read More
Using paper flowers at your wedding opens up a whole new landscape of colors, sizes, and shapes with which to construct your vision. Even if you’re positive you want real flowers, one quick Pinterest search for “paper flower wedding” is enough to send your imagination reeling with new ideas.
Paper Flowers via Hey Wedding Lady / Flowers by Balushka Paper Artistty / Photo by Elisheva Golani
Our Wedding Coordinator, Jasmin Norwood, is also a skilled artist and paper craftsman who took a completely DIY approach to her own wedding, from her dress to her florals. “I come from a family of artists, weavers, potters, jewelers, and people who work in glass, ink, and wood,” says Jasmin, “Looking at natural things and attempting to render them in another medium is something we’ve just always done in our house. When my husband and I decided to DIY our wedding, I looked at every production area as a place to “make”, so making the dress and trying to hack the florals was an obvious place to start.”
Read More
