Katie has been a friend of mine since I was 17 years old... in fact, she was one of the first friend's I had in Maryland when I chose to move to Ocean City for the summers.
At that time, Ms. Katie Grace, lived right down the street from my parent's home in Ocean Pines, MD. We both worked at the Ocean Pines Beach Club for more summers than I'm sure we would like to admit. Katie worked in the restaurant and at the Beach Club bar. I worked as a lifeguard in the adjacent pool. Many, many times I remember sneaking upstairs to hang out in the shade and drink the largest lemonade I could get my hands on while Katie was working the bar. She knew all of the lifeguard and pool drama. I knew all about the Irish folks whom she worked with. Katie's little nieces would come swimming and tell me all kinds of silly stores.
Katie's Aunt Janice and Uncle Mike became my 'Aunt Jan' and Uncle Mike because I saw them so often. Her Aunt & Uncle still live down the street from my parents and I stop by to say 'hi' every time I see them outside. Katie's family is and always has been super friendly towards me and welcomed me as one of their own. Even though Katie moved away from OC to Baltimore a few years ago, she and I have still remained in contact.
When I had heard that Katie had gotten engaged from Aunt Jan, I said "Wait! Katie Grace? Engaged? Katie Grace is getting married?! Who would have ever thought?!" I remember hugging Janice and saying "I can't believe Katie is going to get married!" We had seen Katie's dating whoas come and go over the years. I was completely ecstatic and positively excited to know that she had finally found her match! A few days later, Katie messaged me on Facebook to ask me if I would help her with her wedding flowers.
Katie loves bling. Oh yes, she loves bling. And the Baltimore Ravens and the Baltimore Orioles. It came to me as no surprise when she said that her wedding colors were purple and orange. It also came to me as no surprise when she said she wanted lots of rhinestones incorporated into her bouquets and bridal flowers.
Last week after playing around with vases, uplighting, gel beads, marbles & some of the prettiest calla lilies and day lilies I packed up a HUGE rental van and headed to Aberdeen, MD to set up Katie and Ryan's wedding flowers.
The bride's bouquet was all white flowers with a few purple accents and lots of bling. Purple-centered Picasso lilies were paired with white callas, white roses, white lisanthus, nigella blooms, alstromeria & orchids. Such a gorgeous collection when placed together! 10 sparkly rhinestone brooches and pins were placed inside of the flowers and even more were added to the white ribbon bouquet wrap.
The groom wore a matching single white calla lily and fiddle head boutonniere pinned with rhinestone-headed pins.
The maid of honor, Katie's sister, carried an all purple bouquet wrapped in orange ribbon and rhinestones. It looked gorgeous against her orange dress.
The 3 other bridesmaids carried orange bouquets wrapped in purple ribbon with rhinestone accents.... contrasting against their purple dresses.
The groomsmen wore boutonnieres of orange calla lilies and fiddle head fern fronds.
The best man wore a purple calla a fiddle head boutonniere to match the maid of honor.
Three little ring bearers wore faded purple & white calla lily boutonnieres with purple and orange ribbons. The same ribbon was used on the flower girl baskets.
The mother of the bride and groom wore all white wrist corsages composed of white orchids, white lisianthis and white nigella blooms. Rhinestones and pearls dressed up the corsages.
The father's boutonnieres also featured white lisianthis and nigella blooms with a fiddle head fern frond.
The grandmother's wrist corsages were similar to the mother's corsages except had fancy purple stripped ribbon wraps for under their wrists.
Katie had the neatest toss bouquet I have ever made! She came to me with the idea of making a 'break-away toss bouquet'. I had never heard of such a concept before but was totally in once she explained it to me. The idea was to have one large toss bouquet that split into several smaller bouquets so several single ladies could take home flowers instead of just one. Neat idea, right?
To make the bouquet even cooler, Katie had the idea of writing "fortune" on a ribbon and attaching them to the mini posies. I did some research and came up with 7 fortunes related to love and marriage.. 7 because Katie and Ryan were getting married on June 7th.
Using fabric paint I carefully hand-wrote the fortunes on white ribbon and pinned them to the mini-bouquets. The fortunes read...
"You are extremely loved."
"Some pursue love; you create it."
"Where there is love there is life."
"You will marry your soulmate."
"Your 'Prince Charming' is here."
"Close your eyes & clear your heart."
"Love yourself as much as you want."
It was awesome to see which single-lady went home with a fortune at the end of the night. One young girl took home the bouquet that read "You are extremely loved." and I told here that it was very true and that that bouquet was meant for her and she turned and hugged her mother and father. So sweet!
Katie's father built a one-of-a-kind archway for his daughter and new son-in-law. It was stunning! I created a simple floral swag to place atop the arbor.
The rows of chairs were accented with translucent bows and purple gerber daisies that matched the arbor flowers. White, purple and orange rose petals lined the aisle.
A fresh flower arrangement looked nice next to the couples customized sand/unity shadow box.
The outdoor cocktail tables each had centerpieces of various shades of purples and oranges. Miniature tiki torches added some ambiance once the sun set and helped keep the river's mosquitos away.
The couple's ceremony was so sweet. A vocalist sang a song in remembrance of those who had passed in either family, the couple exchanged their own vows, they created a unity keepsake, exchanged rings, kissed, and walked down the aisle hand-in-hand smiling from ear-to-ear.
After the ceremony & cocktail hour, guests were welcomed into a grand ballroom. An table in the lobby held escort cards, a blooming and sweet-scented gardenia bush and several small flower arrangements.
The reception room was so fun and so pretty! Orange and purple uplighting on the walls paired perfectly with the purple and white uplighting under each centerpiece.
The centerpieces were cylindrical vases of various sizes topped with orange, white and purple flower arrangements. As a surprise to the couple, half of the arrangements had purple and black feathers in them in representation of the Ravens and Orioles. Each arrangement base was filled partially with gel beads and light with LED lights.
I was so happy to be a part of Katie & Ryan's wedding day and was so excited to watch their ceremony, eat & dance with them as they celebrated their love. Katie, I am so thankful for your friendship and look forward to seeing you and Ryan again in the near future. Happy honeymooning, you lovebirds!
xoxo -
Ami