Dahlias

March 7, 2020March 7, 2020

A Conservatory Wedding at Gervasi Vineyard

Wedding at Gervasi Vineyard. Cafe au Lait dahlis, anemones, quicksand roses in flowers by Garden by the Gate Floral Design

Dana and Andrew planned an intimate ceremony in the Conservatory at Gervasi Vineyard followed by a wedding dinner in the wine cellar at the Gervasi Bistro. Dana planned her whole wedding long-distance so she trusted Garden by the Gate to understand her vision. When we finally met on her wedding day I felt like I’d always known her! Dana wanted to feel surrounded by flowers so I added delicate flowers to the hanging baskets of ferns that were already in the conservatory. She wanted the ceremony to be the focal point so we put a large arrangement of garden flowers at the front of the room. The colors were soft and neutral, lots of cream, blush, and sage green. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect and the sun shone through the glass walls and ceiling of the conservatory, lighting the way for the beautiful bride and her groom.

Afterward, everyone went over to the Gervasi Bistro for a cozy dinner in the wine cellar. A lush runner of flowers decorated the long table. An amazing cake by LaLa Custom Cakes of Lakewood featured Dana and Andrew’s initials carved into the icing. Check out the gorgeous blush roses accenting the cake! These are Quicksand roses and are absolutely gorgeous when coaxed into full, open bloom like these.

February 4, 2018February 10, 2018

The Five Hottest Wedding Trends for 2018, part 2

an Ultra Violet wedding at Waters Edge, Louisville, OH. Dahlias, Zinnias, locally grown by florist t"he Garden by the Gate"

Hi again!

I’m ready to continue last week’s post on the hottest wedding trends for 2018! Why should you care? You don’t have to care; if you know exactly how you want your wedding day to look and feel, and you’re not influenced by what everyone else is doing, then you have a strong sense of style and are confident in your choices. Go you! You might be coming up with the newest wedding trends we’ll be talking about in 2019, or you have very classic, traditional taste and you can’t go wrong with that.

For everyone else, here are some new trends you can incorporate into your day, just to give your guests a little surprise, something to talk about. I think it’s rather nice if your guests say, “Sweet, I haven’t seen that before!”

The 5 Latest Wedding Trends

#1 Color

To recap last week’s post, the top wedding trend for 2018 is new ways with color. You can keep your favorite color, but to set your wedding apart from last year’s crowd, don’t be afraid to use bold color. Bright, multi-colored palettes, moody palettes, and adding a pop of the Pantone Color of the Year, Ultra Violet, will wake up your color scheme.

#2 Hanging Flowers

Things are looking up! Up at the gorgeous hanging floral installations, floral chandeliers, and garland draped ceilings. These new trends in wedding flowers make a big splash whether your venue is a traditional white wedding tent, rustic barn, or modern gallery. These can be moderately priced when mostly greenery is used or the sky’s (literally) the limit with lush flowers abounding.

The hanging flower trend also includes hoops and wreaths. Flower accented hoops of brass or wood are used as hanging backdrops, ceremony decor, and even as bridesmaids bouquets. Wreaths are simply hoops that are completely covered with flowers or greenery and can be similarly used or can be hung horizontally to make the base of a fab floral chandelier.

#3 Transparency

You might not have ever been “ghosted” but your wedding can be with “ghost” chairs. That’s what they’re calling the completely see-through plexiglass chairs that will give a light look to your wedding reception. Also popular in transparency are clear hanging signs with white calligraphy for your seating chart, menu, or welcome signs. You can even rent a clear tent so that you can dance the night away under the stars.

Transparency has been popping up more and more for the bride’s attire as well. Gauzy chiffon skirts are layered over pants or a mini for modern style. Sheer, lacy skirts and bodices update a traditional gown. Sheer fabrics are also very popular in bridesmaids dresses on the bodice, as a capelet, or for a long-over-short look.

#4 Industrial Chic

The industrial chic look is the new rustic, and it takes its cue from new venues coming into use. The industrial venue is just what it sounds like, a place that used to be a manufacturing facility, warehouse, or 19th-century office space. You’ll know you’re in an industrial venue by the exposed brick walls, overhead steel beams and heating ducts, metal shaded light fixtures, and Edison bulbs. You can play up the look by using metals in your decor such as geometric flower stands, metal chairs, strands of bistro lights, and a neutral color scheme. Find uses for metal grates, pulleys, factory carts, or wooden pallets to complete the look. Add an industrial vibe to your bridal attire by tossing on a denim jacket in cool of the evening.

#5 Bohemian

The bohemian look began last year but is coming on even stronger. A bohemian wedding is an eclectic mix of styles, a carefree spirit, bright colors, unfussy, and most of all, dedicated to everyone having fun. Flowers are bright, arranged loosely, and used in unconventional ways, in the hair, as a hanging curtain, or even as jewelry. Textiles play a big part in the Boho wedding trend with bright colors, fringe, embroidery, velvet, or macrame showing up as chair covers, backdrops, or bridal party wear. Geometrics, metals, and crystals are often found in centerpieces and decor.

Which new wedding trends do you see for your own wedding?

You don’t have to try every new 2018 trend at once, but some trends really layer well. For example, moody color palettes, woodsy decor (moss!), and caped gowns all work together for a fairy tale theme. The transparent trend in decor calls for a clean and modern gown and florals that are light and bright.

Tell us more about your wedding ideas, be they traditional or trendy, by filling out the Wedding Flowers Inquiry form. We’d love to meet you and hear all about your dream wedding.

January 27, 2018February 1, 2018

Five Biggest Wedding Trends for 2018

Fall wedding bouquets, from the Garden by the Gate florist.

(A 2-part post)

In an unscientific study of 2018 wedding trends, I went to a lot of popular wedding websites and looked at their hottest wedding trends for 2018. There were some common threads, a few outliers, and at least one where the experts contradicted each other! Before I get to the top 5 trends that I found I’ll give you the ideas that are definitely trends, but perhaps not everywhere for everyone.

Cakes, big cakes: It sounds like the multi-tiered cake with elaborate decoration is making a comeback after years of cookies, cupcakes, and pies. Personally, I think donuts are still trending.
Floral backdrops: Equally popular are the flower wall, greenery wall, and circular arbor, with the flower wall being the spendiest.
Geometrics: This trend tag-teams with the BoHo look, metallics, and succulents. It is seen as hanging decorations, vases, and floral risers, or backdrops.
Open Photo Booth: Also called the no-booth booth. Your photographer sets up a background, supplies the props, and stations an assistant to snap everyone’s shenanigans. I love it when the background brings out the theme of the wedding.
A shout-out to the runners-up: Wedding entertainment, neon signs, succulents, unique food, textured table linens, and the woodsy look

Where do the experts disagree? Flower crowns. Some say they are going strong, some say stop already. I’m not tired of them, especially for little girls.

Now on to the main event! The number one trend for 2018 is color! That includes many-colored palettes, bright palettes, and the moody color palette.

Number 1: Color!

Or as I like to say, the Color of the Year is Color! It couldn’t come soon enough for us here at the Garden by the Gate. Our garden grows in an abundance of bright colors, including the Pantone color of the year, Ultra Violet, and the ever-popular burgundy. But try them in a new combination with another color. Ultra Violet pops with Lime Punch! And there are so many great lime green flowers and foliages now. Green trick Dianthus, green Hypericum berries, or Bells of Ireland add great texture as well as color. Burgundy continues its popularity in a color Pantone calls Spiced Apple. It looks great with the tried-and-true dusty rose, but we suggest going a little bolder with Sailor Blue. The moody palettes lend themselves to a fairy-tale themed or woodland wedding. The colors are intense reds, greens, or purples. Add at least one shade that is so deep it is almost black, for the perfect moody color palette.

Next post, we’ll dive deeper into the color trend and give you the rest of the top wedding trends for 2018!

December 31, 2017February 1, 2018

Putting the Country in Country Club

When Jennie and Paul first became engaged, they planned to be married on the family farm with tons of rustic touches. As it became apparent that preparing the farm for a wedding was too daunting a task, the couple chose to move the festivities to Firestone Country Club, where they are members. The world renowned club has been home to many high profile events like the Bridgestone Invitational, part of the World Golf Championships. Portraits of the many celebrities who have visited the club hang in the halls. The couple knew that the elegantly appointed club with its world-class cuisine and impeccable customer service would be perfect for their wedding, but they wanted to keep some of the rustic, country decor elements that they had planned on.

As a professional graphic designer, Jennie had a meticulously planned vision for the decor and the Garden by the Gate was up to the task of making her vision a reality. Champagne-colored sequined table runners were the perfect way to bridge the elegance of the club with the mason jar arrangements brimming with white roses, sunflowers, burgundy dahlias, eucalyptus, and dried wheat.

View all of the awesomeness captured by Too Much Awesomeness photography HERE

October 20, 2017October 21, 2017

Jewel Tones for Fall

As fall brings a nip in the air

nature puts on some of her most vibrant colors. Nicole and Issac’s wedding was on a perfect September day and they chose a perfect fall color palette that included harvest colors of eggplant, wine, maize, apple green, and all the oranges of a maple tree at peak fall color. Nicole carried her grandmother’s rosary down the aisle along with her bouquet of black magic roses, dahlias, mums, hypericum berries, scabiosa pods, and seeded eucalyptus. Since the Garden by the Gate uses locally grown flowers as much as possible, I had told Nicole that I wasn’t sure if the scabiosa pods would be ready in time for her wedding. Luckily my crop of scabiosa pods matured at just the right moment to be included in Nicole’s wedding flowers. Homegrown dahlias used included Hollyhill Black Beauty, Voodoo, Diva, and Summers End. Most of those are new varieties that were chosen with Nicole’s color scheme in mind. See all the gorgeousness captured by EllieJay Photography HERE

When you choose the Garden by the Gate for your wedding flowers, we get right to work making sure that we will have your flowers ready for your wedding. We’ll order dahlia bulbs, seed packets, or plants that coordinate with your color scheme. We also work with local growers like Bloom Hill Farm, a family flower farm in Uniontown, Ohio (just 5 minutes away from the Garden by the Gate).

For Nicole’s wedding, we planted dahlias in shades of eggplant, wine, and orangy-peach. Scabiosa pods were new for me this year, and I have to say they are pretty easy to grow and they are perfect for adding soft texture and unique color to bouquets. For the centerpieces, we planted Benary’s Giants zinnias in purple, wine, gold, and orange.

The most unique thing we grew this year is seen in the ceremony arrangments. Balloon plant milkweed is grown for the balloon-like inflated seed pods that appear in the fall. It is also the food of Monarch Butterflies, an endangered species. I think they added great interest to the arrangements.

August 6, 2016September 2, 2018

A Rivercrest Farm Wedding for Flower Lovers

It’s truly a pleasure for us to work with a bride and her family who LOVE flowers! It is particularly poignant that their love of flowers was fostered and shared by a loving husband and father. In his memory, the bride carried a single tiny sunflower, his favorite, in her bouquet. Carissa chose an awesome ombré color scheme that ran from palest blush to coral to rich cherry pink. Getting the colors right might have been a challenge but Karen, our representative at Mayesh Cleveland supplied us with gorgeous flowers that included peach ranunculus, coral dahlias, café au lait dahlias, blush garden roses, hot pink cockscomb (celosia), and giant peach eremerus.

Carissa and her mom Anais spent the months before the wedding scouring flea markets, antique shops, and tag sales for the antique porcelain and crystal vases grouped on each table in addition to the main centerpiece.

Another fun touch was the floral pocket square that Carissa requested for her groom, Gabe. It was so fun to do and and really made a statement on his tuxedo.

But the most fun (and challenge) was the giant “go big or go home” arrangements that flanked the barn entrance. After rejecting our first choice of urns as way too small, mom Anais was thrilled with the final arrangements of hydrangeas, snapdragons, roses, cockscomb, Queen Pink protea, and eremerus in tall, faux cement urns. The protea was another touch of nostalgia, reminiscent of a family trip to New Zealand. Carissa’s bouquet and her mom’s corsage also included Blushing Bride protea. View the entire gallery at Loren Jackson Photography.

March 2, 2016March 6, 2016

Ohio Wine Country Wedding

Home-grown Dahlias Dazzle

Water’s Edge Vineyard, in Louisville Ohio, is a gorgeous venue that has it all. From the charming gazebo where the ceremony was held, to cocktails on the pergola-covered deck, to dinner and dancing in the “glamorous barn,” a colorful mix of home-grown flowers was used to create a vintage feel with a bit of glam. Mercury glass and antique silver provided the shine while dahlias and zinnias amped up the vibrancy. In addition to the dahlias and other flowers grown by the Garden by the Gate, the bride’s mom turned her front yard into a flower garden to add more zinnias and cosmos to the mix. We made sure that the bride was carrying plenty of her mom’s home-grown flowers down the aisle to make the day even more special for them.

February 29, 2016April 19, 2016

Grow your own Wedding Flowers!

Is it possible to grow your own flowers for your wedding? YES! And you don’t even have to be that experienced in gardening. Home grown wedding flowers are great for barn and outdoor weddings, vintage or rustic weddings, or DIY weddings. Locally grown flowers are also well suited to a garden or tea-party theme. Some of the best flowers for a rustic or vintage look are also very easy to grow! Here are some tips from the Garden by the Gate’s main grower Joy Walko.

Annuals

Fast growing annuals such as Cosmos, Zinnias, Cornflower, and Queen Anne’s Lace (Ammi Majus) are easily grown from seed, even for a beginner. For a fall themed wedding there are many new varieties of small sunflowers that are very attractive and easily sown from seed. Contact your local library or garden center for workshops on seed starting.

Other flowers like Lisianthus, Snapdragons, Salvia, Angelonia, or Dusty Miller are inexpensive at garden centers or discount stores. Buy packs of small bedding plants and they will flourish in your sunny garden.

Garden Roses

Garden roses are really not as hard to grow as their reputation suggests. We planted twelve bare root English rosebushes in the spring and had quite a lot of blooms our first year. We had enough roses in bloom in mid-August to have a couple of our own roses in each bridesmaid’s bouquet and a few for the centerpieces. This year I expect them to really take off. David Austin English roses are repeat bloomers so you’ll still have flowers up until frost. You’ll need to watch for pests such as aphids and Japanese beetles and use a fungicide if black leaf spot appears.

These David Austin roses have amazing root systems that allow them to get established quickly. Mushroom compost is great for enriching the soil.

One of our most successful crops is dahlias. A single bulb will produce dozens and dozens of blooms throughout the growing season and they required very little care.

The most important factor in growing your own wedding flowers is timing. Find flowers and plants that are known to be at their peak at the time of your wedding. In June these would include roses, peonies, delphinium, and astilbe among others. In midsummer most of the other flowers I mentioned will be in bloom and you should still have roses. The exception is the Dahlias which won’t really come into their own until late July and August. They will be at their peak at the end of August and throughout September.

Plan B

Don’t forget to have a Plan B! If your flowers are not doing what you expect at the time you need them you’ll need to supplement. Locate some other local growers from whom you can purchase additional flowers if needed. Visit farmer’s markets or investigate gardens clubs to find people who may have flowers to sell. You can also purchase bulk flowers at your local big box buying club store. I found the website of a local dahlia enthusiasts group who were helpful in locating growers. I ended up purchasing several dozen stems to supplement my crop from a lovely lady who ran a farm stand at her home. I visited early in the season and explained what I was doing. She gave me some tips and I had her phone number so I could place an advance order when the wedding was near. You may also have neighbors who would be willing to share their garden bounty; they’ll probably be excited to be a part of the wedding plans. Have you noticed a house down the street with a row of peonies along the drive or banks of astilbe in bloom? We got buckets of purple liatris from a neighbor of my mother-in-law who was only too glad to share.

Of course, growing or buying flowers is only the beginning. You will need to turn them into bouquets, centerpieces and other decor. I’ll talk about that in a future post.

Meanwhile, get out those seed catalogs and visit websites to start planning your garden now.

February 29, 2016March 6, 2016

A Sweet Home Grown Wedding

WEdding flowers by Garden by the Gate florist.

You’ll love seeing these gorgeous images from Magic Memory Works Photography of the Garden by the Gate’s first big event. Leeka was amazing and captured every lush detail. She was so great to work with and her photos show all the love that goes into them and the emotions of everyone throughout the day. We think it was the loveliest wedding we’ve ever attended, if we do say so ourselves!

View the entire Gallery from Magic Memory Works

Family Fun

Kate and Harry’s wedding was truly a family experience. Everyone did their part to make the day so special. Kate’s mom and dad grew all most all of the flowers in their home garden. The bouquets and arrangements were created by her mom, grandmother, and friends. The fantastic sweets table was also supplied by family. One grandmother loaned a brooch and another grandmother provided some antique lace for the bride’s bouquet. The groom and best man brewed a special “Wedding IPA” that was served. Harry’s dad kept the party going by adding his vocals to some classic rock favorites. Of course there were brothers and sisters in the wedding party and tons of friends and family helped out. A team of groomsmen were hilarious as they learned to tie chair sashes into perfect bows and special friends Nan and Amanda worked tirelessly putting the finishing touches on everything.

A few snapshots . . .

February 27, 2016March 6, 2016

Heavenly Hilltop Wedding

It was a heavenly day for a hilltop wedding at Rivercrest Farm near Dover, Ohio. Sweet bride Nicole planned a lovely rustic wedding with the help of the One Fine Day folks at Rivercrest and the Garden by the Gate was thrilled to provide the home-grown flowers for bouquets, centerpieces, and ceremony decor.

Nicole’s bridesmaids wore lovely chiffon dresses in various pastel shades, so we made the bouquets mostly white with a few touches of color. Nicole’s bouquet incorporated all the colors of the bridesmaids dresses using garden roses, dahlias, and alstromeria. Queen Ann’s lace and seeded eucalyptus were the finishing touches.

The boutonnieres were white roses with a sprig of Queen Ann’s lace and finished with twine for a rustic look.

The wedding was held on top of the mountain, overlooking the beautiful Tuscarawas Valley. White painted church pews were ready for the guests and the ceremony took place under a rustic log arbor. The arbor was decorated simply with white floral topiaries and ferns.