Tag: wedding flowers north canton

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Moody, Boho Wedding Shoot at Rivercrest Farm

the Garden by the Gate florist

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I was so lucky to work with this talented team for an amazing styled photoshoot at Rivercrest Farm in Dover, Ohio. Planned and organized by Ashley Anderson of Ash&Oak Planning, I hope you enjoy this video by NB Photography. The shoot featured our model Katherine making her entrance on the grand staircase in the Rivercrest barn. She then joined her “groom”, Russ, at the romantic sweetheart table styled with soft fabric, greenery, and flowers in retro glass bottles. Then on to the charcuterie board! Oh my, this table was literally covered with cheeses, meats, dips, rustic bread, fruit, and hand-decorated cookies. Our group then traveled up to Rivercrest’s iconic hilltop ceremony site. After a stop in the darling photo booth camper, and some shots in front of the beautifully decorated ceremony arch, our couple finished the day with a walk among the magnificent horses pastured nearby.

Being asked to provide the floral decor for this shoot was a huge compliment and I didn’t let them down. The bride’s bouquet was a large, free-form hand-tie featuring a large succulent grown in the Garden by the Gate, along with garden roses, roses, pampas grass, willow eucalyptus, and dahlias, also grown in the Garden. The groom wore a boutonniere of natural materials and a bit of pampas grass. The arch feature foraged materials from around the Garden by the Gate along with eucalyptus and flowers.

If you are planning a 2021 wedding, be sure to include this dream team of vendors:

Planner and Designer: @ashandoakplanning
Photographer: @cassiemwolf
Venue:@rivercrestfarm
Florist: @gardenbythegate
Gowns: @abridesdesign
Hair and makeup:@meghansullen @jenniferandco
Cookies: @cisforcookie_sr
Cakes & cupcakes: @clevelandand.cakes
Photo Booth: @happycamperbarcar
Models: @glimpseofwildflowers @russpitsul
Video: @nbphotographyllc

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The Top 4 Worst Ever Wedding Flower Tips from the Internet

Purple Wedding Bouquet by Garden by the Gate, photo KristinLeanne Photography

The internet is your friend. When planning a wedding you simply can’t live without the tried and true stalwarts of the wedding world; sites and blogs like The Knot, Wedding Wire, Style Me Pretty, and of course Martha. But there are a few duds out there. I’m not going to call them out here, but I’ll just anonymously share some of their worst advice. Where do they get this stuff? They clearly didn’t interview any florists before writing these clunkers.

Dud Number 1

 “Try to have a meeting with your florist two weeks prior to your event so you can get a true sense of what is in season that close to your special day. ”

Wrong on so many levels! Two weeks before your wedding, your flowers have been ordered, your arrangements and bouquets carefully planned down to the last stem of stock. Your florist knows what is in season during your wedding, he or she doesn’t need to wait until the flowers are ready to ship from the farm to find out. If you’re living on the edge, trying to get, say, peonies in January, then there might be some last-minute shuffling.

Dud Number 2

“In season, fluffy-headed blossoms like hydrangeas and peonies can stretch a budget, because you need only a few to nicely fill a vase. “

This one is part dud and part true. Hydrangeas are HUGE, and not very expensive, so they do give you a lot of bang for your buck. I use them in practically every wedding. Peonies, however, are never cheap, even when at the height of their season, despite what the wedding websites may say. That said, they are beautiful, fragrant, and are a favorite with brides. I suggest that they be used in bouquets where their beauty and fragrance will be most appreciated. If you are on a budget, substitute less expensive flowers in table and ceremony decor. I love white cremones, which are a type of large mum.

Dud Number 3

” One costly mistake people make is adding the word “wedding” before everything . . . “

This little dud would have you believe that florists mark up the flowers just because they hear the word ‘wedding.’ Wedding flowers are special and they require specific techniques of designing, ordering, conditioning, and arranging. They are not your cash and carry grocery store bouquet. This is really a disservice to the floral industry; florists are not rip-off artists just looking to separate you from your hard-earned dollars. Believe me, we could find a more lucrative way to make a living if that were all that mattered. We are florists because we love beauty, we love to create, and we are wedding florists because we want to make your wedding day very special. The best thing you can do is be honest and upfront about your wants and budget. Then we can do our best to give you the best of both worlds.

Dud Number 4

This little gem was written by a wedding photographer:

” It is no secret that wedding flowers can be very expensive . . .”

Well, they certainly don’t want you thinking about how expensive your photography package is! (Community, not competition people!) Everyone wants to get the best photographer they can afford because “the photographs last forever”, but when it comes to flowers they’re all like “but flowers just die.” Oh really? Check out any wedding photo album and you’ll see that it’s full of pictures of, you guessed it, flowers! The bride is holding flowers, the bridesmaids are holding flowers, the men and women in the family are wearing flowers, every couple and group shot at the ceremony site shows the flowers that were used. Your flowers will last forever, just like your photos!

So where should you look for wedding flower advice? Talk to a wedding florist. Do they listen to what you’re saying? Do they try to talk you into something that doesn’t ring true or do they truly get your vision? Do they respond promptly and answer all of your questions? When you find a florist that understands you and your vision, who has a reputation for doing what they promise, then you can trust them to guide you to your perfect wedding flowers and give you a good value.

Call me today and let’s talk. I’ll give you my best effort and hope you’ll trust me to bring your wedding vision to life.

Wedding Inquiry Form

Joy Walko, owner & lead designer
Garden by the Gate Floral Design
[email protected]
234-262-1253

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Wedding Season is Back!

A boho wedding in the country features mis-matched bridesmaids bouquets and natural bouquets by Garden by the Gate Floral Design, Photo: Mallory + Justin Photography

I’m so excited that brides can start planning and having wedding celebrations again! Beginning in July, wedding ceremonies and receptions are allowed to host up to 300 people. There are still restrictions designed to minimize the spread of COVID 19, but gatherings will be happening again.

Of the couples that Garden by the Gate Floral Design is working with, the May and June weddings are mostly postponed and rescheduled for later in the year. Some couples are opting for a small ceremony now and a big party when things get back to “normal.” Others have postponed everything, some until 2021.

No one could have known that this pandemic was coming, so we all need to be patient and understanding as we work through this unprecedented event together. I want to do everything I can to give couples one less thing to stress about!

For those of you just starting on your wedding planning, I’m happy to say that while phone consultations have been working quite well, in-person appointments are available starting this month. So it’s up to you and I’ll do what you are comfortable with.

Restarting wedding celebrations is awesome, but mostly we’d like to know that fewer of our fellow Ohioans and Americans are getting sick and even dying from this disease. In our global society, we grieve for all of the world’s people who are going through this.

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Ten Questions to Ask your Wedding Florist

As a bride looking to line up your wedding vendors, you have certainly been cruising all the big wedding websites for information and advice. Quite a few of these sites have a list of questions for you to ask your florist. One site actually has 33 questions you should ask your wedding florist! I don’t think anyone wants a four-hour consultation! But some of these questions are important and The Knot has a list of ten questions. Okay, I can handle that! And to save time in your consultation, I’ll answer them for you right now!

  1. Have you done many weddings? Yes, the Garden by the Gate has been in business for five years and we have done about 75 weddings. Weddings are almost all that we do; we also provide flowers for wedding showers, rehearsal dinners, and we have actually done flowers for a number of our previous brides’ baby showers! It’s almost like we’re part of the family.
  2. Can I see photographs or live examples of your work? Of course! We have some photo albums of our work and lots of photos on our website and Pinterest boards and on our blog. It would be kind of hard to show you an actual wedding arrangement because when we are designing a wedding, we’re way too busy to do a consultation! We like to focus on one thing at a time and give you our full attention.
  3. Have you done weddings at our ceremony or reception venue before? We may have worked at your site before, but if we haven’t, we love to take a road trip with you and check it out! We’ll look it over and together discuss what type of decoration it needs. Then we’ll talk to the venue manager and find out what is allowed, when we can begin, when things have to be removed, etc.
  4. How many weddings are you handling on the same day or weekend as mine? Will you simply be dropping off flowers, or will you be helping set up too? We only do one wedding per weekend, because that’s the way we like it. We’ll concentrate on your event alone. Wedding florists who do several weddings per weekend do a great job, too, because they have the staff to do it.
    Our prices always include delivery and set-up, unless you are more than 30 miles away from our studio, then there is a delivery charge.
  5. How do you like to work with clients? We treat our clients like friends; we sit around the table and get to know you as a person and as a couple before we start talking about your wedding flowers. Then we want to know all of your thoughts and ideas. We even want to know what you don’t like! There is never a charge or limit on consultations. Before we meet the first time, we start a Pinterest board for you and start gathering ideas. We invite you to pin on it too! But we give it a secret name so it’s just between us and anyone you want to invite. After we find out what you want, we will send you a detailed proposal that includes a slide show with inspiration pictures and photos of the flowers we might use. An itemized quote shows the prices of the individual items. This is a working document that we work with until it is to your liking.
  6. Are you willing to work within my budget? We can almost always come up with a proposal within your budget. Sometimes that means different flower choices or it might mean scaling down some aspect of the decor, such as having flowers only on every other table. The most important thing is to be open about why you want some changes in the proposal and we’ll work with you.
  7. Will you be responsible for working with my venue to find out about any restrictions they may have in terms of décor and installation? Our first idea is to just ask you what the restrictions are; your venue will have given you a contract containing those rules, such as whether flame is allowed, or how things may be attached to venue property. If it is something more complex, we’ll be glad to talk directly to the venue manager.
  8. What other services do you offer? We would LOVE for you to ask us this. We can provide many things besides flowers, such as table runners, rental of chalkboards, lanterns, candleholders, backdrops, cake stands, and more. We also can custom craft things like escort cards, table numbers, banners, or custom water bottles. Check out the rentals page.
  9. Who will handle setup and delivery? What about breakdown? How long will you need for both, and what are the fees? We do all the setup and delivery for you. Breakdown the night of the wedding is an extra charge (you’ll feel it’s well worth it when your friends and family can walk away from it all at the end of the evening). Timing depends on the individual event, but if time is short, we’ll bring on extra helpers.
  10. What happens to the flowers after the wedding? It’s really up to you, but it is something we need to talk about early on. If you want to send your centerpieces home with your guests, then we’ll need to include the cost of the containers in your price. If you are renting the containers, we’ll discuss the return timeline. We can also donate your flowers to our local assisted living home for the elderly or disabled. They love to see the beautiful flowers and it’s so much better than tossing them in the trash!

Have more questions? Check out our FAQ page, or shoot us an email at [email protected]. If you’d like to find out what we can do for you, start by filling out the wedding inquiry form.

Wedding Inquiry Form

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The Barn on Enchanted Acres June Wedding

June Wedding. Wedding bouquets by the Garden by the Gate florist, North Canton Ohio

What would be better on a freezing February day than to look back at one of my favorite summer weddings from 2017? Let’s go back to a warm June day at the Barn on Enchanted Acres through the photos by Liza Kirk Photography. The Barn on Enchanted Acres is such an awesome wedding venue and we loved bringing it to life with abundant blush and white wedding flowers. Beautiful bride Brooke and her family were fantastic to work with and had tons of ideas for the flowers and other decorations. Everything couldn’t have been lovelier.

Guests were welcomed to the wedding by a barn wood sign the read “Happily Ever After Starts Here” above an abundant arrangement of peonies, roses, delphinium, snapdragons, and hydrangeas. For a barn wedding or outdoor wedding, you’ll need something to set off the ceremony area. At the Barn on Enchanted Acres they have a fab arbor that we covered in white hydrangeas, blush roses, and vines along with sheer draping. We added some lanterns and ferns to draw the eye to the focal point of the wedding, where the couple would say their vows.

We agree with brides that the most important item of the wedding flowers is the bridal bouquet. We advise brides that this is not where you want to try to save money on your wedding flowers. The bride’s bouquet should fulfill every one of her wedding day dreams. It was Brooke’s dream to have lots and lots of Peonies in her wedding flowers and we didn’t disappoint. We used peonies grown here in our own garden along with other locally sourced peonies. The scent was divine!  The ceremony took place right in a beautiful meadow behind the barn so the addition of Queen Ann’s Lace to the bouquets and centerpieces was just the right touch.

We loved the long, rectangular tables and gold Chiavari chairs provided by the Barn on Enchanted Acres. The centerpieces were arrangements of peonies, hydrangeas, and roses in tall mercury glass vases alternating with low arrangements. In addition, small cups containing a single peony dotted the tables. Don’t underestimate the power of flowers to set the mood and tone of your wedding. As the guests entered you could hear hushed exclamations of how lovely and romantic everything looked.

If you would like to chat with us about your wedding flowers, we would love to hear your ideas. The first step is to fill out our Wedding Inquiry Form and we’ll be glad to make an appointment to talk about your wedding flower ideas.

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the Garden by the Gate florist

the Garden by the Gate wedding florist located in North Canton and Hartville