Bride's bouquet by Petalena and shoes. Photo by Geneve Rege Photography, 2011.

We got our hands on the most beautiful pale lavender-white clematis and a garden rose called “Chippendale” – the most beautiful peachy-pink color imaginable. I am in love with it.

Trio of images by Geneve Rege Photography, 2011. L: Herb Centerpieces, C: Bridesmaid Bouquet; R: Vintage Jar Centerpieces. By Petalena, 2011.

Love this trio of images from Geneve because it really shows off the color palette we developed with our bride:  purple-pink, magentas, and green with pops of yellow and peach.  The bridesmaid dresses were this lovely green-blue color that made the color of the flowers just pop! Such a great choice…

Herbed Centerpiece by Petalena, 2011. Photo by Geneve Rege Photography.

For our herb centerpieces we did a duo wire and rusticated terracotta container filled with thyme, oregano, lavender or rosemary. The balance of the containers were filled with local seasonal flowers portulaca, inpatients, and dianthus.

I hope these sweet little containers live on, I envision them perched on someone’s kitchen window, ready for an easy snip of thyme or rosemary to add to a dinner.

Vintage canning jars and bud vase arrangements by Petalena, 2011. Photos by Geneve Rege Photography.

I saved my favorite photos for last – each photo of the cut flower arrangements we did using local zinnias and dahlias. With touches of Queen Anne’s Lace and hydrangea too of course. I found this beautiful ribbon called “Pecan” and knew it would look just beautiful with the blue-green of canning jars, so we tied a length of it around each jar…a new favorite color combination!

All the beautiful imagery is courtesy of Geneve Rege Photography – a thousand thank yous!

Wonderful day of coordination by the fantastic Ms. Jennifer Cox of Esq. Events

Gorgeous location, who wouldn’t love it? Commander’s Mansion, overseen by Rae Grassia

A special thanks to the couple, especially our bride, Katharine – we had so much fun working with you on the vision for the day, you were such a treat to work with!

-xo Petalena

Petite Spring Bud Vase by Petalena. Photo by Krista Photography.

With the quieter months of winter (and negative zero temps in Boston today!), it’s nice to have time to reflect on the design work we did over the past season.  Today we’re sharing some beautiful photographs by Krista Photography of one of our spring weddings which is also currently featured in The Knot Boston Magazine’s “Real Weddings” section (page 68).

We worked with our wonderful bride Sylvia on this color palette – creating soft lovely bouquets of blush, apricots, and ivories and saving up some deeper more dramatic punches of color for the reception.

Pretty bouquets all in a row. Photo by Krista Photography.

We just love this photo of our client in her beautiful gown, looking so happy!

With bouquet. Photo by Krista Photography.

Bouquet, detail. Photo by Krista Photography.

In this up-close photo of the bouquet you can see some of the specific flowers a bit more – pretty soft white ranunculas, lush full white and soft blush peonies, and a few tendrils of white sweet peas peeking out here and there. These really are some of our favorite flowers, so purely and exquisitely beautiful – even just one of these flowers in a little bud vase is perfection.

Centerpieces waiting to go out to the tent. Photo by Krista Photography.

Even though this wedding was in May, it was that unseasonably HOT day in Massachusetts where temperatures were something like almost 90 degrees? Crazy! With the wedding taking place in the lovely tent at the Commander’s Mansion in Watertown, we kept everything cool inside until the last possible moment. Even though this was not where the flowers ended up, I still like this photo, they are almost like ladies-in-waiting, sitting on a beautiful old side board.

Entry Arrangement at the Commander's Mansion. Photo by Krista Photography.

Apryl and I were so pleased to see this nice photograph of the entry arrangement. While I have a somewhat snazzy camera for Petalena, I do have a tough time getting decently attractive photographs of bigger arrangements, I can make them, just not photograph them! Apryl found this vintage looking tall vase with a nice bronze-y patina and I put huge branches of dogwood and apple along with long stems of ivory lilac, apricot parrot tulips and coral peonies.

Centerpiece at the Commander's Mansion. Photo by Krista Photography.

Peony gorgeousness. Photo by Krista Photography.

The two photos above are table-view and then up-close detail of the arrangements by day. Below, the arrangements by night. Such a different feel. I can’t decide which look I like best, probably the evening though since there is nothing more beautifully flattering to people and flowers like candlelight! And that coral peony, well, it’s just perfection.

Centerpiece by candlelight. Photo by Krista Photography.

Candle centerpieces aglow. Photo by Krista Photography.

The centerpiece designs featured two styles, seen above and at left. We scored lots of pretty crab apple branches at the flower market and incorporated those with white lilac,  some spirea, fringe-y white tulips, apricot parrot tulips, and Juliet garden roses, and hot coral peonies.Half of the table designs were a collection of pillar candles with the garden roses and peonies tucked in along the base for a romantic look.

Chair Flowers for the Bride and Groom. Photo by Krista Photography

We of course love the pretty details. While we know it might feel like unneeded luxury to add something like flower and ribbons to the chairs for the bride and groom, we do think those special touches really make a difference in an event feeling unique.

Jennifer Cox of Esq. Events, the event planner for the wedding, said it best, “Many weddings have elaborate themes but this wedding proves that sometimes all it takes is a beautiful color palette to create a beautiful wedding.” She wrote a lovely little piece about the details behind this wedding in the Prepare to Wed newsletter.

Florals by Petalena

Photos by Krista Photography

Planning by Esq. Events

Venue by Commander’s Mansion