Just received such great images from photographer friend Jerrod Brown. Can't wait to upload every single one for you to enjoy. But for now . . . here is a sneak peek!
check back for more . . .
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wedding Color Trends : And the Lillie's 2011 Winner is . . .
Since Lillie's 2012 wedding season is just beginning, I thought this would be a great time to reflect on the 2011 year in flowers and see how the year's predicted color trends actually influenced Lillie's weddings and events.
Sure, I had a hunch what the outcome might be...
It seemed easy enough to guess which color was the most popular. Right? But then I went and posted.(Note to self: posting = homework) To simplify matters, I decided to stick to weddings and exclude our other Lillie's events. So, now the homework is done, lists of weddings compiled and the votes are in, and we're ready to reveal (in descending order) Lillie's top three most popular colors for weddings in 2011
~ in third place ~ brides asking for the silver grays of eucalyptus, lamb's ear, dusty miller and Brazilian gray brunia,
 |
| Pin It |
~ in second place with brides requesting the feminine, pale, peachy-pinks of Anna and Majolica pink spray roses, barely peach evening stock and Juliet garden roses.
~ and first place in a run away victory . . . 2011 was the year for purple. from deep royal purples to French lavender and all shades in between. Lillie's bouquets were purple from February until November last year.
Lillie's brides in 2011 requested hydrangea, lisianthus, evening stock, lavender roses, scabiosa, purple stock and lavender sweet peas!
 |
| Pin It |
Friday, February 24, 2012
Wedding color trends for 2012
I love to check out the Pantone color trends for any given year and then track how those trends translate into "real time".
What fascinates me is not what 10 or 12 colors the tastemakers have predicted, as much as which stand-outs will attract us most.
In case you haven't seen it, here is the Pantone color trend forecast for Spring/Summer 2012 :
Hmmmmm. Gray was everywhere. And yellow. Clean aqua blues and greens were all over the place. And, add to that lots of bright white to contrast those sharp, clean colors.
But what about Alabama brides?
Certainly, we at Lillie's can't speak for the whole fashion world, only our little, flowery corner of it -- but, looking back over the year, it's clear that one forecast color was the clear winner with Lillie's brides!
See if you can guess which of these Pantone color trends for Spring/Summer in 2011
was the most popular color choice for Lillie's weddings last year:
Of course, if I was caught up on blog posts for the year, then you might have figured it out by now. . . but, alas, you'll have to wait until my next blog post for the big reveal.
What fascinates me is not what 10 or 12 colors the tastemakers have predicted, as much as which stand-outs will attract us most.
In case you haven't seen it, here is the Pantone color trend forecast for Spring/Summer 2012 :
If color trends were flowers, here's what 2012 might
look like:
So, what was the IT color for 2011?
Hmmmmm. Gray was everywhere. And yellow. Clean aqua blues and greens were all over the place. And, add to that lots of bright white to contrast those sharp, clean colors.
But what about Alabama brides?
Certainly, we at Lillie's can't speak for the whole fashion world, only our little, flowery corner of it -- but, looking back over the year, it's clear that one forecast color was the clear winner with Lillie's brides!
See if you can guess which of these Pantone color trends for Spring/Summer in 2011
was the most popular color choice for Lillie's weddings last year:
Of course, if I was caught up on blog posts for the year, then you might have figured it out by now. . . but, alas, you'll have to wait until my next blog post for the big reveal.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
More white wedding bouquets!
We had such a great response to our Lillie's blog post about white bouquets for brides that I thought we'd add a few more. And by the way, it goes without saying (even though I'm saying it) that white bouquets and nosegays are equally popular with bridesmaids, not to mention (though I can't resist mentioning it) for mammas and grandmammas!
So here you go, all you white flower fans - a few more beautiful white bouquets ~
 |
| Pin It |
A luscious bouquet of anemone, rose and wide open freesia blossoms for Bride Cat. I love how the jewel-like black and gold centers of the anemone lend added richness and keep the solid white palette from appearing flat. Photo by Heather McAlister Photography
 |
| Pin It |
Her reception was held at a completely green venue . . . a beautiful botanical garden, also in Hoover, called Aldridge Gardens.
 |
| Pin It |
Bride Meredith selected the perfect month for a peony bouquet. Her wedding was at The Sonnet House on May 1, 2011. The antique brooch was a perfect compliment to the feminine, ruffled white peonies. Thank you to David Shirk for this beautiful image.
Above is one of my all time favorite pictures! The event was a Memorial Day wedding in Birmingham and this maid was juggling her little camera while hanging on to her bridesmaid's bouquet: a simple, hand-tied garden bouquet of Virginia alstromeria and Virginia roses with pops of apple green courtesy of mini green hydrangeas and hosta leaves.
Here, friend Ricky holds a just-finished, bountiful white bouquet of French ranunculus and hydrangea, still glistening and about to be sent off to lucky bride Prim.
 |
| Pin It |
Monday, February 20, 2012
Woodland tablescape : Bridesmaid's breakfast on the forest floor
 |
| Pin It |
Please click below to vote for Lillie's tablescape in the contest!
Whenever we get a chance to style an event beyond pure floral, I admit, Tracey and I get just a little bit giddy. Besides our shared love of nature and flower, we've both worked extensively in photostyling for print publication and share a more holistic approach to design than combining flowers with pretty containers.
So, when local fine jeweler, Bromberg's, approached Lillie's to design a table for their February 2012 bridal event, we couldn't resist! Each of the six designers chosen to participate was given a different china pattern to serve as the design theme for their table. Lillie's was to be a new pattern by Arte Italica. Little did we know that the design was so new, that we would never actually see the dishes until the day of the event! As a matter of fact, we set up our table early Friday before heading out of town to deliver another event, and the dishes were still in transit!
Our second inspiration was this adorable vintage silverware chandelier hanging over the table. Immediately I knew it had to become a major design element. |
| Pin It |
Next, we needed a theme.
That was easy. The mystery Arte Italica dishes were to be earthy and rustic with grayed white and purple.
Burgeoning silver pussy willow branches, happy tulips coming up everywhere and a patch of plummy hellebores nodding in my backyard were all begging to be used.
A bridesmaid's breakfast
on the forest floor!
We gathered yards of soft green moss and created a berm down the center of the table from which the floral elements were to spring naturally, as if scooped up from the forest floor. Along the moss berm we added tiny resurrection fern, purple and silver begonia leaves, African face mask and shelf lichen. The cloches which we'd just brought back from market were perfect for this table. I couldn't have them empty, so I ran over to Continental Bakery for the perfect little brioche. 
To help us pull the theme together, Melissa at Weddings, etc. in Homewood created a sweet invitation for our woodland "bridesmaid's breakfast" with a brown faux bois backer.
 |
| Pin It |
Early Saturday morning, brides began streaming through the store doors, dressed in all manner of pearls and pumps and LBD's (little black dresses) and dark sunglasses in hopes of winning the Holly Golightly look-alike contest. Photographer Arden Ward was busy snapping away, getting every detail. Suddenly Bromberg's looked like a scene from Breakfast at Tiffany's. All of the Bromberg's
family were so helpful to the brides.
And the giveaways - Oh my
goodness! I think every bride won a cool prize.
The grand prize winner
of the Holly Golightly contest won a beautiful strand of pearls for her ensemble, including a vintage mink and an equally vintage cat (aptly named "Cat" in the movie)
Now we need a vacation!...which brings me to my next point-
Lillie's in the running for a beach weekend give away so . . . please vote xo ~
Again, here is the link to vote for our woodland tablescape!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
white wedding bouquets
This week two different brides have asked me if they should carry an all
white bouquet or a bouquet with color. I always say, "It's your day,
carry your favorite blossoms!"
My good friends Carolyn and Cathy at The White Room and I have an ongoing discussion over white blossoms vs. color on the day of the wedding. The White Room girls have me outnumbered ~ here are a few of the white bouquets Lillie's has made just for their brides xo . . .
But remember, even white bouquets can vary in shades, textures and hues. The bouquet above includes a true white casablanca lily, a vanilla Virginia rose, an ivory mini calla and, at the very top of the bouquet, a snow white peony. The touches of green in the bouquet are found in the fronds of southern shield fern and the buds on white freesia stems.
So, since all colors, including white, vary tremendously, the only way to achieve truly even color is to select a single type of blossom for your bouquet. The bouquet below is limited to Amelia roses - one of my favorites because of the feminine scallop on her petals.
Thank you's to Arden photography
This bouquet photographed by Emily Kicklighter is a neat mound of white Akito roses with a collar of waxy green galax leaves. Akito roses are one of the purest white and, according to growers, the most popular variety of white rose for weddings.
Other popular white rose bouquet choices include:
Bianca - medium sized and ivory in color
Eskimo - medium-small sized head and snow white. Eskimos make great boutonnieres!
Garden roses - glorious white garden roses vary in size and shade, but most are fragrant and lend that full-blown lushness to anything they adorn
Spray roses - again, lot's of whites to choose from, but one of Lillie's favorites is white majolica. Their tint is chalky blush, and though they might start out small, they open wide and (when most would have long-ago dropped their petals) they keep on smiling
And, if you are willing to add a little texture to your white bouquet, one of my favorite "white" additions is Queen Anne's Lace, which adds wonderful movement and whimsy to a bouquet.
Breakfast at Bromberg's
We at Lillie's have gathered lots of fun things to include in our tablescape. Julia and Janis at Bromberg's in Mountain Brook Village have been so kind to help us.
Birmingham brides remember, Saturday, February 18 ~ the bride dressed the most like Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's wins a beautiful strand of pearls!
http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2012/02/wedding_wednesday_breakfast_at.html
Today we are working on the flowers for our tablescape and we can't wait to share photos of the finished product. Several things on our table are truly one of a kind. Stay tuned for pictures . . .
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
La Bella Luna Wedding
So here is my Valentine's gift to you: A lovely image by photographer Greg Hawkins of bride Lora Leigh and her groom under the glorious, romantic Bella Luna
And, this clip from the movie celebrating la Bella Luna...
Enjoy!
~ happy anniversary lora leigh ~
Monday, February 13, 2012
Happy Valentine's Day from Lillie's
 |
| Pin It |
"Flowers are love's truest language"
~ Park Benjamin
Trouver l'amour et la joie tout autour de vous sur Saint-Valentin et tous les autres jour.
À vous de partir Lillie's
The bicycle is parked in front of one of our favorite Birmingham Wedding venues Avondale Villa
The bicycle is parked in front of one of our favorite Birmingham Wedding venues Avondale Villa
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Beautiful wedding bouquets
 |
| Pin It |
As fashion changes, so does wedding fashion. Even flowers
change in popularity and style. Wedding bouquets over recent years have
loosened from the tight, single-flower orbs that were popular for so
long. More and more brides are asking us at Lillie's
to create bouquets incorporating elements with texture, personality,
and mixes of flowers that look hand-picked straight from a field or
grandmother's garden.
 |
| Pin It |
I absolutely adore this Juliet rose bouquet we designed especially for wedding planner Ginny Au of Bits & Bobs, photographed by David Shirk.The shape of the Juliet bloom is perfectly cupped containing a swirl of luscious pale petals. And, if there was a rose worthy of the name Juliet, it is this one.
 |
| Pin It |
One of the most interesting trends we've seen is the addition of unusual botanicals such as seeds, pods, thistle (above) and succulents (below)
 |
| Pin It |
Brides will surely always love roses and stephanotis, but this is a savvy generation that has come to expect personalization and creativity and we love it!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Behind the scenes video with Engaging Celebrations & Alabama Weddings Magazine
 |
| Pin It |
 |
One of the fun things we do occasionally at Lillie's is collaborate with other vendors to "create" events for video or print. I guess you could say, I get to plan my own fantasy wedding celebrations. For this Behind the scenes video by Main Street Productions we teamed up with the queen of details, wedding planner Beverly Andrews of Engaging Celebrations, who kept things chugging along like a well-oiled machine.
 |
| Pin It |
(Bev contemplates calmly while I wave sharp objects...)
 |
| Pin It |
The exquisite bride was a natural at the part, of course, since she had walked the aisle only months earlier with her "real life" groom. The watery blues of summer hydrangeas served as a color
theme for the floral display. I love this bouquet which was constructed
in stripes of blue-gray brunia and antique hydrangea alternated with
stripes of white roses, spray roses and evening stock.
But the REAL color inspiration for the shoot came from this fantastic vintage VW beetle belonging to photographer friend Jerrod Brown, who also captured the beautiful still images which appear in the 2011 issue of Alabama Weddings Magazine.
Shannon Pardo of Sweet Spot Confections created a heavenly pale blue wedding cake and these luscious treats while Andy Tolar from Design Productions lit each of the many venues scattered all over town.
Here we are at Hart and Soul Cafe in the quaint shopping district of Edgewood. I love this place. It's the kind of local coffee and gnosh joint that just makes you want to hang out all day. In fact, we at Lillie's are big fans of supporting local business. Nothing against big, box stores and chain restaurants, but for my money, give me a 'mom & pop' shop any day. It fits our Lillie's philosophy of personal service and craftsmanship.
 |
| Pin It |
Misty Smith
The Historic Pumping Station
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)