I‘m so pleased to welcome to the Charlottesville Wedding Blog the talented Jenn Pineau of Sugar Magnolias.  Jenn’s artistry with flowers is absolutely brilliant… I love her work…  and she wants to be sure you know that, “Sugar Magnolias’ designs are composed of flowers in season and all blooms are harvested locally.”   Thanks for your beautiful work, Jenn and welcome to the blog!

First, a King Family Vineyard wedding, photographed by Jack Looney…

This one is from Westwood Farm, photographed by Aaron Spicer…

Another Westwood Farm wedding, this time photographed by Rebecca D’angelo…

And lastly, a Veritas Vineyards wedding, photographed by Jack Looney….

Contact Information for Jenn Pineau of Sugar Magnolias:
~ website: www.naturecomposed.com
~ phone: 757-509-1102
~ e-mail: flowers@naturecomposed.com

At the suggestion of a mutual friend, Sandy Goodson of Verde Natural Florals kindly sent me a wonderful selection of photos of some of their lovely wedding bouquets and arrangements from the recent past. Sandy has a horticultural background and will work with you to choose affordable and socially responsible flowers for your big day. Thanks so much for your beautiful work, Sandy!.

Contact Information for Verde Natural Florals:
~ website: www.verdenaturalflorals.com
~ phone: 434-996-6847
~ e-mail: sandy@verdenaturalflorals.com

Check out the Southern Weddings Blog today and you’ll see featured the work of our friends at Easton Events as well as the incredibly beautiful creations of Floral Images at a wedding last summer at Farmington Country Club.  Charlottesville is just full to spilling over with talent… be sure you see Part 1 and Part 2… enjoy!

We’re getting to the end of this “Best Of” series but I have a several more  fabulous posts for you over the next couple of weeks before we’re done!  Anne and Bill Holland of Holland Photo Arts sent me the most generous and spectacular array of their work from 2008 and I spent way too much time trying to figure out how to pick and choose which photos to post.  Then I thought, “Hey, this is my blog and I can post every single one of those photos if I want to,” … and I do… so I am .   So, Holland Photo Arts Best of 2008 will be presented in 3 parts and I know you’re gonna love ever single one of them as much as I do… thanks Anne and Bill!

Contact Information for Holland Photo Arts:
~ website: www.hollandphotoarts.com
~ phone: 434-295-9681
~ e-mail: info@hollandphotoarts.com
~ blog: hollandphotoarts.wordpress.com

The Bride’s Cafe is a colorful and beautifully done wedding blog created by Janie Medley of Janie Medley Flora Designs right in our very own Richmond, VA. Janie is an incredibly talented floral designer and The Bride’s Cafe blog is full of her love of beauty and of weddings. Tons of photos and great ideas for your own wedding… but mostly it’s a feast for the eyes… enjoy!

Michelle and Kevin were married last weekend at the ever-spectacular Keswick Hall with just 50 of their closest family and friends in attendance… including Kevin’s 3 beautiful children: Trey, Finn and Keely. At every turn there was nothing but beauty… from the fantastic flowers provided by Floral Images to the magnificent late afternoon autumn sky that framed every picture… not to mention the gorgeous couple! The light and sky were certainly a photographer’s dream and their photographer, Robert Holley of Sterling, VA took full advantage of the day! Rob was kind enough to send me a selection of his photos and I am thrilled to be able to share them with you today… enjoy!

Contact Information for Robert Holley Photography:
~ website: www.robholley.net
~ phone: 703-473-4556
~ e-mail: rob@robholley.net
~ blog: http://robholleyphoto.blogspot.com

Today I am pleased to share a just a taste of Meredith Montague’s wonderful photos of Megan and Tim’s wedding last month. Megan and Tim were married on the patio of Glenmore Country Club with the colorful, rolling Blue Ridge mountains in the distance. I hope that you enjoy Meredith’s beautiful work (contact info. at the end):

Beautiful flowers from Patterson’s Flower Shop:Cakes by Brenda Johnson: 434-823-5882

Contact Info. for Meredith Montague Photography:
~ website: www.meredithmontague.com/weddings
~ phone: 434-981-9718
~ weddings@meredithmontague.com

I don’t often have the opportunity to get to know the floral designers who provide the beautiful bouquets and arrangements I see at the dozens of weddings I go to… but eventually I plan on making a point of meeting them all! This morning I had a wonderful time visiting with Randy and Joey of Floral Images (see contact info. at the bottom of this post) at their shop on Goodman Street right in the heart of the Belmont neighborhood here in Charlottesville. Over the years I’ve seen lots of Randy and Joey’s fantastic work but had never had the chance to meet the artists… so I made an appointment!

Randy and Joey ran a retail shop for 17 years before making the switch to focus entirely on weddings and events. Joey shared with me that without the distraction of retail they are able to take the time that’s needed to work extremely closely with the venues and especially with each bride, keeping her dreams and preferences at the heart of the project! So whether you prefer a fairly straight-forward, classic design or want to stretch the limits of your creative imagination, Floral Images can do it! I’m so happy to share these beautiful photos by Jen Fariello of a small selection of Joey and Randy’s beautiful creations:

Contact Information for Randy & Joey at Floral Images:
~ address: 106 Goodman St. #A2, Charlottesville 22902
~ e-mail: floralimages368@aol.com
~ phone: 434-971-4744

Original Art With Nature

I don’t remember how, exactly, I came across this amazing site but as soon as I did I knew I had to share it with you. Flowers Into Paintings, by Missy Cannon of Lafayette, Louisiana, combines flower preservation with fine art. Missy offers a service like no other I’ve seen and her creations which come in many sizes, are truly spectacular. She takes actual fresh flowers (your bouquet: hint, hint) and combines them with her beautiful painting to create a work of art that will last forever.

Missy’s website has several gallery pages showing the tremendous diversity in her beautiful work. She also provides detailed instructions on how to ship your flowers to her after your wedding to be sure they’re in good shape when they arrive.

This would be a great wedding gift: both a unique preservation of wedding memories and a beautiful piece of art for their home… one of a kind!

Missy operates out of her Gallery on Westmark Blvd. in Lafayette, LA… but if that’s not convenient, spend some time looking at her online galleries and then give her a call at 337-706-7166.

Enjoy!

Just this week I noticed that 3 of my favorite local (non-photographer) wedding-related colleagues have started blogs recently. (I say “non-photographer” because it seems the photographers all got started blogging earlier than most everyone else!) Let me share their beautiful work with you in the order that I discovered them myself…

First, I visited Anita Gupta’s site, Maliha Creations, because I’d met with a new bride on Sunday who was interested in baking and I wanted to send her a link to Anita’s site. When I got there I saw that, indeed, Anita had started blogging in May and has been posting stories and photos of her creations since then… so much fun!

VISIT THE MALIHA CREATIONS BLOG

Next, I got an e-mail from Pat’s Floral Designs (Pat and Sherry) announcing their newly designed website… which I visited right away and it is spectacular! In their navigation I saw a curious link to “In Bloom” which turned out to link to their brand new blog that they’ve already been posting to with lots of beautiful photos… it’s beautiful!

VISIT PAT’S FLORAL DESIGNS BLOG

Then today I hopped over to Jennifer Carroll’s site and found that she has several YouTube videos posted plus her new blog that’s not much more than a month old and is already filled with fantastic photos of her place settings, invitations, linens, food and all the other details that she is so incredibly talented at creating!

VISIT THE JENNIFER CARROLL EVENTS BLOG

So welcome to the wonderful world of wedding blogging Anita, Pat, Sherry and Jennifer… isn’t it fun?