Summer 2009

You know we have been very busy when I haven't had time to update the blog. I'm a little embarrassed that it's been since July. For shame. It's been an amazing few months and we've been working on some pretty fun parties behind the scenes. It will take me awhile to get each event's blog together, so I thought I'd share some teaser pictures. In the meantime, if you are a client or vendor from an event we worked on, we love, love, love pictures. ;) (We also love to catch up and hear about your wedding/ post wedding life. Drop us a note and catch up.)

Preview of Rachael's Marie Antoinette Themed Bouquet

The gorgeous Kelsey and her ivory garden rose and sweet pea bouquet.

And Kelsey's lantern centerpieces from the Pittsburgh Golf Club

A fun bouquet we did for a private bridal photo shoot for Jenni Grace Photography.


Mandy's Outdoor lakeside ceremony at Bella Sera.




Shannon's bridesmaids' bouquets of coral peonies and white cymbidium orchids.

Tara's tall centerpieces from Bedford Springs Resort.

Tara's Bridesmaid Bouquets.

Brianne's centerpieces from the Pittsburgh Field Club.

We have a lot more to share and a few more events before the 2009 season comes to a close, so stay tuned!

Behind the Scenes on Twitter

Have you ever wondered what a floral studio goes through to produce events? Join us on Twitter next week as I will be doing a "behind the scenes" segment on what goes on at the shop when we pull large events together. I'll be posting pictures and updates of the whole process.

http://twitter.com/mocharose

On a wedding day, guests just walk into the room and see an event that has been perfectly put together. What they don't realize is that event has been in planning for sometimes longer than a year.

They don't see us driving to the airport in the early morning to pick up shipments of flowers from Holland, Ecuador, Colombia and New Zealand. They don't get to see us as we take in and hydrate thousands of gorgeous blooms. They don't see how crowded our little 800 sq. ft studio can get (but we make it work!). And they certainly don't get to see me driving a 16ft truck while wearing three inch heels!

Everyone always tells me "Your job must be SO fun!"

Well, yes! It really is. It's also exhausting, but there is nothing that I love more than seeing the end result. Seeing a room perfectly put together. Holding a bride's train as she walks down the aisle. Standing in the corner to watch guests' reactions when they walk into the room. These are my moments and what make the 70-80 hours grueling week worthwhile.

So if you have ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes, follow us on Twitter next week as we put together the weddings of Brianne and Adam and Tara and Chris. http://twitter.com/mocharose

Best Wedding Invitation Ever

I found this on the blog of Leanne Marie Photography, who incidentally I had the pleasure of meeting tonight. She is a sweetheart and very talented. http://www.leeannmariephotography.com/

Anyways, take four minutes and watch the most amazing wedding invitation you will ever see.

Introducing Wedding by Color!

Our website has been long overdue for an update! I'll be putting pages together one at a time, but I wanted to share something that I thought would be very useful for brides looking for flowers. Since I know that colors matter more often than flowers, I've decided to add a page where you can browse our work by color.

You can find it here: http://www.mocharose.com/WeddingsByColor/tabid/77/Default.aspx

Here is a screenshot of the "Pink Weddings" category.

Click on any photo and it will pop out as a slide show. You can use your arrow keys to see the next shot in the pink gallery.

If you'd prefer to search by a specific term, flower type or style, just click "Search" or "Tags" (this is located just below "Register"). Here is a screenshot of what it looks like when you search for "fiddleheads".

And here is the result for all shots tagged "fiddleheads" in this gallery.

I hope this helps! Feedback is welcome!

Alexandra and Brian

Alexandra and Brian hired us for full event design for their recent wedding at Longue Vue Country Club. This wedding was a blast! Alexandra was a stylish, but busy bride and let me have creative freedom when it came to the flowers and design used for the wedding.

We provided the flowers, custom linens, rentals and cake jewelry for the wedding.

There were two different amazing centerpieces for the wedding. One was a rounded green and white design with green hydrangea, spider mums, garden roses, fiddlehead ferns, tulips, cockscomb, cymbidium orchids and lisianthus.

The second centerpiece was a VERY large arrangement of green dendrobium orchids and bells of Ireland.

The funky boutonnieres of green cockscomb, spider mums and black and white damask ribbon.

AMAZING cake by Gwen at Creative Cakes! We provided the Swarovski cake jewelry.

A close up of the custom linens and the cymbidium orchid that awaited every guest at their place setting.

Recipe for an event like this:

Flowers, linens and rentals: Mocha Rose http://www.mocharose.com/

Venue: Longue Vue Country Club http://www.longuevueclub.net/club/scripts/public/public.asp?NS=PUBLIC

Event Coordinator: Great Expectations http://www.greatexpectationevents.com/

Cake: Gwen from Creative Cakes http://creativecakespgh.com/

Photography: www.joannafassinger.com (Can't wait to see the pro shots! Joanna rocks!)

Kathy

Perhaps the biggest compliment that I could ever receive is when a wedding vendor, someone who sees weddings and wedding flowers day in and day out, calls me to do their own wedding.

When Kathy, the director for events and weddings at The Lexus Club at PNC Park, asked me to make the flowers for her wedding, I was beyond flattered! I've always loved working with Kathy and was honored to be a part of her own wedding.

Kathy asked me to make a non-traditional bouquet that included the colors white, teal and brown. This is what I came up with. I used teal hydrangea, ivory gerbera daisies, white peonies, fiddlehead ferns, peacock feathers, anemones, ranunculus and veronica.

Congrats Kathy and thank you for making my day!

www.mocharose.com

Heather and Paniti

Boy am I behind on the blogs! I have a ton of new weddings to share and will try to get the blogs up in the next week or two.

First up was the elegant wedding of Heather and Paniti which was held in early June at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association in Oakland. http://www.paaclub.com/Club/Scripts/Home/home.asp

Heather and Paniti were married on site at the PAA and we created these large garden urns as a backdrop for the ceremony.

The centerpieces were a lush garden feel with peonies, garden roses, hypericum berries, sweet pea, lisianthus, roses and ranunculus.

Such a gorgeous wedding and a lovely couple. Congrats to you both!

Vendors that made the day perfect:

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Pittsburgh Athletic Association http://www.paaclub.com/Club/Scripts/Home/home.asp

Florist: Mocha Rose www.mocharose.com

Event Coordinator: Simone of 5 Senses Events http://www.5sensesevents.com/

Cake: Vanilla Pastry Studios http://www.vanillapastry.com/

Photographer:

DJ: Jeremy Ganss www.jeremyganss.com