5 Million Dollar Baby

When you are in the business of weddings and you read about some of the more lavish celebrity celebrations, it can be a little fantastic to imagine oneself as a vendor for such an elaborate affair.

A few weeks ago it was Carrie Underwood's wedding at The Ritz-Carlton Lodge at Lake Oconee. With an estimated $500,000 price tag, the florals alone could have easily cost $50,000. She used a Nashville, TN florist, and while the style of flowers was not my particular taste, it sure is easy to appreciate the labor involved! Oh, and People Magazine reportedly paid $2 million for the photos.

Up next, Chelsea Clinton's Big Day:
Wedding of the Decade, Wedding of the Century, whatever you want to call it, the Clintonfest happening this Saturday will not be anything less than spectacular. Uncovering the juicy details is extremely difficult, as you can imagine.
We do know that the festivities will be held at Astor Courts in Rhinebeck, New York.

Astor Courts, image from the Astor Courts Website

I'm hoping for some good pictures of the decor, or at least a good shot of the bridal bouquet!

WEDDING COSTS- WHAT'S THE BREAKDOWN?

Okay, so maybe you don't have a few million, or even a few hundred thousand, to drop on this one day. And really, when all is said and done, you are getting married for more reasons than the opportunity to wear a veil. This is the beginning of your marriage, a long term union between you and your love.

Once the excitement of the engagement settles, it's time to start planning. First and most important is to determine what your budget is. There's no magic formula for that one, and every situation is different.

But there are some good resources out there to help you decide how to break down the cost of each part of the wedding. Not all experts will tell you the same thing, and that's okay. It also depends on what's important to you. Want to really do it up in the invitation department, but not too concerned about having an eight piece band? Go ahead, it is your big day after all.

REAL SIMPLE suggests the following:

• Reception- 50%
• Attire- 10%
• Flowers and Decorations- 10%
• Music- 10%
• Photography/Videography- 10%
• Favors and Gifts- 3%
• Ceremony- 2%
• Stationary- 2%
• Wedding rings- 2%
• Transportation- 1%

Here is their PDF worksheet, it provides more details on this breakdown.

MARTHA STEWART WEDDINGS uses this simple calculation:

• Reception- 50%
• Attire- 10%
• Flowers- 10%
• Music- 10%
• Photography/Videography- 10%
• Stationary, favors, other details- 10%

Here's Martha's worksheet in detail.

Obviously both resources in this case have similar suggestions. There are others out there if you want to look around!

La Vida Local

As I mentioned in the previous post, I feel really good about being able to buy locally when it comes to flowers. Of course not everything I use comes from within a 200 mile radius, but in the summer especially it is a little easier to be green.


Above is an arrangement I created for Lauren Davenport, a gifted interior designer who has a knack for mixing antiques and flea market finds with a fresh, modern approach. The residence she designed in this photo is in the Luxe building in Midtown.


The hydrangea I used is locally grown, and has been blooming on plants that are over 80 years old! These plants were passed down on a property in Dacula, and my go-to guy at the flower wholesaler over the years bought up several of them from the owner to cultivate himself. There is really no way to say what exactly the variety is, but these hydrangea are my absolute favorite simply because they are strong, dry extremely well, and are a beautiful and subtle mix of greens, blues, and pinks. This crop will last probably through August, but the dried flowers will endure throughout the year.


Another green arrangement is a colorful mix of summertime flowers. With the exception of the zinnias, which were grown at Gilbert Farms in Cartersville, I cut everything from my parents' gardens.

Buy Local, Think Global

When you just want to go there, and by "there" I mean Italy, France, or any other amazingly beautiful European country, sometimes a mere flower arrangement can do the trick (however fleeting the moment may be!).
For a commercial client today I drew on my love for the mediterranean lifestyle and simply used sunflowers and olive branches. The sunflowers were grown locally at Gilbert Farms in Cartersville, Ga. The wholesaler has buckets and buckets of these symbols of summer, and it feels good knowing they came from fifty miles away. The resulting arrangement (below):


And now a close-up shows the tiny olives:



Sunflower arrangements always remind me of Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh's series of paintings created during his time in Arles, France, in 1888.
Below is one titled "Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers". There are several still life sunflower paintings attributed to Van Gogh. This one is particularly appealing because the blue background resonates well with the flowers.


One of my favorite things about sunflowers is the curious way in which they grow directionally according to the sun. In the bud stage they exhibit heliotropism. At sunrise, the faces of most sunflowers are turned towards the east. Over the course of the day they follow the sun from east to west, while at night they return to an eastward orientation. Sunflowers in their blooming stage lose their heliotropic capacity and typically become "frozen" in an eastern-facing position.

Hugging Trees

In the blazing heat of summer, it is really a simple pleasure to find a great shade tree to be your shelter from the burning sun. One of the things Atlanta is known for is the abundance of trees within the city limits and is even sometimes referred to as "a city within a forest". According to Trees Atlanta, though, the city has lost more than 60% of its canopy since the 70's. It is their mission to maintain our legacy as the most forested major city in America.

The newly-opened Canopy Walk (below) at the Atlanta Botanical Garden is a peaceful stroll through the treetops. This addition to the Garden is considered the only walkway of its kind in the US.

Joining Trees Atlanta and the Botanical Garden in their desire to educate us on the importance of trees is Piedmont Park. The Piedmont Park Conservancy, through the Tree Trust Program, is committed to the reforesting, protection, and care for the trees within the park. They have planted hundreds of new trees in the historic areas of the park and are working to restore the health of trees located in the North Woods expansion area in the years to come.