This coming Sunday, February 23rd we will be participating in the Historic St. Mary’s City Hearts & History Bridal Show. If you have never been to Historic St. Mary’s City I encourage you to visit!  There are multiple options for weddings and receptions including the Brome Howard Inn, The State House and the gazebo.

 Images courtesy of Birds of a Feather Photography

I had the opportunity to tour one of the historic properties, the Brome Howard Inn, last spring.  This gentleman’s plantation house was built in 1840 by Dr. Brome for his new bride.  This charming inn was purchased by the State of Maryland in 1980 and relocated to it’s current location in order to preserve and reconstruct the original St. Mary’s City on the land where the home was originally built.  The inn has 4 beautifully decorated rooms full of antiques a beautifully maintained yard and gardens to host your event.  I hope you will come see us Sunday at the bridal show!

Tour distinctive sites, including the State House, the gazebo, and The Inn at Brome Howard.  Taste delicious food—Expressions will offer delectable displays to inspire (and fuel) guests.   Meet some of the most creative vendors in the wedding world.  Many will be offering giveaways and one lucky bride will win half-off site rental at The Inn at Brome Howard or HSMC (excluding equipment) and half-off food for her rehearsal dinner (excluding alcohol). The winner’s wedding must be booked at HSMC or The Inn and catered by Expressions of St. Mary’s.  Discounts are non-transferable.

 Admission is $10 at the door or R.S.V.P – 240-895-4991 or events@stmaryscity.org - and save $5.  Take the first step towards your happy-ever-after, make your reservation today.

Below are a few images of weddings in Historic St. Mary’s City by some of my favorite local photographers.

Images courtesy of Birds of a Feather Photography

Images courtesy of Stacey Windsor Photography

- AJ

Valentine’s Day was just a little sweeter this year when the girls over at Bayside Bride decided to feature the winter styled shoot I worked on with Stacey Windsor Photography and Hitched by Heather.  The shoot took place at Greenwell State Park in Hollywood, Maryland.  Our real couple Sierra and Ryan were such great sports to help us out on that chilly winter day.  They even braved the rocky shoreline so Stacey could get some awesome shots with the water in the background.

Almond Creek Cakery provided the delicious cake, cranberry tart, donuts, and red velvet whoopie pies. They were perfect for our crimson color palette.  Jordan Noel provided make-up and Chic Unique Vintage Rentals brought lots of beautiful furniture pieces for us to use as props. Check out the vintage red steamer trunk they found.

We had a lot of fun on this shoot and I think the images reflect the talent and creativity of all the vendors involved.  Beautiful things are possible when a group of creative and hard working people come together! Please check out the feature on Bayside Bride to see more images from our styled shoot.

-AJ

Thanks to some flower friends on Facebook and Instagram I am now officially “WaterLogued” and have lost countless hours of my life to this new found App on my iPhone.  This is one of the coolest things I have found since the Paper 53 App!  (More on that next week).

The WaterLogue App allows you to upload an image and transform it into a watercolor snapshot. The results are really beautiful.  The more contrast in colors and the more detailed the image the better it turns out in watercolor. There are 12 variations to choose from when transforming your image along with 4 different sizes, borders, and modifying the light. Once the watercolor interpretation is produced you can save it to your photos, share it on Social Media or send it in an email.  Another fun option is to create a postcard and mail it to someone directly from the app.  First you will need to create a “Sincerely Account” which allows you to send a “Postagram” of your “WaterLogue” image.  (I just re-read that sentence and realized how hip and techie I sound)  How cool to send postcards directly from your phone!  Imagine being on vacation and taking a great photo of yourself or a scenic view and then instantly turning it into a custom watercolor postcard that gets mailed to your friends and family.

I’ve had a lot of fun (and wasted a lot time) on the WaterLogue App this week transforming some of my floral designs into watercolor images.

WaterLogue can be purchased in the App Store for $2.99. Sorry Android users, it doesn’t appear this watercolor fun is available to you just yet.

-AJ

Floral arrangements available for delivery or pick-up in Southern Maryland on Friday, February 14, 2014.  To purchase, click the PayPal button in the upper left hand side of the blog!  For questions please email me alicia@aliciajayneflorals.com

“Patience is bitter, but it’s fruit is sweet”   That is certainly the case for this blog post!  I have been patiently waiting to share images from Ben and Jewel’s wedding since last summer.  We found out in late August that The Knot magazine wanted to feature their wedding in the DC, Maryland and Virginia Spring/Summer 2014 issue.

Having your work published is exciting however, it usually means all  images must be kept under wrap and off of blogs and social media until the publication is released. Now that the magazine is finally on shelves I can share the beautiful images with you. This wedding was just lovely and the flowers were a bright and vibrant mix that truly reflected this young couple and their story.  You may recall my post from Father’s Day 2013 when I shared the story of Jewel’s battle with kidney disease and the kidney transplant she received just 4 weeks out from her wedding. You can read it here. This young couple knew all to well the the reality of the vow “in sickness and in health”.   Ben and Jewel were a pleasure to work with and seeing the images captured by photographer Vicki Grafton really showed how much they truly love one another.  Vicki shoots in both film and digital and has a real eye for details and lighting. There is such texture and softness in her work that I just LOVE!  Below are some images from Ben and Jewel’s wedding at the Fort Belvoir Officers Club.

Ben is a big Kansas City Chiefs fan so they incorporated the team colors of red and yellow into all aspects of their wedding starting with their custom designed invitations. There are hints of soft pink added in for a more feminine touch.

Jewel looked stunning on her wedding day. Check out that beautiful smile!

The guys and gals looking very sharp at the park.

The soft yellow dresses were perfect for a sunny June wedding.

The bridesmaids carried hand tied bouquets of soft ivory flowers with pops of yellow  craspedia a.k.a billy balls, yellow freesia, yellow ranunculus and fever few.

I love this sweet photo of Ben and Jewel in the park for their “First Look”.

Jewel carried a luscious bouquet of all ivory flowers that included David Austin patience roses, white astilbe, white freesia, white ranunculus, and white spray roses

These centerpieces were so fun to design.   We did our best to coordinate the flowers with Jewel’s color palette of red, yellow and light pink.  We lucked out and got some of the first cafe au lait dahlias of the season out of California.  The ranunculus also held out and we were able to secure various shades of white, yellow and pink.  The greenery included buplerum, ming fern and salal tips. We also incorporated red, yellow and white spray roses and soft pink astilbe. These designs were overflowing with beautiful flowers!

Best wishes for a long, happy and healthy life together Jewel and Ben. It was a pleasure to be a part of your wedding day!

-AJ