Jocelyn and Warren chose a fall wedding date with the hope of a beautiful backdrop and vibrant fall colors. We knew Blue Mountain Resort as a popular winter ski destination, but were surprised to find that in the off-season, they are a full service wedding venue. Our coordinator, Sam Cummings, and her team, Erinne and Emily worked together to make Jocie and Warren's day tailored made for them. The Blue Mountains are part of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians in the state of Pennsylvania and once we saw the view from their Alpine room, we knew this was it!
We had hoped for a beautiful sunlit, cool day with gorgeous views across the valley below the outdoor venue. What we got was an overcast, slightly breezy day with temps in the high 50's. The photographer didn't mind since he says brides photograph much better without the sun's light, and he was right! And, our guests enjoyed cocktails around the firepits and heaters on the stone patio. The view from ceremony site was unmatched by any wedding I have ever seen.
This was actually an FF 3peat for me since we used them for Bridal Shower #1 on 9/9/18 and Bridal Shower # 2 on 9/19/18!!! The service and quality you get from Fifty Flowers had me coming back for Wedding #1 and will also for Wedding # 2 on 11/25/18.
Wendy and Violet are magic makers. You get the best of care with these ladies and I can not sing their praises any higher. Of course, just like with my other orders, the wedding flowers arrived as planned and I processed them immediately. FF will give you detailed instructions on how to cut, store and process all your stems and if you have questions (I had a ton my first go round), most of them are answered before you flowers even arrive! Take advantage of their valuable one on one consultant service, it is worth the time. Violet not only sent me a transcript of our online conversation, she also sent a spreadsheet of which flowers, how many stems and in which arrangements each needed to go so I would know where to start. Our vessels were quart sized Ball Jars so she told me how to use florist tape to make a grid on the opening so the flowers would remain upright during assembly and transport.
With this order I needed about 12 buckets in all. Most were 5 gallon talls, but for shorter stems like the vendela roses, I was able to use regular (car wash) buckets. For the ranunculus I used water glasses due to their short stems. I also made sure not to overload the buckets for any of the roses or delphinium. They need lots of space to open fully. It is advised to place everything in a cool dark room. I left the garland in the original box and kept it flat on a bedroom floor. The buckets fit in my powder room. I turned the air conditioning down to 68, opened the vent full and closed the door. It was still fairly warm outside so this worked great.
On Saturday, we started early, around 10 AM. My friend, Lou Ann and I had done this twice before so we were feeling fairly confident. Both of us ran out of steam somewhere around 2:30 PM. Looking back, we could have used a few more hands to help with prep and the constant clean up. Your helpers do not need any experience in flower arranging. There are plenty of tasks to keep at least 4 people busy for hours. We managed to finish up before dinner at 6 PM.
Early the next morning, we took all the arrangements to the venue along with our garland and a few ladders, scissors, shears, rope, ribbon......you get the idea. It took 3 of us about an hour to use the remaining blooms to decorate the arbor and we left some for the baker to decorate the cake....and then we went home to get ready and "viola" ....it ended up being a perfect day! Thank you Fifty Flowers!!
I am so happy for my daughter, Jocelyn and my son-in-law, Warren and I hope they have decades of love that match the beauty of their special day!!!
